#349: Are Trustworthy Advisors Necessary Partners in Your Career?

I was on my 6^th assignment as a sales manager when I learned the importance of having trustworthy advisors. So, I had the experience, but as this story demonstrates, I still had a lot to learn.

One of the criteria for climbing the corporate ladder where I worked was grooming and promoting younger managers. In my department, the pickings were slim. There was one young manager who was deemed promotable, and my boss wanted me to work on getting him promoted.

This younger manager was likable and smart, and his results were stellar. Everyone around me advised me to support him. However, there was a little voice in my head telling me something was not quite right. But I ignored the voice in my head and supported him.

Weeks later, my wife, Barb, and I were at a corporate event where she met this young man. On the way home I asked what she thought of him, and she said in no uncertain terms, “I don’t trust him, and you shouldn’t either.” When I asked why, she said she couldn’t explain it, she just warned me not to trust him.

I’d like to add that my wife is a smart, intuitive lady.

I wish I could say I trusted her gut feeling and acted on her advice, but I can’t. I continued to support this young man. Barb is my most trusted advisor, but in this case, I ignored her advice.

Weeks later, we found there was fraudulent spending in our product promotion account through an audit of the use of company funds. It was a LOT of money. As the investigation continued, we eventually discovered all the fraudulent spending came from one person.

You guessed it. The fraudulent spending came from the young man my wife warned me not to trust.

My Mistakes

In this situation, I made four mistakes.

1. I wanted to please my boss, and that led me to support the young man without questioning if it was the right thing to do.
2. I went along with everyone else who said, “he’s a good guy; you should support him.”
3. Despite some misgivings, I ignored the little voice in my own head.
4. And finally, the biggest mistake of all is that I didn’t trust my wife’s opinion. I didn’t take her advice.

In hindsight, I should have considered my own reluctance, as well as my wife’s warning and paid very close attention to everything that this young man did. If I had done that, then I probably would have spotted his fraud and been able to stop it before it cost the company a lot of money.

I should have known better. There is a story in the Bible that is oddly similar to my experience.

Ahab and the Prophets

Ahab was king over the northern kingdom of Israel. He succeeded as a military commander. He became wealthy and built cities. Ahab probably thought he could do no wrong.

Big egos, I’ve found, are pretty common among successful leaders.

Ahab’s success in expanding the northern kingdom of Israel caused him to be greedy for more. One fateful year, Ahab decided to expand his territory by retaking an Israelite city known as Ramoth-Gilead that was in enemy hands. He enlisted the help of King Jehoshaphat from Israel’s southern kingdom.

Ahab called all his wife’s pagan prophets together and asked if he should go into battle to retake Ramoth-Gilead. Likewise, all 400 of these prophets agreed and said, “yes, go into battle; you will win.”

However, King Jehoshaphat, asked Ahab, “Isn’t there a prophet of God who we can ask?”

Reluctantly, Ahab had a prophet of God known as Micaiah brought to them. Ahab asked Micaiah if he should go into battle, and Micaiah said, “no, you will be killed, and the people of Israel will be scattered.”

Ahab ignored Micaiah, the prophet of God, and listened to all the pagan prophets.

Ahab commanded his and Jehoshaphat’s army to march up to take Ramoth-Gilead. The Aramean army defending the city of Ramoth-Gilead met the armies of Ahab and Jehoshaphat in battle. And just as Micaiah prophesied, Ahab was killed and the Israelite army scattered.

Ahab & Jehoshaphat’s Mistakes

Ahab and Jehoshaphat made a lot of mistakes.

1. Jehoshaphat aligned himself with Ahab out of political expediency rather than out of duty to God. Jehoshaphat knew Ahab had rejected God and introduced pagan worship to the Israelite people in the north, but he aligned himself with him anyway.
2. Ahab let his ego drive his behavior. He thought he could do whatever he wanted and continue to succeed.
3. Ahab went along with the pagan prophets because they told him what he wanted to hear.
4. Jehoshaphat heard the warning from Micaiah, the prophet of God, but he went along with Ahab and the pagan prophets anyway.
5. Ahab rejected the warning from Micaiah because Micaiah didn’t tell Ahab what he wanted to hear.

Lessons for Leaders about Trustworthy Advisors

I think there are three important lessons from my experience and the story of Ahab and Jehoshaphat.

1. Trust yourself. Come before God in prayer and trust what He tells you. Even if everyone around you says, “this is trustworthy,” trust God’s truth instead. God, the Holy Spirit, and His Word are trustworthy advisors!
2. Trust your trustworthy advisors! Trust men and women of God who may stand against the tide to tell you the truth! Don’t be tempted to trust people who tell you what you want to hear.
3. Do not become unequally yoked. Don’t align yourself with someone just because the boss tells you to, or it is politically expedient. Instead, align yourself with trustworthy, Godly men and women.

Don’t make the same mistake I did. Find and surround yourself with trustworthy advisors — trust me, your career will thank you for it.

Join the Conversation

As always, questions and comments are welcome. Do you have trustworthy advisors in your life? Do you listen to them?

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Category: Relationships | Healthy Alliances