Page 73 - The Bible On Leadership

60 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

cent for others and only 10 percent for himself. Of the $10 million that
he earned in 2001, he will pay $3 million in taxes, donate $3 million to
charitable organizations, use $3 million to recapitalize the business
(much of which goes to launch new franchisees) and keep ‘‘only’’ about
a million for himself.
Says Heavin, ‘‘When I give, I give a lot; it’s because I’m responding
to the holy spirit. I operate from a position of gratefulness.’’ And Heavin
sees his mission not so much as physical as it is spiritual: ‘‘Jesus healed
physical infirmities so he could have access to the spiritual. That’s what
I’m trying to do with Curves; I’m not just creating fit bodies, I’m help-
ing people repair their spirits.’’ 13

KINDNESS TO THE ‘‘STRANGER’’
AND THE WEAK

Leviticus 19:33 instructs: ‘‘When an alien lives with you . . . treat him
as one of your native-born.’’ Unfortunately, American business leaders
have not always followed this credo. Too often, they have seen immi-
grant or foreign labor as an easy way to ‘‘beat the competition’’ by
paying low wages and providing poor working conditions.
Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills, a textile producer in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, always exhibited kindness to all his employees, many of
whom were recent immigrants who could have been easily abused by a
less compassionate and ethical employer. Feuerstein, well known for fair
business practices, kept the factory in Lawrence long after many of his
competitors had moved South or had begun to use cheap labor from
third world countries.
But even the employees who knew him well were amazed at how
deep this man’s compassion could go. When a fire ripped through the
Malden Mills factory in 1995, it was estimated that it would take at least
three months to rebuild and get the factory producing again. ‘‘Most
people would’ve been happy at their seventieth birthday to take the
insurance money and go to Florida,’’ said Feuerstein. Obviously, he
wasn’t ‘‘most people.’’