Page 216 - The Bible On Leadership

202 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

the entire feedback report? Stonesifer projected his feedback up on the
wall (both the brutal criticism and the ebullient praise) so his entire
team could see it, after which he asked them for help on remedying his
deficiencies.
Stonesifer then asked his people (in small groups) to share their data
directly with each other and to brainstorm suggestions for the improve-
ment of each person. Stonesifer was very blunt about the uselessness of
many 360-degree processes, and he wanted to make sure his was a good
use of company resources and time. ‘‘In the end, this is the only way to
get leaders to develop others,’’ he said. ‘‘We all know what we do well
or poorly. The issue here is: Am I going to help or am I going to bitch
about you over by the water cooler?’’ 8
We don’t know how candid Moses was with Joshua about his own
strengths and weaknesses, or whether he made Joshua discuss his per-
sonal weaknesses with the other members of his team. After all, this
was several thousand years ago, and assessment techniques were not as
sophisticated. But we do know that Joshua, like Dick Stonesifer’s le-
gions, received a strong dose of useful advice and candid feedback. This
enabled him to knock down some pretty daunting obstacles and march
into a territory literally known as the ‘‘Promised Land.’’
Mentor/coach selection is very important, however. Your initial ex-
citement at being assigned to a development program might be damp-
ened if you found out that your mentor was Ahab or Jezebel. Or
Samson, who could try to ‘‘teach’’ you brute strength but whose politi-
cal sophistication was rather low. Unfortunately, none of these would
have been a good candidate for being coached either. Samson, Ahab,
and Jezebel were perfect examples of the ‘‘Peter Principle’’—people
who had risen to their level of incompetence. They were essentially
undevelopable. The only direction for them was out, and they knew it.
Paul Russell of PepsiCo points out ‘‘the importance of the person
you put in front of an audience as the leader’’ and adds that, no matter
how highly placed, mentors must be ‘‘icons—world class people that
everyone looks to as the leader or expert.’’ Holding up an unethical
person (no matter how successful) or an incompetent person (no matter
how ethical) as a role model will only result in cynicism.