Half a month has already passed since the start of 2023. Most people bid farewell to the past year with regret and open the new year with fresh resolutions and expectations. However, for most people, these resolutions last only a few days. They don’t even make it to the point of starting strong and finishing weak—because that would require sticking with them for at least a month. As a result, making New Year’s resolutions and plans can begin to feel meaningless.
Yet, a great leader once said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” What, then, are the two factors that hinder our growth and achievement as individuals, our families, and the organizations we lead in this new year?
Genesis 11:7–8 records how God thwarted humanity’s arrogant attempt to reach His level by building the Tower of Babel:
*“Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.”
On Independence Day in 1952, American long-distance swimmer Florence Chadwick attempted to swim approximately 21 miles from Catalina Island to Long Beach, California. In the early 1950s, she had already set records by swimming across the English Channel twice, each taking over 13 hours.
However, the ocean off the coast of California that day was very different from the English Channel. After swimming for 15 hours, she still had not reached her destination, Long Beach. To make matters worse, a dense fog had settled over the sea, making it impossible to see even a few feet ahead.
Exhausted beyond measure, Chadwick eventually gave up and climbed onto the boat that had been following her. People across the United States were deeply saddened by the news. The reason was that she had stopped swimming just 800 meters short of Long Beach.
At a press conference, Chadwick said, “If only I could have seen the shore of Long Beach, I would never have given up.” But because of the fog, she could not see her destination.
John Maxwell compares a goal to a destination. If a leader can clearly see the destination from the organization’s current position, he or she can draw a roadmap to reach it. This is the power of having a goal. Even the Almighty God declared His objective in order to accomplish His will:
“Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other” (v.7).
The church growth principles of Pastor David Yonggi Cho, who led his church to an astonishing 800,000 members, are surprisingly simple. One of the key principles is this: “Set clear goals.”
The first factor hindering our achievement in the new year is the lack of clear goals. What was the result of God confusing the language of arrogant humanity? They could no longer “understand each other” (v.7b), and as a result, they were scattered and stopped building the Tower of Babel (v.8).
The English word communication, derived from Latin, originally means “people fulfilling responsibilities together.” To be an effective leader, one must motivate team members to share the same vision and to carry out their respective responsibilities in cooperation. In other words, communication is an essential element of effective leadership. Communication creates connection. Through communication, a leader connects with team members, and team members connect with one another. There is no more effective way to destroy an organization than the absence of communication.
There are many reasons why leaders neglect communication. Whatever the reason, if I do not intentionally communicate, there is no way for others to know my intentions. The most destructive thing a leader can do is assume that others already understand what he or she intends. Only God can discern intentions without them being spoken. We are working with human beings. People do not understand something after hearing it just once. Even after hearing it many times, they may still misunderstand. Furthermore, if I want someone to truly listen to me once, I must be willing to listen to them ten times.
Public speaking requires knowledge and skill, but listening requires humility and patience. Therefore, leadership is not merely a skill—it is an attitude and a matter of character.
Here, then, are two “secrets” to ensuring that this year becomes just another year without meaningful achievement:
First, since your resolutions likely won’t last anyway, don’t set any goals at all.
Second, assume that everyone in your organization already fully understands your intentions and is passionately working to accomplish them, so do not communicate.
If you can consistently do just these two things all year long, ironically, you will achieve your goal—The goal of accomplishing absolutely nothing.