Ten leadership principles from the life of Jesus Christ to help conservation leaders win. Author: "i have always been fascinated by this great and everlasting achievement of Jesus Christ's leadership" "i have tried to apply his leadership principles applied to leave a lasting legacy"
Ten leadership principles from the life of Jesus Christ to help conservation leaders win. Author: "i have always been fascinated by this great and everlasting achievement of Jesus Christ's leadership" "i have tried to apply his leadership principles applied to leave a lasting legacy"
Ten leadership principles from the life of Jesus Christ to help conservation leaders win. Author: "i have always been fascinated by this great and everlasting achievement of Jesus Christ's leadership" "i have tried to apply his leadership principles applied to leave a lasting legacy"
Author Robert Ddamulira Jermain_dr2002@yahoo.com +256-752-582723/+256-776-582723
2014
Ten (10) leadership principles from Jesus Christ to help conservation leaders win
2 WHY JESUS-LIKE CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP WINS!
Forward: One of lifes biggest lessons for me has come from the Chinese bamboo. By the end of its first year only a small tiny shoot sprouts out from the ground. During the second year, the farmer waters, protects and fertilizes the seedling but nothing happens. In the third year, the farmer fertilizes, waters and protects the plant but still nothing happens, the same happens in the four year. But finally in the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo plant grows to 90 feet (30meters) in just 6 weeks. This is because, since year one much of its growth was taking place underneath everyones sight underground. From year one, it is busy expanding its root network upon underground acres upon acres of land. In the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo is able to mobilize all the resources it needs to achieve the most astonishing record growth rate of any woody plant in a single year. Such was the life story of Jesus Christ, working for only 3 years, but with 30 years of preparation, Jesus was able to achieve results that continue to touch billions of lives today as they did nearly 2000 years ago in the most profound ways once can ever imagine. The entire annual and weekly global calendar revolves around his life, such that all time before is refered to as Before Christ (B.C) and time after (Anno Domini (A.D), which means in the year of our Lord or loosely translated as After Death. In our generation, nearly 2000 years after Jesus Christs death, there are over 2 billion people estimated to be his followers! What a record! I have always been fascinated by this great and everlasting achievement of Jesus Christs leadership and have always wondered how one can apply his leadership principles applied to leave a lasting legacy, if not for the whole world as Jesus did, at least in a few lives. I have especially tried to do so through my life as an environmental conservation professional. I have been working in the environmental conservation field now coming to 14 years since I undertook my first Bachelors degree in Environmental Management and after which I also completed a Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources both at Makerere University. Since then I co-founded an environmental NGO and worked for an oil company which was exploring for oil and gas resources in Ugandas national parks. Since then I have worked for perhaps the worlds largest independent environmental conservation with offices in over 100 countries where I am coordinating sustainable energy initiatives amongst country teams in the six (6) countries of; Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Throughout my duo roles as a practicing Christian and as an environmental conservation professional; I have always been struck by the profound similarities in mission but difference in the results I see in these two roles. On one hand, the more I have placed my trust in Christ Jesus and lived to the best of my ability to his calling. With little to no direct intervention from my side; the more I have believed in Christ, the more I have seen more great and profound things happen in my life. I have literally died and risen again; I have been saved from raging beasts that weighed nearly 4 times my weight. Christ has spoken to me in my
3 dreams, in the people I meet, events I have attended and things around me. And it is not just me; its the Christians I interact who have testified to amazing stories of success much bigger than my own. Whatever it is - this Christian thing works and I have come to such a profound believe in the Jesus Christs mission that I am willing to lay down my own life to ensure his mission succeeds! On the other hand, over the past 14 years since I have been actively working in the environmental conservation field I have worked with individuals, governments, private sector and civil society friends to safeguard nature and some of the most wonderful environmental assets these assets are need for all regardless of creed or color to thrive as Christ Jesus desired. We have collectively fought with other conservation leaders to safeguard nature, but each day, save for a few scattered inspirational stories here and there the general trend is a rude and depressing awakening that the environment and natural resources upon which human survival depends are being decimated regardless of how long, how harder or how smarter we have worked. Increasingly many conservation leaders actively involved in their households, communities, national, regional and international processes are increasingly frustrated and depressed to note that our collective efforts are giving us nothing but the very results we dont want!
Robert Ddamulira Author
4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
While environmental problems of the past such as, pollution, deforestation, species and habitat loss continue to become bigger, new and more complex changes such as climate change continue to emerge. These new complex environmental challenge link economics to ethics; they link our past actions (and inactions) to today and tomorrow. They are growing at quantum scales nonetheless leaving behind little understood human and nature conservation consequences of catastrophic scale. Looking to the skies, the US NOAA scientists (2014) have concluded that - March 2014 was the fourth highest global temperature since records begun in 1880 i . They add that March 2014 also marked the 38 th
consecutive March and 349 th consecutive month (29 th year) with a global temperature at/or above the average temperate of the 1900s. These shifts in global climate are setting in motion catastrophic disasters for humanity. The World Watch Institute (2013) notes that during 2011, a total of 820 natural catastrophes were documented, causing an estimated 27,000 deaths and costing a record $380 billion in losses ii ; the poor and vulnerable at the front-lines of these catastrophes. The saying that we are cutting down the very branch we stand one is indeed holding true However, citizens, governments, and private sector all over the world in spite of the existing knowledge that climate change is chiefly caused by our insatiable dependence of fossil-fuels we have continued in a more less business as usual lifestyle. We know that renewable energy is good not only for nature and climate change, but also for economics and people. However, while a few some scattered successful actions can be observed here and there, this has not affected the general trend in the type of energy resources consumed which has largely remained dominated even more with fossil-fuel that are estimated to cause more than 30% of the global warming effect. Coming in at 82%, fossil-fuels in the form of natural gas, oil and coal continued to supply global primary energy demand in 2013, compared to 87% in 1973. In fact overall the amounts we consume of this polluting fuel just doubled from 5290 million tons of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 1973, to 10700mtoe. This illustrates that the world has largely not taken the urgent responses called for by conservation leaders at the required grand global scale that are necessary to curb climate change as the greatest challenge to humanitys very survival. Similar trends can be seen in the conservation of other environmental resources water, forests across the world. At 2.6 million hectares of forest lost per annum, Brazil continues to hold first place while 5 th placed Tanzania is coming in close at more than 400,000 hectares of forest lost per year iii . On the other hand, the economic value of soil nutrient loss in Uganda is estimated at about USD$ 625million per annum, equivalent to per capita annual debt of USD$210 for each Ugandan iv
But why? Why should humanity continue to cut the very branch upon which it is seated in spite of the warnings from conservation leaders about the fatal and crippling consequences of such actions?
