A good friend of mine Micah Jacobson likes to say, “Purpose = Energy”. When student leaders have PURPOSE they will naturally have ENERGY. It’s only when student leaders lack purpose that they ultimately lack energy as well.
The following story helps to illustrate this very important leadership lesson:
Once upon a time, a faraway kingdom was devastated by drought. The crops failed, and the ground hardened and cracked. And so the king ordered his staff to hire the best digging crew in all the land. The crew arrived with picks and shovels and began digging. Six feet, eight feet, ten feet, the workers kept digging. Finally, they put down their tools. All this digging was absurd. Besides, it was hot, and they had nothing to drink.
Enraged that the crew was refusing to dig any more, the king ordered them put in jail. His wisest advisor, however, asked to speak with the workers. “Come” he said simply, and led the crew on a tour of the kingdom, past the fields that had turned to brown stubble, the children who sat listless in the dust, the cows that were chewing dry straw instead of green grass.
“You’re not just digging,” the advisor explained. “You’re bringing life back to this kingdom.” (PURPOSE = ENERGY)
Immediately, the workers rushed back to the task. They dug day and night until they struck water. When the king came to see the well, he asked the crew what had made such a difference in their work. “Once we understood WHY we were digging,” the workers explained, “nothing could stop us until we had finished the job.”
4 Seasons of ASB 