That which combines in us

Maestro-level letter is a weekly, Sunday morning, brief essay developed for executive advising clients and colleagues.  Given last week's blog post and video resource on the Three Turns of the Executive Leader as compared to the life of Moses, this edition of the letter seemed a good sequel.

"Moses fled from Pharaoh."

- the book of Exodus

I had lunch this week with this man. Now, in his 80's, he remains involved in building Hispanic grocery stores in SW USA and looking forward to returning to his golf game after nearly dying and suffering through long-COVID and a recent knee replacement. He is deeply invested in his grandchildren's lives and continues to provide strong counsel for leaders of corporations. He studied to be a CPA in his first turn and could not have imagined the influence he would have and is having on the American food supply. His Third Turn of leadership outpaces what he did in the first two.

Lenten Scripture readings right now are centered in the book of Exodus and the grand narrative of the Hebrews coming out of slavery. I've written elsewhere about their leader Moses, a former prince of Egypt returning from self-imposed exile to proclaim their freedom, and compared his life to the Three Turns of an executive leader. What is new for me in this round of reading is how short Moses' first turn was.

In telling the story of Moses, his life is often divided into forty-year blocks:

• 40 years old when we fled Egypt to Midian
• 80 years old when Egypt released their captives
• 120 years old upon death after wandering in the desert.

If you watch the movie Ten Commandments,  the script largely follows these proportions. These aren't the proportions of the written story, however. Moses's first forty years as a rescued baby, prince of Egypt, erstwhile vigilante, and escape to Midian occupy less than a chapter. More is written about the context of his birth or his conversation with God at the burning bush than about the first forty years of his life.

Moses' Third Turn gets all the attention, fills the first five books (Pentateuch) of the Hebrew Bible, and holds such influence on our civilization. If you seek a case study of someone who lived through all of the elements of developing a long-term vision and value and then handing the success or failure of that vision to others, this is one of the oldest and most wholly rendered stories in human history.

First Turn -- Moses awakens to the injustice of slavery and his connection to the enslaved. He fails.

Second Turn -- Moses has a new life as a shepherd in the desert, increasing the herds for the clan into which he married. 

Third Turn -- In finally responding to God's call, Moses combines the seeming incompatibility of the first two stanzas of his life, and an entire people group escapes slavery.

What is being combined in you through the years of your life? What vision and action toward future value may emerge in you, even in your octogenarian years and beyond?

- mark l vincent

"Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family." - Proverbs 7:4

This brief note comes each Sunday morning to:  (1) Maestro-level leader cohort participants, (2) Executive Advising clients,  (3) and colleagues. You can opt out at any time. You are welcome to share with others. Your brief, thoughtful contributions are welcome.

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