Friday, February 1, 2013

Fear of God, Do CEO's get it?

Do you have some distinct laws in your office that violation of them are grounds for dismissal? Does anyone keep to them and truly follow them? Do they get broken regularly?

Getting fired is not that bad, look at the executives who get away with all types of things and get fired. Boohoo, that multimillion buyout, because the Board agreed to the farce upfront, just makes it laughable.

Evidently the 10 Commandments are not universally followed and some hint of why is found in this parsha. In 20:15-16 right after hearing the 10 Commandments, the children of Israel say:

15. And all the people saw the voices and the torches, the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled; so they stood from afar.   טו. וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת הַלַּפִּידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵׁן וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק:
16. They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear, but let God not speak with us lest we die."   טז. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל משֶׁה דַּבֶּר אַתָּה עִמָּנוּ וְנִשְׁמָעָה וְאַל יְדַבֵּר עִמָּנוּ אֱלֹהִים פֶּן נָמוּת:

How convenient that if God were to tell us something, we would die, but if a man told us something we will hear, not we will do, but we will hear.

So corporate greed? Discussed early on in civilization. Already trying to skirt the rules, check. And thus the "Fear of God" line comes from this point. Do CEOs believe in god or fear God? What do they fear?

Why make this point? Because if you walk around with no limits to your life or guidelines, as some call these 10, then how can you lead others? Unless you want to lead others down a path that may lead to their demise. Hopefully that is not how you view management. And more importantly it is not how management views you or shapes the company culture in this way. On the flip side, do not hold a whole company accountable because of one person that has failed everyone.

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Parsha Yitro in the book of Shemot, 18:1-20:23 It is said that the Torah or Bible
could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

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