Good Is the Enemy of GreatSample

A Manager Par Excellence

Winston Churchill said, ‘Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning’. Churchill was the Prime Minister during World War II in England. Before America entered the war, Churchill was probably the leader to look up to for the Allied Forces. Churchill’s quote holds very true for managers today, and also was true for Nehemiah, who was able to finish building the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days, a miracle even in the twenty first century with all our modern equipment.

Nehemiah’s story starts with him receiving news from his native Jerusalem that the walls of Jerusalem were all broken down to the ground. He wept for many days when he heard the news. He was the cup-bearer of the king in his country of exile. When the king asked what was bothering him, Nehemiah answered crisply what the problem was, what he intended to do and what he wanted from the king to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That is ‘advance thinking and planning’ coming out of ‘advance worrying’. In Nehemiah’s case, it affected him to the extent of ‘advance weeping’.

As managers, we often get into a worrying phase during a project or a programme or an innovation that we are driving. When we get into that phase, do we overcome the adversity by advance thinking and planning? How is our budget management, people management, risk management, supply chain or vendor management? These are questions we should ask ourselves to bring results out of advance thinking and planning.

Nehemiah had calculated the exact budget needed for the project. His advance planning had given him a perfect list of raw materials needed to build the wall. His people management stood out when he took great care of the people working on building the wall by paying them their dues. His risk management skill stood out when he led the people to work with one hand while holding a weapon with the other hand. This is extraordinary project management; he was not just good, but great. For, good is the enemy of great!

Dear Father, You place worry in our hearts to spur us into advance thinking and planning for the challenges ahead of us. We trust You in our worries to deliver us from the challenges we face. Amen