Mark’s young, new boss dressed impeccably and spoke with grace and assurance to her senior managers. She was a perfect picture of an upwardly mobile young executive.
The trouble is, she was all talk. On the farm, we would say she was all hat and no cattle. She was pretentious, full of big talk but lacking in action and substance.
It didn’t take long for Mark to realize if anything was going to get done in their division, it was up to him to lead the organization.
Sadly, Mark’s experience is not uncommon. Many, if not most of us, have worked for someone who looked the part and sounded good but failed to lead their organizations.
A Biblical example of the failure of a leader to lead is seen between Saul and his son Jonathan.
Saul’s Inept Leadership
Saul became king over Israel when he was 30 years old. In the early days of his reign, Saul trusted in God. But as he grew more powerful, Saul trusted in himself more and more and trusted God less and less.
In those days, the Philistines assembled an army of nearly 100,000 men, including soldiers and chariots, and prepared to attack Israel. Saul failed to lead the people of Israel through this crisis in four ways:
1) Saul was indecisive
As the Philistine army grew close, Saul did nothing. Saul’s son, Jonathan, stepped up and led the initial charge against the Philistines (1 Samuel 13:1-4
).
2) Saul failed to inspire
Saul’s inaction caused the Israelite people to doubt themselves, and many deserted the army (1 Samuel 13:5-7). Even the remaining men were fearful and doubted their ability to win the battle.
3) Saul failed to wait on God
Samuel told Saul he would offer a sacrifice to God in seven days. Saul became impatient when Samuel didn’t appear early on the seventh day. Saul took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice without Samuel (1 Samuel 13:8-9).
4) Saul made excuses
Later that day, when Samuel arrived, he confronted Saul about making the sacrifice without him. Saul offered a series of excuses about why he did not obey Samuel or trust in God.
Through his failure to lead and inspire the Israelites, Saul’s initial army, made up of 3,000 men, had dwindled to only 600 men. Not good odds against a larger, better-equipped army of Philistines!
Jonathan Leads Israel
Jonathan became tired of waiting for his father, Saul, to act. So, as commanding general, Jonathan took only his armor-bearer to scout out the Philistine encampment.
Jonathan Acted
Despite being vastly outnumbered and lacking equipment, Jonathan showed himself to be the true leader of the Israelites. Without telling his father, Jonathan took his armor-bearer to survey the Philistine outpost.
Jonathan Trusted God
As Jonathan and his armor-bearer approached the Philistine outpost, Jonathan said nothing could hinder the Lord from saving the Israelites even though they had a small army (1 Samuel 14:6).
So, Jonathan and his armor-bearer engaged the men in the Philistine outpost, killing 20 of them. The sounds of battle roused the Philistines, and they panicked. Saul also heard the sounds of the battle and finally summoned the rest of the Israelite army to engage in the fight.
God gave the Israelites a great victory that day, not because of Saul but because of the leadership of his son, Jonathan.
While Saul sat, Jonathan attacked. Saul put his faith in his army, but Jonathan trusted in God. Saul watched as the battle began, but Jonathon made things happen.
Saul sounded good with his oaths and pretension but was weak on deeds. Saul was all hat and no cattle.
Jonathan showed himself worthy of the title of leader of Israel through his decisive action and trust in God.
Join the Conversation
As always, questions and comments are welcome. Have you worked for a leader who was all hat and no cattle? What impact did their leadership (or lack thereof) have on the organization?
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Category: Skills | Leadership Development
