Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Urban Planning

Urban Planning

Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem. – Nehemiah 11:1-2

In continuation of our learning from the leadership playbook of Nehemiah, another lesson we can pick from his exemplary leadership style is urban planning. No doubt, rural-urban migration and population management is a problem contemporary leaders grapple with even today, but in the case of Nehemiah, he made this a moot with his savvy engagement skills.

We had earlier read how he mobilized his countrymen to rebuild the walls of the city and the kind of buy-in he got in that regard. Taking that further, to ensure an efficient resource management in the capital, Nehemiah also worked with the leaders of the people to arrive at a collective metric by which they would determine who would stay in Jerusalem, the capital city, and those that would live in the suburbs.

By regulating the number of people who lived in the city this way, Nehemiah and his lieutenants would ensure efficient distribution of resources and there was no undue stress on the social services and infrastructures provided for residents of the capital. More important is the fact that Nehemiah got the people themselves to own the process of deciding who would stay in the capital and those that would stay in other parts of the nation without anyone feeling slighted.

This is another reflection of his sterling interpersonal skills and his commitment to participatory governance. These two core skills can be said to be pivotal to all the feats he was able to achieve as a leader. The more reasons that leaders today can borrow a leaf from his example in tackling sociodemographic issues.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

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