Strategy

If you’re ever going to a new place, you’ve probably turned to Google or Chat GPT and said some version of, “Tell me about _______.” San Francisco or Cuba or the best bone fishing spots (just me?) or whatever. You’re not looking for a deep dive. A deep dive can always follow if there is interest. Quite the opposite. Give me the big ideas, the things not to miss, a quick snapshot. It’s a primer. I’m taking that primer idea to a series of practical theological topics over the summer. No dissertation here. Just a Biblical door opening on a few different themes that touch our life and work. Enjoy. View the other primers here. 

Joseph was born to lead.

According to Genesis, he was “well-built and handsome.” Athletic and intelligent.

Plus, he had that supernatural ability to interpret dreams.

And the boldness to tell their meaning.

No wonder he was his dad’s favorite.

Amazingly, Joseph was not eaten up with ego. He did not allow his obvious talents to go to his head. Neither did he become bitter when he endured tremendous injustices.

Instead, dealing with every stumbling block thrown in his path, Joseph rose in only 13 years from being a shepherd to holding the second most powerful position on the planet. He served as second-in-command to Pharaoh of Egypt—a ruler and a nation that dominated the world at the time. As a result, God used Joseph to implement a 14-year strategic plan that literally saved millions of people from a deadly famine.

Joseph was a strategic thinker and leader.

That term, “strategic leader,” is a bit of a redundancy. The terms “strategy” and “leader” are virtually inseparable. Our word “strategy” comes from a group of Greek terms that refer to military and civilian leadership, as well as to combat operations.

• Acts 4:1—the captain of the guard is called the “strategos” in the Greek
• Revelation 19:19—Jesus is identified with the same term when he arrives to rescue His followers and throw Satan into hell.

It’s in non-Bible Greek, too. In order to be a genuine leader, one must be strategic.

And strategy is more than positional leadership, it’s about movement. Proverbs 30:27 says “locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks.” It’s a picture of unified progress. 

Strategy advances an organization at the correct pace towards a meaningful vision with an integrated plan.

At the correct pace.

Towards a meaningful vision.

With an integrated plan.

Thus, genuine leadership is always strategic. And strategic leadership always means taking an enterprise towards a better future using a cohesive blueprint.

Which brings me back to Joseph.  If he lived today, the guy would have been on the invite list for the Kellogg School or the Google Talks. Go back and read his story, starting in Genesis 37, and notice the way he sees the world and acts within it. I’ll highlight five things.

 1. He nurtured his inner health.

Joseph had a tough early career.

• His brothers hated him and tried to kill him.
• His first boss’s wife falsely accused him of rape.
• He was forgotten by fellow inmates in a foreign jail after he helped them out.

But Scripture is clear that Joseph steadfastly refused to become violent, resentful or vindictive.

Let’s start here: strategic leadership must be paired with strength of character. Too often strategy is seen as a myopic quest for victory. And that quest is often fueled by bitterness and hostility.

Decisions that emanate from that deadly mix have the potential to be angry and revengeful even if the leader seems calm and calculated. These decisions often may seem successful in the moment but ultimately deliver detrimental results.

Strategy without inner health will ultimately collapse.

 2. He played the long game and pivoted when he needed to.

Peter Drucker suggested in his book Managing in Turbulent Times that anticipation is one of the most important managerial skills one can possess. Many successful managers and leaders are great at problem-solving, but they employ those skills reactively only.

Not Joseph. 

Joseph was gifted in looking to the future and anticipating unforeseen twists and turns. When God gave him a vision of what the next 14 years held, he went to Pharaoh with a plan. “Don’t overreact to the bounty of the present.” He thought about the long game.

Then, years later, when the economic realities were hitting home, he adjusted the strategy. He pivoted. He diversified the empire’s holdings from money to land.

It’s the old “play chess when others were playing checkers.” He was just playing chess with an entire civilization.

Strategy is like that. It depends on anticipation. You look farther down the road than others and make a plan. Then, you watch for the bends in the road. Those curves come from within the organization as well as from outside; but regardless of their origin, they have a significant effect on any enterprise.

 3. He used insight AND data.

Strategy means you don’t just throw every piece of information in the same bucket. You’ve got to:

• Critique it—determine what’s worth keeping and what’s worth tossing.
• Size it—consider both the expected impact and unintended consequences.
• Connect it—figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together.

Joseph could do all of this. He got the news (from God) of upcoming surplus and set about building storehouses. We don’t get all the information about how he handled but it’s implicit the kinds of questions he was asking: 

How big will the surplus be? Will it be the same each year? How much does customer or country X owe? How much will we need next year? What is our approximate population? What data do I give Pharaoh?

Data is the key word here. Joseph needed it, got it, and made decisions based on it.

 4. He made refined decisions.

Joseph’s brothers could write a book on bad decisions. (Technically, I guess Genesis kind of is that book.)

Their morally bad decisions get the press. (They sold their brother into slavery after all). But they also just struggled making decisions in general.

Genesis 42 starts with Jacob saying to the brothers, “Why are you standing around looking at each other? Go get us some grain!” Apparently, they were just sitting around unable to make a decision. Maybe you’ve been part of a team like that.

Joseph, on the other hand, could be decisive.

Cellmates came to him with a problem. He answered with step-by-step instructions.

Pharaoh asked him what to do with the coming bounty. He answered.

The brothers walk in (plot twist). He took charge of the situation.

These decisions might have looked rushed, but they were actually very refined decisions. Joseph took data, consider possible implications of choices and gave clear directives.

Strategy demands refined decisions.

 5. He understood all good big work is done by people

Strategy starts at a macro level but it never ends there. You have to translate huge things into tasks. You have to assign tasks to actual people.

Joseph created value through the combination and thought and people. Put him in the modern day and he looks like Warren Buffett. He had that level of impact on the Egyptian empire.

But he did it through real people. Sure, we don’t get his org chart in Scripture but what we do get is a description of his interactions with people (bosses, cellmates, servants, brothers) and details of his accomplishments. The first makes possible the second.

Strategy connects tasks and people.

Conclusion

Strategy is more than a great business word. It is a concept rooted deep in Scripture, both in definition and illustration.

I don’t think we’re twisting Scripture to wring out a business insight or two. We’re looking at a leader (Joseph) who is better as an organizational strategist because he is a follower of God, and thus, more fully alive.

Strategic leaders embody words like vision, integration, implementation, anticipation, clarity, flexibility, skill and passion.

Joseph embodies this.

Self-reflective questions:

1. What other Biblical examples or passages help us think about strategy?
2. What is the relationship between decision making and strategy?
3. How is inner health, spiritual health, essential to strategy?