Dr. Cummings: Moses was an introvert

We have so many contrary stories about Moses in the Bible that it's almost impossible to nail down his leadership style. In fact, many biblical scholars believe that the portrait of Moses in the Torah might well be a composite of many people. One day he breaks up a fight between an Egyptian and a Hebrew and kills the Egyptian in the process; that sounds like a bold extrovert to me. But then he turns into a hesitant introvert when Yahweh tries to push him into a meeting with the pharaoh.

Finally, the author of Numbers solves this puzzle (he thought!) with the famous quote: "Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth." Meek? Give me a break! How could that define the man who argued repeatedly with God himself, and then dragged hundreds of grumbling, complaining Hebrews across a desert for 40 years? I don't think so. "Meek" won't cut it. This Hebrew word is used only 20 times in the whole Old Testament, and then is translated into Greek only four times in the New Testament. But when it's translated into English, It becomes "meek." I don't think so. What does it really mean?

I think it means "introvert." You know, one of the two contrasting personality types: introvert and extrovert. Moses starts out as totally dependent on his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron, and shows very little independent responsibility; a classic introvert. But he doesn't stay that way; he lifts himself up, overcoming the many flaws in his introverted personality, and becomes one of our greatest heroes. For 40 years, he leads that tribe of complaining, irritating and never satisfied group of people across the desert to the Promised Land. I don't know how many of our current extroverts could do that.

When I look at the other 19 times the word is used in the Tanakh and the four times in the New Testament, I think "introvert" is a better translation. Isaiah was sent to preach to an "introverted bunch of Hebrews" because they were capable of changing, not to a gaggle of meek and mild men who were going to remain that way. "Blessed are the introverts," Matthew says, "for they shall inherit the land." Only people who have moved themselves from dependent to independent, from pitying themselves to helping others, from weak introverts to strong introverts -- will ever be able to manage and maintain the "land they will inherit."

I'm sure most people would tolerate a man who is meek and mild, humble and defacing, slow to speak, and hesitant to serve, but would they vote him into Congress? John C. Maxwell gives us the 21 indispensable qualities of a leader, but meek is not among them. Courageous, confident, concentrating on priorities; these are the qualities of a leader, and every introvert can adopt these qualities -- like Moses did.

But we've all seen the introverts who would not change, haven't we? If we look back on our careers either in business or in our clubs and churches, we've all seen both men and women who pushed the responsibility to others, who seemed to enjoy their dependency, who were glad to have a hand-out and not a hand-up.

I lived in an introverted monastery for 22 years, and it was only after I walked out and found myself penniless on the streets of New York and became the sorriest beggar on Queens Boulevard that I realized I could pull myself up, dust myself off, and eventually become the vice president of a large corporation. I don't think it had anything to do with being an extrovert or an introvert.

Blessed are the introverts who have the chutzpah to rise up and look around; blessed are all of us when we realize that true leadership has nothing to do with introversion or extroversion, with meekness or strength, but rather with recognizing that leadership means service, and all of us can serve.

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of the people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by the one at the "top of the pyramid," servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

I believe that introverts, like Moses, can become some of our best leaders, and I'll bet you know many of them yourself.

Bill Cummings is the CEO of Cummings Consolidated Corporation and Cummings Management Consultants. His blog is www.progressiveheretic.com.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Dr. Cummings: Moses was an introvert ."