Cupbearer to Master Builder: Leadership Lessons Inspired by Nehemiah

By Vinnie Venturella

We can find excellent leadership lessons in a lot of places. One of the most interesting and instructive would be the study of Nehemiah. He is one of the great leaders in the Bible and is one of the great leaders in all of history. In this project, we will explore leadership lessons gleaned from his own personal journal and focus on the first seven chapters of the book that bears his name. Additionally, I will reference quotes and other scripture to reinforce the lesson. I summarize each chapter with Nehemiah’s “Master Builder Principles.”
Nehemiah was a master builder. He built a wall around Jerusalem in just fifty-two days, when others apparently could not. He built the Jews’ confidence. He built progress. He built a strong and positive culture. He built relationships. He built his positive reputation. He built a phenomenal legacy. He built an example for all to emulate.
I love the study of leadership, have been doing it for 33+ years, and expect to do it my whole life. Leadership fascinates me and the more I study it the more I validate how critical it is to teams, organizations, our nation, and our church.
My life’s purpose is to Positively Influence Lives. This is done primarily through leadership. My measure of success with this project is expose readers to God’s Word, expose readers to some leadership lessons, and enable readers to build upon their leadership knowledge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728342122

Vinnie Venturella

This is Vinnie’s seventeenth book. Vinnie and his wife Tammie have two daughters, Meaghan and Sophia. They live in Texas. Vinnie was born in Pittsburgh, PA. His Mom Joyce and Dad Frank were a big influence on him, and he has a twin brother, Frank and younger sister, Jill. He graduated Woodsville High School in NH. He has a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Campbell University, NC; and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. Vinnie retired as a Chief Master Sergeant from the Air Force after 21+ years as a Combat Controller in Air Force Special Operations. Vinnie works in the Personal Finance industry. He has a passion for reading, writing, and physical fitness.

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© 2019 Vinnie Venturella. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/02/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-4213-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-4212-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020900403

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication page

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. The Leader and Leadership

3. A Backdrop

4. The Leader’s Mission

(Nehemiah 1:1-4)

5. Leaders are Prayerful

(Nehemiah 1:5-11)

6. Planning and Logistics

(Nehemiah 2:1-9)

7. Assess the Situation

(Nehemiah 2:11-16)

8. Cast a Big Vision

(Nehemiah 2:17-18)

9. Prepare for Opposition

(Nehemiah 2:10, 19-20)

10. Organize for Effectiveness

(Nehemiah 3:1-32)

11. Deal with Opposition

(Nehemiah 4:1-9)

12. Plan-Do-Check-Act/Adjust

(Nehemiah 4:10-23)

13. Do the Right Thing

(Nehemiah 5:1-13)

14. Lead from The Front

(Nehemiah 5:14-19)

15. Tenacious Persistence

(Nehemiah 6:1-19)

16. Build to Last

(Nehemiah 7:1-73)

17. Conclusion

DEDICATION PAGE

This book is dedicated to Scott Fales.

One of the greatest leaders I’ve ever served with.

A Special Operations legend.

An all-time master builder.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When I undertake any project, I have a person or people in my mind that constantly inform my content. I visualize a specific person or a group of people that emulate the topic or lesson I am articulating. This project was no different. Scott Fales was constantly top of mind while writing about Nehemiah. Scott was a team leader and direct supervisor of mine back in the day. He was also an organization and institution leader for many years prior to his military retirement. Scott continues to lead today.

Scott epitomizes the concept of master builder. He built and maintained a phenomenal culture wherever he was assigned. He built an unbreakable confidence in all those he was responsible for. He built an amazing reputation across the Special Operations community. He built an extraordinary legacy in the people and organizations who were privileged to serve with him. He built up organizations that continued onward and upward after he left. I am forever grateful for his leadership, friendship and mentorship along the way. I am a better man because of Scott Fales.

I also want to thank Rex Freriks for helping edit this book and for offering his insights and advice throughout this project. I am better because of Rex’s constant encouragement.

1

INTRODUCTION

We can find excellent leadership lessons in a lot of places. One of the most interesting and instructive would be the study of Nehemiah. He is one of the great leaders in the Bible and is one of the great leaders in all of history. In this project, we will explore leadership lessons gleaned from his own personal journal and focus on the first seven chapters of the book that bears his name. Additionally, I will reference quotes and other scripture to reinforce the lesson. I summarize each chapter with Nehemiah’s Master Builder Principles.

Leaders are all around us – everywhere. A lot of people think leaders are those people that have a certain title or have a certain position in an organization or those people that have direct reports. Leadership is more than that. Leadership is plainly and simply all about influence. If one person influences another (hopefully positively) then they are exercising some form of leadership. Sadly, it’s also possible to lead in a negative sense – again it’s all about influence.

The environment where a person finds himself or herself in is not necessarily indicative of their level of influence. Obviously, the depth and breadth of influence exponentially expands along with the more people a leader has a direct impact on. We are introduced to Nehemiah when he gets a report from one of his brothers and some of his fellow countrymen who had just returned from Jerusalem. Nehemiah was born in captivity. He probably had never been to Jerusalem before. And we find out he’s Artaxerxes’ cupbearer. From being an exiled Jew in Babylon to being the king’s cupbearer, Nehemiah shows he is a master builder. This is what we’ll explore in this project.

