Leaders Take Advice

Proverbs12: 15 (MSG) Fools are headstrong and do what they like; wise people take advice.            

• Proverbs 3:7 (MSG) Don’t assume that you know it all.  Run to GOD! Run from evil!


• Proverbs 26:12 (MSG) See that man who thinks he's so smart?  You can expect far more from a fool than from him.


• Isaiah 5:21 (AMP) Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight!

Business people who do not practice critical thinking skills and feed off their own foolish thinking, who are autonomous and look only at what they know to be true, they are the ones considered fools in God's eyes. In fact, God declares a "woe" those who are wise in their own eyes.

But it also strikes me that Godly leaders who have learned to lead do so because they first learned to follow - follow the One who has provided eternal advice about living, about life, about letting go and letting God. They have learned to take advice as God speaks through His word or sometimes, His workers. Here is some advice: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Phil 4:6)  

Great advice for life - and for business. "Doing what we like" is sometimes a recipe for at least anxiety, and at worst, disaster.  Often the team knows more about the product, the customer, the competitor and the internal team dynamics than the executive.  But that understanding is lost because the executive did not take the time to simply ask for advice.

It has been observed that leaders, who have the ability to keep their vision clearly in mind and ask probing, hard questions, discover what team members would do in particular situations. This ability to actively listen communicates that one does not know it all. While maintaining passion for the vision and clarity about the mission, this ability to motivate the team using active listening skills is the mark of a leader who has learned to take advice in the advancement of business.

Advisors give advice. Leaders take advice and the ultimate advice begins with communion with the Lord and is supported with community with others. The question I have to ask myself is, am I practicing Colossians 3: 16? "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."  Are you?

Copyright © 2005 by P. Griffith Lindell