Page 172 - The Bible On Leadership

158 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

tenure. Once she revived the plant, grievances were near zero, absen-
teeism had declined to 9 percent from 25 percent (despite her addition
of weekend hours), and sickness and accident costs were cut by two-
thirds. Moreover, it was the first plant in GM history to hit the com-
pany’s ‘‘high-quality’’ standard in its first published audit after start-up.
Carrigan accomplished these goals by exhibiting courage and taking
risks. ‘‘If you’re going to expect an organization to take risks, you have
to show some willingness to do that too,’’ she stated. Carrigan initiated
a new working approach that literally ‘‘tore down the walls’’ between
labor and management. She instituted a training class that gave employ-
ees detailed business information and challenged them to devise jointly
developed plans for improving business performance. She also formed
over a hundred voluntary problem-solving work groups. This took
courage in an environment where relations between labor and manage-
ment had been frequently adversarial. When she left, the union local
gave her a plaque for her ‘‘leadership, courage, risk taking, and hon-
esty.’’ 5
In a biblical example, the disciples Peter and John were also men
initially ‘‘out of their element,’’ except that their problem was the op-
posite of Carrigan’s. Whereas Carrigan had ‘‘too much education,’’ they
had no schooling at all, only courage and inspiration. Peter and John
did not revive a plant, they revived a man, a lame beggar sitting by the
temple gate. When they encouraged him to get up and walk, they were
immediately brought before the court, which questioned the power by
which they had healed him.
Peter and John explained to the court that their faith had enabled
them to heal the crippled man, and they did not deny their allegiance
to Jesus, in whose name they had healed. ‘‘When they saw the courage
of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary
men, they were astonished.’’ (Acts 4:13) But they were also alarmed.
‘‘Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus.’’ Peter and John’s courageous response?
‘‘Judge for yourself whether it is right . . . to obey you rather than God.
For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’’
(Acts 4:19–20)