As a master builder, first and most obvious Nehemiah was a master at getting the wall built around Jerusalem. Scripture is silent if, aside from being a cupbearer, Nehemiah was a contractor, a stone mason, or a wall builder by profession. I surmise he was not. But he led the Jews to a monumental feat of completing the wall in fifty-two days – and this was not his primary expertise.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built the confidence of the Jews along the way and especially following the completion of the wall. They were in great trouble and disgrace (1:3) mainly because they had no physical protection without the wall. Additionally, it was hard to tout being God’s chosen people when your city was in shambles and you could not repel any invasion. Nehemiah built their confidence.

As a master builder, Nehemiah was a builder of progress. When you read Nehemiah 1 – 7, you get the sense that Nehemiah constantly moved forward and upward. Despite all the obstacles, Nehemiah built progress forward. There was an immense amount of opposition and although it may have slowed him down, he kept moving forward. Even when they had to adjust their plan by arming their workers, they made progress. Nehemiah was a builder of progress.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built a strong and positive culture. The Jews were in great trouble and disgrace (1:3) and were in a very poor position. Through his own personal example, he gave the Jews a lot to be proud of. He showed the value of teamwork and the value of everyone working toward a common goal. He prayed early and often, privately and publicly. He showed the right way to do things amongst all people including the leaders. He ensured everyone did right by each other and stuck up for those that couldn’t stick up for themselves. Nehemiah built a strong and positive culture.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built relationships along the way. He obviously had a very productive one with Artaxerxes. I presume he had a working relationship with Asaph and other important people in Babylon, on the journey back, and in and around Jerusalem. He was personally invested in most of the Jews in and around Jerusalem. He rallied them to a mission bigger than themselves and kept them motivated, inspired, protected and fed for the duration of the project.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built his positive reputation. He had a strong reputation with Artaxerxes. He built his reputation amongst the people and his lower-level leaders. He dealt with opposition in the most professional of manners. He led by example in how to deal with opposition. He could have sunk to their level but didn’t. He was also well known by the leaders of the opposition and because of his success would become a target of theirs. The annals of scripture have him in the hall of fame for all that he did and what he stood for.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built a phenomenal legacy. He developed and created leaders, he delegated to leaders and he left the place better than how he found it. Think about the absolute shambles the Jews were in during those days. He and he alone finished the wall when others apparently could not. He gave folks worthy work to do and they exceeded expectations. He sacrificed his own personal comfort and wealth to put the treasury on a strong footing. He moved the Jews figuratively and literally further than most anyone else could have. When he left, the Jews were on a forward and upward path. This was his legacy.

As a master builder, Nehemiah built an example for all to emulate. He got his hands dirty. He took care of his people. He protected his people. He stuck up for his people. He exposed himself to personal danger to dissuade bad actors. He did not partake in any food, provisions, or wealth not funded outside of his own pockets. He worked shoulder to shoulder with his fellow countrymen. He always stayed dressed and armed to be ready whenever needed. He was a prayerful man. Nehemiah led from the front and by example at all times.

Nehemiah was a master builder. He built a wall around Jerusalem in just fifty-two days, when others apparently could not. He built the Jews’ confidence. He built progress. He built a strong and positive culture. He built relationships. He built his positive reputation. He built a phenomenal legacy. He built an example for all to emulate.

2

THE LEADER AND LEADERSHIP

Overview:

Teams, organizations, our nation and our church rise or fall because of leadership. Leadership in its simplest definition is influence. Leaders exude some form of influence amongst people to get things done. This influence can be perceived to be good or bad, regardless it is a catalyst that moves people. My study of leadership focuses on the good aspects, acknowledges what not to do, and maximizes what I and others have proven to work most of the time with most people. There are innumerable books written about leadership. Everyone has an opinion. Even I’ve written a bunch about leadership. People hunger for leadership, want to be better leaders themselves, look to others who they perceive as successful and attempt to implement or exude some best practices, qualities, traits, or behaviors in their own leadership makeup.

Why do so many people hunger for leadership? Why do so many people and organizations spend millions and millions of dollars a year on books, classes, audio media, conferences, everything and anything to get better at leadership? Why do so many people and organizations seemingly suddenly flock to the latest trend, or the most recent book, or the hot take, or the fad that sweeps through the land about leadership? Why do so many people gravitate toward a certain leader one day only to move on to another one the next? Why do we get disappointed with our leaders? Hasn’t everything already been written, said or experienced about leadership?

Think about the one leader or handful of leaders that you currently work with or have worked with in the past that you most admire. What is the first thing that comes to your mind about why you admire them so much? Is it a character trait? Is it how they made you feel? Is it because you felt valued? Did you feel important? Did you appreciate his or her stance on morality? Did you agree with his or her philosophy on business? Did you cherish their integrity? Were they empathetic? Were they sympathetic? Were they smart? Were they available? Were they down to earth? Did they seemingly have all the answers? Did they treat you and others fairly? Did they treat you and others the same? Were they competent? Were they critical thinkers? Did they value others’ input? Were they decisive? Could they be counted on no matter what, where or when? Were they a good communicator? Were they creative? Were they great at execution? Were they a visionary? Were they able to articulate or show a path that no one else could see? Were they committed to you and