5 In this book, I argue that the challenge is not because we dont care but simply because we lack principle-centered Jesus-like leadership at all levels of conservation leadership. Conservation leadership as used in this book refers to the It is our ill-suited conservation leadership that has failed to inspire households, communities, nations and the global community in the end to deliver the kind of environmental conservation results we seek. Based on a fusion of my deep Christian belief and widespread professional environmental conservation experience I have come to an understanding that realizing the conservation outcomes we want starts by having effective conservation leaders in the first place. That like Jesus Christ, our success goes only as far as we succeed in modeling model in our own lives and a few disciples what we want the world to know and what we want them to do. When this happens, we can clearly declare through our own actions and behavior what conservation outcomes are made of; all people across the whole world will have clear expectations of what they should know and do, they will be willing to voluntarily cooperate and invest in our mission and our challenge will be left to finding and developing new and future effective conservation leaders. It is this kind of principle-centred leadership that enabled Jesus to accomplish his mission with only 3 years of his active engagement. We see Christs leadership in three phases, before his active ministry in which we can see him growing and eventually embodying his mission itself into his own way of life. Secondly, we see him spending three (3) years of active engagement passing his embodiment of these core beliefs through his word and his actions to mainly 12 men of no education and on a shoe-string hand-to-mouth budget and at the same time we see him fulfilling his life mission of salvation for all by dying on the cross. Thirdly we see him intervening largely indirectly after his death through the actions of his disciples and followers who throughout generations have grown from strength to strength and are today estimated to be over 2.2 billion. These active followers are striving each day and night to pursue his mission and voluntarily donate finance, time and energy to ensure that Jesus Christs mission continues to succeed for all generations. I believe that the mission of environmental conservation and Jesus mission are very similar. Jesus Christ sought to establish an everlasting order in which humans live in harmony with their God (Allah, Buddha, Mungu or whatever you call this higher power in your language and culture) and where people loved their neighbors as they loved themselves. Likewise conservation leaders are seeking to create a reality in which the wellbeing of people on earth thrives for all generations within the sustainable limits of environment and natural resources provided by this one planet, Earth. I see that both the Jesus and conservation mission are about the Earth and about people. But the results could not be any more different While Christ continues to get billions of his followers into heaven; on the other hand conservation leaders are failing grossly to inspire human development to stay within sustainable boundaries of our
6 planet; humanity today has already crossed sustainable limits of three of the nine most vital planetary boundaries. The three boundaries cross include climate-change, rate of biodiversity loss, and changes to the global key natural chemical cycles; others we are quickly approaching to irreversibly cross include; chemical pollution; land-system change; global freshwater use among others. In 2008, we used the equivalent of 1.5 earths to support our consumption or in other words, it would have taken the Earth approximately a year and a half to regenerate the resources used by humanity in that single year. This means that in order to sustain humanitys current pattern of development we are drawing on resources at a faster rate than they can be renewed and eating into our ecological bank reserves v . I believe these trends can be reversed; but for this to happen we need to transform our conservation leadership into one which is based on the Jesus-like leadership principles. What are these principles? Principles are unchanging natural laws they are like gravity they work every time regardless. If you jumped from a 6-storied building; it doesnt matter if you are a Christian or a Muslim, black or white, young or old the principle of gravity dictates that you must hit the floor. Unfortunately these same principles can either be used for good or for bad. Gravity was by nature created for good. It enables us to walk and not be hurled in space and it is also the power which holds several kilometers of the life-giving atmosphere keeping it bound forever to Earth and which makes our planet the only livable place in our part of the universe. Other planets with little or no gravity cant support human life. However, gravity can be misused for evil as by those who commit suicide by jumping from big heights. Christ Jesus knew and applied the kind of natural-law principles that like gravity will work at all times and which can be adopted by conservation leaders to achieve our mission. In this paper I have described 10 core principles which I believe once applied by conservation leaders everywhere - can expect to realize the kind of timeless results Jesus Christ achieved in his mission. The principles are as follows; i) Principle 1: He had a clear and inspiring vision: ii) Principle 2: He focused on his noble mission: iii) Principle 3: His mission placed people at the centre: iv) Principle 4: He was passionate about his mission v) Principle 5: He led from the front but ate last: vi) Principle 6: He taught his followers to lead vii) Principle 7: He crowdfunded his business plan viii) Principle 8: He understood time ix) Principle 9: He lived his message x) Principle 10: He believed in something larger than life
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PRINCIPLE 1: HE HAD A CLEAR AND INSPIRING VISION:
Jesus had a clear and inspiring vision of a future which embodied the core human aspirations for all humans of all time regardless of language, creed or race. The vision accepted everyone first and then transformed them thereafter there were no membership fees to be paid. You arrived as a prostitute and he transformed you into a Saint Mary Magdalene. You arrived as a corrupt tax collector working for a colonial regime and you turned out to be St. Matthew. You arrived as an unskilled, violent fisherman who cut peoples ears who denied him three times when he needed you most and he transformed you into St. Simon Peter - a bold and courageous rock foundation upon which he built his very church. Jesus embodied a vision of unfailing love the love of God, neighbor and love of self. His vision was about a father who forgave unconditionally and at all times; the one who would leave behind 99 sheep at home to search for that one lost sheep. His vision has continued through the ages to inspire action and selfless commitment. Conservation leadership on the other hand has no figure-head globally. It is a collection of unclear visions driven by various scattered and largely uncoordinated actors that can rarely inspire actions for all people at all times. One opportunity, is for conservation leaders to link seek and innovate ways that can link their vision to the embodiment of Jesus Christs vision we needed reinvent the wheel, but rather link our agenda to the agenda of Christ, for we are all striving to secure the earth and its people. Above all our vision much inspires optimism and not gloom. Questions for personal reflection: i) Can you outline one conservation vision you know? ii) Who is the leader that embodies this vision?
