John Stanko

"Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s
mother, 'Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son
of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David
knows nothing about it?'" - 1 Kings 1:11.

At this point in his career, King David was pretty much out of the day-to-day operations of the kingdom. His staff was preoccupied with meeting his personal needs and that left a vacuum at the top of the nation, which Adonijah tried to fill through a coup. David almost died before he installed Solomon as the rightful king. The point is that David inflicted much anxiety and angst upon his people by refusing to deal with his aging and who would take over the throne, insisting that death be the only cause of his retirement. Leaders must realize that the nation, organization or company does not exist only to serve their needs and provide their comfort, but should do the same for as many in the entity as possible.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Are you training your successor? Your Step today is to first recognize that you may be the source of pain and suffering in your organization through your refusal to delegate or plan for the future. Then you must develop a plan to identify your successor or at least to begin to train others in some of the functions you perform in your company. Just talking about your eventual departure will help people with that reality and give them less cause for concern.