Page 76 - The Bible On Leadership

Kindness and Compassion 63

man and Lira, but equally to companies like Nissan and Smucker’s.
Nissan had a union drive in the late 1980s, which the union lost. As
soon as the vote was over, Jerry Benefield, the company’s president,
went on television to preach a message of forgiveness and compassion.
‘‘I asked the people who were on the company side not to gloat . . .
and I asked the people on the union side to please continue to be good
team members and let’s not have any animosity whatsoever from either
side, and we didn’t.’’ 17
At Smucker’s, the union finds it easy to have a forgiving attitude
toward management because of the kindness management shows to the
employees, largely based on the Amish/Mennonite principles of the
company’s founders. When an employee lost everything in a fire, the
other employees took up a collection for her. But the head of the com-
pany, Tim Smucker, also gave her an ‘‘extra check on the side.’’ ‘‘Six
or seven months later they’re still saying, ‘Do you need anything?’ ’’
says the amazed employee.
Is it any wonder that compassion and forgiveness extend to the com-
pany’s labor relations as well? Smucker’s union representative describes
them as the company you ‘‘hate to hate’’: ‘‘It really is an honor to
represent the union against them because they are very easy to work
with . . . They really do care about their people.’’ 18

CARING AND EMPATHY

The leaders of the Bible let their followers know they cared. Jesus was
one of the most caring leaders of all time. He wept when he saw Lazarus
had died ( John 11:25–36), even though he had the power to bring him
back to life! At another point in his travels, he ‘‘landed and saw a large
crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep with-
out a shepherd.’’ He preached the renewing word to them, and when
he found out they were hungry and had nothing to eat, he turned five
loaves of bread and two fish into a meal for several thousand. (Mark
6:34–44) Jesus performed feats like this not to impress people with his
magical ability to ‘‘stretch’’ resources, but rather out of compassion and