Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—a beautiful day to be alive. God has something great in store for you this week. Believe it. Anticipate it. Thank Him for it. In advance. You will be glad you did.

 

Occasionally I ask myself, "Tom, if you were starting over in ministry, what would you do differently the second time around?" One thing I would do differently is my reading. I would read more about more things than I did when I started out. I would read more serious books and fewer magazines. I would read more editorials in the newspaper and fewer classifieds. I would read less from the headlines of the newspaper and more from page 2 and beyond. I would read the Scripture more for personal enrichment than to prepare sermons and lessons.

 

And in my book reading, I would read (and re-read) books that have become classics rather than brand-new self-help books from younger writers who lack spiritual depth and understanding.

 

A ten-year-old book that is "classic" from cover to cover is John C. Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 1998). I have read books on leadership for years; this is one of the best. John Maxwell tells stories. And he tells them well. He discusses 21 principles of Christian leadership, and then he supports the principles with illustrations from life—his own life and the lives of others. His quotes are keepers. In the Forward to the book, Zig Ziglar said, "You are going to love this book—whether it is the first leadership book in your collection or the fiftieth—because you can immediately apply the life-changing principles and procedures in your personal, family, and business life ... The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is a powerful, definitive statement of the timeless laws you simply must follow if you want to be a great leader—at home, on the job, in church, or wherever you are called on to lead."

 

By the time I finished Chapter 4, I decided the topic, "The Law of Navigation," deserved mentioning to you. My observations on the chapter are attached below. Continue reading whenever you are ready. Then prepare to navigate.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Navigator

________________________________________________________________

 

Charting the Course

Tom Barnard

 

n his classic book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 1998), author John C. Maxwell discusses “The Law of Navigation” (Chapter 4). His opening line is insightful:

 

“Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course.”

 

He tells the stories of two teams of explorers whose goal was to be the first team to reach the South Pole. One team was led by Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen. Long before his team was scheduled to depart in 1911, Amundsen studied the methods of experienced Arctic explorers and determined that the safest plan was to negotiate the trip over the frozen Antarctic surface by dogsled. For his team he chose experienced skiers and dog handlers. The trip for the two-month journey to the Pole was divided into six-hour days, giving men and their dogs time to rest and prepare for the next day’s travels. Amundsen’s attention to detail was impressive. He set up depots along the way, depositing supplies and food for the return trip. He purchased the finest gear possible. He anticipated every possible hindrance throughout the trip. He charted the course with perfection. All of the members of his team survived, successfully reaching the Pole and completing the return trip with no serious problems.

 

The other team was led by Robert Falcon Scott, a British naval officer who was familiar with overall conditions in the Antarctic. Instead of using dogsleds, Scott decided to use newer technology—motorized sleds, complemented by ponies. Only five days into the journey the motors on the sledges broke down. Soon afterward, it was discovered that the ponies couldn’t survive in the sub-zero weather and had to be euthanized. The men ended up hauling the 200-pound sleds themselves. Scott had purchased inferior equipment that failed to hold up in the cold weather. His men suffered scurvy, frostbite, and frequent snow-blindness. Food and water supplies were inadequate. After covering the eight hundred miles in ten weeks, Scott’s group arrived at the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to discover that Amundsen’s team had beaten them to the goal by more than a month. Scott’s return trip was tragic. Two months into the return and short of supplies and exhausted, Scott’s team was still 150 miles from their destination. Scott and all of his men died. In Scott’s journal, later found, he wrote, “We shall die like gentlemen. I think this will show that the Spirit of pluck and power to endure has not passed out of our race.” Scott was courageous, but he failed to live up to the standard of leadership he espoused.

 

From these examples, Maxwell draws what he calls the Laws of Navigation. He concludes that:

 

·        Leaders anticipate the entire trip. “They see the whole trip in their minds before they leave the dock.” They “have a vision for their destination”—from start to finish.

·        Leaders draw on their own past experience. They question everything about prior experiences—their successes as well as their failures. They overlook nothing!

·        Leaders listen to what others have observed. “They gather information from many sources.”

·        Leaders examine the conditions thoroughly before making commitments. “Good navigators count the cost before making commitments for themselves and others.”

·        Leaders make sure their conclusions represent both faith and fact. “If you can’t confidently make the trip in your mind, you’re not going to be able to take it in real life.” Good leaders are realistic in their assessment. “You can’t minimize obstacles or rationalize your challenges.”

·        Leaders have a carefully-designed navigation strategy.  This involves laying out goals, establishing priorities, notifying key personnel, anticipating problems, and daily reviewing the plan.

 

Leroy Eims, in his book, Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, observed, “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do.” Can you and I be the leaders we need to be? Absolutely. Leadership is not rocket science, but it is a science to do it right.