The military decision making process, intel preparation of the battlefield, war gaming; human intelligence, signal intelligence and decision points. These are just some of the tools we use to issue guidance and critical information in the Army. Many times during this process a number of different people and sections are brought in at different times to either provide information or to receive it, but not many are all present at the same time. Yes their are those that are there for most of it and a few that are there for all of it but by and large each member contributes its part at the appropriate time. The one thing that all these people get out of each of these stages is the appropriate message and information during the appropriate time.

I don't know what it is about my personality but I hate losing. I mean I hate it with a passion. Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to be on the winning side...of everything! Growing up I hated being picked towards the last of the bunch, I hated losing hockey games, I hated losing arguements. I just hated to lose, period. I would get so mad and frustrated at myself for not being able to perform better or be smarter or be better than the person next to me. It drove me nuts. My anger would cause me to do some pretty stupid things because of it. It's not that I think that I was that bad at things that I often lost, but when I look back at those I compared myself to, I was just among a better class of person that I was trying to compare myself to. And the standards at which I compared myself were not my strongest attribute despite how desparately I want them to be. Even when I joined the Army seventeen years ago, I was no different, hell, even today I don't like coming in second. I consistently strive to out perform those around me, be the most knowledgable in my field and make sure that I've established myself as the one who knows and can do everything. The difference between growing up when and where I did and my time so far in the Army is that the Army has seemed to play to my strengths. I have had, by all rights, an extremely successful career up to this point. I consistently out-perform my subordinate, peers AND superiors (no not all of them, but most of them). My list of accomplishments list from being the youngest National Guardsmen (at the time anyway) to ever graduate from Tank Master Gunner School at the age of 23, consistently being the student in my courses to out-do everyone of my classmates and establish myself as the Soldier who has the answers. I've even been on the fast track for all of my promotions, only slowing down in the last few years because of my family choice (and I'll get into some of that at another time) and because of career longevity rather than accomplishment. But it's been only recently that I've come to realize that being the guy on top isn't necessarily the definition of winning. In fact I've learn to except losing and even tieing (once in a while).

I find it extremely hilarious and ironic that I think I know and understand something until I read how Jesus did it and then look at it from a perspective in my life thru His way of thinking. Up until I had read this book, "Leadership Lessons of Jesus, A Timeless Model for Today's Leaders" by Bob Briner & Ray Pritchard and "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert Cole; I had always viewed the people that hung around the boss thru jaded lenses. Thru one lens I looked at a lot of those people as only trying to advance there careers by sucking up to him or somehow manipulating him to get where they were for there own selfish means. This included but was not limited to selling off every last piece of there morals and stepping on just about everyone to get to where they were today. Thru the other lens I also saw the boss as someone who was willing to have a bunch of yes men circled around him willing to do his bidding because he was holding these same positions over them. Not only that but often times the people that the boss had surrounded himself with were only there to help advance him to the next level. I looked it as a never ending cycle of self-serving and chess moves to set somebody up for the next level of success. But that perception that I had has changed as I take a look at the reason for those around the leader and the leader himself. My perception of the people haven't changed, but I definitely have a new view on the way it could work. People will still act in accordance with there own priorities regardless of how pure they believe their intentions are. We can't help it, we are beings living with sin inside our hearts and that is something that we can't change. So what am I getting at with all this, well, it's kind of squishy. In order to understand the relationships we need to have at our level in the pecking order, we first need to review a few things that we've already gone over up to this point.

To summarize it as quickly as I can, we've learned so far that in order to be a leader that people will follow, you first must get people ot invest in you as a person. Once they've done this, selling them on your idea will be easy. If you've set it up right, they will jump at the chance to want to make your vision a reality because they believe in the man inside of it. After you've gathered enough people who believe in you and your mission you then need to gather a small group of people who will dedicate themselves to the accomplishment of this mission. Jesus did this by calling to Him His disciples and then naming among them the Twelve. This is where He started to mentor that select group of people and grow them so that they not only believed in the mission and were willing to see it accomplished but they also learned about it so that they, too, could go out and teach others about it. But we also have a smaller group inside of the Twelve whom Jesus took extra time with and passed along the meaning behind the mission and its intent. This is how He was able to ensure that His vision would live on long after He was gone. So, even Jesus recognized the importance of having only a select few individuals (three exactly) in which He brought up along side of Him. The Bible says that they had a special relationship with Him but when you look at how He treated everyone, you would never guess that He favored them over the others. In fact He went to great lengths to ensure that everyone was treated as equals. But Jesus, did, take extra time with the Three (Peter, James and John) because He knew that the only way to truly get His teachings across, He had to spend extra time with a chosen few who would be able to carry out the true vision He laid out. I look at it like this, you can't possible split all your attention between too many people and expect to affect change the way you want. With that many people, too many questions will be asked, too many opinions will be had about how to do it, and very little learning can be done. But, if you concentrate all your efforts on a select group, you can pass on everything you have to them and they in turn, will be able to carry out what needs to be accomplished.

Ok, now that we know that having those few in our circle that we can spend the extra time with is a good thing, how do we ensure that these relationships bear the fruit there supposed to. Well, with these special relationships come special responsibilities. A leader owes just as much to build this bond as do the followers. If a leader can't invest his own time, energy and effort to ensuring that his vision is seen and believed in by those special few, how can he ever expect them to do anything with it when he's not there? Again, we need to go back to the area of having those who follow you truly believe in you. This is done by the things you do to accomplish your goal with those chosen ones around you to see you. A couple of key times I'll point out during Jesus' ministry, He showed His personal dedication to His mission. One, when He brought the Three up to the mountain top with Him during the transfiguration. He let them see Elijah and Moses appear with Him and talk with Him. He also let the Three witness his pain and suffering during His time in the Garden before He was betrayed. But the one thing He didn't do, was treat them any different than how He treated everyone else. When He went off to pray and told the Three to watch over Him, he spared no feelings when He returned to find them asleep and convicted them for there weakness. Now, this wasn't putting them down, He was showing them that if they were truly going to call themselves disciples that they needed to show a much stronger dedication and faith than what they were.

With all of this being said, how can I, as a leader hope to accomplish this kind of set up with those around me? And how can I do this without becoming a victim of my own sin in having the people I have around me work to make me look good rather than accomplish the mission I've set out for. This is a tough one. It truly takes a person of strong character and belief in something much greater than oneself to even attempt to do this. I guess I first need to look at what goals I've set for myself and figure out if they are completely self-serving or if they are goals that others would want to accomplish with me and for me. Once I've got that figured out, I then need to work on me and make sure that I am someone that those people would be willing to follow to the end and beyond when I'm no longer there to push it. I think I do have one of the tools figure out to help me with this, though. IDEALISM! I need to be a person who is an idealist; one who believes in a cause first before I believe in myself. If I can show that I'm dedicated to something other than me, others, with there own sinful nature, can maybe believe in me too.