Genesis 12: The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you" - A story from the Old Testament and its relevance for business consulting and corporate coaching.
Last Sunday I went to the christening of my neighbour's boy, Naziih, at Lewisham's Tabernacle Church. The minister preached about the verse above, where Abram (later called Abraham) was called to leave the city of Ur in Chaldea and venture to Canaan, a trip from modern Iraq to Israel.
Abraham got his family together, mainly and namely his father Terah (who sort of project managed the voyage), his half-sister Sarai (later called Sarah), who he married at a later stage (yes!), and his nephew Lot, son of his brother Haran.
So far, so good, and off they went. Halfway through, project manager and father of all, Terah, got a little sick and tired of the trip and settled with his lot in Haran, a place that bore the same name as his son, Lot's father.
Of course, God wasn't overly happy about it, to say the least, and after a while reinforced his command to Abraham, to finally make a move and drag his lazy "derrière" to Canaan. Abraham said something like "alright then, let's go!" and packed Sarah and Lot and left Terah behind where he died early aged. And that was it with his early retirement.
Once arrived in Canaan, Abraham went to the one direction and became, in modern terms, a self-made multi-millionaire, and his nephew Lot to the other direction, where he, after moving around a little, finally settled in Sodom. Yes, Sodom, city of sin, which would nowadays be London's Vauxhall area.
God looked down to Sodom and Gomorrah and wasn't pleased, not pleased at all. Maybe he was also a little embarrassed about his creation and decided to give them the 'fire and brimstone treatment' and eradicate them from Earth. Before doing so, and since he is a just god, he sent out some angelic investigators to maybe save them, Lot in particular. The undercover angels knocked on his door, told him to leave, and got a "yeah, right, whatever! And if I go, then not without my family" response back from him. Finally, after a long struggle, they managed to set Lot and his lot, consisting of 1 wife and 2 daughters, right outside the city gates and gave God the "all clear" for Sodom (and Gomorrah) to be righteously treated for their sinful behaviour.
The last words the angels told Lot were that neither of them were allowed to look backwards during the time that God sorted Sodom out, otherwise they'd be up for a nasty surprise. Of course, Lot's wife did, as nosey people do, and as punishment she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot then said to himself: "Well, wife gone; I still have 2 daughters" and did what good old Sodomites did back then, he made them both pregnant, thus founding 2 major tribes - the Moabites and Ammonites.
In far away Canaan, Abraham led a life as god-fearing person and God rewarded him with financial riches, a long life, and a healthy libido through which he got his sister Sarah pregnant, after God told him so! A lot of incest has taken place back then, it appears, be it divinely sanctioned or habitual. Sarah, also an old woman by then, and rather skeptical about this whole pregnancy adventure, loved Abraham nonetheless, and god-fearing as they were, they tried it. They were successful, she gave birth to Isaac, who then became the 'grandfather' of the 12 tribes of Israel... That's as far as the story goes.
During the sermon the preacher referred back to his acronym SALT and what it means to be a good Christian:
S for Sarah: Be like Sarah, loving and god-fearing. And look out for any other Sarah's in your life, those are the ones you want to have around yourself!
A for Abraham: Be like Abraham, follow God's commands and he will reward you with riches in Heaven and on Earth!
L for Lot: Don't be like Lot, stubborn and conventional. And don't surround yourself with any of those Lots. They will hinder you and slow you down from reaching your divinely set targets.
T for Terah: Don't be like Terah, lazy and deviant. And don't have anyone who is like Terah around yourself, as like with any of those Lots, they will prevent you from ever going down the direction set by God.
The preacher said: "Go and surround yourselves with Sarahs and kick all those Lots and Terahs out of your lives so you can reach your divinely set destiny".
Of course, I completely disagree with that, especially in a private and family setting. If we always discarded the ones that slow us down, we'd end up living in a heartless world and I think Jesus himself would be a bit embarrassed about us.
BUT, and there is a big B U T in all of this; in a business setting I fully agree with the moral of this acronym:
S: Surround yourself with Sarahs, followers you can trust and can build a team with. People who know you and don't always question whatever your decisions are. Those Sarahs are the team members you want, the peers you can rely on, and the subordinates who ensure your area or department moves forward to where the CEO (not God in this matter) wants you to be.
A: Be like Abraham. Listen to what your targets are and go for them. The earlier you deliver results, the earlier will be your reward. Lead your team towards your targets and enjoy the outcome once you got there.
L and T: Don't be like them and avoid those in your team. In fact, get rid of them! Those traditionalists and lethargic team members slow you down, get you distracted, will prevent you and your 'Sarahs' from reaching your targets. Be ruthless when it comes to who surrounds you and when choosing your team!
Part of my job as Corporate Coach would be to look out for those Sarahs, Lots and Terahs, and also for potential junior-Abrahams in my clients' teams. Together we'd make action plans and form teams ensuring the targets of the company can and will be met. As coach I'd take my clients on a discovery tour enabling them to find SALT in their surroundings and taking action afterwards!
In the end, it was a good sermon and got me thinking. It was an inspirational Sunday morning trip. For further reading, please take a look at my Travel Blog, where I added a few pictures of Naziih's christening and the party afterwards. Also, go on Wikipedia and search for 'Abraham' 'Terah', 'Lot' and 'Sodom and Gomorrah'. Those are quite interesting articles to read and give a bit more biblical background.
Visit my website to find out more about Corporate Coaching! Thanks.
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