Page 184 - The Bible On Leadership

170 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

a tremendous morale-booster for SAS and united them in their efforts.
He states that committing to action is often a matter of ‘‘courage, some-
times bordering on foolhardiness.’’ In another action, he decided to cut
fares in an effort to increase ridership. He admits this was not a new
idea. Several other airlines had considered reducing fares, done the cal-
culations, and dropped the idea. Carlzon acted on his intuition rather
than on a painstaking analysis of the numbers: ‘‘I am quite certain that
if I had been a more cautious person, I would have failed completely,’’
adding, ‘‘We had the courage to act . . . as no one else had . . . Once
we dared to take the leap, we gained much more than we ever could
have imagined.’’ 18
Leaps take courage, but the gains can be tremendous whether you
are Jan Carlzon taking on Air France, David battling Goliath, Moses
challenging Pharaoh to ‘‘let my people go’’ (and then actually going
even though he had no ‘‘map’’ and scarce provisions), or Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego leaping into the furnace.
Of course, leaps mean putting oneself at risk. Some people thrive on
risk. One of them is David Johnson, president and CEO of Campbell’s
Soup, who says, ‘‘In a way, what I’ve preached here is having a group
of professionals who put themselves at risk. People who at first go on
the high trapeze and perform triple somersaults . . . and do it safely
while the crowd watches in amazement. And if your people are really
good, you say, ‘Take away the nets.’ The silence is pervasive as the
crowd watches in horror and wonders if you can perform.’’ 19
Jonathan, King Saul’s son, was willing to take a risk to achieve vic-
tory over the Philistines (the Philistines seem to be the losingest army
in history). Although not perched on the high trapeze, Jonathan and his
troops were lodged precariously in a mountain pass, with the Philistines
perched on the cliffs on both sides of the pass. Jonathan told his men, ‘‘If
they come down to us, we will fight them here, but if they call us up,
we will climb the cliffs and defeat them there.’’ When Jonathan’s men
climbed out of their hiding places, the Philistines cried, ‘‘Look! The He-
brews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.’’ They then
shouted, ‘‘Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.’’ (1 Sam. 14)
The ‘‘daring young men’’ of Israel climbed the cliff and taught the
Philistines a lesson. They didn’t even need a net. They had courage.