The Mover


"Ideas don't move mountains."

Peter F. Drucker (ff)


Renald Hennig

An old adage, sometimes used in sales trainings, says "Only those who burn themselves can ignite others."

At times the people were moved physically by his actions:

"A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.'

So he came down at once." (50)

Sometimes they were moved intellectually:

"Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.' 'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!' "(51)

But most often they were moved in their hearts:

"When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority." (52)

Thus being moved, many followed him freely. (53)

The fascinating question remains: Why were they moved? What was special about this preacher?

Various factors may have influenced them; amongst them some of those already mentioned. I would like to add three additional ones, for good measure: He called the question, he was passionately committed, and he treated people respectfully.

He called the question: He was an exceptional communicator, but he didn't let it suffice with that. He didn't just leave them with a message: he asked for a stand point, a commitment:

"Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

"When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth." (54)

Just as a sale isn't closed until the request for the order has been made, similarly Jesus consequently requested a decision as to the message delivered. He would accept a negative answer - as in this case - but a "perhaps" or a "later", an indecision, was not of his liking. (55)

He was passionately committed: Passion is contagious (sometimes).

Passion is shown e.g. by the amount of time spend voluntarily for a cause (he qualified on that one) and by the intensity or relentlessness of one's efforts. This trait was illustrated by one of parables Jesus gave:

"What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

"And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost." (56)

Jesus' relentlessness is most obviously shown in the sacrifice he made for his cause. He lived for it and he died for it. There was no holding back.

Part of his passion was passion for people. He was interested more in the one than in the masses (57) and he treated kings and prostitutes in the same way:

He treated people respectfully: Though he sometimes didn't answer, used crafty words (58) and didn't always assume the best about them (59) , he still treated them respectfully. A better expression would be: He gave them dignity, at times to their surprise. There was a number of women, who followed him; in contrast to almost all of his apostles they were even at the cross (60) . This was unusual for the time, since women were generally looked down upon and weren't even counted during census. But he looked beyond the traditions and into the people, not caring for their social status or their notoriousness.

"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'

"The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?' " (61)

The already noted incidence at the house of Simon, the Pharisee, where a woman of bad reputation washed his feet with her tears and anointed him, again shows the way he conferred dignity (62) :

"I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven -- for she loved much."

Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

He treated women - as he treated everyone - with dignity and even a certain curiosity.

Today's "how to" culture addresses motivation - the ability to move - from the following viewpoint (gg) :

Why does corporate America spend billions each year on motivation? Because there's no other drug like it on the market. Simply put, an engaged workforce makes all the difference in the world. Which is why managers spend a lot of time doing two things:

1. finding employees who are intrinsically motivated - who do the work because of their passion for it, or else for their sheer love of the challenge.

2. crafting just the right combination of extrinsic motivators - monetary incentives, rewards, recognition, and feedback - to complement those intrinsically motivated employees.

Sprenger (hh), building on Herzberg, takes exception to the opinion that motivation can be extrinsic, at least in the medium to long range. He sees motivation as an interplay of the willingness,

Renald Hennig

the ability and the opportunity to perform: The darker grey areas signify areas of responsibility for the employee, where managers and leaders should stay away from. The lighter grey areas are those where management responsibilities lie. This includes the ability to perform, where both employee and management share responsibility, for example in the form of training programmes.

The importance of rapport, or connection, to those being lead for motivation is stressed in numerous publications. Nevins and Stumpf make this one of their key skills for 21st- century leadership (ii) :

"The opportunity to reach out and touch someone at almost any time or place puts a premium on the ability to be sensitive to others . . . "

Zand (jj) puts it as one of his legs of his "Leadership Triad": "Build trusting relationships that motivate people to be loyal and committed and to share their knowledge with you".

Goleman finally (kk) goes beyond even that: "When I calculated the ratio of technical skills, IQ, and emotional intelligence as ingredients for excellent performance, emotional intelligence proved to be twice as important as the others for jobs at all levels." He later on continues about empathy as one of the five components of emotional intelligence, the others being self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and social skill: "Empathy means thoughtfully considering employee's feelings - along with other factors - in the process of making intelligent decisions."

The question "What is motivation?" and its corollary "How do I motivate others?" will continue to haunt those concerned with human relations.

"He said to the paralytic, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.' He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all." (63)


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