Purposeful Abandonment
"There is nothing as difficult and as expensive, but also nothing as futile, as trying to keep a corpse from stinking." Peter Drucker
"Effective executives know that they have to get many things done --and done effectively. Therefore, they concentrate--their own time and energy as well as that of their organization--on doing one thing at a time and on doing first things first. The first rule for the concentration of executive efforts is to slough off the past that has ceased to be productive.... And those first-class resources, especially the scarce resources of human strength which are engaged in these tasks of yesterday are immediately pulled out and put to work on the opportunities of tomorrow." Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive, pages 10
Sloughing off the past can be a tough thing to do . . . especially when our identity and reputation is attached to it. But Christian leaders have both the example (Paul) and the source of power (Christ) for doing what Drucker admonishes.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. ”
Resting in Jesus, that is finding our fundamental identity in Him and not our achievements, we are able to reflect on the past, learn from the past, but not be stuck in the past.
Every day with Christ is a new opportunity to turn the page and move forward in our walk with him and our leadership for him.
What has ceased to be productive? Slough it off!
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Effective executives ... from Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive. New York: Harper Busines. 1993. Pages 103-104