A recent episode of the 2Bobs podcast was talking about promotions and management, and the type of people that should be promoted to manager. It was a great episode (go check it out here), and David made an excellent point about something that we might overlook. He tried to reference a passage from the Bible and didn’t know the location offhand, but he was trying to point to 2 Kings 20:19, which ends with:
For he thought, “Is it not good, if there will be peace and security in my days?”
For Hezekiah, it might have been good to focus on peace during his time, but for a manager that can be a bad thing. Keeping the peace is a great thing, of course, but you may often hold back in the interest of short-term peace versus long-term peace.
For example, if you have trouble with an employee, it might be easier now to cover for them and keep the status quo. Long-term, firing them now and solving the problem may be a better move.
Sharks vs Deer
Seth Godin’s “Akimbo” podcast had a similar theme this week in contrasting sharks vs deer.
In our lives, we tend to be afraid of “sharks”; things that are very scary, but quite rare, such as your home in the suburbs getting robbed.
Conversely, we aren’t afraid “deer”, but those are what’s likely to kill us, like fast food.
It’s just like real sharks and deer. Most people have a fear of sharks at the beach, even though they only kill around 5 people each year. Conversely, deer seem less threatening but kill roughly 200 people each year (mostly from car accidents). Irrational fears lead to irrational behavior.
Some leaders will set up big barriers to stop the sharks and make things look good now, but great leaders will focus more on the deer and keep their organization healthy for the long run. Spotting the difference between the two is difficult, but crucial.
