Leadership

Esther

Today, people need Christian managers and Christian leaders to help other people develop in their characters and skills. In most education book, management was define as getting the work done through others. Many secular managers misuse this concept and use their power to intimidate their employees. However, Christian managers know that the purpose of management is not only getting the work done through others, but also to develop people. Bible shows many examples of great Christian managers. One of them is Esther, the queen of king Ahasuerus. Her life can be an example for management principal. The way she planned to save her people from Haman who was plotting to king the Jews, organized a banquet for the king, lead her people with encouragement, and controlled the situation to achieve her goal.

Planning

        Esther was able to meet the king and saved her people through a careful planning. When she heard the news that Haman was plotting to kill all Jews, Esther was afraid but she realized that this might be the reason why God made her the queen of king Ahasuerus. (Esther 4:13-14) Subsequently, she committed to come to the king’s presence and made request to the king to save her people.

I can apply Esther’s planning strategy in my life is to set an objective which I want to achieve. If I was assign to fix a company’s problem one day, I should start by set an objective and a mean for achieving them. A week ago, my mother asked me to plan for the family holiday this summer. I was confused and I did not know where to start. Thus, from the book of Esther, I now know that I should start to set the goals first and work from there to accomplished those goals. Subsequently, I list all the places that my family and I want to visit and find ways how to go there. Once, I finish planning my trip, then I moved to the next step which is organizing. I am going to buy the flight tickets and my mother is going to book a tour.

Leading

        Esther motivated and inspired her people through prayer and fasting. After she heard the news from Mordecai, it was hard for Esther to see the king. Esther needed to risk her life to come to the king’s presence (Esther 4:11). Esther was very afraid that king would not pleased with her and kill her. And a dead queen could not help her people. Therefore, Esther requested that all Jews in Shushan to gather together and fast for three days. Thus, through a three day fast, she was asking the Jews to pray for her and also strengthen the faith of the Jews. (Esther 4:16)

        I can apply Esther’s leading strategy in business environment to motivate and inspire my employees. I could do a meeting to gather my employees together and just discuss about any the problems. And in the decision making process I could motivate those who quiet to be open and inspire them to be creative with their opinions. When I was a youth leader in my local church. There was always a meeting to discuss the church youth program. I and the other youth officer gather together in a circle and discuss the next program. Afterwards, I would receive all their opinions and I would ask them who quiet. Then we evaluated all the opinions after all the members gave their opinions. Thus, I encourage them who quiet by directly asking them questions.

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