The 3 qualities of a Leader

What are the three qualities a leader needs?

In February 2008, a double crisis hit coffee giant Starbucks. There was the global financial crisis on one hand, and on the other, a customer experience crisis. Even the most loyal customers were leaving for Starbucks for its competitors because the customer experience had become so bad. The brand saw a plummeting stock price, store closures, and significant layoffs nearly bringing it to its knees. Howard Schultz was urgently called back to take over the leadership of the company. His first action was to close 7,100 stores for a day, which generated millions of dollars in losses.

Why would he take such a drastic and seemingly detrimental step? He did it so that he himself could lead the training of thousands of baristas in more customer-oriented approaches and in better espresso-making practices. By leading the training himself, he created adhesion to show the baristas that they were all in this together. That day, Schultz revealed himself as someone who gets his hands dirty (action), creates buy-in around him (adhesion), and leads efforts to constantly improve customer service and product quality (amelioration).

1. Adhesion
2. Action
3. Amelioration.

In Biblical thought, these are precisely the three traits that are expected of a leader. We observe, for example, that in Biblical times, there were twelve candidates for the position of leader of the Jewish people. Each candidate had his own unique qualities to bring to the job, but only one would be chosen.?

Who?

???????????? ???????? ??????????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????

"The Scepter shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:10).?

Leadership is Judah's. What are Judah's three qualities that get him the job? First, he creates adhesion. He is accepted by all and brings everyone together.?

????????? ??????? ????????? ????????

You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise;

Secondly, he takes action. He takes on an operational role and does not implement high level strategy from afar; rather, he gets his hands dirty.?

??????? ????????? ??????????

Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes;

Finally, he constantly strives for improvement, for amelioration. He is Gur, Arye, and then Lavi. That is to say, he is a lion cub (Gur) which becomes a lion (Arye), but a lion which is not complacent in its position. He is constantly evolving – Lavi.

?????? ???????? ????????? ????????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ??????????? ??????????? ???? ?????????????

Judah is a lion's whelp; lies down like a lion, like a lioness – who dares rouse him?

Adhesion, Action, Amelioration.

Equally as important as knowing why Judah was chosen is to know what qualities the other candidates had. Why were the other profiles not selected?

For example, Naphtali "is a deer let loose, which yields lovely fawns" (Genesis 49:21). He is the greatest pitcher, storyteller, and speaker in Biblical history. However, storytelling by itself is not enough.

What about Reuben, the eldest in the family? He was not chosen because he was interested in the short-term. In a business environment, we'd say that he thought only of the next quarter without a long-term vision.

Then there was Joseph, already a leader in Egypt. Everyone was expecting him to be chosen, but he didn't have his brothers' buy-in. Leadership is built on our credibility with others and their willingness to follow us.

Naphtali didn't take action. Reuben didn't strive for amelioration. And Joseph couldn't create adhesion. However, Judah had all three qualities.

Now that we understand the three essential qualities of a leader, let's consider one more fact of leadership. As strange as it might sound to us leader-entrepreneurs, leadership works in pairs. Judah is the leader, but... not all the time.

In the beginning of the cycle, the phase we call in the start-up world "from Zero to One," Benjamin is the man for the job. "Benjamin devours his prey in the morning" (Genesis 49:27). It is Benjamin who arrives first with his satchel to initiate the project. And then, Judah directs the human and operational machine.

You'll notice that start-up history is very often based on these two profiles. There is a founder who launches the newly born venture but is then joined by an executive to scale up the business. Google had Larry Page and Eric Schmidt. Facebook had Mark Zuckerberg, but also Sheryl Sandberg. Microsoft had Bill Gates and Steve Balmer. Apple had Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

One partner starts up, the other scales up.

In the same way, Jewish history is built around Benjamin and Judah. Everyone knows King David from the tribe of Judah, who "scaled up" the organization (winning wars, acquiring new territories, instilling new processes, etc…), but it was Saul from the tribe of Benjamin who instituted the kingship.?

What is YOUR profile?

Are you the right leader to start up (Benjamin) or the right fit for the scale up phase (Judah)?