The follow is the introduction to the soon-to-be-released book, The Proverbs Management Handbook.
So you’re a manager. Congratulations on winning the lottery! I’ll bet you sit around most of the day with your feet on your desk, drinking coffee while your highly skilled and obedient staff efficiently and flawlessly complete their tasks – on time and without issues. At the end of your eight-hour day, you jump into your Lamborghini Veneno, drive home to your mansion, and listen to the glowing reviews of your company on the business channel. You sometimes consider cashing in your stock options to purchase a private retirement island in the South Pacific, but you’re just having too much fun at work. How could life possibly be better?
If that’s your situation then this book might not be for you. Most of us find the job of management considerably more difficult, whether we’re managing a single employee, a household, volunteers, a small business, or a public corporation. Competition is fierce, customers are demanding, suppliers make mistakes, employees behave badly, equipment breaks down, governments want taxes, technology evolves, regulations change, peers play politics and with all these challenges the expectation is that managers will always be efficient, helpful, friendly, professional and irreproachable.
How?
Few managers are born with the intuition required to successfully navigate all the obstacles thrown their way. Thankfully, countless books have been written providing guidance on the subject, however, few of these books are written from a Christian perspective. If you are a Christian manager then you have a unique worldview that often conflicts with conventional wisdom. Where much of the world tells you that greed is good, and that the way to advance your career is on the backs of others, the Bible teaches the opposite. Many people are surprised to discover how much excellent, practical management advice the Bible actually provides. Most of this advice is found in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs was written by King Solomon almost 3,000 years ago. The Bible tells us that he was the richest man who ever lived, but he was also an exceptional manager:
• He managed a kingdom whose boundaries were much greater than present day Israel (1 Kings 4:21).
• He engaged in international trade (2 Chronicles 1:16-17).
• He managed the twenty year construction of Israel’s first temple and its furnishings (2 Ch. 8:1), employing 70,000 carriers, 80,000 stonecutters and 3,600 foremen (2 Ch. 2:2).
• He managed a thirteen year construction project of his opulent palace (1 Kings 7:1).
• He managed the rebuilding and repopulation of villages (2 Chronicles 8:2).
• He built storage cities, fortifications, chariot cities and cities of the cavalry (2 Ch. 8:5-6).
• He conscripted vast amounts of forced labor from his former enemies (2 Chronicles 8:8).
• He managed 250 chief officials of his military (2 Chronicles 8:9-10).
• He appointed divisions of the priests, gatekeepers, and Levites to assist the priests
(2 Chronicles 8:14).
• He negotiated complex foreign trade deals for cedar, cypress, gold and cities (1 Kings 9:11-14).
• He travelled (2 Chronicles 8:17).
• He engaged in maritime trade (2 Chronicles 8:18).
• He coordinated labor forces of tens of thousands of people (1 Kings 5:13-14).
He managed all of these projects with great success, but most importantly, he revealed the secrets of his management success in the book of Proverbs. Solomon starts the book with an explanation of why he wrote it. He says that he wants us,
To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding,
To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity;
To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel
Proverbs 1:2-5
The message of the book is aimed at people in leadership roles, especially the young and inexperienced, but it is also helpful to older managers. I was in my early fifties when I first took the advice of one of our church elders, a remarkably successful businessman, and started reading a chapter of Proverbs per day and viewing it through the lens of its application to management. As there are thirty one chapters in Proverbs, it’s easy to get through the book once per month and then start all over again.
In doing so, I was surprised to find that over half of the verses could be applied to my management work. Even more surprising, I found that each month the verses were speaking to me in a different way. As my circumstances changed from day to day, I found the deep, rich wisdom of the verses providing multiple solutions. I began recording my thoughts and eventually compiled them in this handbook. The purpose of this handbook is to serve as a reference guide to managers, to show how Proverbs applies to management problems. Furthermore, where Proverbs gives management advice, this handbook often extrapolates and expands by discussing related, modern management theories, practices and examples.
Note, however, that this guide should not be treated as a cookbook that has the perfect recipe for every occasion. Proverbs is full of wisdom, but it also takes wisdom to apply its advice properly. The following coupled verses provide the perfect example:
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
Or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5 (NIV)
So are you supposed to answer a fool or not answer a fool? It depends on the circumstances. There are no hard and fast rules. We should pray for wisdom and then let the Holy Spirit guide us in our decisions. It might not be a good idea to answer a person when they are very angry, or drunk, or when the answer will unnecessarily upset them, and certainly not in the foolish manner in which they may have posed the question.
Other times, however, it is quite appropriate to give a stern rebuke to a fool. Our conscience should be our guide in selecting the right response. There are many other verses that compliment these two, providing more specific guidance, but rarely in cookbook fashion. This handbook groups many of these verses by management subject to provide managers with ready responses to various management problems ranging from strategy to operations.
Proverbs even contains considerable advice on finance, but it is not a get-rich-quick book either. If getting rich quick is your primary goal, then there are better books out there for you although, if you follow the advice of this book, the odds are that you will be more financially successful than if you hadn’t. Solomon writes,
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
Proverbs 3:1-2 (NIV)
Proverbs provides a guide to prosperity, but it is not primarily a prosperity gospel. Most proverbs can be interpreted in a spiritual sense and are meant to provide us with a path to spiritual growth, yet most of the same verses also provide advice that can benefit us on a physical and material level as well.
My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings . . .
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.
Proverbs 4:20-22
Long life is in her (wisdom’s) right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.
Proverbs 3:16
These verses tell us that, in addition to spiritual benefits, the wisdom of Proverbs can help improve our health and increase our wealth. I’m no genius and I’m certainly not a management guru. I consider myself to be a person of average intelligence, yet by God’s grace and by the application of His wisdom, I’ve achieved above average success by most measures. The good news is that to succeed we don’t need to be extraordinarily smart. All we need to do is draw on God’s wisdom. Solomon writes,
Four things are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:
The ants are not a strong people,
But they prepare their food in the summer;
The shephanim are not mighty people,
Yet they make their houses in the rocks;
The locusts have no king,
Yet all of them go out in ranks;
The lizard you may grasp with the hands,
Yet it is in kings’ palaces.
Proverbs 30:24-28
The point being made is that the lowliest of creatures, with only the instincts given to them by God, are exceedingly wise and successful in their endeavors and we can be too if we follow the inspired words of God that Solomon recorded in Proverbs. Then we might too find ourselves in kings’ palaces.
Feel free to read this handbook any way you like, but it was designed as a quick reference manual and it is not necessary to read the chapters in any kind of order. Also note that, unless otherwise specified, the biblical quotes in this book are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). The tone of this translation is a bit more wooden than most, but it is one of the most literal translations and hence preserves a lot of the original, beautiful imagery. However, where appropriate, other translations have been used to ensure that the message is communicated clearly.
It is my sincere hope that this book will help you to better understand and to derive more benefit from Proverbs and I would certainly appreciate knowing your thoughts. Feel free to leave comments on my feedback page at www.johnaguderian.com.
May you find peace, prosperity and wisdom.
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