8 iii) Does this vision and its leader inspire such a great commitment from you that you would be willing to give your life if you had to for what they stand for? iv) If yes/no why? v) How can this vision and its leader be more inspirational to you?
PRINCIPLE 2: HE FOCUSED ON HIS NOBLE MISSION: Jesus mission was simple it was to deliver the unconditional gift of salvation. Within the auspices of his vision of insurmountable love; Jesus Christ, who was God and ultimate judge himself came down to earth, took on the form of a human being and paid the price for salvation for all time. Imagine a just Judge in your home area whose 14 year-old daughter is brought to court for under-age driving. This just judge finds the defendant guilty and the fine is USD$100 or imprisonment the judge steps down from the bench; stands besides his daughter and pays court the required USD$100. He returns to the bench and sends the defendant home free. This is best illustrates Christ Jesus mission. Unlike Christ because conservation leaders dont have a clear vision or an embodiment of the same, we are in a constant process of drifting back and forth from one mission to the next. We are trying to safeguard forests, chimps, save lakes, charismatic gorillas we are trying to do a little bit of everything. In many places we play government, private sector, civil society, and donor; regardless of whether we belong to any category, we try to become everyone. We move from sustainable development in the 1980s to Green Economy in the 2000s this confusion is scaring away our would-be followers and it is unclear what it is we want to achieve. Instead of spreading - conservation leaders should focus and deepen their mission on a core strategic conservation mission within the limitations of our time and resources. This is what Jesus-like conservation leadership requires. Jesus had one specific, measurable, achievable realistic and time-bound - SMART mission By the end of three years, with the help of 12 men I will bring salvation that would re-establish harmony between God and humans by dying for all sins. By delivering this SMART mission and ensuring that he effectively inspired at least 12 people he deepened rather than spread his mission and he forever thereafter transformed all life on earth as we know it from economics, markets, politics, government, individual behavior and entire cultures. How can conservation leaders apply this principle we have to first link our conservation vision to the broader vision of Jesus Christ - which requires that followers must love of God with all their might and love their neighbor as they love ourselves having done this, we must then clearly define a clear but strategic mission through which we can inspire billions today and those to come towards the conservation results we would like to see in the world, today and tomorrow.
9 This means working smarter rather than harder; it means focusing on a fewer places (disciples where we go deeper) rather that spread thinly trying to change the whole world within a lifetime. It is these fewer places if we do them well that will propagate and inspire generations to come towards the kind of world we seek to see were human wellbeing and prosperity does not lead to destruction of nature. Questions for personal reflection: i) From the vision and its leader above do you know what their mission is? ii) Does this mission inspire you and would you like all generations in your lineage to subscribe to this mission? Why? iii) How different or similar is the mission of Jesus Christ and that of your most favorite conservation leader?
PRINCIPLE 3: HIS MISSION PLACED PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE: Jesus instinctively knew that for his mission to succeed - it had to place people - especially the poor and vulnerable -at the centre of its core agenda. So he put people first. But how many environmental conservation programmes do you know which have truly placed people - especially the most poor and vulnerable first? In Africa conservation leaders have continued to place nature before people, especially when it comes to the poor and vulnerable - this is best evidenced by observing how far most struggling conservation programmes have placed poor and vulnerable people who live close to important environmental conservation areas. The only areas where there has been some success are in countries such as Namibia; where poor people have been placed first, provided with ownership and user-rights through a community-owned conservancy regime. However for most conservation areas it has been Force, Fence and Fight (3Fs) all the way. This started from when colonial governments to establish national parks across Africa they applied the 3Fs vi ; they acquired a trained Force that could use violence whenever necessary, Fenced the target area and Fought the poor and vulnerable people living around these areas for all time. Then less than 100 years later, conservation leaders of our day are wondering why we are failing to win the deforestation and anti-poaching agenda on Rhino horn and elephant tusks? We have got it backwards we must find creative ways of putting people and human survival first. We must first find ways of addressing the urgent and basic needs of the poor and vulnerable. This is what Jesus-like conservation leadership means. Jesus applied this principle exceptionally well in the case of Mary Magdalene the former prostitute the law of his land demanded that If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death vii In a public space surrounded by a large crowd
10 they presented Mary Magdalene who had been caught in the very act of adultery (one wonders why the man she had been with was not caught), and law demanded that she should be stoned to death viii
but they asked what they should do with her they knew his limitless love for putting people especially the poor and vulnerable first. They knew that if he had to choose he would go as far as breaking the very laws that he claimed to safeguard simply to save a single life, if he had to. They felt that by him publically denouncing the law, the crowd would hate him but crowds over countless generations have loved him exactly for that. He not only tells of stories of being comparable to a father who forgives his rebellious prodigal son, but he lived this message when he was presented with the opportunity of Mary Magdalene. She couldnt help but become one of the most committed followers of Jesus. She later washed his feet with her hair using the most expensive perfume. She refused to desert him even when his very disciples deserted him during his hour of greatest need, at the crucifixion. ix Even to the grave, at the earliest opportunity she followed Jesus with ointment wishing to anoint his body one last time only to find that he had resurrected x
Conservation leaders instead of working to ensure that laws and institutions are more compassionate about the needs of the poor - many times we are working daily albeit most times unaware to tighten the very laws and institutions that are used to victimize vulnerable poor and people like Mary Magdalene. This would be comparable to Jesus working with Pharisees and Sadducees to tighten the laws that victimized women and left men caught in adultery walk free, laws that ensured that there was no forgiveness for any offenders. Jesus-like conservation leaderships requires that we put people first especially the poor and vulnerable; even where this may tend to in the short-run go against our conservation agenda; our followers will love us and will stand with us in our greatest hour of need they will be willing to reciprocate Questions for personal reflection: i) You are a conservation leader how do you put peoples needs first in your work? ii) Do you believe you could achieve your mission if you put the poor and vulnerable before nature conservation? iii) Why is such an action important? iv) What can we learn from Jesus Christ on how to effectively put people first in our conservation work?
