Lesson 1 - Leadership Transition
Every organization I have known about deals with it. How do you find the right person for the job? It may be the board looking for the right CEO; a CEO putting together the right leadership team; or a manager looking for a key person in a critical slot.
Clearly there are many approaches to the question, but a look at the beginnings of the story of David adds an essential dimension that is often overlooked in a search process. See if you can identify that dimension.
Familiarize yourself with the context of the story. Then look specifically at verses 13-14.
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Who is Saul? (Tip: Google these two names. You will find good background information.)
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Who is Samuel?
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What happened to trigger Samuel's words in verses 13-14?
Now, take a close look at verse 14. It is about a leadership transition and God's search process. Pay attention to the grammatical tense of the first two sentences. It is past tense. God had already acted.
What was his action?
Again...get the context of the continuing story. Now...look at verse 28. Again...note that it is past tense. God has already selected someone to take Saul’s place. He has someone specifically in mind, but no one knew the identity of that person other than God.
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To whom did God reveal his choice?
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How did God communicate his choice?
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Was anything unusual about his choice?
Bring it forward to now. As this relates to the process of finding the right person for a job in your organization, answer the following questions.
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What principle(s) do you extract from what you learned?
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How do the principle(s) apply to your own experience as a leader in the search for key personnel in your organization?
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What challenge does it present to you personally?
If you are honest in identifying the challenge of applying a faith principle to business practice, the matter instantly becomes an opportunity for prayer and further exploration of biblical instruction. The process will bring you back to the tension between faith based action and traditional practices. It will require a decision.
