Jethro & the Principle of Intuition: Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias – Part 1 of 2

Moses’ father-in-law (Jethro) said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Exodus 18:17-18 Some people are born with great leadership intuition; others have to work hard to develop it. But however it evolves, the result is a combination of natural ability and learned skills. This informed intuition makes crucial issues jump out at the leader, enabling him or her to get a handle on intangible factors, understand them, and work with them to accomplish leadership goals. Successful leaders see every situation in terms of available resources: money, raw materials, technology, and most importantly, people. Intuitive leaders can sense what is happening among their people and almost instantly know their hopes, fears, and concerns. Leaders also have the ability to step back from what’s happening and see not only where they and their people have gone, but also where they are headed – as if they can smell change in the wind. Everyone has some level of intuition, especially in his or her area of natural giftedness. If your gift is mercy, then you can sense when someone needs comfort, and you know how to give it. If service is your gift, you instinctively know when and how to help those in need. Moses was a good leader, but not a naturally born one. When he met Jethro, he hadn’t led Israel for long (the Hebrew nation had just left Egypt). But over those long years in the desert, Moses’ leadership improved substantially – and so did his intuition. Jethro, on the other hand, appears to have been a natural. How do we know that? Because he looked at a situation unlike anything he had ever seen – leading more than a million disgruntled, displaced ex-slaves – and knew exactly how to handle it. That’s intuition in action. Who he was determined what he saw. Jethro saw things with a leadership bias. Consider how Jethro handled Moses’ situation. His leadership bias made him a great “reader” of situations, trends, resources, people, and himself. Let’s look at one of these in this blog and take up the other four tomorrow… First, An intuitive leader can quickly size up a situation. Jethro watched Moses in action for a day and immediately reacted. Jethro didn’t have to form a committee, do extensive research, or establish a special task force. He instantly realized there was a leadership problem. All leaders may not settle on a solution as quickly as Jethro did, but when they rely on their intuition, they rapidly sense that a situation needs their attention. More to come on this subject in tomorrow’s blog… I’d love to talk to you personally. For more on help I can provide and how you can reach me, check out… http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com