day 1051: Spies

"The Lord now said to Moses, 'Send men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to Israel."

Yesterday we discussed the scouts that go out and look at mergers and acquisitions.  Unfortunately, there are others inside of organizations who not only go out to see what is out there but bring back information that is obtained in not the right way. Yes, there is corporate espionage that happens and we may never know of it until someone is caught stealing a patent, copying a product, or stealing a recipe. Sometimes it is not as overt as we think.  Reverse engineering is common, but should also be watched so that things are not stolen easily.  Even our talent is at risk.  Back in the day, recruiters from competitive companies would enter the lobby of another company and then steal the phone directory.  This was almost as good as getting an organization chart, which also would mysteriously end up on recruiters desks.  There is a lesson in corporate spying. If you don't want it done to you, then don't condone it inside your own organization.  When that new hire happens to want to show you the sales presentation or the product manual from their prior employee, do the right thing and have your corporate counsel confiscate it and send it back to her/his counterpart.  Spying is not cool.

Many times the story of Joshua and Caleb is told as "spying", not as scouting.  That they had to sneak and bring back information, food, plants, etc. technically would make them on the spying side, but that's not the lesson of the story.  The lesson from the book of Numbers is about not having to be validated by what men can come up with, but instead, just believe in what God says and follow Him to what He has for us.  Of course we are not to just walk around blindly, when there is information available before we make a decision, but let's not forget that the spies of the world are doing all they can to keep us from following and staying faithful to the Lord.  Today, listen less to men and more to God.  That is information that we can count on!

Reference: Numbers 1:1 (New Living Translation)

day 1050: Scouts

"The Lord now said to Moses, 'Send men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to Israel."

I always liked when I got to be a part of the team who was involved in a merger or acquisition.  When it was time for due diligence, it always felt like being a scout sent out to explore, learn, gather, come back and report. I learned that not everyone sees the same thing in the same way.  There were times when we'd  all be listening to the same person tell us about a part of the prospective business and then when we debriefed, there would be as many opinions as there were people around the table.  Maybe that is why it's always smart to send out more than one scout.  The same can be said for how we think about taking on competition or moving into a new marketplace.  Put your best out there to scout, but make sure there is more than one who brings back their intelligence.

God told Moses to send 12 scouts to look into the land of Canaan.  Only two saw the land as positive and someplace that they should move forward into.  What ended up happening is that Moses and the people all sided with the 10 who were negative.  Consequently, as we know, only the two, Joshua and Caleb, ever returned to Canaan.  God has sent us as scouts for His Kingdom.  He has told us through His Word for what we should be searching and looking. Out challenge is do we believe what He has told us so that we can see the blessings and promises that can be ours.  Today, you get to be a "scout" for God.  Think about that as you enter this workday and see what you see to report back to others.

Reference:  Numbers 13:1 (New Living Translation)