Passing It On: Growing Your Future Leaders (34 page)

In the introduction to this book, I talked about the lion. We consider this creature the most successful in the animal kingdom.
The lion’s effectiveness in survival and its ability to face down other creatures regardless of their size, weight, or power
impresses us. The lion is a perfect example of a creature with the qualities necessary for effective leadership. That includes
its courage, grace, and strength, but the most important is the way the lion mentors its offspring.

First, lions do not associate with any other animal. This is interesting because if you want to be a leader or maintain your
leadership, you must first be mindful of the associations you form. You want to be with people who think as you do, people
who walk and talk as leaders should, people who have leadership experience. You want to learn from them.

The second thing about the lion is that it travels in a pride. That is a family of lions who live, hunt and work together.
In this way, lions have created an environment for mentoring their offspring.

That is what I find most interesting about the lion. At the beginning of the book, I spoke of our safari in South Africa,
where I had the privilege of watching the lions hunt. I noticed little cubs around, and I saw the mother lion pick up the
cubs by the back of the neck with her mouth, take them over to a shady bush near a tree, and drop them down one at a time.
She came back, picked up another one, took him over to the tree, and left him there.

Then I saw something strange. She walked away, and they perked up looking at her but never moved. Four other female lions
joined her. They all began to crouch toward their prey. The cubs never moved, and they watched
their mothers. I was intrigued as I saw those lions strategize as they crept along in the grass, moving toward the target—one
to the left, one to the right, one over to the side, and one stayed back. They were all in position, working toward the attack.

Still, the cubs never strayed, but they perked up, watching every move. Suddenly, I realized this was mentorship in action.
This was an opportunity to preserve the future of the pride. Then I realized that the lioness had not just placed her young
ones near the bush under a tree, but had set them up on a little mound where they had a perfect view of all the action. The
mother chose a high place so that they could observe every move.

No wonder the lion is still the king of the jungle. The lion does not leave leadership training to experimentation. They do
not risk mistakes or let the next generation learn by trial and error. They intentionally train.

What I also find interesting is that the lionesses are the real hunters in the lions’ pride. In the lion kingdom, the father
does not do the kill. The women go out and get the meat. Lionesses take the young ones with them on a hunt and find a safe
place for them to observe how, when, where, and what to kill. The cubs can see the lionesses’ movements, their strategies,
their systems, their attack modes. This is mentorship by observation. This is the reason the lion is so successful. They continue
to reproduce leadership.

You are responsible for creating a “pride of lions” mentality around you for those you mentor. Let them see how you do things.
Many times leaders in our day hide what we do from the people around us. We do not want them to observe what we do because
we are insecure. We believe that if they learn what we do, we will lose our position. However, we forget that the entire purpose
for leadership is to reproduce leaders and that the greatest measure of success for a leader is to mentor a potential replacement.
For this, the lions are a great inspiration.

Just as I received the gift of mentorship, I have a duty to pass it on. The greatest obligation of a true leader is to transfer
a deposit into the next generation. As a leader you were given a gift, you developed a vision, and you carried it out to the
best of your abilities during your tenure. Perhaps you exceeded your own expectations, or you did not finish. Either way,
as part of the mentoring process, you have tried to instill your values and your vision into the next generation of leaders.
If you have done things right, they
“caught” your vision. Time is up. You must relinquish control, pass the baton, and trust that your successors will succeed.

Your successor will not always do things just as you might have done and may not think, “I wonder what he would have done
now?” Even as a parent, you might have to accept that your children will not always think, “What would Mama or Daddy do?”
Fifty years from now, your church members will not say, “Reverend Jones always said…”

Some of us do ask, “What would Jesus do?” as the popular saying goes. Often, however, we know very well what He would do because
Scripture clearly outlines His vision for us. His parables prescribed what to do in many key situations that we can apply
to what we do today. The principles, His rules for living and leading, tend to work whether you aspire to be a Christian or
not, whether you are in the church or the boardroom or in the streets. Similarly, public leaders often like to read about
their predecessors, and we encourage our youth to read about national heroes, hoping their lives hold clues for our own—that
the vision will rub off.

The gospels leave us many clues about how Jesus mentored His disciples. I find it interesting that among the twelve trainees
or students, He chose from among the group three to mentor at a different level. Peter, James, and John received more intimate
mentoring than the other nine. You will observe that on many occasions in Scripture, Jesus would take those three to certain
environments and leave the other nine out of it. He did it because He wanted them to experience certain things. Their knowledge
of Him grew to a deeper level. Their leadership positions in the church in Jerusalem were at a higher level. Their work and
teaching of doctrine was at a different level. Earlier, I emphasized that a mentor must devote time to the people he or she
mentors. Jesus spent extra time with these three.

You will find that Jesus often chose to expose these three priority mentees to different events and did not take the other
disciples. In one example, when He wanted to raise the little dead girl, Scripture says He left everyone outside except those
three and proceeded to raise her from the dead. That was an opportunity Jesus provided for the three that He had singled out
for close attention.

