Page 77 - The Bible On Leadership

64 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

kindness. Ben & Jerry’s offers ‘‘free cone day’’ in the same spirit of
giving and has found that good deeds are often good for company image
and profits as well.
In biblical times and in modern corporations, people have enthusias-
tically followed leaders who cared about them. ‘‘They don’t care how
much you know until they know how much you care’’ is not an empty
cliche ´. Again and again, it has been shown that true caring creates more
employee loyalty and (ironically) better ‘‘hard’’ results than cold exhor-
tations to do more and produce more.
Morgan McCall and Michael Lombardo have done extensive re-
search on ‘‘success factors’’ and ‘‘derailers’’ for managerial success. The
two top derailers are:

1. Insensitivity to others, abrasive, intimidating, bullying style
2. Coldness, aloofness, arrogance

Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines is famous for his caring, em-
pathic ‘‘I’m with you in the trenches’’ attitude. He loads luggage with
the baggage handlers and serves peanuts with the flight attendants. He
observes that a true leader needs ‘‘a patina of spirituality . . . I feel you
have to be with your employees through all their difficulties, that you
have to be interested in them personally.’’ It’s not uncommon for Kel-
leher to go out after work with a baggage handler or other staffer and
spend many hours listening to them and solving problems. He adds,
‘‘We value our employees first . . . If you treat them right, they treat
the customers right, and if you treat the customers right, they keep
coming back.’’ 19
Technical professionals are not easy to keep in today’s low-loyalty
economy. Sandy Weill, Chairman and CEO of Citigroup, has increased
his company’s retention of this group by putting his money (and his
body) where his mouth is. ‘‘I think it’s the commitment of senior man-
agement to this area,’’ he observes. ‘‘They need to know that senior
management cares. There was many a night I slept on the computer
room floor, as they tried to work something out.’’ 20
Says Dave Komansky, CEO of Merrill Lynch, ‘‘It’s essential that peo-