Page 131 - The Bible On Leadership

Performance Management 117

their daily tasks, but to think in a larger perspective: ‘‘It’s got to do with
the human spirit,’’ she says. ‘‘When anything comes from the heart—
any energy, any action—it comes with a passion that is unstoppable. My
staff does not go home dreaming of moisture creams. They go home
absolutely riveted when they come back from a project in Bosnia or
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Kosovo. The experience has changed their values.’’ Roddick’s refer-
ence to ‘‘the heart’’ is key here; the word encouragement actually comes
from the Latin root for heart.
Moses encouraged the tribes of Israel by blessing them. Most of us
are encouraged when we are blessed and discouraged when we are pun-
ished or ignored. Moses’ blessing of the tribes was eloquent and genu-
ine. Rather than making the tribes complacent, it encouraged them to
achieve even higher goals than they had already: ‘‘About Joseph, he
said, ‘May the Lord bless his land with the precious dew from heaven
above and with the deep waters that lie below . . . with the best the sun
brings forth and the finest the moon can yield . . . with the choicest
gifts of the ancient mountains and the fruitfulness of the everlasting
hills . . .’ ’’ (Deut. 33:13–14)
Mary Kay Ash encouraged her employees at Mary Kay with a similar
attitude of celebration and blessing. She signed hundreds of birthday
cards offering free lunch and a free movie. She commemorated employ-
ees’ ‘‘blessed events’’ such as weddings and babies with personal gifts.
She put flowers and white tablecloths in the company cafeteria, and
perfume and makeup (Mary Kay brand, of course) in the rest rooms. A
sign outside her office read ‘‘Department of Sunshine and Rainbows.’’
Her credo was ‘‘Appreciation is the oil that makes things run.’’ Ash
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realized that constant verbal and physical demonstrations of encourage-
ment are necessary for the achievement of ambitious goals and to make
employees feel truly valued.
Moses knew the encouraging power of overarching goals. When the
desert sands seemed unending, when food became scarce, and when
internal dissidents threatened to undermine the organization’s purpose
(‘‘Let’s return to Egypt!’’), Moses reminded the Israelites of their goal,
a ‘‘land of milk and honey’’ that truly existed, even if they had never
seen it.