Birthday Reflections: The Gift of Understanding How We Shape Each Other's Light

Birthday Reflections: The Gift of Understanding How We Shape Each Other's Light

A Personal Note of Gratitude

"And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, / Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."

Yesterday marked another year of my life's journey, at the eve of my midlife crisis that stand agape before my like vultures staring at lion engulfing its catch to voraciously devour the caucuses remains. Another wave in Shakespeare's endless procession toward the pebbled shore. As I received countless birthday wishes from friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances, I found myself deeply moved not just by their kindness, but by a profound realization that each message represented a choice to multiply rather than diminish, to add light rather than create eclipse.

In the quiet moments after the celebrations, I reflected on the lessons that years of leadership, followership, and simple human interaction have taught me. These insights, hard-won through both triumph and failure, feel too precious to keep to myself. So I offer them here, humbly, as my birthday gift to all of you who took time to celebrate another year of my existence. Your wishes reminded me that we are all both students and teachers in the great classroom of human potential.

What I share comes not from a place of having arrived, but from one who continues to learn daily about the profound responsibility we bear in shaping each other's destinies. May these reflections serve as both mirror and lamp, revealing what we are and illuminating what we might become.

When the teacher shows up the student is always ready.

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Time's Cruel Hand: How Leaders Shape Destinies Through Multiplication or Diminishment

Shakespeare's Sonnet 60

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, And Time, that gave, doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

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Shakespeare's meditation on time's relentless march reveals profound truths about human potential and its destruction. The sonnet's metaphors—waves inevitably reaching shore, light dimming into eclipse, Time's scythe harvesting all beauty—illuminate how external forces can either nurture or destroy the "rarities of nature's truth" within each person. While Shakespeare focuses on temporal destruction, his imagery provides a powerful lens through which to examine leadership's profound impact on human flourishing.

The Metaphorical Foundation

Shakespeare's wave metaphor establishes the relentless nature of influence. Each moment builds upon the previous, creating cumulative effects that cannot be undone. His portrayal of "Nativity, once in the main of light" speaks to the inherent potential within every individual, while "crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight" reveals how external forces can systematically obscure and diminish that inner radiance. Most powerfully, Time is presented as both giver and destroyer. The same force that crowns maturity later wields the scythe.

These images provide a framework for understanding leadership's dual nature: leaders, like Time itself, possess the power to elevate individuals to their full potential or systematically diminish their capabilities and confidence.

Diminishers: Wielding Time's Cruel Hand

The Nature of Diminishing Leadership

Diminishers operate like Shakespeare's personified Time, initially appearing to grant opportunities and recognition, only to systematically undermine the very potential they seem to cultivate. These leaders create environments where talent withers, confidence erodes, and human capacity shrinks.

King Saul exemplifies the diminisher's destructive pattern. Initially anointed with divine favor, Saul began as "a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he" (1 Samuel 9:2). Yet his insecurity and need for control transformed him into a leader who systematically diminished those around him, most notably David.

When David's success in battle earned the praise, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7), Saul's response revealed the diminisher's mindset: "And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?" (1 Samuel 18:8).

Diminisher Characteristics and Their Effects

The Scarcity Mindset: Like Saul, diminishers operate from the belief that others' success threatens their own position. They view talent as a zero-sum resource, leading them to hoard opportunities and suppress emerging leaders.

The Eclipse Creator: Diminishers create "crooked eclipses" against their followers' glory. Pharaoh's treatment of the Israelites demonstrates this pattern: "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens" (Exodus 1:11). As the Israelites multiplied and prospered, Pharaoh's fear led him to systematically crush their potential through oppression.

The Talent Harvester: Like Time's scythe, diminishers "feed on the rarities of nature's truth." They extract value from their people while giving little in return. The rich man in Jesus's parable of Lazarus exemplifies this, living in abundance while allowing the beggar at his gate to suffer (Luke 16:19-21).

Survival Mechanisms of the Diminished

Under diminishing leadership, individuals develop defensive strategies reminiscent of David's survival tactics:

Strategic Withdrawal: David "behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him" (1 Samuel 18:14), learning when to advance and when to retreat from Saul's destructive presence.

Underground Networks: The diminished often create covert support systems. David gathered "every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented" (1 Samuel 22:2), building strength outside the diminisher's direct influence.

Preserved Vision: Despite persecution, those under diminishing leadership often maintain hope for future restoration, much as David continued to honor Saul as "the Lord's anointed" even while fleeing his persecution.