PRINCIPLE 4: HE WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT HIS MISSION Passion can be understood as an intense emotion, a compelling feeling, enthusiasm and desire for something. Jesus exuded extreme passion for his mission he was so passionate about it to the point that anyone can notice that even if the 12 disciples had not followed him, he would have done it alone.
11 The very stones upon which he walked would have sang him praise xi Jesus passion for his mission consumed him so much that when he found those that had turned his mission venue (the temple) into a marketplace he went into an outburst of temper his disciples standing by couldnt help but remember the words spoken long ago that my devotion to your house, Oh God, burns in me like a fire. And indeed thousands of people came from near and far to come and see him burn with devotion for his message he was fully on fire with his mission that a woman bleeding for twelve (12) years saw him burning and knew that if she only touched the fire of passion coming out of his cloak, she would get well and she did. It is no surprise that one of the greatest movies depicting Jesus final hours by Mel Gibson was named The Passion of Christ he was indeed passionate. It is this kind of passion which God instilled in a moth, she will fly against that lamp for a whole night buttering and shuttering its wings in the process. In that moment of passion, nothing else matters but that strange glow. In the morning it will lie there dying - for with its wings gone it cant fly to eat that nector ever again it has been consumed by its passion. The Great Don Marquis remarks in his beautiful poem about months and their obsession with night light even it if may be fire; Fire is beautiful and we know that if we get too close it will kill us for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while Moth and Flames, By The Great Don Marquis. 1927 It was the kind of desire that Socrates xii described to a young man who asked him for a short-cut to his greatness. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. They walked into the river until when the water got up to their neck; Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was stronger and kept him there until the boy started turning pale and losing consciousness. Socrates then pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked, 'What did you want the most when you were down there?" The boy replied, "Air." Socrates said, "That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it." When the student is ready the the teacher will appear, but the teacher has always been there.
12 There is no other secret to conservation success. A burning desire amongst all conservation leaders towards our conservation mission will be the starting point of all our conservation accomplishments. This desire must supersede our desire for money, comfort and all the material this world has to offer. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire for our conservation mission cannot produce great conservation results; lets emulate Jesus burning desire for his mission; with that kind of desire nothing could hold him back, not even the very gates of hell. Conservation leaders with an intense burning desire for their mission are hard to find and far in between like Prof. Wangari Maathai who like a meteorite flashed through the sky for a second she had a brief time on the stage and left, taking much of her legacy with her. But we can develop that desire. Lets be clear about our mission and vision, lets deepen this in our lives and lets practice passion in all the conservation work we do. We must discover that burning desire that consumes the moth. We must and can find that passion with which the young man desired air. When we do this, even our very circumstances will change; pain or obstacles wont matter - if we truly burn with passion bad enough, we will find a way to get it done. Questions for personal reflection: 1. Mention 5 things that demonstrate you have a burning desire for your mission? 2. In what practical ways can conservation leaders demonstrate passion for their mission? 3. Describe one experience when you saw a person with a burning desire achieve unbelievable results against great odds?
PRINCIPLE 5: HE LED FROM THE FRONT BUT ATE LAST: Jesus Christ led from the front and not from the back so much that when his eventual murderers knocked at the door he was the first at the door, he knew they were coming. He said to them, I am he you are looking for, take me away but let my disciples go He had made a commitment not to lose even one except one whose destiny had been predetermined. This approach of Jesus links to the core DNA that makes great leaders as described by Simon Sinek in his book Why leaders must eat last. Simon argues that the leadership selection process goes back to our prehistoric times of cave man. Here man realized that in order to fight the elements and beasts out there, he had to work together with others in groups. These groups lived together in caves and dedicated a leader the so called alpha-male who was usually larger and stronger than all the rest. First
13 naturally, but also because he ate first after each hunt. Cave man was not stupid, but rational if the group was to survive the naturally strongest man should be in the highest fitness vigor at all times. For if a dangerous beast walked up to the door of the cave, it was this alpha male that was expected to engage it first in addition the alpha-male had priority mating rights for all the female for if the group was to survive over the long-term all future off-springs had better be as strong as the alpha-male. You can see that the principle of leading from the front goes back to how success was determined within prehistoric human communities where cave-man leaders led from the front and later African kings such as Shaka Zulu, Kabalega, and Mwanga applied this principle. These kings ate first and had priority mating rights but their societies were not stupid they expected these kings to put up the first fight against oppressive colonial regimes and they did so losing their lives in the process. Jesus was the kind of leader that led from the front and ate last he reversed the order of master servant relationship of his community where masters required their servants to wait on them first and eat last xiii when he asked his disciples to eat first xiv including at the Lords Supper where he gave them bread and wine to eat before he did xv . Simon Sinek argues that successful Jesus-like conservation leadership cant be legislated by law or bought with money leaders must win over their followers cooperation and lifelong commitment through emotions and engendering their trust. How can this be done, we need to place the interests and needs of our employees and followers before those of the organization. Our employees, our followers become like our own family we dont get rid of some of our family members during a famine but why do we see some conservation organizations sacrifice their people, their employees in order to save their financial numbers when in fact they should instead sacrifice the organization financial numbers but keep the people and the followers? Questions for personal reflection: 1. Can you think of three ways in which conservation leaders (and organizations) lead from the front? 2. If your organization came on hard financial times, which of the two would you be willing to chose; a. Reduce staff? b. Reduce all other expenditures but keep the staff at all cost, even if it means reducing all pay including yours by 50%?
