Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Dealing with Haters

Dealing with Haters

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore, we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” – Nehemiah 2:19-20

Distraction from haters is one of the sure challenges a leader is bound to encounter in his leadership journey. It is also worthy of note that the bigger the problem a leader is trying to solve, the bigger the attendant distraction she is going to face to get her off track and prevent her from accomplishing her mission.

Nehemiah taught us a good lesson in dealing with mockers as a leader. When the likes of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem started to mock him and his people for starting the rebuild of Jerusalem, he did not take offense or start a contention with them. Rather, he taught us a profound lesson by highlighting the stakes of these three men in the project. Specifically, he told them that they “have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” Thus, he defined their stakes in the project which helped him to know they were not people who deserve his time as their interests in the matter was very insignificant.

This is a strong lesson for anyone in positions of leadership. Managing distraction is one essential skill a leader must have. She must know which side issues are worth her time and attention and which is not. Attending to every dog that bark is a waste of time for anyone, the same way a leader must know that not every side comment or criticism is worth attending to. He must be able to accurately assess the stakes of the critics to ascertain if their criticism is coming from good intentions or jealousy. In the case of Nehemiah, it did not take long for him to place Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem and to conclude how much time he should devote to them, as he would need all hands-on deck for the great work ahead.

Once he had determined that they were of little consequence to him and the project he was undertaking, he did not waste time to put them in their place as we can see in the passage above. Nehemiah effectively dealt with hecklers, and this also helped in helping him to record good success both in his project as well as his leadership career. To make a mark as a leader, you should learn his examples.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Mobilization (3)
• Advice to Parents About Children
• Jesus Met Me on the Morning of My Funeral