trative assistant.
Athletics is often considered an area where ‘‘only the arrogant sur-
vive.’’ Today, with more and more athletes making millions of dollars
and exhibiting strong ‘‘in your face’’ attitudes, many coaches have had
to develop even more aggressive attitudes. There has been a lot of
teeth-baring and aggressive posing, as middle-aged coaches try to get
their overpaid young charges to fall into line, exercise discipline on and
off the field, and put team goals before their own personal glory.
At times, these clashes of ego have resulted in violence. Bobby
Knight, former basketball coach at Indiana University, was well known
for browbeating and insulting his players and was finally removed after
physically assaulting a student. On the players’ side, Latrell Sprewell of
the National Basketball Association had to change teams after he physi-
cally assaulted his coach.
The arrogance and aggression of both coaches and players were toler-
ated for years because their teams were winning. But probably the most
successful college basketball coach of all time, John Wooden of UCLA,
compiled his record number of NCAA championships based on humil-
ity, not on ego, aggression, or greed.
‘‘Wooden’s faith in God was complete,’’ writes Brian De Biro, his
biographer. ‘‘This enabled him to balance genuine humility with solid
belief in himself.’’ (We’ve never heard Wooden referred to as the Moses
of his athletic program, but the comparison would be apt.) ‘‘He never
chased perfection because he believed it to be the sole domain of God.’’
(Now that’s true humility.) ‘‘He never lost sight of his own fallibility
and consequently was able to see mistakes as temporary errors in judg-
ment, not permanent flaws in character.’’4
One Bible figure who never lost sight of his own fallibility was the
disciple Peter. Once he was approached by the Roman centurion, Cor-
nelius, who was so anxious to hear about the word of Christ that he fell
at Peter’s feet in reverence. This would have been the perfect time for
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
a less humble man to ‘‘Lord it over’’ Cornelius and pose as a ‘‘great
man’’ or representative of God himself. Peter’s response was one of total
humility: ‘‘But Peter made him get up. ‘Stand up,’ he said. I am only a
man myself.’’(Acts 10:25–26)
A modern-day example of humility is Larry Bossidy, former CEO of
Allied Signal, who is well aware of the negative potential of CEO-
glorification, our modern-day version of idol worship. ‘‘Being the CEO
used to mean you knew everything,’’ he notes. ‘‘But these are humbling
jobs. And the more you search, the more you recognize every reason
you have to be humble, because there’s an awful lot more to do all the
time.’’5
I used to work for a consulting firm whose leader possessed a lot of
‘‘charisma.’’ To the more cynical staff, that sometimes meant that we
did all the work, while he got all the glory, such as appearances on
network television, lucrative book contracts, and frequently being in-
terviewed and quoted by the national press. The chairman was not gen-
erally known for his humility or his tendency to give credit to the
troops.
That’s why his presentation at one of our annual meetings had such
impact. This was in the early days of PowerPoint. The chairman gave a
rousing speech in which he outlined tremendous revenue and service
goals for the firm. ‘‘And you know who is going to achieve this, don’t
you?’’ he asked the assembled staff. Immediately, the now-famous
‘‘PowerPoint finger’’ pointed out at us from the giant screen. There
were a few muffled groans. Once again, we were going to do all the
work and the chairman was going to get all the glory.
But then the chairman added, ‘‘Oh, I forgot who else was going to
achieve these goals.’’ The ‘‘finger’’ turned to point directly at him.
Laughter convulsed the audience. Perhaps it was only a symbolic state-
ment, but our fearless leader was saying that he was ready to confront
what some of us considered to be his worst fear: getting down into the
trenches with the humble troops and sweating the small stuff with us,
not just reaping the glory, fame, and big rewards. Although none of us
at the time said this was reminiscent of King David going into the battle
Humility
75
lines with his ‘‘mighty men,’’ it was definitely a humble side of our
leader that we had not seen before.
For true humility and lack of ego, though, few moderns can match
the disciples of Jesus. They believed in their message so deeply that
advancing themselves became a nonissue. These men could have used
their status as part of the ‘‘inner circle’’ to advance their own reputa-
tions. Instead, they subordinated their egos in the service of the word
of the man whom they considered to be their lord and savior. John the
Baptist was probably the most eloquent in his subordination of ego:
‘‘I am the bridegroom’s friend and am filled with joy at his success.’’
( John, referring to Jesus, John 3:30)
‘‘After me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I
am not fit to carry.’’ (Luke 3:15)
‘‘I am not the Christ or Elijah, but am sent ahead of him . . . He
must become greater; I must become less.’’ ( John 3:28)
Of course, what inspired such humility in the disciples was the ex-
traordinary humility of the ‘‘CEO’’—Jesus himself. He was a master at
humbling himself and giving credit to his ‘‘team.’’ When they tried to
wash his feet, he also insisted on washing theirs. There are a number
of modern leaders who also realize that without their followers, their
achievements would have been very humble indeed.
HUMILITY AND TEAMWORK
The business leaders of another era (the Rockefellers and the Goulds)
were not known for their spirit of humility and teamwork. But more
recent leaders have begun to realize that no one person—no matter
how innovative, knowledgeable, or wealthy—can be totally responsible
for the success of an entire company. Humility is making some headway
in executive row.
For instance, Bill Flanagan, vice president of operations for Amdahl
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Corporation, was asked by researchers Kouzes and Posner to describe
his personal best. ‘‘After a few moments, Flanagan said he couldn’t do
it. Startled, we asked him why. ‘Because it wasn’t my personal best. It wasn’t me. It was us. ’ ’’6
Walter Shipley of Citibank says, ‘‘We have 68,000 employees. With
a company this size, I’m not ‘running the business’ . . . My job is to
create the environment that enables people to leverage each other be-
yond their own individual capabilities . . . I get credit for providing the leadership that got us there. But our people did it.’’7
Bob Tillman, CEO of Lowe’s companies, a retailer of home im-
provement products, does not even like to give ‘‘personal’’ interviews,
because he doesn’t feel that the success of his company is ‘‘personal.’’
‘‘I would not have done this (interview) if our PR folks had not pres-
sured me. And the reason for that is . . . I don’t agree with singling out
our leadership when . . . talking about our success. One person neither
builds nor manages a business . . . the more you highlight one person,
the more you detract from the team itself.’’8
Ray Gilmartin, CEO of Merck, takes this a step further: ‘‘If I were
to put someone on the front cover of Business Week or Fortune, it would be . . . the person who heads up our research organization, not me. Or
I would put a team of people on the cover.’’9
Lou Gerstner is known for his tough, goal-oriented, hard-hitting
management style, not his humility. But even Gerstner, when pushed
to the wall, can become humble: ‘‘I haven’t done this,’’ he says, refer-
ring to IBM’s amazing turnaround since he became CEO. ‘‘It’s been
280,000 people who have done it. We took a change in focus, a change
in preoccupation, and a great talented group of people . . . and changed
the company.’’10
Says Dan Tully of Merrill Lynch, ‘‘It’s amazing what you can do
when you don’t seek all the credit. I find nothing is really one person’s
idea.’’11
Bernie Ebbers, CEO of MCI WorldCom, sees himself not as the boss
but rather as the ‘‘steward.’’ ‘‘I look at my stewardship of this company
as an opportunity that the Lord has given to me. And that the funda-
mental principle in my life is to serve Him and to serve people through
Humility
77
the opportunities he has given me . . . We forget it’s the people that are
working with us that really make us what we are.’’12
The Bible reminds us that all parts of the body, however exalted or
humble, are equally important to its functioning. ‘‘The eye cannot say
to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I