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Leadership Lessons: Hezekiah

Leaders must recognize early on the truism – to be a success focus on the essentials. In doing so, they help set the stage for success.

Proverbs for Professionals verse paraphrase for 2 Kings 18.7 as used in the post: To Be a Success Focus on the Essentials

Focus on the Essentials

Impactful leaders are insightful enough to recognize what’s essential. And, they do that early in their term of office.

Moreover, they don’t simply recognize the essentials. Instead, they focus their attention there. As a result, impactful leaders deliver growth.


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Remember, impactful leaders set boundaries for what’s acceptable, thus shaping culture.


A Success Template

As such, Second Kings 18.1-7 provides a template for this type of successful leadership.

First, the leader recognized what was problematic. Then, he eliminated the trouble areas, verse 4.

Second, he set a strong, personal example of what was essential, verse 5. How so? By living a precept-driven life, verse 6.

As a result of his focus on the essentials, he enjoyed dramatic multiplication of his efforts, verse 7. That multiplication was the result of him behaving wisely.


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Leadership Insight

Doing what’s right may mean making tough choices early in your term as a leader.

Actually, that was the case here in Second Kings 18.4 where the leader got rid of a 700-year old object of worship. Now, talk about killing a sacred cow!


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So, how did this leader pull it off? By walking the walk so that others could see the reality of who he was.

Obviously, this leader was a person of faith, verse 5, “He trusted the Lord” and verse 6 “He clung to the Lord … kept the precepts …”

Therefore, he recognized this fundamental truth: to be a success focus on the essentials.

Here, the essentials were eliminating problems early on. Then, setting the pace for expected behavior.

Consequently, the outcomes of his leadership were beneficial to a nation. Thus, here’s a great example of impactful leadership.


Proverbs for Professionals verse paraphrase for Proverbs 3.1-2 as used in the post: To Be a Success Focus on the Essentials

Apply This Today!

Early on, impactful leaders establish boundaries for what’s acceptable, thereby shaping culture.

Additionally, the credibility for this type of boundary setting comes from a sound character that’s guided by widely-accepted principles.

A leader enhances his/her ability to recognize what’s essential by a discerning character.

In turn, discernment is developed through observation, listening, and reflection. So, be that leader!

As a leader, what processes have been effective in helping you identify the essentials?


Thanks for visiting. Also, please contact me if you have comments: larrydaleyoung@gmail.com

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