Have you ever found yourself puzzled at the dynamics of the modern workplace? Struggled to find wisdom in the Bible to understand the complex interactions you see? Longed for role models to learn from?
That’s where I found myself several years ago while working at a faith-based nonprofit, started out of a local church. The Christian leadership books I read dealt with character, integrity, and charisma. But I was looking for something more.
That’s when I started exploring the stories of the men who surrounded King David. Like us, they are often well-intended, but still fallible. Like us, they wrestle with how to get things done while honoring people. Like us, they are alternately inspired by and disappointed in their leaders and — more often — in themselves.
We have reduced the people that surrounded King David to sound bites on “Mighty Men.” However, as the creators of the Bible Project explain, “biblical authors present characters as more complex and morally compromised than we usually imagine.”
By wrestling with these stories, we can see ourselves and others more clearly; anticipate the consequences of our actions; and find a moral compass that points to our Creator rather than fallible earthly leaders. They become a lens through which we can better understand the dynamics of the world we live and work in, which leads us to make better decisions.
I left the nonprofit, faith-based world of work to get an MBA at Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University (ASU). From there, I went on to work as a strategic marketing consultant in Aerospace and Defense; traveled the world as a product manager in high-tech manufacturing and software; and am now a product marketer at a fast-growing software-as-a-service company.
Having All King David’s Men as a guide has helped me navigate many challenges. Now I offer these stories to you and invite you to a conversation about how we can better understand the dynamics of the world around us through this lens.
To get started, I recommend that you check out the Cast of Characters of the King’s Men. The blog posts will usually refer to one of them as an archetype. As a bonus, I’m including write-ups of books and relating them back to the concepts we discuss here.
Thank you for joining me on this journey as we learn and grow together.