COMMENTARY: Like Moses in the Wilderness, Leaders Need to Listen

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Faced with division, fear, anger, complaining and challenges, what is a leader to do? Faced with a wilderness to be crossed, a new land to be settled, a God to be served and a willful people called to new life in a world constantly changing, what is a leader […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Faced with division, fear, anger, complaining and challenges, what is a leader to do?

Faced with a wilderness to be crossed, a new land to be settled, a God to be served and a willful people called to new life in a world constantly changing, what is a leader to do?


Faced with unexpected challenges, events out of control and people not behaving according to plan, what is a leader to do?

Faced with personal shortcomings, revealed now for all to see, what is a leader to do?

This is what Moses faced. It is what his successors faced. It is what Jesus faced. It is what our politicians face once they dare to open their eyes. It is what the tormented president of Harvard University now faces after foolish remarks about women unveiled widespread frustration with his leadership. It is what leaders in Christian denominations have been facing for as long as I can remember. It is what lay and clergy leaders in congregations face, as well as school principals, office managers, corporate executives, market-sensitive entrepreneurs and, of course, parents.

It is everywhere. Faced with unavoidable frailty _ one’s own and the other guy’s _ faced with a world spinning out of control, as it always does, faced with plans that no longer hold water and institutions that no longer work, with alliances that no longer provide safety, and with restlessness and confounding needs, leaders are at sea, crying out, as Moses cried, “What am I to do?”

My answer to leaders of all kinds, both religious and secular, is this:

“Listen.” Listen to the people whom you serve. Not as a prelude to talking, but listen, long beyond the limits of your patience, as a critical act of leadership. Listen to those who love you and to those who hate you. Listen to your allies, for they will have good counsel, and listen to your challengers, who also have a piece of the truth. Listen to the wise, even to the experts who know it all, and listen to the foolish, whose needs are honest and worth hearing, even if poorly stated.

Listen intentionally, not just enduring those who always speak up, but also seeking out those who are shy and those who are simply getting on with life and not waiting for you to figure it out. Listen to those who are invested in your leadership and to those who couldn’t care less.

Listen to the creakings of your institution, for every institution is in the process of falling apart and being replaced by something new, perhaps even something better. Listen to where time has brought you, but even more, listen to where the needs of this sinful and broken world are inviting you to go.


Listen deeply to the needs and yearnings of actual people. Put aside what you think you know, and listen deeply for truth. Listen to the truth inside, the truth beneath civility and public rage, the truth that lies at the heart. Get beyond managing the appearance of listening, get beyond taking notes, get beyond analyzing the situation, get beyond developing strategies _ get beyond anything that would restore order and get you back in control.

Just listen. Just let people’s needs, yearnings, questions and fears wash over you like waves at the ocean. Just take it all in. For somewhere in that storm, or maybe after the storm, you will hear the voice of God. You will hear what every leader is afraid to hear. You will hear your actual calling.

MO/PH RNS END

(Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. His forthcoming book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” will be published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)

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