Passing It On: Growing Your Future Leaders (7 page)

Leaders are very conscious of and sensitive to everything that affects their mission and vision. They are quick to interpret
signs and events and to discern their effects on the leaders’ priorities. They are always thinking about how the present will
affect the future. They think, “Ah, I had better put that
in place in case I am not here. I should fix this before I leave. I need to provide for this before I go.”

There is a tremendous example of successful mentoring and succession in the Old Testament account of the great King David
and his demonstrated commitment to mentoring and transferring his vision and plans for the future temple of worship for his
people. What an interesting character!

King David, who was perhaps Israel’s greatest king, had a vision of a peaceful and prosperous nation, free from war and strife.
King David also carried in his heart a vision of constructing a permanent place of worship for God so that the people could
settle and have a central venue. What is amazing was that David did accomplish his phase of this great vision. He subdued
all the enemies of the nation and confirmed it by building his kingdom’s capital, calling it Jerusalem, which means “city
of peace.”

However, being a true leader, and perhaps remembering the failure of his predecessor, King Saul, King David had a keen awareness
that he was dispensable and that he could not complete the vision he held in his heart. It was this awareness that motivated
David to begin mentoring his son Solomon. David did not leave the mentoring of his son to chance. He was intentional, spending
hours and days teaching, instructing, and modeling leadership—wisdom—to his posterity. Proof of this mentoring program is
the content of one of the most important books in the biblical text, the book of Proverbs. Note how Solomon opens his book:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young—

let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance—

King Solomon repeatedly stressed the need to listen to the instructions of your father and the commands of your mother:

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

They will be a garland to grace your head

and a chain to adorn your neck.

My son, if sinners entice you,

do not give in to them.

My son, do not forget my teaching,

but keep my commands in your heart,

for they will prolong your life many years

and bring you prosperity.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

These words indicate that King David mentored Solomon and that the son understood the value of mentoring for succession.

King David’s vision of building the temple of worship for the God of Israel was a project he once thought he was to accomplish
himself. However, he
learned, as I have said, that the vision is always bigger, greater, and longer than the lifespan of the visionary. King David
is one of the most successful examples of leadership, mentoring, and succession in history. Here is one account of the success
of his process:

1 Chronicles 28:10–13
“Consider now, for the L
ORD
has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for
the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He
gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the L
ORD
and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. He
gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the L
ORD
, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service.

The process of mentoring and succession from King David to Solomon is an inspiring case study for our focus in this book.
Follow the progression of this account:

1 Kings 5:1–7
When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon,
because he had always been on friendly terms with David. Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: “You know that because of
the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the L
ORD
his God until the L
ORD
put his enemies under his feet. But now the L
ORD
my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. I intend, therefore, to build a temple for
the Name of the L
ORD
my God, as the L
ORD
told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
“So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever
wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling
timber as the Sidonians.” When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the L
ORD
today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

1 Kings 8:17–21
“My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the L
ORD
, the God of Israel. But the L
ORD
said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart.
Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will
build the temple for my Name.’ “The L
ORD
has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the L
ORD
promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the L
ORD
, the God of Israel. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the L
ORD
that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt.”

This account is one that we need to study carefully to learn the principles and process implemented by King David to achieve
such a successful leadership transition. King David not only transferred the vision and mentored his successor, but he also
put aside resources and materials to help the next generation succeed. Those resources included the financial means, equipment,
and building materials, as well as the collective wisdom and experience of his leadership team to complete the project he
knew he could not build. He was able to see beyond the span of his life.

Solomon carried out David’s vision, and when he had completed the edifice, he brought the objects David set aside into the
temple as his father envisioned.

1 Kings 7:51
When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the L
ORD
was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed
them in the treasuries of the L
ORD’S
temple.

King David saw more than others saw; he saw farther than others and saw
things before others saw them. It took a visionary leader to “see” the temple and plan the construction. It took a visionary
leader to know what should go into the temple. It took a visionary leader to mentor a successor who would take up the vision
and do the work necessary to carry it out. A visionary leader sees the plans the Spirit puts in his or her mind.

Are you thinking and seeing beyond what others see? The decisions that you make will secure the future if you are a visionary
leader. Your interest should be in the future because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life. David’s
vision of the future of his nation motivated his actions in his time and became the incentive for mentoring his son Solomon
and providing resources for his future success. Vision is the purpose and motivation for mentoring your successor.

