Build, don't demolish
The wise and foolish builders
Proverbs draws a sharp contrast: the wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. The same hands that could build are capable of demolishing — and often the destruction is self-inflicted, the slow result of foolish choices rather than any outside enemy.
Jesus said the wise build on rock and the foolish on sand, and the difference shows when the storm comes. A leader can spend years building something with skill and then tear it down with a single foolish decision. Wisdom doesn't just build well; it guards against becoming the demolisher of its own work.
“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock.”
— Jesus — Matthew 7:24 (WEB)
Wisdom builds; folly demolishes — often the same person does both. What you build with skill, you can tear down with one foolish choice.
“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.”
Proverbs warns that the foolish tear down their own house with their own hands. A leader formed here guards against self-inflicted destruction of what he has built. He builds on the rock of doing, not just hearing. The inner work is refusing to be the demolisher of your own work.
Build carefully on a solid foundation, and guard against tearing it down with foolish choices. Watch for the self-inflicted damage that undoes years of building. Help your team see that destruction is usually internal, not external. Protect what you've built from your own folly as vigilantly as from outside threats.
Leaders focus on external threats while doing the real damage themselves, tearing down with their own hands what they built. The blind spot is being your own demolisher without realizing it.
Identify one thing you've worked hard to build that a foolish choice could tear down. This week, take one step to guard it from your own folly.
Most of what a leader builds is not destroyed by enemies but by the leader's own foolish choices — a relationship, a reputation, an organization, torn down with their own hands. Wisdom builds carefully and then refuses to become the demolisher of its own work.
Where might you be quietly tearing down, with your own hands, something you worked hard to build?