Joseph Asare Jnr

In this series, I examine the daring leadership lessons for businesses, leaders and individuals from three different perspectives of a very popular historic biblical battle between David and Goliath.  Until now, like many of you who have heard the account of this battle before, I had plainly assumed it was all an instant miracle from God during the few minutes (perhaps seconds) that the actual battle lasted. That God merely picked a shepherd boy from little Bethlehem in Israel to face off a great experienced warrior called Goliath from a town well known for great giants and warriors. And that God miraculously guided the stone the shepherd boy flung to hit the only exposed spot on Goliath’s body killing him instantly.

As much as this brief account is true, I try to show that this is a little too simplistic and it could well be that during this battle, God was as much a spectator as everyone else except He knew how it was all going to end. I know someone just cringed at this thought, but we will soon see that God’s part was done long before the battle was conceived. And that what happened had everything to do with bold leadership calls, choice of tactics, the brilliance of a skilled fighter mistakenly considered an underdog and the revealing flaws of a competitor disguised as a formidable opponent. Please come with me as we explore the learnings in this historic battle. 

Episode #1 – The Unsung Hero

Eight weeks. That’s all that separated the launch of Apple’s revolutionary iPhone, on June 29, 2007, and Motorola’s next-generation Razr2 (pronounced Razr Squared) cellular telephone, on August 24. As you can imagine, before unveiling this successor to the Razr, which had ranked 12th on a list of the 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years, Motorola’s top management team was more than worried. Chairman and CEO Edward J. Zander wondered if the iPhone had changed the competitive dynamics of the market in ways they hadn’t foreseen. Had the iPhone created a new niche or would it take the Razr2 head-on? Suddenly, there was a new kid on the block. The competitive landscape had changed significantly before a major launch…

Forty days. That is how long it took Israel to react when the nation realized the rules of the battle, they had prepared for had significantly changed. Their sworn rival, The Philistines had encamped near the Valley of Elah ready for battle. Israel was expecting a battle of armies but instead, Goliath, the Champion warrior of the Philistines crossed the lines into the battlefield – inside the valley of Elah – and challenged Israel to give him their champion for a one-on-one combat. Israel was wrong-footed. The competitive landscape had changed significantly, and Israel was not ready. Their enemy had creeped up on them and the entire nation including their King was gripped with fear. The organization called Israel was in crisis. Competition threatened a hostile takeover. The rules of the takeover have been spelt out and their lead negotiator, Goliath, has tabled their proposal. For 40 days, competition hounded them waiting impatiently for them to come to the negotiating table. Psychologically, they began to break.

Lesson #1 – When you get ready to compete, be prepared for what you didn’t prepare for. In life and in business, be ready for surprises; leave nothing to chance because everything is disorderly and unstable these days.

Every day, their opponent pressed them with threats and gained psychological advantage. It wasn’t until 40 days that Israel found a negotiator – a rather inexperienced nobody. We normally give a lot of credit to David for his bravery to step up to fight Goliath at that age and with no battle experience, but we forget to adequately measure the risk King Saul took and the gamble the entire nation of Israel took to permit David to fight Goliath. The entire nation would go into slavery if David lost. That is how high the stakes were.

The stakes were probably much higher for Saul than anyone else in Israel including David. He was their leader and King and the buck stopped with him. Everyone was looking up to him for inspiration, direction and deliverance. He couldn’t fail. I am sure for those tormenting 40 days whilst Goliath defied the nation and the people paled with fear, Saul might have never slept at night. So when David came along, though a ridiculous alternative, he was the only one who had found the courage that neither him – Saul, or anyone else in Israel had. During the ensuing job interview, Saul offered this rookie a valuable resource to help him succeed in his daunting task – the King’s fighting gear. But when David refused the resources Saul put at his disposal, with a reason that accentuated his incompetence at the very job he was interviewing for, Saul should have made him pay for wasting his time. He couldn’t be in the ring if he couldn’t wear a pair of fighting gloves. Even more ridiculous, was his alternative plan to overcome their opponent – a staff and 5 stones! He was toying with the destiny of the nation and not many leaders with that much at stake would still hire such a candidate with such a reckless illogical plan. But Saul did. Was it out of conviction or out of desperation?

Maybe because his back was now to the wall. Of all the people within his organization including him, only this supposed rookie had the courage to believe in himself and his idea and was willing to execute it. Certainly, Saul’s elders and advisors must have not only advised him against it but surely must have reprimanded him (Saul). The board of directors must have convened many times within the 40 days that competition threatened, to consider their options including perhaps surrender and negotiating some reliefs.  And before they could reconvene the next day to firm up their strategy and counter offer to their hostile competitor, news broke that the CEO had signed off on the worse alternative on the table and set his plan in motion. The teenage shepherd boy was on his way to the valley of Elah to accept the terms of the hostile takeover. Indeed, Saul conducted no due diligence on David before giving him his mandate except that he took David by his word. How reckless of a leader yet how vindicating upon hindsight.