Leadership is born when vision is captured
. When a person captures the vision of the future that is worth sacrifice, he is a leader. The leader’s tenure ends when the
vision is accomplished or is achieved, which could be a lifetime or two lifetimes, but vision is what provides the motivation
for mentoring and choosing a successor. Vision provides the blueprint for a future that extends beyond a mere lifetime. Vision
allows you to see someone else completing the temple. Vision shows you what the portrait will look like when you are no longer
around to pose for it. Vision motivates you to see that your “cubs” know how to stalk their prey to feed themselves. Leadership
without vision is simply management of goals. Vision gives meaning to leadership. It provides the direction and the force
for leadership. Leadership exists for the purpose of vision. Leadership begins and ends with vision.

Leadership is a corporate investment in hope
. A leader is a dealer in hope. Your job as a leader requires you to mentor people. By mentoring, you give them the incentive
to invest their time, energy, resources, and ambitions in a hope for a future that they believe is better than the present.
This hope fuels their desire to carry out your vision and protect your legacy.

To a leader, vision is reality
. Leaders normally live in another world. This is why people think visionary leaders are naïve or consider them unrealistic.
However, the unrealistic nature of leaders is what makes them important to you. The world needs people who believe in things
that others cannot see so they can stop being victims of what they can see. The world needs people who can “see” the temple
when it is merely an idea or a pile of
raw material.

The most important component in leadership is not power, but vision. People want to get positions of power—politicians, preachers,
and corporate executives all fall victim to this very dangerous pursuit. They yearn for power when in fact vision is more
important because power is supposed to be used to serve and fulfill vision. Vision provides momentum for leadership.

Vision is also the measure of leadership
. How do you measure your leadership? Measure it by the vision that you want to achieve. Measure it by the vision of the future
without you around to continue achieving. If I wanted to determine how well a leader is doing, I would measure her against
what she intended to do, what she claims she desired to do, and what she did to see that it continued beyond a lifetime.

People also ask me, “What keeps you inspired?” I tell them I’m inspired by what I see that has not happened yet. Doing something
that no one has done before is my inspiration. I think this vision allows the leader to endure criticism, opposition, detractors,
and discomfort. It allows the leader to delay gratification. Vision is so powerful that it allows leaders to bear hardship,
distress, and imprisonment. Vision is such a powerful thing that it can even allow the leader to welcome death. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. planned to go to jail and accepted that he might die to achieve his vision. Jesus intended to die to fulfill
His vision of a new world.

The Bible says of Jesus that “for the joy set before him [he] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). This tells us that vision allows you to see a future and beyond the suffering to a
worthy end goal.

Vision is always bigger and nobler than the visionary. That is what leadership is about. Someone asked me some years ago,
“What is vision?” Vision is the capacity to see beyond your eyes. Vision is the capacity to see the invisible and believe
the impossible. Vision is purpose in pictures. Vision is the ability to see the future in Technicolor. Vision is documenting
details of a preferred life.

Visionaries can amazingly capture the future in detail. Recently, a made-
for-television movie depicted the life of Temple Grandin, Ph.D., an extraordinary woman who has autism and excels in part
because
of it. What others would see as a limitation informs her vision and allows her to maximize her gifts. She uses some of the
traits of a condition that others consider a disability as strengths to help her see how to engineer systems for containing
and handling animals. Grandin is a professor of animal science whose revolutionary systems handle half the livestock in the
United States.

She explains how the heightened sensitivities, compulsiveness, and focus that can nearly cripple many other people with autism
allow her to feel what the animals feel, see what they see, and map out her vision of the solutions in her head in such detail
that she can direct others to build them. As a professor, she mentors others to do the same. As a lecturer, she helps others
understand the animals and the people who share her condition. She credits the fact that she “thinks in pictures” for her
amazing skill. She is a visionary.

I live as a visionary
. One becomes a leader when you see the unseen. Vision is a conceptual view of the future. Vision is a glimpse of the reason
for your existence. Vision is the perception of your divine assignment for your life and beyond. Vision inspires you to mentor
the temple builder and “see” the finished work, a space you will never enter, filled with the treasures you stored up for
that day.