Page 175 - The Bible On Leadership

Courage 161

instantly or with exaggerated swagger. In fact, ‘‘his face turned pale.’’
But then, like Isaiah, he set that face ‘‘like flint.’’ (‘‘I have set my face
like flint and I know I will not be put to shame—Isaiah 50:7).’’ ‘‘If you
have confidence in me,’’ he announced to Brabeck-Letmathe, ‘‘I will
get it.’’ What happened? ‘‘They (the manager’s team) became like ti-
gers, each one of them,’’ exults Brabeck-Letmathe. ‘‘It was a systemic
change—within each person. They decided to go out and fight and win
. . . They practically doubled sales in three years. The team that had
been too easily satisfied suddenly developed a real fighting spirit.’’ 9
The leader could not have done this without his team. But the team
also could not have achieved this without a courageous, inspired leader.

STANDING FIRM

Repeatedly, the leaders of the Bible are urged to stand firm in their
actions and beliefs: ‘‘Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . .
take up the shield of faith . . . take the helmet of salvation . . . and the
Sword of the spirit.’’ (Eph. 6:14–17)
But what does a company do when two strong leaders have equally
firm but opposing beliefs and seemingly equal amounts of courage? Bill
Weiss, CEO of Ameritech, knew he was taking a courageous step
when, in his early sixties and just a few years before retirement, he
began the effort to transform his company from a sleepy, monopolistic
local phone company to a forward-looking, competitive, far-reaching
telecommunications giant. He courageously demonstrated commitment
to this transformation, delivered the message unceasingly, and promised
he would let go those who resisted the company’s new direction.
As part of this effort, he assembled the ‘‘Group of 120,’’ a group of
top managers analogous to King David’s ‘‘mighty men,’’ and asked
them to evaluate each other on key leadership qualities as a first step in
unifying and improving the team. However, one of the ‘‘mightiest
men’’ did not jump on board; in fact, he used all his power and courage
to oppose the plan.