One of the very key things that we must understand as leaders is that leadership has so much to do with choice. As a matter of fact, what we do every day in leadership is borne out of the choices that we daily make. Anyone who is not willing or who is reluctant to make choices would be less effective when placed in a position of leadership. You see, we must understand as leaders that the choices we make is as important as the position of leadership itself. That’s why the choices that the leader daily makes cannot be outsourced, it must always come from within the leader. It is one thing for the leader to ask for counsel and seek advice. It is another thing for the leader to make sense of the counsel and advise and then be able to make up his or her mind on what exactly to be done and the way forward for the organization. This is where choice comes in for the leader. Leadership cannot be given to chances. Effective leadership rests upon the choices that the leader makes per time.
Listen to Podcast: Understanding Leadership and Choice
What we do in leadership as leaders is making conscious efforts or decisions between two or more possibilities that would help in taking the organization forward. The choices that we make as leaders can either bring about retrogression to the organization or bring about the progress of the organization. There is a case study that I want to share with us that has been tagged: The Error of Rehoboam so that we can fully understand what leadership and choice entails. If you go to the book of 1 Kings 12, you will see the story there. I am going to be reading a few verses there to us for our consideration, beginning from verse one. The Bible says: “And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.” So, from here, we saw that Rehoboam began to reign as king over the people of Israel. As a matter of fact, we were made to understand that Rehoboam was the unanimous choice of the entire people of Israel. There was no tussle before he became the king. Everyone came together and said: come and be our king, and his leadership assignment began right from there.
2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), 3 that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” 5 So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.”
Who was Jeroboam? Jeroboam happens to be from one of the tribes in Israel known as Ephraim. He was first and foremost an officer of labor during Solomon’s reign as king, and later, he became a major contender to the throne of Israel because a prophecy had gone ahead of him that he would also one day, rule over ten tribes of Israel (1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of this, Solomon had plans to kill Jeroboam but he ran away and was exiling in the land of Egypt until the death of king Solomon. So, when Solomon died, and Rehoboam was made the king in his stead, the people beckoned on Jeroboam to return home. And when he returned, what we read from verse 2-5 above was the conversation that took place between Jeroboam, the people of Israel and Rehoboam. Now, let us read the story further.
“Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” 10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’”
So, from here, we saw that Rehoboam sought for counsel in order to know what he would say to Jeroboam and the people when they return to him. To seek for counsel as leaders is not something that is bad or terrible in itself, however, what we make of the counsel we receive is our choice to make, it is our decision to make. Even though you can outsource counsel, you cannot outsource your choices. Even though Rehoboam did the right thing by asking for advise, what he did with the advice was his choice to make. But see what happened afterwards.
“So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13 Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; 14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” 15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “what share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!” So Israel departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.”
The kingdom became divided under Rehoboam simply because of a bad choice that he subjected himself to. So, what lessons can we glean from this story as leaders? First and foremost, leadership has so much to do with the choices that we make on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis and even yearly basis. The reason why you are not making progress the way you should as a leader may have been because of the choices that you have made or that you are even currently making. So, what do we do? If we want to experience a different thing in our leadership assignment, it then means that we must re-visit our choices and evaluate them on the basis of our progress in leadership and the growth of the organization that has been committed into our hands. The choices that we make can tear our organization apart, just as we have considered in the case study of Rehoboam, and the choices that we make can push our organization to the desired height and destiny. I pray that the Lord will always help us to make the right choices in leadership in Jesus’ name.
This is where we are going to draw the curtains on today’s episode of Leaderview, I believe we have learnt something that will help us in our leadership assignment going forward. Please don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends on your social media and also drop your comments with me in the comment section so that I can get to know what you are thinking about what we have shared with ourselves today. Till next time on Leaderview, stay leading and stay making the right choices every day in your leadership.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
