Page 119 - The Bible On Leadership

Communication 105

disasters that would befall Judah, so he dictated the information and saw
that the scroll was brought to the king. The king’s response? Whenever
his servant had read three or four columns of the scroll, ‘‘the king cut
them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot until the
entire scroll was burned in the fire . . . The king and all his attendants
who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their
clothes.’’ ( Jer. 36:23–24)
Here was a leader who ignored well-intentioned advice that could
have saved his country and people tremendous suffering if he had only
listened to it (not to mention, the advice was free). By contrast, John
Gigerich, chief information officer of Union Carbide, actually sought
out discomfort and bad news within the organization. He knew there
were serious conflicts about the use of technology and the firm’s strate-
gic direction, and he reasoned that these festering sores would only
become more infected without attention. Gigerich’s vaccine? Large
doses of communication, particularly listening. He surfaced the issues,
responded to the resistance he encountered, and spent months discuss-
ing, explaining, and responding to employee concerns before he deter-
mined and instituted the proper changes in each department.
Roya Zamanzadeh is CEO of Pear Transmedia, a thirteen-person
Web design and development company, whose clients include Bugle
Boy and Mattel. When asked what made her ‘‘ripe for the job,’’ she
doesn’t mention a thing about technical or marketing expertise. Instead,
she focuses on her listening skills. ‘‘I’ve spent years working in tradi-
tional corporations, and I’ve learned that it’s imperative that the needs
of employees be answered . . . A good ear is important.’’ 23
It takes a strong leader to listen to the concerns of a line employee,
particularly when the employee has a strong point of view and personal-
ity herself. When Elaine Frankowski, a biochemist at Cray Research,
once was criticized by John Rollwagen, the CEO, she responded by
saying, ‘‘Don’t whine at me, it’s not my fault.’’ To her amazement,
‘‘two days later, he talked to a group of people, and he had actually
heard what I said.’’ The altercation had been uncomfortable, but the
communication had been frank and the results fruitful. In Frankowski’s
former company, no one from top management would probably have