shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be
slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.’’
(Jer. 25:34)
One leader who probably should have read this passage and taken it
to heart was Horst Schroeder. Schroeder was a German national who
124
THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
had worked himself up to head of European operations for the Kellogg
Corporation. He was brought to the United States as the heir apparent
to Bill La Mothe, CEO. He was an effective taskmaster, but his applica-
tion of consequences was too harsh for the Kellogg culture. He was
frequently abrasive and imperious, giving frequent tongue-lashings to
subordinates in meetings.
Schroeder was spared the fate of being swallowed up by the ground,
but his end was just as humiliating—he was ‘‘grounded.’’ He was flying
on the corporate jet for a planned business trip and La Mothe, who was
still in power, ordered the pilot to land the plane at Kellogg’s corporate
headquarters, where Schroeder was summarily fired.22
Rewards
Too often, consequences are thought of in the negative sense. One of a
leader’s most important (and often overlooked tasks) is the application
of positive consequences for work well done. When ‘‘nothing goes
wrong,’’ some leaders may simply heave a large sigh of relief and go on
to the next task without acknowledging the positive efforts that went
into the task just completed.
The leaders of the Bible did not neglect the important role of positive
consequences and rewards. Thousands of years before Ken Blanchard,
they were catching their employees ‘‘doing something right.’’ The wise
modern leader ‘‘goes and does likewise.’’
In 1 Corinthians 3:8, Paul states, ‘‘The man who plants and the man
who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to
his own labor.’’ One organization that takes this to heart is Starbucks,
which has instituted the Bravo! recognition program. Under this pro-
gram, any employee may acknowledge any other employee for re-
sourcefulness in service, sales, or savings. One recipient of the award
was a line worker in the Midwest who, upon receiving a last-minute
order for $1,300 worth of coffee, found the extra labor, coffee, and bags
necessary to fill it rather than turning it down for lack of resources. The general manager of the Encino, California, store was also recognized for
providing coffee to Red Cross aid stations after the 1994 Los Angeles
earthquake.23
Performance Management
125
Another example of rewarding people according to their labor was
Gordon Bethune’s $65 bonus for on-time performance at Continental
Airlines. Up until that time, such immediate rewards for desired per-
formance had not been part of Continental’s reward arsenal. Not only
was the effect immediate and positive, it set the stage for more exten-
sive, ongoing rewards for positive performance in a number of other
areas. The ‘‘domino’’ effect of these rewards helped Continental turn
around to become the profitable, on-time airline it is today.
Rewards figure strongly in the Book of Esther, particularly rewards
bestowed directly from the top of the organization. A great deal of
thought is given to the question, ‘‘What is to be done for the man the
king delights to honor?’’ In that story, Mordechai, the Jew whom the
king’s minister Haman tried to have executed, is led through the streets
by Haman himself, garbed in a magnificent robe and seated on a power-
ful steed. Moreover, Haman is forced to shout, ‘‘This is what is done
for the man the king delights to honor.’’
Modern ‘‘kings’’ have dispensed with robes and horses, but the wise
executive knows that rewards given directly from the top can have a
large effect on employee actions and productivity. At Custom Research,
a marketing company with just over one hundred employees, owners
Jeff and Judy Pope took a large chunk of their profits to reward the
entire staff when the firm won the coveted Baldrige Award in 1996.
Rather than award a robed ride on horseback, they took the entire staff
on a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to London.
An extravagance and an exercise in overkill for a small company?
Not at all, says Jeff Pope. ‘‘It was money well spent. I’ll do it every
time. If you share the pie, it gets bigger.’’
When Midwest Airlines went public in 1995, CEO Tim Hoeksema
wanted to give a meaningful and lasting award to the employees who
helped them get there. And so, over the objections of his investment
bankers, he insisted that $1 million of stock be set aside for employees,
even part-timers. This decision echoes King David’s decision to divide
the spoils of war among all his men, including those who had ‘‘merely’’
provided support behind the battle lines.
Hoeksema’s actions also mirror Joshua’s generosity toward his fol-
126
THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
lowers—the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—
all of whom had helped him conquer the neighboring tribes: ‘‘You have
done all that Moses . . . commanded, and you have obeyed me in every-
thing I commanded. For a long time now . . . you have not deserted
your brothers, but have carried out the mission . . . Return to your
homes with your great wealth . . . and divide with your brothers
the plunder of your enemies . . .’’ ( Joshua 22) Both Joshua and Tim
Hoeksema realized that this would not be the last time they would be
counting on ‘‘the troops’’ to achieve ambitious goals, and both recog-
nized the power of positive reward in developing employee loyalty and
getting commitment to future performance.
Jack Welch also knew the power of rewards, whether it was a bonus
or an appreciative ‘‘call from on high.’’ In his meetings, Welch very
visibly took notes on who was to do what, what the expected results
where, and when the results were expected. He reviewed these expec-
tations at the end of every meeting.
But, unlike many leaders who use expectations only as a threat,
Welch was quick to reward those who met them. He had a staff mem-
ber phone him every time an agent got a price concession from a ven-
dor. Immediately, the agent would hear the phone ring and the voice
of Chairman Welch trumpeting, ‘‘That’s wonderful news; you just
knocked a nickel off the price of steel.’’ And a few days later, the agent
would receive a congratulatory note directly from the chairman.24
Another company where the ‘‘king delights to honor’’ and reward
excellent performance is UNUM, an insurance company headquartered
in Maine. Anyone in the firm can nominate anyone else for the Chair-
man’s Award, but the recipient must be below the senior vice president
level. Teams of employees review a large pool of nominees, reducing
the pool to twenty-five; the chairman then selects the group of five to
ten final winners.
The recipients each receive $5,000 in stock, a $2,500 travel certifi-
cate, and a Mont Blanc pen and pencil set. In addition, the awardees
are the invited guests of honor at a banquet hosted by the chairman and
attended by the board, senior management, and the awardees’ immedi-
ate supervisors.25 The message to those honored, to those who nomi-
Performance Management
127
nated them, and to the entire rest of the company is the same message
conveyed in 2 Timothy 2:6: ‘‘The hardworking farmer should be the
first to receive a share of the crops.’’ Or to put it more succinctly, ‘‘As you sow, so shall ye reap.’’
Largely out of necessity, Jack Stack of Springfield Re has had to make
the business connection between reaping and sowing very plain to all
the employees. The division had been cut loose to stand on its own by
parent International Harvester, and it was in a highly leveraged debt
situation. Stack had to make all employees painfully aware of the effect
that their individual productivity (or lack thereof ) would have on the
company’s bottom line and, ultimately, survival.
Notes one Springfield Re line worker, ‘‘Every week you sit down
with your supervisor and he gives you the numbers. You can see how
your own work affects the statements. At first I was not interested and
did not think it was of benefit to us . . . But as you learn about it, it
becomes more beneficial . . . If you are not working up to standard, it’s
going to show up on that paper.’’
Stack has created an environment where employees see the connec-
tion between their actions and the bottom line. Everyone right down
to the lowest assembly worker can see the positive impact of controlling
costs and the negative impact of failing to do so. Employees now realize
that bonuses are not arbitrary, but are contingent on lowering costs and
maximizing productivity. They almost lost their bonuses when health
care payments went $60,000 over budget. Notes Stack, ‘‘It was the first
time that employees really understood that some insurance company
wasn’t paying their claims; that it was really coming out of their sweat