One question I don’t always ask myself is, who will continue what I’m going to do. How will it continue to the people after me, and be the next thing that people do, or pick up? It’s been a question in my mind after spending time listening to the range of entreprenuer audio books, like Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, or currently listening to Steve Jobs by Isaac Walterson.
I found that both of them use very interesting approaches at their early years. Phil Knight, being an athlete himself, held some part of team dynamics and a dependency on the people around him from his intial years. He constantly saw the people around him as the community and the culture of what eventually became Nike. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, seemed to be quite a unique individual, who prided himself on himself. The people that was placed around him seemed to be out of obligation or need. It didn’t seem that he would have thought of having someone else around, until he saw that they could do something better than he did. Both ways, the companies now don’t have their original leader and it left me wondering, does their founders’ legacy remain? I can safely say that Nike still produces in the same vein or heart of Phil Knight’s original team of people, aiming to change the game always. But I don’t know about Jobs, as Apple seems to be declining in its innovation (Lack of an iPod or iPhone in this current generation).
As I considered my own work and my own personality, I related more to Jobs, in my individualistic search for my own meaning in life. I feel that many times, the things I do are things that no one else would do. Remembering the times in Army where I picked up two appointments, I took that responsibility out of need. But at the same time, I knew then and I still know that I had a great team that could balance out the ambition of the bosses. I just needed to keep them in check. In that aspect I related to Phil Knight more. Maybe it was this willingness to try that makes a lot of what I do seem hard to replicate.
I guess the all important question that would affect this post writing the most is, what is my view of God’s leadership/continuity of work? In the writings of Paul to Timothy, there’s a sense of continuing and teaching the next generation. The vision of what happens doesn’t die with Paul or Tim, neither does it die with the people after them. I would like to think that God is the one that continues that work, not the ability or skill of Paul or Timothy, though God did work through them in a mind blowing way. Referencing the older kings of Israel in the Old Testament, someone like King David did an even worse job, as his kids started a revolt against him, and yet God promised him an everlasting kingdom after that.
Does the world we live in now have a space for a King that lasts forever? How do I deal with this concept of doing a good work that someone else can take over, and yet understand that if I choose not to, God will still raise someone to take over me?
At the end of the day, I always feel that if God has placed something in my heart to start doing, I need to do it to the best of my abilities, and teach those near me to do the same. With that, I would have done my part, and I would continue to leave the rest to God to finish. After all, I am just human.