PRINCIPLE 6: HE TAUGHT HIS FOLLOWERS TO LEAD BETTER Jesus knew that being an effective leader required that he helps his followers to lead better than he did. He knew that he couldnt do this with every one - so instead of spreading too thinly trying to recruit leaders from all around the world in three years he chose to deepen his engagement with 12 uneducated men. He knew that for his leadership to have truly succeeded, those that would
14 come after him must be better than himself. So he deepened rather than spread his leadership mentoring and coaching amongst his 12 followers. He told them about his mission. More importantly he demonstrated his mission and vision through his actions daily and at all times. He showed them how by faith raging seas could be calmed to become still waters; how through faith, they too could walk on water. He demonstrated to them that life after death was possible when he raised numerous people from the dead; including one who had been buried for 3 days. He said to them with faith, all things are possible and after three days in the grave, where they had placed him themselves, after his public humiliation, torture and death which they had witnessed, he came back to them. He didnt come back as a ghost, but as a real person, with his wounds still open, eating fish with them albeit - with new powers that enabled him to pass through walls to join them. Life after death was no longer an illusion but a living reality in Jesus Christ himself. Now you tell me if you were his follower, why you wont go to the very ends of the earth to spread the mission of such a person? After a few demonstrations of how his mission works Jesus felt he needed to see his followers in action all by themselves. He piloted his business plan to see if it would work while he was away. So he sent them out in pairs. They returned a few weeks later with powerful stories of how they could actually do what they had only seen him do until then even the demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name, they said. He thereafter gave them even more authority to do bigger thing and assured them not to be so happy about the here and now but rather what lay ahead after this life xvi . He gave them hope. By being the role model for his vision and mission of leadership he ensured that his disciples led well. By helping his disciples to succeed - it guaranteed the future success of his mission. When the time came for him to give his final farewell they knew and followed his leadership rules and they led well. In short, in three years, he was able to multiply himself 12 times from one leader to 12 leaders and by doing this, he expanded his organizational and mission capability for success 12 times. One then can understands why he worked each day to ensure that his employees were more successful than himself. He reassured them that if you follow my mission with faith and without any doubt, not only can you do what I have done, but you can do even bigger things that this. How often do you come across conservation leaders that are committed in both word and actions daily in helping their employees perform better than themselves? How often do you come across government conservation agencies, working to ensure that private sector and civil society do a better job?
15 Enabling others to lead better sometimes is not simply about training or passing on what you know to them; it is about giving space for individuals to discover their own inner strength and brand of leadership and bringing this to life in your organization. It is about giving your employees authority. Jesus left no reservations - he gave his employees his full authority his final farewell words where along the following lines I give you all my full authority both in heaven and on earth I leave nothing to myself go and recruit other followers from the world throughout all time. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name into my mission by the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have taught you. Remember I will be on call all the time till the end of ages xvii . Not many conservation leaders I know today would even for a brief moment give away ALL their authority to acting staff to make ALL decisions on their behalf even if these leaders are out on leave. Conservation leaders to control on the other hand Jesus-like conservation leadership requires we give away all our authority to those we have recruited either as employees or followers. Our inability to recede control points to a certain level of mistrust and confidence even in those we work with how shall we then inspire trust and cooperation in the world in our mission if we cant trust ourselves. But Jesus Christ gave his followers such authority - that whatever projects you close, whichever staff you fire, while am away just let me know about it and I will finalize the legal process to make binding for all time. Jesus knew the transcendence of time; that we are on this planet only for a little while and then we are gone. So instead of trying to do a little bit of everything he focused his energy in getting it right with those 12 men of no education. Questions for personal reflection: 1. In what ways as a conservation leader do you try to empower those that you lead to lead better? 2. Do you believe that if you left your conservation leadership position today, there would be someone directly who can effectively do your work? 3. How can we ensure that conservation leaders everywhere strive to establish effective
16 succession plans that will bring forth leaders much better than themselves?
PRINCIPLE 7: HE CROWD-FUNDED HIS BUSINESS PLAN To use its Wiki definition, Crowdfunding (also sometimes called crowdsourcing) is relatively new term to describe a business plan which is based on the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their resources, usually via the Internet, to support projects (usually projects of a social enterprise nature) that are initiated by other people or organizations. Lots of words therein to like immediately - collective, network and support According to the Crowdfunding Industry Report by Massolution xviii the overall crowdfunding industry raised $2.7 billion in 2012, across more than 1 million individual campaigns globally and was projected in 2013 to grow to $5.1 billion. The overall economic value of the crowdfunding industry is expected to reach approximately $3.2 trillion by 2020. Now imagine, if instead of 1 million individual campaigns as you had for crowdfunding you had 2.2 billion campaigns in that year and that you have been having these over the last 2000 years yes billions of Christians that have walked this earth have been crowdfunding to support local churches and christian activities all over the world and for hundreds of generations, they have been doing so since the Christian Enterprise, founded by Jesus Christ is first CEO nearly 2000 years ago was based on a crowdfunding business plan. We see here that long before the internet; long before Kickstarter, Kiva, Indiegogo some of the largest online crowdfunding platforms were ever conceived - Jesus Christ founded and built a great social enterprise that was to be implemented through a crowdfunded business plan. In the 3 years he spent as the first CEO for this the Christianity Enterprise he focused on recruiting and supporting a team of 12 co-founders to understand and apply the basic tenets of this crowdfunded business model and documenting how it works (through a bible) so that thousands of years and millions later various franchises can still look at the same prototype and open shop in what every corner of the whole world. Jesus not only crowdfunded his business plan but also crowdsourced it; each franchise was free to adapt the business plan (New Testament) to his own audience and contexts as they varied through the various cultures of the world. This enabled the business plan to spread and be acceptable to the ends of the earth. Paul was free to apply his own Gentiles technique to get his franchise going while Peter and John took a more structured approached built around formalizing the business; but the core mission were the same, teach and recruit followers all over the world who would acknowledge the Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior and who would love their God with all their hearts and might, and love their neighbor as they love themselves. With Jesus business model there were no strait-jackets to fit in it was free-style that could be customized to any circumstance or culture. As long as you acknowledge him as Lord and Savior and you
