Page 23 - The Bible On Leadership

10 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

expected. Chairman Emeritus John Tully called brokers when they
made a large ‘‘killing’’ of $2 million or $3 million. ‘‘They thought I was
calling to congratulate them,’’ he muses. ‘‘But I was really calling to ask
them a few questions. ‘How did you make all that money? If the New
York Times put how you did it on the front page, would you be proud?’
I wanted to remind them of the culture of this firm and I wanted to
make sure they lived it.’’
Tully also made integrity the first order of business in the perfor-
mance appraisals of the firm’s top 200 people. ‘‘The first question we
always asked was never, ‘How much did Dan produce?’ It was always,
‘Have you ever known Dan to distort or color the truth?’ ’’
Tully also insisted that the firm display its integrity during the 1987
stock market crash. Some firms elected to minimize the damage by
‘‘hiding’’ from their customers during that period. ‘‘I said today’s going
to be a day when we’re remembered for how we act. I want you folks
to get out there . . . answer the phones, treat your clients with respect,
give them good counsel . . . Do what’s right for people and . . . you
will be awash in clients. It never works the other way around.’’ 9
Another man who adhered to the same principles of integrity under
adversity as Tully but predates him by about four thousand years was
Job. You may argue that those Bible leaders had it easy, that they lived
in a much less complex world and traded in a few camels, not billions
of dollars. The issues of right and wrong were much more clear-cut
then, and ethical decisions could be made a lot more easily.
Tell that to the protagonists in the Book of Job. It is one of the
longest books in the Bible, an extended debate on integrity, humility,
and discipline and how these are to be applied in the ‘‘real world.’’
The ‘‘patience of Job’’ is legendary. What is often forgotten is his
integrity. Job was a recipient of every calamity known to God and man.
First, he had every single one of his oxen and donkeys carried off by a
marauding tribe called the Sabeans, who then ‘‘put to the sword’’ every
one of his servants. To compound matters, all his sons and daughters
were killed when a windstorm collapsed the house in which they were
feasting. Finally, Satan afflicted Job with painful sores ‘‘from the soles of
his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery
and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.’’ ( Job 1, 2)