ENTJ is the Myers-Briggs type built to take charge: extraverted, intuitive, thinking, judging. If that's you, you see what needs to happen, you're willing to say so, and waiting for a group to arrive at the answer you reached ten minutes ago is painful. Scripture has a leader like that, and it doesn't ask her to be less decisive.
Deborah Was Already Running the Country
Judges 4 opens with a situation and a person. Israel is under Canaanite occupation, and "Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided" (Judges 4:4-5).
So before the battle, she's the judge. People bring her their disputes, she decides them, and the decisions hold.
Then she sends for Barak, the military commander, and delivers the order. "The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands" (Judges 4:6-7).
Numbers, a location, an objective, and a stated outcome. That is a brief.
She Went, and She Told Him the Cost
Barak's answer is the part worth slowing down for. "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go" (Judges 4:8).
Deborah does two things at once, and most leaders can only manage one. She says yes: "Certainly I will go with you." And she tells him the truth about it: "But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman" (Judges 4:9).
She doesn't withdraw the support to punish him, and she doesn't pretend the choice was costless to spare his feelings. She goes, and he knows exactly where he stands. Then on the day, when it's time, she gives one more order: "Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" (Judges 4:14).
If you lead, that combination is the thing to take from this chapter. Support somebody and be honest with them in the same conversation.
The Question Under Every Order
Notice what Deborah's authority rests on. Every instruction she gives Barak starts somewhere other than her own judgment. The Lord commands. The Lord will deliver. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you.
That's the thing to guard, because you're good at deciding and you'll be right often enough to stop asking. The competence is real, which is exactly what makes it dangerous. Somewhere in the middle of a hundred good calls, the habit of checking with God can go missing without a single moment where you decided to drop it.
So build the check in where you can't skip it. Before the decision, not after it. Ask what God is doing here and give it long enough that the answer could be something other than your plan. A useful check: when did prayer last change one of your decisions?
People Aren't Resources
The other cost of this wiring is the one your family and your team feel. You move fast, you say the direct thing, and you're usually solving the problem rather than attacking the person. They can't always tell the difference.
Deborah's leadership shows up in the text as people coming *to* her. They went up to her to have their disputes decided. They kept coming, over years, which means she was worth going to.
So slow down at the moments that don't feel efficient. Ask a question you already know the answer to and let the person work it out. Say the encouraging thing out loud rather than assuming it's understood. And when somebody brings you a problem, find out whether they want it solved or want to be heard, because you will default to solved.
Who Else Took Charge
There are no four-letter types anywhere in scripture. There are a lot of people in it who organized things.
Deborah judges a nation and goes to the battle. Nehemiah surveys a ruined wall at night and has it rebuilt in fifty-two days. Paul plants churches across an empire and writes back to correct them. Joseph runs the food supply of a superpower through a famine. Lydia hears one sermon, gets her whole household baptized, and has the missionaries installed in her house by the end of the paragraph.
Start With the Decision You're About to Make
Start with the decision you're about to make this week. Before you make it, ask God about it and wait long enough for an answer that isn't yours. Tell one person on your team something you appreciate and be specific about it. Take one thing you're carrying alone and hand it to somebody who will do it differently than you would. And read Judges 4 and 5 together, because the chapter after the battle is Deborah's song, and it's the same woman worshiping.
God is not looking for you to be less decisive. He is looking to be the one you take the decision to first.