17 loved your God with all your heart with all your mind and might, as well as love your neighbor as you love yourself; he doesnt care if you speak Chinese or Luganda, whether your skin is black, brown or white of where you come from. It didnt matter thereafter whether you are a repentant murderer, a fisherman or a farmer, a tax collector or tax payer, a dedicated housewife or an ex-prostitute, a dwarf or giant, an academician or uneducated; the poorest or the richest person on your town - just subscribe to his core mission statement of love for God, neighbor and self, go through a simple initiation ritual of baptism and you are a fully certified Christian franchise. Just continue serving him in word and deed; no culture, language, color, income status etc is forbidden all are welcome. It didnt matter at what point in your life you joined the club; because even a murderer who had killed people all his life, in his dying moment acknowledging his sins received his entry ticket into paradise that very day. Just come as you areIt is this particular wide open-door policy of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing the Christianity business plan that has kept Christian numbers growing from strength to strength through the generations To apply this principle Jesus-like conservation leaders too must find creative ways to crowdsource and crowdfund our conservation missions. A good starting point would be for us to simplify our messages and make our knowledge as widely accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Today there are childrens bibles and their adult bibles nearly in all major languages spoken around the world. We must find ways of transmitting conservation insights learnt in one culture into languages and formats that can be accessed in other cultures. We must think of effective ways through which we can deliver our conservation missions through to peoples of different cultures in ways that are inspiring, empowering and intrinsically linked to their specific cultures and contexts. We should not prescribe behavior but rather empower and encourage people within their local contexts and circumstances to live and find those answers to their conservation challenges themselves we must be willing to franchise our mission to the various actors in whatever way it would succeed within the different local realities around the world. Conservation leaders should stop writing lengthy and complex manuals of nearly every little detail Jesus didnt do lengthy operational manuals on how the Christian business must be done within every culture and circumstance - instead he focused his attention on capturing and effectively communicating the core mission using a set of powerful stories and parables that can speak to all cultures and for all time to people from all walks of life whether rich or poor, educated or not. Even in writing the very story of his life he allowed four Christian franchises to tell it through their own individual experiences and observations. In the end when put together in my Good News Bible Gospels these four stories put together are less than 150 pages in total. They contain Jesus Christs life-story re- told four times. He knew that the kind of clientele which Matthew the tax collector could attract would be different from the one Mark, Luke or John the more philosophical of them all would attract but all these clienteles and entrepreneurial approaches were important to the success of his mission and together they make the story complete.
18 However in the end, they kept it all short and focused on the most important issues - on average if you only took one Gospel from my Good News Bible, you have approximately a simple 40 paged manual full of great but empowering stories yes 40 pages would contain all the knowledge, guidance and operating procedures you will ever need on how to walk on water, calm a raging sea, rising your loved ones from death, multiplying fish and bread to feed thousands; commanding mountains to change places and through themselves into the sea collecting money whenever you need it from a fish. Yes, it is all and more within those 40 pages. Contrast this with the current conservation business plan of your organization, your office? How many papers and procedures do you have to navigate through just to take the company vehicle out of the parking lot? How many pages of difficult scientific jargon must you wed through before you can learn how to restore a degraded forest or wetland? Are these manuals in your mother language or have they been developed elsewhere in a different culture and you are trying to fit them like a straight jacket in your area? Jesus-like conservation leadership requires all conservation leaders to find new ways of how to crowdfund and crowdsource our business plans. All cultures, all languages in the world have within them some principles that support nature conservation Jesus knew this by crowd-sourcing conservation we empower people to discover our mission through the experience of their own life experiences, unique cultures, behavior, languages and contexts. Paul the Apostle best illustrated the power of this principle when he first journeyed through Athens and noticed an altar to an UNKNOWN GOD building a powerful argument on this, his proposition was that his mission was to serve that unknown God who he then called God the Creator; he moved his audience from what they already knew to something relatively new he didnt simply impose his own believes and convictions. Conservation leaders too must adopt Pauls approach if we are to succeed. Questions for personal reflection: i. In individual experience, your community, religion, or culture what aspects do you see through which you could promote our conservation mission? ii. How can we capture these individual and collective experiences into concise powerful and timeless parables of people thriving in harmony with nature? iii. How can we ensure that we learn today on how to improve conservation outcomes can continue to inspire our current generation and all generations to come?
PRINCIPLE 8: HE UNDERSTOOD TIME In perhaps one of the greatest reflections on Christianity Gandhi remarks I like your Christ but I dont like you Christians one then wonders how someone can like a leader but hates the follower? But Gandhi quickly explains I dont like Christians because they are so unlike their Christ
19 Couldnt the same remarks apply to us conservation leaders of today people like our mission statements; but dont like seem to like us much conservation leaders our lives dont really reflect a direction towards our mission. But lets get Gandhi right he is reflecting on the departure between Christ and Christians. One of these greatest departures is the inability for todays Christians to tell time compared to their first CEO, Jesus Christ. Unlike todays Christians Jesus Christ could tell time; he told his mother my time has not yet come xix in another instance he is described as knowing everything that was going to happen to him in future xx , in fact he even knew the hour it would happen he notes in the very hour he was to be arrested for his eventual crucifixion that the hour has come xxi
I dont know many Christians or conservation leaders today who can tell time, knowing what will happen down to the hour - yet time is of critical importance. Time governs everything on Earth it determines when the farmer sows their seed and when children are born; it is time upon which our biological clock functions making the young old and creating ground for a different generation. It is this thing called time that kings, paupers, artists and all people of all walks of life crave for. Give me time cries the patient on their death bed, and I will heal; give me time cries the heart broken and I will learn to love again give me time cries the politician and I will turn this nation into a success story; give me time, give me time cries the artist and I will produce a masterpiece all people of all walks of life crave for time. Jesus Christ knew time and with this knowledge he saved the world by concentrating his mission in just 3 short years on a mission built around 12 uneducated persons. With his knowledge of time - Jesus was able to be in the right place and at the right time. Jesus-like conservation leadership demands that for us to succeed conservation leaders must understand time. Conservation leaders we must realize that they are not created to last forever. We have to understand that the current now today is all the time we know, IS the only time that we will ever have; the past WAS and all our tears cant change a single line that was written by the irreversible hand of time - the future WILL BE but this remains uncertain. Now is our moment; now is our time to inspire the world towards the conservation outcomes we want to see pass. Questions for personal reflection: 1. Can you tell time? 2. What has happened to you in the past that still holds you back? 3. What anxieties do you anticipate in the future that you cant enjoy the power of now?
