Two always produces better than one. However, many leaders lead alone. Executive isolation can happen to the best leaders. In this devotional designed for CEOs and leaders, the concept of team development and personal relationships with the leader will be explored. Let the Biblical principle that Solomon teaches guide your thoughts for the day. It is not good for a leader to lead alone.

1. Two Produces BetterThan One

2. 9
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
10
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who
falls and has no one to help them up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 New International Version (NIV)
Every leader knows the statement, “It’s lonely at the top.” It is true that leaders often experience
loneliness because they reside at the peak of a business and often are the only ones who know
everything about everyone and every situation in the company. Loneliness can sap the leader’s
energy and lead them to make poor decisions.
Loneliness can impact any person. In 2014, the National Science Foundation reported in its General
Social Survey that an unprecedented number of Americans are lonely. Almost one-fourth of
respondents reported having “no one with whom they can talk about their personal troubles or
triumphs.”1
. If this is true of all people, how much more does this prove to be true of leaders who
have no one to expand their thinking, share ideas, or give insights and inspiration?
Devotion:Two Produces BetterThan One
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2
Reflection Question:
At what times in the running of the business have you felt the loneliness of leadership?
Reflection Question:
What one or two strategies do you embrace to overcome loneliness?

3. Devotion:Two Produces BetterThan One
God’s plan for your leadership is that you lead with others.
He desires that every leader have a team of people to provide
help and support through the difficult moments of the hour.
No Christian leader should ever find themselves alone in their
struggles, difficulties, and decisions. This passage in Ecclesiastes
promises that God is bringing people into our lives and our
companies that can help us see further, learn faster, and
accomplish more than we could ever accomplish on our own.
In verse 9, Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, states,
“two are better than one, because they have a good return for
their labor.” Two people can produce more than one person can
produce. A promise that God gives to the Christian executive
is that He will bring people into our life and our company that
will help us build a better product, produce better results, and
achieve a better outcome than we could have ever produced by
ourselves.
Reflection Question:
If two are better one, why do so many leaders and
entrepreneurs choose to function alone?
Reflection Question:
How do we fight against the temptation of the desire
to lead alone?
No
Christian
leader
should
ever find
themselves
alone
in their
struggles,
difficulties,
and
decisions.
“
”
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4. Devotion:Two Produces BetterThan One
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Solomon ends this Bible principle with the statement,
“Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Every leader has the potential to fall into the danger zone
of executive isolation.2
God wants us to live life and run a
business with others, and yet so many leaders lead alone.
Solomon gives a real example of the dangers of isolation
when he states that a leader may fall and have no one
to help them up. In the words of The Pulpit Commentary
“The joint labors of two produce much more effective
than the efforts of a solitary worker. Companionship is
helpful and profitable.”3
1 - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-is-your-true-north/201510/overcoming-the-loneliness-leadership
2 - HBR - How to Overcome Executive Isolation - Ron Ashkenas https://hbr.org/2017/02/how-to-overcome-executive-isolation
3 - http://biblehub.com/commentaries/ecclesiastes/4-9.htm
Reflection Question:
What steps can leaders take to ensure that they are
not leading alone?
Reflection Question:
What real implications have you experienced when
you tried to lead alone?
Best Ideas!