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Last week was a great time we had together to learn leadership. Today, we are continuing the series: The Leadership Trip to Genesis and we will be looking at the book of Genesis chapter 34 today, to learn from the life of someone who made certain leadership decisions that we must learn from. Today, our focus is Positional Pleasure. We want to find out how great organizations suffer from poor leadership decisions. How great organizations; say religious organizations, corporate organizations; any kind of organization. How great organization suffer from poor leadership decisions. We are not saying that these people are not leaders, what we are saying is that these leaders make poor leadership decisions, and their decisions ultimately affects their organizations.
Listen To MP3 – POSITIONAL PLEASURE: HOW GREAT ORGANIZATIONS SUFFER FROM POOR LEADERSHIP DECISIONS
So, the decisions, someone once said that a leader’s decision could be personal , but the impact or the consequence of it is not private. You could personally make a decision as a leader, you could make it as an individual. However, the effect of your decisions as a leader goes beyond you. It affects people following you and even the future followers. So, it is important we understand that leadership is about decisions and the legacies we leave behind, the destiny we take our people to, the point we arrive at in our leadership experiences, is a product of the kind of decisions we are making. So, we want to learn from a man who made poor decisions due to positional pleasure and we want to see how to be effective in our leadership by making best decisions in our leadership.
The chapter is quite big, Genesis 34. But I will read a few verses, beginning from verse 1-5. The Bible says
“Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, who she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came.”
Now, if you even start meditating from verse 5 where we stopped, the Bible says Jacob held his peace until they came. That shows us that what Jacob was desirous of doing wouldn’t have been carried out by him, perhaps due to his old age and due to the fact that he couldn’t do it alone. However, he had sons who were busy watching over his flocks. They were over his business and investment. He had a group of people under him who he has led over time, who are now taking charge of his investment and his organization. Now, at this moment, while his sons were away; his daughter Dinah went to see. Let us see what the Bible says about that “She went to see the daughters of the land.”
They were living in a land that didn’t belong to them, so, his daughter went ahead to greet or visit the daughters of the land. It was while doing this that a young man saw her, a young man called Shechem. The Bible says he was strongly attracted to her. So, he saw the woman Dinah and he was strongly attracted to her. He loved her. And he, instead of following the right step, instead of making the right decisions, we are not saying that his desires for the woman was a wrong thing, but what he did to execute his desires is an evidence of poor leadership decisions and an evidenced of positional pleasure.
Now, one of the things that you must understand is that leaders or maybe we should say positional leaders; have access: access to a lot of things, access to more people, more money, more opportunities and because of these access it is possible for any leader to get carried away and to think anything he can see, he can get. That is not always correct. Now, if you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you will learn from the life of King Solomon. In fact, it got to a time when he said everything my eyes saw, my eyes loved, I got it. As it were we can say, whatever my eyes saw, whatever my heart loves, I ensure my eyes got it. So, we would eventually realize that Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines. We must understand that this didn’t happen in a day but over time. So, as he goes around he sees something and because of his positional leadership, he is placed where he could see things. He could see things happening and opportunities as they come in.
Now, while it could be great to recognize opportunities, a leader must be careful that by virtue of his position, he is exposed to opportunities, he is exposed to more information, more money and more people. Now, the fact that you have access to more people, more money and more opportunities, more information, does not mean you must take it. And this is a very strong word that you must accept as a leader. If your leadership and organization will not suffer from your decisions, then it is not everything that your eyes sees, that your hand must grab. Now, if you read the entire chapter, you would realize that eventually, the children of Jacob did not take the matter easy. Eventually, they killed all the men of that land. They killed from Shechem, to his father and every other man in that city.
Why? Because their sister was violated. Now the fact that the man was interested in their sister, in the daughter of Jacob was not the problem, but because of the way the man executed his desires. If you read the verses we read, you would notice that immediately the man violated her, the Bible says his soul was strongly attracted to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and he loved the young woman, and spoke kindly to the young woman. Now if I may ask: Is it possible for a responsible man, to speak kindly to a responsible to a young woman, and then just immediately after speaking kindly, to her you violated her? It is not possible. So, I am sure that the lady Dinah was aggressively or harshly violated and then kindly spoken to.
You see, this is what happens in many places. Because somebody has been made a leader over a people then he uses the position to grab the opportunities, to grab the people, to grab even the women under him; thinking that since he is their leader, he has right to their emotion. That is incorrect. Eventually, it is not only you that will suffer or pays the price for the violation or the misjudgment. Even your team, your organization will also pay for it. So, if you do not want this to happen, it is important for us as leaders to think before we act, and to look before we leap. This is the word that has been laid in my heart and I believe that it is a word for somebody. Positional pleasure.
And before I go, there is a Scripture I want us to read and I really thank the Holy Spirit for reminding me that Scripture. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, there is a statement made there by Apostle Paul that we should learn from. 1 Corinthians 6:12, the Bible says ” All things are lawful for me (and I am sure this is for leaders) but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” Now, if you follow the story of this young man called Shechem, how he saw the daughter of Jacob and then he had strong affection for her, and then he took her, laid with her and then violated her. If you see, then you will understand that as far as that young man was concerned, all things are lawful for him and he thought all things are helpful. Eventually, he died in less than a week after he made that wrong decision.
It is important we know this. The fact that certain things are legally accessible to us does not mean we should take them. It is not everything that you can do that you must do. It is not every word that you can say that you must say. There is a helpful thing that you must do, there is a helpful thing that you must say. And you must know the right thing to do at the right time and you must do it. The fact that you have many opportunities does not mean that you must take everything. You must find out the right opportunity, there is always the right opportunity. If you are a leader, and you are not married, the fact that God has given you and you have a responsibility and access, in such a manner that ladies and women are flocking after you does not mean that you should take advantage of them. You see, if you do that, you will not only pay the price. The organization will pay the price and your generation will pay that price for that decisions.
It is important that you understand that the leadership hangs on your decisions. If you want the right future for your organization, then you must make the right decisions. Don’t allow the opportunities, the information, the money, the people flocking around you to give you the impression that everyone around you is expected to be taken advantage of or be used by you. And I pray that God, who has sent this word, will emphasize the important things in your heart. He will help you to really know the truth, and that truth will set you free. Thank you for the gift of your time, my name is Gboyega Adedeji and you have been watching and listening to leaderview.
I hope to connect with you again next week by the help of the Holy Spirit bringing the word that is able to build you up as a leader, that is able to establish your leadership and that is able to stretch you for more grace and for more experiences. If you have not subscribed to our YouTube channel, Centre for New Dimension Leadership, I would advise that you please go ahead. Click the notification bell so that each time each time we publish our videos, you are informed as soon as possible.
Thank you for the gift of your time, and I hope to connect with you again next week. God bless you.
Source: Centre for New Dimension Leadership
