The 2 skills David mastered as an employee.
Part5: When destiny and time meet.
After being in hiding for months and months, running away from King Saul — David finds himself a fortress in a place called Adullam. It is interesting that only when he moved to this location that things started falling into place.
His brothers along with his entire family including his father. The same brothers that rejected, the same Father that rejected him. Now, they submitted under his leadership, remember they knew he will be king — he was anointed in front of them.
A Purpose Driven life Attracts
David had no resources, no money, no land, no property, no army but he had a purpose. The execution of his purpose drew some away from him and we see here that it drew some to him.
People are attracted to a purpose, a vision that is bigger and greater than the visionary.
It is this same purpose, vision, and deep convictions that attracted hate, rejection from organizations, police brutality, and ultimately the death of Bantu “Steve” Biko.
Steve Biko’s vision and purpose was to break off the psychological, mental chains of oppression from the black child.
The Black Consciousness Movement became the vehicle he used to spread his deep inspired beliefs, convictions, and purpose.
“Steve Biko was forbidden to write or speak publicly, to talk with media representatives or to speak to more than one person at a time, among other restrictions.” Biography.com
David’s perseverance and endurance that “I will never quit attitude", allowed them to finally catch up with his passion and driving force.
If you succeed leading your family then you have a greater chance of success as a leader outside than a person who cannot lead his family.
Many leaders today, especially politicians and entertainment celebrities are struggling with this family leadership thing as a result we see family scandals after another.
Which is no surprise why our country is in such a crisis — leaders without integrity but full of greed. We have a leadership crisis — as John Maxwell says “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
I believe one of the greatest tests of leadership is family.
The second group of people that came and submitted under David's leadership were all those who’s luck had run-out — losers and vagrants and misfits of all sorts. People the society has rejected and labeled as outcasts.
These people are normally the majority in any large gathering. The same vain they normally lack self-esteem, have no positive belief systems, convictions about themselves and their future — every day is lived in survival mode.
I see these people every day, I grew up in such an environment. The people don’t need leaders that will add to their oppression.
These people need to be:
- Inspired
- Protected
- Equipped and,
- Empowered
David offered exactly these things.
Build your own Machine
David had lead sheep that belonged to his father. He had led troops that belonged to King Saul. This moment is special because for the first time he will lead his own people. He had the privilege of managing another man’s already developed system — he knew the ins and outs of his master’s system.
David had hundreds of people reporting to him as a managing director of a division in the kings empire. The experience he gained as he worked for the king and the connections/networks he made during this period became his key assets when he built his own empire.
Most of us start our entrepreneurial journies, projects, organizations without tangible resources i.e. money, products, equipment, and other resources. When I resigned from my job 3 years back I only had one part, only work experience — I had no networks nor an appreciation for networking. I have learned that these two (experience and networks) go hand in hand.
If you are an employee and you have a desire to build your own business, start your own organization specialize and grow as much as possible as an employee and network like crazy.
Therefore, like David, we have to start from the bottom, without any monetary resources, no assets, in most cases no tangible or virtual product — only selling a vision. The greatest satisfaction in life is bringing your idea to life.
You join the Creator in creation when you take you idea, vision and put actionable processes in place to bring it to life.
You might not have the tangible resources, always remember to leverage the experience gain from employment and the networks you made during employment — as you build your machine, this is your competitive advantage.
I was 14 years when I was introduced to Phakama Community Center a Non-profit organization in Cape Town, KTC township. I was given the mandate to start a Christian Mentoring and Coaching program — back then I did not know that what I was doing was Mentoring and Coaching, I realized this point about 9 years later.
Phakama Community Center was my leadership Bootcamp, It is at this place that I had my leadership training, where I had my values, belief system, deep convictions sharpened. This was my Adullam.
