He hosted a grand banquet for royals. They drank, and then asked for the gold and silver goblets which his father had brought from Jerusalem. Then fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall. The king became pale as he could not understand the writing. He called his enchanters, astrologers, and diviners – the wise men of Babylon – and commanded, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” None helped.
Then the queen came to the rescue, and told King Belshazzar that in his kingdom, there was a young man: “In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners”.
Daniel is that man; when Belshazzar took over from his father, he was demoted. When Nebuchadnezzar ruled over his empires, he assembled the most knowledgeable people in all the kingdoms he controlled. He went for the best including appointing brilliant “slaves” to become heads of important positions in his government: he made Daniel the leader of his strategy team – “chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners”. But Nebuchadnezzar’s success got into his head, crystallizing in many mistakes; later, his son took over and quickly fired those competent people.
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The new king is pale. And here, the queen told him to go and seek the opinions of the men who built Babylon, and made it great under his father. He reached back to Daniel but the message was not a great one for the king.
Daniel interpreted “mene, mene, tekel, parsin” but today men and women are called to interpret new product strategy, new market entry strategy, etc. The question is this: how can you become good that men and women will recommend you in your absence as the queen did for Daniel?
And hopefully, when you arrive, you will justify that confidence. I have been in Board meetings when Chairmen will ask: who truly understands this, and can we bring him here? Names will begin to fly. Elevate yourself to be recommended in your absence during such moments. Happy Sunday.
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Making that same recommendation today faces a twin problem: from those who will be mentioning those names and the names mentioned. Would the first group stay above ethical blindness, which is fueled by special interest? And will the second group, upon assessment of the situation be honest enough to admit that it’s above their pay grade and then recommend more competent persons?
Those are the two demons that regularly stand in the way. You see people making recommendations purely on personal interests, not because the person being recommended is among the best in that space. And when the average person enters the room, rather than admitting his limited abilities, he takes up what he knows from the outset that he stands no chance of delivering, only to waste people’s time and resources at the end.
Check our political and corporate landscapes, and you will see all the ills bedevilling the land, occasioned by poor choices.
In all of these, your job is to stand out, such that even when they pretend not to notice you as the man/woman for the job, your excellence will be so glaring that they will have no other choice than to put your name there.
Never settle for good when excellence is attainable.