PRINCIPLE 9: HE LIVED HIS MESSAGE The greatest sermon of any preacher is his own life and Christ lived up to this saying to the letter. When you look at his life; you can see his entire mission in whatever he did and whatever he said. Long after
20 he had passed on from this life on Earth, his disciples too adapted this approach to leadership of their lives becoming their best. They lived together in close fellowship and shared whatever they owned they sold their property and shared the proceeds with one another trusting that if they ever needed money, they could go as they had done before and pick from the fish captured in down the river. The disciples and later followers met together and had meals together not in workshops but in their individual homes, eating with glad and humble hearts; praising God and enjoying the good will of ALL people xxii . It was not all easy and calm but their leader had prepared them well for this. He had warned them to be prepared of coming persecutions. He had cautioned them not to lose heart, but to remember that if the world hated them, they should always remember that the world hated him first xxiii that they would be expelled from their communities and be killed. That those who kill them will think they are serving God xxiv
The numbers of Christians grew straight from the start because the disciples like their master before them lived their message. During the first public speech after coming out the closet Peter signed up 3000 new members and in the second meeting, these numbers grew to 5000 xxv
Am not talking about facebook likes even that is harder enough in two days after launching your facebook profile am talking about people stepping up; getting immersed in water through baptism to join your cause people who will shortly afterwards sell what they own and share their proceeds to make sure your mission succeeds. They were able to do this because the disciples like Jesus Christ before them lived their message. Jesus-like conservation leadership requires that in order to succeed we too must live out our core message through the various aspects of our individual lives. If we are able to do this, we shall be able to inspire that young mother and father who even before their child can say their first name will ensure that they sign up to our mission as Christians do for their children through baptism. We will be able to inspire people to donate 10% of whatever income comes to them to help our cause grow. Jesus and the disciples after them lived their message not only in word but in deed they were able talk about the reality of resurrection but through action also bring back to life people who had died. They were talking about Gods abundant grace and made the crippled to walk the sick to be healed; calmed raging seas. Jesus-like conservation leadership requires that our individual lives as leaders must be our first areas of transformation. If we truly believe that all energy needs of all people can be met with 100% renewable energy solutions. Lets be the first to live this vision in our lives this year lets use no traditional biomass energy and switch to sustainably sourced woodfuel; lets not use petroleum or natural gas convert our homes to geothermal heating and cook with hydroelectric power; lets offset any residual emissions that we cant avoid (e.g. air-flights) by respective emission trading that can further support our conservation agenda. Lets not try to take out a speck of dust in the world eye while a big log is still anchored in our own xxvi
21 After we have made our individual internal transformations; in both word and deeds, lets recruit one or two of our close friends or family to join this cause to our conservation mission and to ensure that they know as much as we do on the necessary changes that must happen for conservation to be realized. Even if this is all each of us ever did for conservation for the rest of our lives; we shall have set a lasting legacy that will see millions upon millions of people subscribing in word and deed to our conservation mission. It is clear from the Jesus-like conservation leadership perspective that much of the work conservation leaders must undertake is not out there; but rather within; first within our own lives, our homes, our community and ultimately the world. Like Jesus, our lives must become first and greatest sermon. Questions for personal reflection: 1. Can people at your work-place, home or your community say your life is characterized by environmental conservation? 2. What actions will you undertake to ensure that that the quality of your life is a manifestation of what you really had to offer?
PRINCIPLE 10: HE BELIEVED IN SOMETHING LARGER THAN HIMSELF Throughout history the truly great leaders of humanity that have walked this earth are those leaders who believed in something larger than themselves. Before being jailed for more than 25 years, Mandela gave this testimony in court to his jailers - "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. He believed in something that he could die for; the ideal democratic and free society which South Africa has become today is something that will outlive his life for all eternity. Simon Sinek (2010) xxvii describes How great leaders inspire action. He takes us back to the summer of 1963 it was mid August and the sun was up and more than 250,000 people showed up on the mall in Washington to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. Martin Luther had not sent out any invitations, and there was no website to check the date. He was not the only man in America who was a great orator of his time and was certainly not the only man who cared so much about civil rights for people of color in America at the time. He just went around telling people what he believed. And the people who believed what he believed took his cause, and they made it their own, and they told other people. You can see how in a small way Martin Luther activated the Jesus-like principle that had been at work for thousands of years at the time the principle of believing in something larger than oneself and sharing your believe with others, these kinds of beliefs are able to touch many people.
22 Martin Luther did this so well that some of the people who heard what he believed created structures of their own initiative to get Martin Luthers believe out to even more people. And lo and behold, 250,000 people showed up on the right day at the right time to hear him speak about his beliefs. None of the people who showed up that day showed up for Martin Luther. They showed up for themselves; because they believed what Martin Luther believed. It wasn't about black versus white: 25 percent of the audience was white. It was because of what Dr. King believed. You see Dr. King believed that there are two types of laws in this world: those that are made by a higher authority and those that are made by man. And not until all the laws that are made by man are consistent with the laws that are made by the higher authority will we live in a just world. It just so happened that the Civil Rights Movement was the perfect thing to help him bring his cause to life. It was based on this core belief that Martin Luther King Jr. was able to foretell the future in his speech entitled I have been to the Mountain top he notes I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land these words spoken by Dr. King in 1968; couldnt ring any more true forty (40) years later, when in 2008 America elected its first African-American president, Barak Obama. Jesus Christ mission statement was all about aspects that were larger than his individual self. He believed in something larger than himself he believed in God, love of neighbor and love of self. He kept in touch with his believe in this higher power through prayer and faith then miracles were the fruits of his believe. As conservation leaders everywhere we must find our WHY are we involved in conservation and when that why is outward looking; if our core beliefs are larger than our individual selves we shall begin to see great results happening. It was this core believe in something larger than oneself that was behind one of the biggest electronics geniuses of our time - Steve Jobs the late CEO and Founder of Apple Computers. One of his reflections which best reflects the essence of his driving philosophy reads, my goal is not to die the richest man in the cemetery. It is to go to bed at night thinking that I and my team have done something meaningful. Equally if we are to succeed Jesus-like conservation leadership requires that we do things that outlive us and larger than ourselves we have to do things that meaningful to other people, those things that add value. Questions for personal reflection: 1. What is your core belief about conservation? 2. How are you applying your believe in a higher power towards a conservation outcome?
