Knowledgeable leaders select their outside alliances carefully, understanding their own character and subsequent actions are shaped by these relationships. Read Proverbs 13:20.

Solomon wrote the Proverbs often restating the same principle in slightly different ways to make sure his readers got the point. For example, the following Proverbs in conjunction with Proverbs 13:20 make his point very clear: Read more »

Wise leaders create an environment where advisors are encouraged to give their input and feel free to enter into dialog even when their counsel is unpopular. Read Proverbs 11:14.

Effective leaders legitimize, encourage and utilize trusted advisors as they make decisions. These advisors add value to the leadership of the organization. This “inner circle” of counselors is so important that according to verse 14 without them a nation (business/ministry) will fail and with them victory is sure. Read more »

Wise leaders recognize wisdom, knowledge and passion in individuals and promote those individuals to positions of authority. Read Ezra 7.

Artaxerxes was the fourth king of Persia to interact with the Jewish people who had been exiled to Babylon by the Babylonians prior to the Persian conquest of Babylon. The Persians were a fairly superstitious people which led to one of the Persian’s national defense policies – allowing a portion of the exiled population of each people group under Babylonian captivity to return to their homeland and establish a national presence and re-establish worship of their god in their homeland. This policy gave the Persians the good will of those returning to their homeland and those from that people group staying in Persian territory, and it gave them physical allies on the perimeter of their nation and the favor of the gods of the people living in these regions. Read more »

It requires great skill and God’s blessing for a leader to develop and utilize a network of strong, key relationships while functioning with total dependence on God. Read Ezra 7.

God allowed the first contingent of Jews to return to Judah from their captivity in Babylon in 538 BC when He moved in the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia (see Ezra 1:1-4). Their assignment from God was to resettle the land and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was finished under the leadership of Zerubbabel in 516 BC. According to Ezra 6, after the temple was completed there was a great celebration and the people reinstated the Passover, a festival honoring God for a miracle that had taken place in Egypt many years earlier. During the Passover celebration “…the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel” (6:21). Read more »

Effective leaders must exercise discernment when building and evaluating a team. Read Ezra 4:1-5.

The contingent of Jews who accepted the offer of Cyrus to leave exile in Babylon and return to Judah and Jerusalem to re-populate the land and rebuild the temple were now in the land and construction on the temple was well underway. During the 70-year exile absence of the Jews from the land others had moved into the area and for a generation established presence and ownership of the land. You can imagine the tension between the two groups as Jews struggled to establish control and those currently living there struggled to keep control. Read more »