The Challenge of Learning, Part 2

Scripture — Nehemiah 8:1-3, 7-8 (NRSV)

All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. . . . Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Devotion

In my last Life for Leaders devotion, we began to explore the challenge for leaders of learning. We saw how Ezra the priest—and, by implication, Nehemiah—were committed to helping the people entrusted to their care, not only to obey the law of God but also to understand it. Whether we’re talking about biblical truth, company policies, organizational mission, or innumerable other topics, leaders accept the challenge of helping their people learn. They want them to understand what’s important for their work and their lives. Of course, a leader with sufficient authority could simply force people to do what that leader wanted. But this is not the vision of corporate life and leadership seen in Scripture. Rather, leaders work hard to foster understanding.

Like Ezra, wise leaders recognize that the work of teaching and learning is something to be shared. If you’re in a place of higher authority in an organization, you can’t do all the teaching on your own. You need your version of the Levites, trained and effective teachers who can help people gain understanding. Certainly, however, there will be times when you will need to take the lead in this process, whether in your conversations, meetings, speeches, one-on-ones, emails, corporate policies, or public statements.

Now, it almost goes without saying that if you are going to be a leader who helps people learn, you must be a learner yourself. You can’t teach what you haven’t learned, after all. There is no end to intentional learning for the effective leader in today’s world, whether you are leading in business, education, nonprofit work, church, government, or family. 

In a Duke Divinity interview with my Fuller colleague Tod Bolsinger, he underscores the importance of learning for the leader. Tod says,

In a changing world, leadership is learning. The faster you learn, the further you can go. So, trying to help people get clear that an ongoing capacity for learning and self-reflection and creativity and being willing to face failure and being able to help people go through those losses is needed all the way through. If we can help people keep learning in real time, even beyond when they need initials after their names and degrees, then we can actually help leaders continue to thrive because we thrive.

I expect that Nehemiah and Ezra would agree with this. You can see the importance of leaders learning in Nehemiah 8 as well as many other portions of the books bearing their names.

Throughout my life as a leader in many different settings, I have learned more than I can possibly remember! I have learned from books and newspapers, articles and podcasts, poems and novels. I have learned much from watching other people, especially leaders whom I admire and seek to emulate. I continue to learn from conversations with others, especially those who are different from me in some way. For example, most of my colleagues on the De Pree Center staff are young enough to be my children. But I learn so much from them, often about things concerning which their generation is smarter than mine (such as technology!). 

Like the people in Nehemiah 8, a top priority of my learning focuses on God’s Word in Scripture. I have studied the Bible now for almost six decades. Along the way, I earned a PhD in New Testament, preached a thousand sermons, taught a couple dozen Bible courses in seminaries, and wrote over 3,000 devotions based on Scripture. You might think I’ve learned most of what the Bible has to offer. But, in fact, I often feel like a beginner when it comes to deep biblical wisdom. I have so much more to learn about God and God’s ways. My leadership depends on what God teaches me through the written Word. 

In conclusion, the examples of Nehemiah and Ezra encourage us to prioritize teaching and learning in at least two major ways. First, as we saw in last Wednesday’s devotion, we must be committed to the teaching of our people so that they might learn and grow. We don’t want them simply to do the things we tell them to do. Rather, we seek to help them understand what they’re doing and why. Second, in order to help others to learn, we must first be committed to our own learning. This is not something that happens when we’re younger and stops as we become mature leaders. Rather, as Tod Bolsinger reminds us, we who lead need an “ongoing capacity for learning and self-reflection and creativity.”

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.