Kermit Campbell, the CEO of Herman Miller, a furniture company
with over 5,000 employees. Campbell vowed to meet every single one
of them one to one and listen to their individual concerns. He accom-
plished this (while still being able to run the company!) by going di-
rectly to each employee’s workstation, making round-the-clock visits
to all shifts.17
Another great listener was Sam Walton of Wal-Mart. He set up a
hotline through which any employee could call headquarters in Ben-
tonville, Arkansas, if they were not happy with the inventory they were
receiving or with what was going on in the store. Walton was also not
one to keep his leaders ‘‘in their tents’’ at corporate headquarters. In-
stead, every Monday through Thursday, he sent his top executives out
into the field, flying from store to store. What was the mission of these
highly paid executives? To listen to employees who were often making
minimum wage.
Regional vice president Andy Wilson relished these trips because ‘‘all
the best ideas’’ came from these front-line employees, keeping Wal-
Mart agile and responsive to its customers.18 As Proverbs 18:13 notes,
‘‘He who answers before listening—that is his folly and his shame.’’
Sam Walton knew that any response from corporate without listening
to the troops in the stores was bound to result in the retail version of
folly and shame—poor service and lost revenues.
Richard Teer Link of Harley-Davidson was a leader who was forced
to listen. Sales of the famous motorcycle were going down, and he
didn’t have a clue why. His response was to listen not just to employees,
but (glory be!) the customers. He organized Harley Owners’ Groups
(HOGs) and asked probing questions to determine the underlying need
that made a person buy his motorcycles. By listening carefully, he found
that customers were not just buying a mode of transportation, or even
a beautiful machine. They were buying freedom, independence, and
escape from the stress and routine of their everyday lives. This resulted
in an entirely different marketing approach. Sales soared, as did mem-
Communication
103
bership in the Harley Owners’ Groups that Teer Link had started as a
sounding board for customers.
Pitney Bowes holds annual jobholders’ meetings, where management
listens to literally every concern an employee wants to bring up. One
employee’s complaint that there was too much oil in the salad bar was
given as much consideration (if perhaps not as much time) as concerns
with working conditions, staff morale, and global strategy.19
Of course, it is relatively easy to listen when things are going fairly
well. It takes a real leader to listen carefully and politely when employ-
ees are angrily pointing out serious management errors or taking issue
with the basic strategy of the company. James, Jesus’ disciple and half-
brother, gave excellent management consultation when he wrote,
‘‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become
angry.’’ ( James 1:19)
This is not always easy, but some leaders are able to listen to both the
good and the bad without getting defensive about what they have done
or feeling personally attacked. Those who are able to do this usually
emerge with a better relationship with their critics and with a more
profitable operation, because they uncovered a flaw that needed correc-
tion.
Andy Grove of Intel understood that there were Strategic Inflection
Points, events that are so significant that they may change your entire
business strategy. He courageously stated, ‘‘It is important at such times
to listen to people who bring you bad news, and to know these people
are often in the lower ranks of the organization. Unless you welcome
their contrarian views—and learn to live with the fear that such views
can bring—you will never learn from these useful Cassandras.’’20
Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines, also sees the value
of listening to those who are critical of the operation. Indeed, he was
called on board to clean up the damage that a former regime of ‘‘yes-
men’’ and ‘‘yes-women’’ had fomented by their inaction and inability
to challenge a host of unproductive management practices. Bethune
urges:
Make sure you only hire people who will be willing to kick the door
open if you lose direction and close it. You may be able to ignore some-
104
THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
body’s opinion if you don’t like it, but if the person has the data to back it up, your intellect should be able to overwhelm your vanity. 21
The Bible tells us that we should be alert to messages from any source that warn us that we may be going down the wrong path. Balaam was
a man who didn’t know how to listen or to whom to listen. Balak, the
king of Moab, tried to hire him to pronounce a curse against the people
of Israel. Balaam initially balked because he feared God, but his greed
got the better of him, and he set off to visit Balak and to put a curse on
his own country once more.
Balaam’s donkey must have had clearer vision than her owner (after
all, he was blinded by greed), for she could see the angel of the Lord
standing in the middle of the road to thwart this immoral journey. The
donkey first veered off the road, then pressed herself against a wall
(crushing Balaam’s foot) and finally lay down and refused to move. She
even spoke to him. Rather than ‘‘listening’’ to the signs that something
might be amiss in his strategy, Balaam angrily beat his donkey until he
saw the angel, sword in hand, standing in the road. The angel informed
him that if the donkey had not turned away from the journey three
times, Balaam would have already been killed!
Situations in which it’s appropriate to listen to donkeys are mercifully
very rare. But often, leaders must listen to many differing human points
of view. William Steere, CEO of Pfizer, notes: ‘‘Remaining open to
conflicting or even painful information keeps you from being compla-
cent and insular . . . success is achieved when you have very smart
people advancing different points of view . . . Our goal is for everyone
to be heard and every point of view examined.’’22
The prophets were often considered to be the ‘‘bringers of bad
news’’ because they were quick to point out when the leaders and peo-
ple of Israel had gone astray from their mission, had become corrupted,
or were being threatened by an outside enemy. They were therefore
frequently rejected or imprisoned by the very leaders who could have
benefited from their advice and warnings.
Jeremiah was such a prophet, who risked his own life to send a warn-
ing to the king of Judah. Jeremiah had received a prophesy of all the
Communication
105
disasters that would befall Judah, so he dictated the information and saw
that the scroll was brought to the king. The king’s response? Whenever
his servant had read three or four columns of the scroll, ‘‘the king cut
them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot until the
entire scroll was burned in the fire . . . The king and all his attendants
who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their
clothes.’’ ( Jer. 36:23–24)
Here was a leader who ignored well-intentioned advice that could
have saved his country and people tremendous suffering if he had only
listened to it (not to mention, the advice was free). By contrast, John
Gigerich, chief information officer of Union Carbide, actually sought
out discomfort and bad news within the organization. He knew there
were serious conflicts about the use of technology and the firm’s strate-
gic direction, and he reasoned that these festering sores would only
become more infected without attention. Gigerich’s vaccine? Large
doses of communication, particularly listening. He surfaced the issues,
responded to the resistance he encountered, and spent months discuss-
ing, explaining, and responding to employee concerns before he deter-
mined and instituted the proper changes in each department.
Roya Zamanzadeh is CEO of Pear Transmedia, a thirteen-person
Web design and development company, whose clients include Bugle
Boy and Mattel. When asked what made her ‘‘ripe for the job,’’ she
doesn’t mention a thing about technical or marketing expertise. Instead,
she focuses on her listening skills. ‘‘I’ve spent years working in tradi-
tional corporations, and I’ve learned that it’s imperative that the needs
of employees be answered . . . A good ear is important.’’23
It takes a strong leader to listen to the concerns of a line employee,
particularly when the employee has a strong point of view and personal-
ity herself. When Elaine Frankowski, a biochemist at Cray Research,
once was criticized by John Rollwagen, the CEO, she responded by
saying, ‘‘Don’t whine at me, it’s not my fault.’’ To her amazement,
‘‘two days later, he talked to a group of people, and he had actually
heard what I said.’’ The altercation had been uncomfortable, but the