23
Alexander the Great and the Macedonian cavalry crossing river Granicus. Artwork by Peter Connolly CONCLUSION Alexander the great was born in 356BC and he became king in 336BC at the age of 20 years. For 13 years, he conquered and ruled nearly all the known civilization at the time through sheer brutal force, rape, death and conquest. He too believed himself to be a god.
He would place huge chairs in his living room which were as big as complete houses. All this grandeur was done to ensure that strangers visiting him for the first time would wonder what kind of man sat in chairs that seemed to touch the heavens. At only age 12, Alexander the Great showed his unique leadership skill to his father and all who were watching when he tamed Bucephalus, an unruly stallion horse, unable to be ridden and devouring the flesh of all who had tried. Plutarch writes: "Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety for the result, till seeing him turn at the end and come back rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst out into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down
24 from his horse, and in his transport said, 'O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee' "(Alex. 6.8.). Alexander would ride Bucephalus in all of his major battles, together till the very end. He came to power by engineering a plot that successfully murdered his father; he there after murdered all his known enemies. Following his fathers death a series of rebellions arose among the conquered nations who saw a chance for independence. To this Alexander acted swiftly with sheer speedy force and massacres, he quickly brought those revolts to a decisive end. Upon rumours of his death, a major revolt broke out that engulfed the whole of Greece. Enraged, Alexander marched south covering more than 380km in two weeks with large a Macedonian army, marching day and night. We are not talking helicopters here and tanks; we are talking marching thousands of soldiers, in fact running by horse and foot for 380km, that is over 25km per day! It was a feat unheard of and the Macedonians stormed Athens by surprise; killing everyone in sight, including women and children. Over 6,000 people died that day and 30,000 more were sold as slaves. Greece remained under Macedonian rule for many years after. Later, Alexander died of a fever while on a conquest in Babylon on 7 th June, 323 BC. However, before his death, he had left orders that his generals must bury him in a golden coffin in Egypt. Alexander's body was laid in a golden anthropoid coffin that was filled with honey and which was in turn placed in a golden casket. His generals carried his body in a gold coffin and on a golden chariot across the desert. Everyone who saw the magnificent spectacle of the procession was astonished at the value of the man who lay in the golden casket. But before his burial was complete; his generals were at war among themselves and split his kingdom into various territories that would never be joined together again. Like Christ, Alexander the Great died at the age of 33 years. However, unlike Jesus the CEO, Alexanders fame died with him and his legacy only remains in the numerous cities he named after himself. We can see that not even Alexander the Great, perhaps the greatest military genius of all times can teach us much on lasting leadership about how to address the challenges of our time today. However, Christs record speaks for itself and here lets explore which of these principles he exhibited upon which the Church has stood through all ages from strength to strength It is my sincere hope that everyone who reads and applies these Jesus-like conservation leadership principles, will see conservation leadership in a new light that you will be inspired to aim for the highest possible results and not mediocre and lukewarm results. Whether this will be in your home, at your Mosque, your church, your work-place, your community or your country. I believe that when all people apply these principles regardless of what religion they profess, what language they speak conservation and in fact broader leadership outcomes will forever be different and all Jesus-like leaders will inspire those around them to achieve similar results. Such leaders will never walk alone; for they are carried on the shoulders of a Mighty God in whose creative power they will operate fulfilling that age old Divine desire for Jesus-like conservation outcomes what started in the Garden of Eden... when God had made all kinds of beautiful trees that produced good fruit. Then the Lord God placed the man in the
25 Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it xxviii . Once again God will look upon the Earth and be pleased with what he sees as the case was in the garden of Eden at the end of each creation day
i US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), 2014 - http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate- monitoring/contact.php ii http://www.worldwatch.org/vitalsigns2013 iii FAO 2011. State of World Forest Resources, 2011. iv UNDP 2007, Human Development Report for Uganda v WWF & Africa Development Bank (2012)- Africa Ecological Footprint Report. vi Adopted from Dr. Taye Teferi vii Leviticus 20:10: Punishment For Adultery viii John 8:1-11: A Woman Caught in Adultery ix John 19:25: Jesus is crucified x Mark 16:1: The Resurrection xi Luke 19:40: The Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem xii Shiv Khera (1996) You can win - Winners don't do different things. They do things differently. a step by step tool for top achievers. xiii Luke 17:7-10: Servants duty. xiv John 21: 9-14: Jesus appears to seven disciples. xv Luke 22: 14-20: The Lords Supper. xvi Luke 10: 17-20: Return of the Seventy two xvii Matthew 28:16-20: The Great Commission xviii http://research.crowdsourcing.org/2013cf-crowdfunding-industry-report xix John 2: 4: The wedding in Cana xx John 18: 4: The Arrest of Jesus xxi John 17: 1: Jesus prays for His disciples xxii Acts 2: 43-47: Life among the believers xxiii John 15: 18: The Worlds hatred xxiv John 16: 1-4: The Worlds hatred xxv Acts 2: 41: Peters message; Acts 4: 4: Peter and John before the council xxvi Matthew 7: 3-5: Judging others xxvii http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action xxviii Genesis 2: 8-9, 15: The Garden of Eden
Dark Psychology & Manipulation: Discover How To Analyze People and Master Human Behaviour Using Emotional Influence Techniques, Body Language Secrets, Covert NLP, Speed Reading, and Hypnosis.
Dark Psychology: Discover How To Analyze People and Master Human Manipulation Using Body Language Secrets, Covert NLP, Mind Control, Subliminal Persuasion, Hypnosis, and Speed Reading Techniques.