The Networker

"Effective general managers allocate significant time and effort to developing a network of cooperative relationships among the people they feel are needed to satisfy their emerging agendas."

John P. Kotter (ll)


Renald Hennig

Jesus started to develop his network early in his service, and it extended from the affluent to the intellectual to the social outcast. Perhaps the first in that group was John, who was also called John the Baptist. He was family, a cousin, and had already quite a reputation before anyone knew of Jesus. Here was a focus from which to start: He was baptized by John as the first token of his ministry (64), even before his 40 days in the wilderness. And indeed it was the beginning of a network:

"The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, 'Look, the Lamb of God!' When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus." (65)

These two were to remain with him and would be part of the foundation of his organization. His contacts were of a very divers nature, amongst them the political, or better, religo-political radicals of his day, the Zealots. Here, too, one of his disciples was found (66). Some authors argue that there may have been connections to the Essenes, a fairly small and very strict off-shoot of the Jewish faith. They were living in a monastery on the shores of the Dead Sea, not far away from the places of Jesus' activities.

I have already illustrated his way of dealing with those socially shunned. But this is incomplete without knowledge about his contacts with the highest body in Jewish government, the Sanhedrin. The record shows that at least two members of that legislative body need to be considered friends of Jesus:

The Pharisees retorted. "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law -- there is a curse on them." Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee." (67)

"As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him." (68)

This network included the Twelve (69), an inner circle of women closely associated with him (70), amongst which Mary Magdalene played the most important role (71), his friends from Bethany Mary, Martha and Lazarus (72), as mentioned above his cousin John and his wealthy friends Nicodemus and Joseph, who would take care of his dead body. There was also an extended circle of the seventytwo (73), whom he send out in his name. And then there is some element of mystery, for at least in a couple of instances there was a man no one else knew about and with whom the exchange went via code words:

He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go and you will find a colt tied. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you,'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' "Those found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' They replied, 'The Lord needs it.' They brought it to Jesus. (74)

Just like that. A similar experience happened just days later: "He sent two of his disciples, telling them, 'Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, "The Teacher asks: 'Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' " (75)

To carry a jar of water was very uncommon for a man of that time, as it was considered women's work. There were known and unknown people in Jesus' network. And it supported him.

Goleman (mm) defines the fifth of his five components of emotional intelligence, social skill, in the following way: "Social skill is friendliness with a purpose . . . Socially skilled people tend to have a wide circle of acquaintances, and they have a knack for finding common ground with people of all kinds - a knack for building rapport."

Senge reinforces that concept (nn): "Informal networks of managers who are interested and committed to change are key to spreading learning and building credibility for change initiatives." For him networks are one of three reinforcing growth processes of profound change, besides enhancing personal results and yield of better business results.

Covey's analysis (oo) goes a step further: "People are seen primarily as resources through which we increase our leverage through delegation, or as an interruption to be handled efficiently so that we can stay on schedule.

"There's a place for independence . . . But, as well as a place, there's a purpose for this independence. It's not an end in itself. True independence precedes and prepares us for effective interdependence."

He describes interdependence more in detail elsewhere (pp), but for our purpose this will suffice.

Networking, building rapport with different people, built on the foundation of interdependence and trust, is essential to leadership success. Jesus did what most leaders did before and after.

"You are my friends." (76)


Next: The Organizer