Page 193 - The Bible On Leadership

Justice and Fairness 179

JUSTICE FOR ALL

Leaders with the most vision seek justice for all who are affected by
their business, even if (like the children in Bangladesh and Turkey),
they are not directly in the line of sight and could be easily ignored.
The Bible is very specific about defending the rights of the ‘‘alien,’’ the
poor, or the disadvantaged.

‘‘Administer true justice . . . do not oppress the alien or the poor.’’
(Zech. 7:10)
‘‘Do not take advantage of a hired man . . . whether he is a brother
Israelite or alien.’’ (Deut. 24:14)

Unfortunately, African Americans, whose ancestors were brought
here as slaves by force hundreds of years ago, continued to be ‘‘eco-
nomic aliens’’ until very recently. Levi Strauss sought to integrate these
‘‘aliens’’ into the economic mainstream before it was fashionable and
before the law said they ‘‘had to.’’ In 1959, several years before the
Civil Rights Act, Levi Strauss integrated their plant in Blackstone, Vir-
ginia. In contrast to those Southern schools who would later ‘‘close
their public doors’’ and become private schools rather than integrate,
Levi Strauss insisted they would close their plant if it was not integrated.
Local officials then asked for separate rest rooms for whites and blacks,
as well as separate cafeterias. Then-CEO Walter Haas, Jr., refused.
Needless to say, wages for the ‘‘Israelites’’ (the white population) and
the ‘‘aliens’’ (the black population) were the same, as the biblical pre-
cepts command.
A young leader who wants to make sure no members of his team feel
like ‘‘aliens’’ is Mark Elliott, director of data center services at NYCE
Corporation. Elliott directs three departments in two different loca-
tions. ‘‘It could be very easy to treat some better and some worse; one
is in a remote location in Michigan,’’ he notes. (Elliott is headquartered
in New Jersey.) ‘‘If I were to start treating people differently across
borders, some people would feel like outcasts, and I don’t want that to