Multipliers: Channels of Divine Increase

The Nature of Multiplying Leadership

Multipliers embody the creative, life-giving aspect of influence. They operate on the principle that human potential is not fixed but expandable, that their role is to amplify rather than diminish the capabilities of those they lead.

Moses demonstrates multiplying leadership when overwhelmed by the burden of judging Israel. Rather than hoarding authority, he followed Jethro's counsel: "Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exodus 18:21). This multiplication of leadership capacity strengthened the entire nation.

Multiplier Characteristics and Their Effects

The Talent Multiplier: Jesus's parable of the talents illustrates multiplying leadership: "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:21). Multipliers invest in people's growth and celebrate their expanding capabilities.

The Light Magnifier: Rather than creating eclipses, multipliers amplify existing light. John the Baptist modeled this: "He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light" (John 1:8). He understood his role was to point to and amplify something greater than himself.

The Potential Liberator: Multiplying leaders see and call forth latent abilities. When Jesus called Simon Peter, he saw beyond the impulsive fisherman to declare, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). He consistently spoke to people's potential rather than their current limitations.

Growth Mechanisms Under Multipliers

Expanding Responsibility: Under multiplying leadership, individuals experience progressive growth in responsibility and capability. The centurion who approached Jesus demonstrated the authority structure that multipliers create: "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh" (Matthew 8:9).

Collective Empowerment: Multipliers create environments where "iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). They foster peer learning and mutual development rather than competition.

Legacy Building: Unlike diminishers who seek to be indispensable, multipliers prepare successors. Paul's relationship with Timothy exemplifies this: "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Societal Implications: The Ripple Effect

The Diminisher's Wake

Societies under diminishing leadership experience what might be called "institutional eclipse." When leaders systematically undermine human potential, entire cultures can enter periods of decline. The consequences of Pharaoh's diminishing leadership extended beyond the Israelites to bring judgment upon all Egypt through the plagues.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar's pride led him to diminish others and claim divine prerogatives: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30). His subsequent madness and restoration serve as a metaphor for how diminishing leadership ultimately destroys both leader and society.

The Multiplier's Legacy

Conversely, multiplying leadership creates expanding circles of influence that outlast the original leader. Solomon's wisdom multiplied throughout the known world: "And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart" (1 Kings 10:24). The effects of multiplying leadership compound across generations.

The early church under multiplying apostolic leadership demonstrates this principle: "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly" (Acts 6:7). Each multiplying leader created more multiplying leaders, resulting in exponential growth.

Breaking the Diminisher Cycle

Recognition and Response

The first step in countering diminishing leadership involves recognition. Like the Israelites who "sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God" (Exodus 2:23), those under diminishing leadership must acknowledge their situation and seek change.

Strategic Resistance

Sometimes resistance to diminishing leadership requires courage and strategic action. When Haman sought to destroy all Jews, Esther risked her life to expose his diminishing agenda: "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). Her willingness to challenge diminishing authority saved an entire people.

Creating Multiplying Environments

Even within diminishing systems, individuals can create pockets of multiplication. Daniel maintained his multiplying influence even within Babylon's diminishing regime, consistently pointing others toward divine wisdom and demonstrating integrity that elevated those around him.

Conclusion: The Choice of Legacy

Shakespeare's sonnet concludes with hope: "And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, / Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand." This final couplet reveals the power of multiplication over diminishment. While Time's cruel hand destroys physical beauty, that is, the act of recognizing and celebrating worth, creates something lasting.

Leadership operates by the same principle. Diminishers, like Time's scythe, may achieve temporary dominance by harvesting human potential for their own benefit. But multipliers, like Shakespeare's verse, create legacies that outlast their physical presence by investing in the "rarities of nature's truth" within each person they influence.

The biblical record consistently shows that multiplying leaders leave lasting positive impacts while diminishing leaders create cycles of destruction that eventually consume them. As Proverbs wisely observes: "The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot" (Proverbs 10:7).

In our roles as leaders, whether in families, communities, or organizations…we face Shakespeare's fundamental choice: will we wield Time's cruel hand, systematically diminishing the potential around us, or will we create verses of hope that multiply human flourishing across generations? The answer determines not only our legacy but the trajectory of all those whose "minutes hasten to their end" under our influence.

The waves will continue their relentless march toward the shore, and our minutes will hasten to their appointed end. But the choice of how we shape the human potential entrusted to our care…whether we multiply or diminish it, echoes in eternity, "praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."