The New Year is coming and you may be looking for new capabilities you may acquire, to deepen and improve your productivity – and in the process advance your leadership ascent. I have a suggestion: understand the x-factor (the most important variable to impact any outcome) in any project or partnership you may pursue.
Pre-Case: A few years ago, in Johannesburg, I delivered a keynote paper on electronics which was well received. An Intel executive came to me, and asked me how we could work together. I asked for access to designkits. Today, Fasmicro is the only African company in the Intel Programmable Microprocessor business as a certified and authorized partner. What I requested was an x-factor to open that world for my company!
Main Case: He was named Nehemiah and his ancestors had dedicated a Temple around 10th century BC to Yahweh. But Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed it during the siege of Jerusalem. He grew up, and rose to become one of the most important men in Persia (in modern Iran): a cup-bearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and later, the king made him a governor of Persian Judea. And he was to rebuild the Jerusalem wall.
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To rebuild the wall, he needed an x-factor. The king asked him to put in his request: he asked to use the timber from the king’s forest. In imperial Persia, the king’s timber went with the king’s builders and security. The wall was rebuilt within 52 days. If Nehemiah had used any timber that was different from timber from the king’s forest, he would have failed.
Simply, any project that received timber supplies from the king’s forest was as good as executed. And only the most important projects qualified. As the aides shipped the timber, the guards would follow, making sure that none was wasted. Another set of guards would monitor compliance. That was why as the wall was being rebuilt, the soldiers fought the enemies – and the project was executed on time. Did you notice the Nehemiah’s x-factor? Cheap sheet: the timber from the king’s forest.
As the New Year arrives, think deeply about your x-factor for success in 2023.
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Why are you popular? It is not because you hold a PhD or answer professor, rather it’s because of what you give! If nothing goes out, nothing greater will come in. It’s the natural order of things, and it’s constant.