104 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
body’s opinion if you don’t like it, but if the person has the data to back
it up, your intellect should be able to overwhelm your vanity.^21The Bible tells us that we should be alert to messages fromanysource
that warn us that we may be going down the wrong path. Balaam was
a man who didn’t know how to listen or to whom to listen. Balak, the
king of Moab, tried to hire him to pronounce a curse against the people
of Israel. Balaam initially balked because he feared God, but his greed
got the better of him, and he set off to visit Balak and to put a curse on
his own country once more.
Balaam’s donkey must have had clearer vision than her owner (after
all, he was blinded by greed), for she could see the angel of the Lord
standing in the middle of the road to thwart this immoral journey. The
donkey first veered off the road, then pressed herself against a wall
(crushing Balaam’s foot) and finally lay down and refused to move. She
even spoke to him. Rather than ‘‘listening’’ to the signs that something
might be amiss in his strategy, Balaam angrily beat his donkey until he
saw the angel, sword in hand, standing in the road. The angel informed
him that if the donkey had not turned away from the journey three
times, Balaam would have already been killed!
Situations in which it’s appropriate to listen to donkeys are mercifully
very rare. But often, leaders must listen to many differing human points
of view. William Steere, CEO of Pfizer, notes: ‘‘Remaining open to
conflicting or even painful information keeps you from being compla-
cent and insular... success is achieved when you have very smart
people advancing different points of view... Our goal is for everyone
to be heard and every point of view examined.’’^22
The prophets were often considered to be the ‘‘bringers of bad
news’’ because they were quick to point out when the leaders and peo-
ple of Israel had gone astray from their mission, had become corrupted,
or were being threatened by an outside enemy. They were therefore
frequently rejected or imprisoned by the very leaders who could have
benefited from their advice and warnings.
Jeremiah was such a prophet, who risked his own life to send a warn-
ing to the king of Judah. Jeremiah had received a prophesy of all the