Another THGM client publishes! Your Moment to Lead: Simple But Important Ways to Prepare for Leadership by Jacob Isaac is a must-read for business leaders in 2023.

He came to us four years ago with a message typical of so many clients:

“I’ve prepared a book on Hope. I need help with completing it. The word count is about 27,000. Can someone please contact me? Kindest regards, Jacob.”

That was for his first book. Before he had even published Hope Rising the next year, he already had developed ideas for his next book: Your Moment to Lead.

This often happens. People with creative minds and a drive to make things happen rarely want to write just one book. They have a fundamental aspect of character that leads them to write and publish their ideas.

For Jacob, the trip from hope to leadership wasn’t much of a leap.

“I like what Napoleon said: ‘Leaders are dealers in hope.’ They help people to believe in the vision and in their leadership, but they also help people to believe in themselves. They help people turn hope into action. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of leadership is seeing people with hope believe in themselves, develop themselves, and blossom into effective leaders. If you desire to help your people do that, proceed in this way.”

Fittingly enough, the first chapter in Jacob’s book is “Define Your Character.” After all, how can you lead if you don’t know your own character?

Leadership and hope from the fires of apartheid

Jacob’s character was forged in the fires of the apartheid era in South Africa, living in abject poverty and losing everything.

He lost his marriage.

He lost his thriving church.

He was abused as a child, abandoned as a baby and adopted by a man who lived most of his life with a broken heart. Jacob sought release from pain and rejection through gang conflict, sport and politics.

To escape, Jacob engrossed himself in dismantling apartheid. And that’s where he found hope. He became a political freedom fighter at an early age. The fight for liberation of his people led him to the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He came to realize that there is an even greater need of humankind, and that is freedom from sin. As his perspective evolved, Jacob began to devote himself to making a difference, to establishing a legacy of hope and influence to inspire this generation and the next.

Jacob had the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela face to face, and the legendary leader’s words of encouragement still motivate him and echo within him:

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being an optimist is to keep one’s head pointed towards the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way leads to defeat and death.”

Jacob decided that he did not want to allow defeat and death to rob him, his generation and generations to come of hope. Now living in New Zealand, his mission is to uplift the human spirit for the sake of freedom and the glory of God.

As a pastor for over 14 years, Jacob has never taken a salary. He has a day job, like the rest of us. In his words: “I worked and pastored the church, never my intention to bleed the saints.”

No longer pastoring in the ministry, Jacob is now focusing on his two books and spreading the word about hope and leadership.

It was exciting to work with Jacob on these books and help him build on his own leadership skills to share what he’s learned with the world.

Your Moment to Lead is a book about looking within to find leadership abilities to share with others. Leadership principles are universal. This book is well-written and easy to read so that you can absorb the ideas and put them into practice to prepare for your moment to lead.

The back cover of Your moment to lead

Here is what you’ll find on the back of the book:

Are you ready for your moment to lead?

This fresh and insightful book will help you identify your innate leadership traits and naturally develop vital leadership skills. Through simple but effective steps, you will grow to take on richly satisfying roles in the working world and in the community, becoming a leader who is trusted and respected by others.

The first half of the book focuses on honest and reflective self-assessment, while the second half shows how to creatively move beyond personal limitations. Ultimately, instead of simply adopting others’ ideas of leadership, you will become your own self-guide to evolve into a unique and innovative leader.

Your Moment to Lead provides you with:

• Essential leadership skills
• Self-assessment tools for recognizing leadership ability or potential
• Current research from leading industry publications

And highlights:

• The importance of character and the role of ethics in leadership
• Pitfalls to avoid when assuming a leadership role

So that you can become the leader you want to be – naturally.

Why this book on leadership?

So, why this book on leadership? Jacob says he doesn’t know. Nor does he understand why he has always been drawn – or roped in – to leadership roles from a very young age, through sports, politics, church, community, vocations and work.

It’s more than just personality. Over 25 years ago in Durban, South Africa, Durban, a visiting speaker by the name of Scott Webster singled him out in a massive gathering. Jacob was reluctant to stand. He thought the speaker was referring to someone else. But it was him. The speaker said he saw in Jacob a facilitator to bring in the end time harvest. He saw Jacob working with business and church. He said many doors will open up and pull Jacob away. “He told me that I must be cautious to follow the narrow way,” Jacob recalls.

Many years later in New Zealand, Jacob was invited by a pastor to help with a new church he was starting, called “Manukau Hope Centre”. He invited a guest speaker by the name of David Peters. He was praying and prophesying to the leadership team. Jacob was third in the queue, and David addressed him. He said he saw in Jacob a Kingdom facilitator, working with business and church. He said he saw Jacob as a queen piece on a chess board. The queen is the one piece in chess that can move in any direction, and Jacob understood this to mean that he has the ability to move in any direction in the Kingdom.

These two speakers from different continents had never met each other.

“Now, I’m not one who runs and jumps at prophetic words. I have parked this for years. It feels like a test of the spirits, because it’s somehow coming back to me or following me.

“I’m sensing a shifting over my life from the pastoral and prophetic to an end time Kingdom facilitator, advisor or advocate. However, this still work in progress. I really have no idea where it will lead, and I am letting the spirit guide me.”

For the moment, it leads to this book. It differs from other leadership books on the market. Many focus on a series of personal qualities or professional duties to prepare a person to lead. Some books are oriented to an empathic approach to leadership. Others discuss strategies like competition, teamwork or motivation. This book encourages readers to take a personal and natural approach to evaluating their leadership interests, abilities and goals. Instead of adopting others’ ideas of leadership, Your Moment to Lead teaches readers how to become their own self-guides and become the leaders they want to be.

Jacob looks back and begins to see the path behind him and how it might lead him forward, beyond Your Moment to Lead.

“Now when I look back, I can finally see the dots connecting. I can see that everything stands or falls on leaders and leadership. And leadership is all about inspiring hope, because hope makes a difference, serving people and adding value.

“I have reached a stage where I want my life to be significant, where I can make a difference in others.”

You can pick up your copy of Your Moment to Lead and learn more about finding the leader within yourself at Amazon.com or at Amazon.ca.