Luke 8:51–56
When he arrived at the house of Jairus,
he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James
, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said.
“She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child,
get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were
astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

These same three were with Him at the Transfiguration.

Matthew 17:1
After six days
Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James
, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

Only they were with Jesus as He prayed at Gethsemane on the eve of His death.

Mark 14:33 He took Peter, James and John
along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.

These examples show how Jesus shared time and set the stage for transferring His knowledge and spirit to these three in particular.
He would imply, “Look, I only want you three to come.” What is Jesus doing? He is taking them into an environment in which
He did not want the other nine. He wanted to mentor these three at a different level and allow them to see things He did not
let others witness. He would tell them not to tell anyone what they had seen. He was testing them.

Jesus also exposed His vulnerabilities. Mentoring requires that you expose your vulnerabilities when the occasion calls for
it so the mentee can understand your heart. When Jesus asked, “Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark 14:37), He showed
His fear or anxiety to those closest to Him. Do you have people in your organization you can take into some of the private
parts in your heart?

You would normally entrust succession to those who know your strengths
and
your weaknesses. For the protégé to get past those obstructions in your life to understand your vision, you have to expose
yourself. You have to convey your passion, and encourage the mentee to fall in love with what you love. Your successor must
love you, your passion—what wakes you up in the morning. If the mentee never captures that, then he or she will never be successful
as your successor.

At times, Jesus shared lessons with all the disciples and He gave all of them His authority. When He sent them all out two
by two to go into the whole world to bring the message of the kingdom, He was sharing an opportunity with them. The Bible
says He gave them authority to go, which means Jesus wanted them to experience that environment, go out, and carry a message,
dealing with people.

Moses transferred his spirit in a similar fashion. When God told Moses that he needed some help to do the work, He told him
to call seventy people from the group so God could transfer Moses’ spirit to them.

Numbers 11:16–17
The L
ORD
said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have
them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will
take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you
will not have to carry it alone.”

The people who should be in your ministry or close to you in your business should be the people of your spirit. They should
have the right attitude. They should think what you think, believe what you believe, and want what you want.

The Bible says that once these seventy got the spirit, they began to speak. The word the Scripture uses is “prophesied.” They
began to speak what Moses was speaking. In other words, they sounded just like Moses.

This transfer of the anointing of Moses also leaked over to people who
were not even present. They were in the camp, and they too began to talk and sound like Moses. Joshua became a little nervous.

That was when he urged Moses to stop them. “They are all going to take your job!” That in a way was what he was saying. Look
at the answer Moses gave. “But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake?’ ” (Num. 11:29). That is an important statement.

Again, the person who is jealous
for
you should succeed you.

Joshua was defending Moses. This is when Moses shows his leadership maturity, when he suggests in so many words, “I want everyone
to be a leader. I want everybody to be a prophet.”

Is that how you think? Do you wish everybody in the office could have your job? Are you saying, “I wish all of you could do
this job. I am going to train all of you to have my abilities”?

True leaders are never married to a position. Leaders walk around with a debt they owe to humanity. “I am going to pay my
debt and continue paying by mentoring and choosing the right successor.” That is how I feel every day. I owe all of you what
I am teaching. I have to do this. I owe you this. This is not a job for me. This is an obligation.

Moses was authentic. He was secure in his position—just as Joshua was secure in his. He was the servant, the aide—in other
words, the one who was there to do anything and everything the leader needs. In fact, an aide outthinks you, always watches
to see what you are thinking of doing next and does it for you. The aide thinks, “He is going to be thirsty, so let me get
some water. He is going to need someone to rub his feet. He is tired. He is going to need someone to bring him food now. He
is going to need someone to change his coat.” The aide anticipates these needs and fills them. An aide is totally committed
to the comfort of the leader. All Joshua wanted to do was to aid Moses since his youth, the Bible says. Joshua did not show
up looking for power. He grew up serving. That is what qualified him to be Moses’ successor.

If you are the boss, look around you. Who in your company, school, or church is like that? If you are a leader in training,
are you a willing aide as Joshua was?

Perhaps you have read this far in the book only to realize that you do not have a successor in mind. You have not mentored
anyone. Time is running out, and no one is waiting in the wings fully prepared to succeed you. You need to go to work, make
some changes, and find someone you can embrace as a potential successor while there is still a little time left.

If you are the CEO of a company or a manager of a department, your first responsibility to the board is to fulfill the mission
and the expectation to the company. Your first obligation to yourself, even at this late hour, should be to identify an individual
that you want to mentor to take your place. You might not have authority to choose your successor, but you want at least to
mentor someone to take your place.

Given the circumstances, this does not have to be someone who loves you as I defined it earlier in this book. If you have
not mentored anyone, chances are you have not attracted that kind of love or loyalty yet. Chances are that during the years
you turned away those who pursued you, begging you to be their mentor. You never acknowledged how talented, eager, and willing
they were. Many of them left for other opportunities. A few stayed, but you never groomed them for greater things, and most
of them stalled or burned out. Now you have no one in the pipeline who is fully prepared, and your options are limited.