The Torah adds another important element of wisdom for leadership here that is important for all people to know especially leaders of businesses and organizations but it applies to others as well.
Moses relates a very moving interaction he had with G-d. Moses wanted to enter the Promised Land and G-d would not allow him to. Moses relates to the Children of Israel how he ‘entreated the L-rd at that time, saying, "O L-rd G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for who is [like] G-d in heaven or on earth who can do as Your deeds and Your might? Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon."
However, G-d, would not listen and as Moses relates ’the L-rd was angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me, and the L-rd said to me, "It is enough for you; speak to Me no more regarding this matter.” And then G-d told Moses to ‘Go up to the top of the hill and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan. But command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the land which you will see.’
On the surface this seems mean-spirited. It is as if G-d was rubbing Moses’ face in something he could not have. Why did G-d have to show Moses the Land he wanted so much to enter into but was being forbidden to do so? As with all things in the Torah this too contains a timeless message. G-d was showing us how to do succession planning. As human beings we are limited first and foremost with time. Our life spans are limited to a maximum of 120 years. And here Moses was reaching that limit and was having difficulty with completely giving up the reins of power.
While in other cases Moses was able to negotiate with G-d causing Him to relent in the end. In this case G-d tells Moses that he would not even listen to what he was asking, and when Moses continued to press the issue G-d got angry. G-d was saying this was non-negotiable. Moses had to hand over the reins to a successor and there could be no getting out of it. G-d forced Moses to confront his own limitations—mortality—head on.
Mortality is symbolic of all human limitations. Often leaders, especially those who have become very successful, feel that they are in some way better than others and don’t have the same limitations others have. Here G-d is telling Moses—and through him all other future leaders of all types—that effective leaders must be realistic their own limitations and make sure that they are taken into consideration in any type of planning or tasks.
However, what G-d did next is even more insightful. He showed Moses what the Promised Land looked like. In doing this, I suggest that G-d was telling Moses that he now had to begin leading the Children of Israel with the future and his successor in mind. He wanted Moses to see an alternative vision of leadership one that he may not have felt at home with and that may have been outside of his own comfort zone. Nonetheless, in order to achieve a proper and smooth transition of power Moses would now have to lead with that alternative mode of leadership in mind.
In his bestselling book, “From Good to Great” Jim Collins talks about what he refers to as Level Five leaders. These are the humble types of leader who takes no credit for themselves and always only does what is best for their companies. Another trait of a Level Five Leader Collin tells us is one who is able to cultivate and pick talented and capable successors. Moses—as the most humble person ever to live—had done this with Joshua who was capable and ready to lead.
However, the Torah adds another important element of succession planning here. G-d was telling Moses that to ensure complete and smooth transition he needed to confront his own mortality head on and then completely give up on any type of future aspirations after Joshua had taken over. As the end of his tenure came closer he also needed to move out of his own comfort zone as a leader and begin to lead with the future in mind—a future that he could not be a part of. It is only in this way that the future success of the enterprise could be guaranteed.