Powerful Leadership Through Coaching

7Setting Priorities

It is not enough to be busy . . . the question is: What are we busy about?

—Henry David Thoreau, American author, essayist, poet, and philosopher

Thoroughly and physically beaten, a man collapsed near a major thoroughfare. He struggled on the side of the road. He was not alone, but that did not mean people rushed to his aid. In fact, people passed this man without stopping to help—out of fear or disinterest, we do not know.

This horrific event did not occur on the busy streets of New York City or a hot, sunny sidewalk in Los Angeles. The story is found in the Bible, and it is simply known as the story of the Good Samaritan.

At last, another traveler—a Samaritan—stopped and not only helped the man but quite literally went “the extra mile” to ensure that the man was able to recover, even though it came at considerable cost to the Samaritan in terms of both time and money. The Samaritan had no reason or obligation to help the victim but did so anyway.

In 1973, college students at Princeton Theological Seminary decided to reenact this classic story. Forty students preparing for the ministry were asked to participate in a general study. Their task was simple: report to one building for an assignment and then go to another to fulfill a task.

In the first building, they were given a questionnaire and instructed to go to another building for their actual task. They were told, in varying degrees (slight, medium, and extreme), to hurry to their next location, where ...