I love epic stories.  In Virgil’s classic on the Trojan War, the rising empire of Greece invades Troy, the most powerful city-state of the east, but after 10 years can’t breach the walls of the city.

Finally the Greeks built a giant horse with a special force of men hidden inside then pretended to sail away. King Priam of Troy gladly accepted the wooden horse as a victory trophy and that night the men inside crept out and opened the city gates for the rest of the Greek army to the doom of Troy and its inhabitants.  A “Trojan Horse” has come to mean any trick that causes a target to invite an enemy into a securely protected place.

In the poem, 2 people (a priest & Priam’s daughter) warned Priam not to take the horse into the city but he didn’t listen. In the movie Troy, Priam’s son  Paris tells him to destroy the horse right there on the beach – but  Priam listens to foolish people instead. If King Priam would have listened to the right people, Troy would have won the war and the Trojan Horse would have a completely different meaning today.

Here’s the leadership lesson: In order to make wise decisions, you’ve got to have good people around you giving you accurate information and wise counsel. But more than that, there needs to be an atmosphere where the right people can speak openly & honestly and finally  you have to listen to what they’re saying.

Priam was known as a great king, but this one fault – not listening to the right people – was the downfall of not only him, but his city and those he lead too.

Who is influencing your decisions? Are you creating a culture where the right people can speak freely? To whom might you need to stop listening?