Page 149 - The Bible On Leadership

Team Development 135

of parts fitting together . . . every part of the watch does a job . . . and
any part that fails can impair or destroy the function of the entire watch.
It’s no good to you without the hour hand or the clock face, but it’s
just as useless without the tiniest screw . . . that holds the mainspring
on. . . .’’ So Bethune held up his watch and asked the employee,
‘‘Which part of this watch don’t you think we need?’’ The employee
couldn’t answer and sat down. 10
Bethune’s logic was very similar to King David’s when he justified
giving part of the spoils of war to men who had merely given logistical
support but had not actually fought on the lines. King David realized
that the whole team had contributed to the effort, and by sharing the
spoils with all, he was rhetorically asking, ‘‘Which of these men don’t
you think we need?’’
Bethune’s emphasis on teamwork has been a major ingredient in the
successful revitalization of Continental. He says, ‘‘An airline is the big-
gest team sport there is. It’s 40,000 people working together . . . toward
the same goal ...Now everybody’s on the same team and everyone
knows it . . . Everyone knows what the goal is . . . We’re all working
from the same playbook . . .’’ 11
Jack Stack of Springfield Re has a ‘‘selfish’’ reason for wanting to be
part of a team (he elected to limit himself to a 19 percent share of the
company): ‘‘I didn’t want to be alone. I was going to be leading the
charge up the hill. I wanted to make sure that when I got to the top of
the hill and turned around, there was a bunch of people coming with
me. It’s easy to stop one guy, but it’s pretty hard to stop a hundred.’’ 12
This was the same philosophy that helped ensure the victory of Joab
and Abishai, biblical rulers, each of whom was facing an enemy and
each of whom knew he might need help. They applied the concept of
‘‘flexible teaming’’: ‘‘If the Arameans are too strong for me, come over
and help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come
and help you.’’ (2 Sam. 10:12)
The name Marc Andreesen does not necessarily conjure up the
image of a team leader. Andreesen is the originator of Netscape, and he
could be pardoned if he had a ‘‘swelled head’’ like Samson and thought
he did it all himself and could keep doing so (but look at what happened