How do you think Israel reacted? Can you imagine the headlines that morning if Israel had a vociferous media like we have today? Every radio and TV channel will be inundated with criticism from the so-called experts. The tabloids would be flooded with abusive headlines and demeaning cartoonish images of Saul and David. Social media would crush with verbal assault for Saul, their leader. Families will be alarmed and disgusted. Every household will be frantically making last minute preparations to go into slavery. Their leader has just made the worst unbelievable decision ever. The curses and insults at Saul & his generation would be unimaginable. 

Lesson # 2 – As a leader, do not be readily dismissive of inexperience or seemingly absurd ideas even when the stake is highest. Do not shy away from bold unpopular decisions when you are convinced of it even if it will leave you lonely.

Now, do you get it why Saul was so furious and embittered when the same people sang David’s praise when what was effectively Saul’s leadership decision brought the country the victory? Saul had believed in David and made a bold leadership call in times of crisis and he had been vindicated. And so he felt, like most humans will feel, that he deserved at least as much praise as David.

It does sound like the bane of leadership isn’t it? The leader has no credit when his illogical unpopular decision turns out well yet he takes all the blame when he takes the most popular and logical decision yet things go wrong. In the face of the gargantuan threat, Saul seem to have made perhaps the worst leadership call that any leader would make in all of history. Even with the benefit of hindsight, no leader, today, business or political, will dare make a similar call. But perhaps, it was also for such a time as that, that the caliber of Saul was needed in leadership. He was a man noted for his indiscretion. In fact, Saul’s indiscretion throughout his leadership was legendary. Too often, under pressure, he made rash decisions. Throughout his leadership tenure, prior and post God’s rejection of him as Israel’s King, he built for himself an unbelievable CV of pride and indiscretion. Saul was the best candidate to get David into the valley of Elah to fight Goliath. Without his approval, David will never had, gotten his chance against Goliath. With what was at stake, a different leader would have been dismissive of David.

So ultimately, that was God’s invisible hand in the background. Another rescue plan to foretell the ultimate rescue of man by Christ. But the rescuer needed help. When the nation had rebelled against God and asked for a human king, He still worked things out for their good by giving them a leader who in their worst moments could have the boldness and character (being a man of indiscretion), to entrust the nation’s fate to a rookie – a boy God had prepared long before, for that battle. 

God’s role #1 – God’s plan to deliver Israel included Saul as much as it included David. Sauls part was as significant as the historic washing of hands by Pilate to permit Jesus’s crucifixion.

So, David was not the only hero in that historic battle. David wouldn’t have defeated Goliath without Saul. Leaders are hired to make bold decisions. Many times, those will be unpopular and bring personal injury to self, reputation and family as many will bash you for it. But that is what leadership is and when Saul got his chance, he did not disappoint.

Lesson #3 – Do not readily despise the decisions of your leader. Do not be in a hurry to take them to the cleaners. Surely, he has more at stake and a much bigger perspective than you do.

The last highlight of Saul’s exemplary leadership in this specific matter was his understanding of the importance of motivation. Reward has a place even in trying times, perhaps even more so. When your dream, destiny or survival is at stake, then also put something at stake. A good leader in crisis will still dig in further to reward anyone who dares to be different or dares to step up. Let people know that you value their input and sacrifice. Again, to Saul’s credit, he knew this principle and did a good job at it. It was known to all the warriors in Israel what will be done for the one who stepped up to deliver the nation from their enemy – a lifetime tax waiver for him and his entire family and the King’s own daughter for a wife. And for what it was worth, David inquired of this reward before stepping forward.

Lesson #4 – Reward ideas, bravery and efforts. Show that you value people and their contribution. Demonstrate that you indeed have a skin in the game.

So Saul at the time of this battle had been rejected by God. It is convenient for people to assume he was no longer his own man (though an evil spirit tormented him) with his own intellect and every evil he did was his own doing but every good he did was as a result of some supernatural manipulation. I submit that every leader, like Saul, makes good and bad decisions out of their own leanings and discretion without divine manipulation except they seek God’s help. Yet God knows what those decisions will be long before they are made, and He can make them fit into His sovereign plans. In his life, Saul’s tragic flaw was indiscretion and pride, often manifested as a fear of criticism and a love of popular approval. This flaw resulted in a tendency to make significant errors in judgment that consistently resulted in complication and misfortune. In this case, it paid off and he deserves some credit with lessons for us and every leader. Saul is an unsung hero in this historic battle. I know many don’t have a good humph about Saul because of his consistent poor judgement, disobedience to God, madness, instability and insecurity. And this can blind you from discovering some of the good lessons buried amidst his faults.

Watch out for episode 2 as we consider the 2^nd perspective and learnings from this historic battle of the giant and the so called underdog.