The idiom in this verse literally means the “pupil of the eye” but has come to mean, “that which we hold most precious.” Remember the words of our Servant-Leader model about what is precious:
“Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."” Matt 22: 37-40 (MSG)God’s laws, like principles of leadership, are fundamentally about two issues: personal integrity and the value of others. Robin S. Sharma in Leadership Wisdom from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari put it this way: “The greatest privilege of leadership is the chance to elevate lives."
Robert E. Staub - (The Heart of Leadership: 12 Practices of a Courageous Leader) - reveals that those who purport to lead - but fail - do so because they don't understand who it is they're trying to lead. Sometimes, evaluations of the team are based upon the wrong criteria – they may well be the right “people on the bus” and leaders miss it because they are not holding the skills possessed as “precious.”
According to Jim Collins, “The good-to-great leaders understood …[a] simple truth….if you begin with “who,” rather than “what,” you can more easily adapt to a changing world.” What I have learned is that working on developing the “who” is a rigorous process and takes competency, intimacy, integrity, and passion.
Leaders know what is precious: It not the stuff that must be done; rather, it’s the people who team with them to get it done.
Who is (and/or is it “what is”) most precious to you?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
1 comment:
I appreciate your focus on people and process, rather than just the task at hand. Even when Jesus set his face to Jerusalem to the cross, he was concerned with preparing his disciples to encounter what they would face at the cross and beyond. God Bless.
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