Keys to a Successful Career

by Gerald R. Chester, Ph.D.

Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." (1 Samuel 16:19 NKJV)

People generally want to have a successful career and organizations want to hire people who can and will be successful. What are some keys to career success?

One way to glean some biblical clues is to study people who have enjoyed successful careers in the past. Arguably one such person would be King David whose rule of Israel occurred sometime during the tenth or eleventh century BC.

David was the youngest of eight boys whose family business was, at least in part, sheep herding. He spent his formative years as a dutiful son to his father, honing his skills in the family business. When opportunity came, he was well prepared to respond to the direction he received from three authority figures.

The first authority figure was his natural father, Jesse, who trained and prepared him for his calling, although Jesse may not have had clarity on David’s calling until the second authority figure came to see him. The second authority figure was the prophet Samuel whom the Lord sent to commission David to be the future king of Israel. The third authority figure was King Saul, the king of Israel at that time, who summoned David (see the above text) to join his staff as a musician and then as a soldier. Through these sovereignly ordained authority figures, David was directed into his life purpose.

Not only did the authority figures have their roles to play in David's life, but David also had a role to play in preparing for a successful career. Specifically, David embraced some distinct attributes that facilitated his success. Consider the following traits:

PREPARATION: David prepared for a successful career by being a faithful son. He obediently grew up under the tutelage of his father, learning the family business and honing his skills.

HUMILITY: David was humble. He did not self-promote or display impatience. He was content to serve his father as a faithful son.

SUBMISSION: David submitted to the authority figures in his life. He complied with their direction without resistance. Implicitly, he must have recognized that God was leading him through the commissioning of these men.

These three traits—preparation, humility, and submission—were essential keys that enabled David to find and fulfill his life purpose through the guidance of authority figures sovereignly placed in his life. Because of these keys, not only did David enjoy a successful career, but also his organization (the nation of Israel) prospered under his leadership.

Here is your business tip. To build enduringly excellent organizations, management must build with people who are called of God to be part of the organizations. Wise management will search for people who are both called and commissioned by authority figures to the work of their organizations. Workers seeking to find and fulfill their life purpose will, among other things, display the traits of preparation, humility, and submission to authority. These traits will facilitate the release of the purpose of God in the lives of workers, enable the workers to enjoy career success, and facilitate the delivery of excellent value to those the organization serves. Wise management will patiently search for such people and build their organizations as God provides the right people.