A Cut Above the Restናሙና

Rising up Boldly

How a person behaves in the face of adversity speaks a lot about him or her. Does he cringe in the face of hardship or does he encounter it head on? Does he play the blame game or does he own the problem and seek solutions? Does he crib and complain or does he speak positively and maintains his composure?

Queen Esther was faced with such a situation in her life. Her people, the Jews, were about to be annihilated by the edict of King Artaxerxes at the instigation of the evil Haman. She was faced with a dilemma over whether to step up and do something about it or shy away from it and save only her own life. It was a tough decision to make with potentially dire consequences. King Artaxerxes, an impetuous person by nature, could kick her out of the palace like he did Queen Vashti or even order her execution. But Esther, challenged by her courageous Uncle Mordecai, made the choice to plead the case of the Jews with the king at the risk of her own life, and the rest is history.

One of the toughest decisions I had to make was to let go of a person from my team many years ago. He was a good performer at his work, but his attitude and professionalism often lacked the ethics and the standards that were required of his role. He also maintained a good rapport with the other team members. This made my decision even harder. But I wasn’t willing to let this bad example continue to lower our professional standards.

It is easy to teach ‘skills’ but more difficult to inculcate ‘values, ethics and standards’. It is important to acquire, nurture and develop a team that can always demonstrate values that are in line with your belief system or your organisation’s code of conduct. You have to make bold decisions that keep communicating where you stand with respect to those beliefs. Be it a little ethical compromise or an occasional violation of policy or a stray incident of misbehaviour, it has to be dealt with in an uncompromising and appropriate manner.

Dear Lord, empower me to rise up to occasions that demand the boldest side of me.