. . . The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Col-Hozeh.’’
(Neh. 3) And once the job was done, Nehemiah also made sure that his
trusted brother, Hanani, was there to protect the gates and the wall
along with the commander of the citadel. (Neh. 7)
Perhaps the most skilled biblical delegator was Jesus. He chose his
twelve disciples carefully, and sent them out with specific instructions.
A good delegator chooses the right person for the task and is very spe-
cific about the task and what that team member is authorized to do:
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and
authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases . . . He told them,
‘‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money
. . . Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house,
stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.’’ (Luke 9:1–5)
Jesus subsequently sent out seventy-two more delegates with similar
instructions. And he sent them out in teams of two for mutual support.
And we all know how dramatically and exponentially his followers in-
creased from this original small group.
On the other hand, Dennis Holt, founder of Western International
Media, was the ‘‘man who couldn’t delegate.’’ Holt’s single-minded
tenacity intimidated his competitors. He was a workaholic who refused
to give up any part of the task, and his rivals saw his car parked in front of his office seven days a week. And it wasn’t just a ‘‘plant’’; he was
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really there working! Unfortunately, Holt was sometimes there for the
wrong reason—his inability to delegate. This was ‘‘a curse . . . I’m
totally hands-on, I don’t delegate,’’ he moaned. Finally, he was forced
to delegate (but only after his marriage fell apart). He promoted his
COO, Michael Kassan, to president. To his delight, he found that even
though Kassan lacked media-buying experience, he and Kassan comple-
mented each other well and made an excellent team.28 Although he had
yet to appoint officials over ‘‘thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens,’’ he had at least begun the process of delegating responsibility to others be-sides himself. If he had had a consultant (or father-in-law) like Jethro,
perhaps he could have learned to delegate much earlier.
EMPOWERING AND DEVELOPING THE TEAM
Competent leaders know that you cannot just assemble a group of un-
skilled individuals, call them a ‘‘team,’’ and expect them to achieve large organizational goals. You’ve got to empower the team members, giving
them the tools and authority to accomplish their task. And you’ve got
to develop the team, giving it and its members the necessary skills, and
constantly giving them the opportunity to upgrade those skills to match
the ever-widening tasks.
The apostle Paul gave his young prote´ge´ Titus specific instructions
on developing his team members at every level: ‘‘Teach the older men
[senior male executives] to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-
controlled, and sound in faith, in love and endurance. Likewise, teach
the older women [senior female executives] to be reverent in the way
they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to too much wine . . . Then
they can train the younger women . . . Similarly, encourage the young
men to be self-controlled . . .’’ (Titus 2:2–6)
Paul’s prote´geín Ephesus, Timothy, had a different readiness and
experience level, and so received different instructions on how to build
and develop his team: ‘‘Have nothing to do with godless myths and old
wives’ tales . . . Command and teach . . . Don’t let anyone look down
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on you because you are young . . . Watch your life and your doctrine
closely . . .’’ (1 Tim. 4)
Modern leaders (young or old) also put a large priority on developing
their teams. Rosenbluth Travel has an Associate of the Day program.
Any employee who is interested in a particular area can ‘‘shadow’’ an
executive for the day. Over 100 employees have chosen to spend the
day with Rosenbluth himself, learning new skills and observing how an
executive conducts himself, structures his day, and works with the team.
At Trilogy Software, each new recruit (‘‘young man or woman’’ in
Paul’s terms) is given a sponsor. If the recruit ‘‘makes the grade,’’ the
sponsor gets a $1,000 bonus. If the recruit fails, the sponsor is fined
$4,000. (Paul did not give cash rewards to his young prote´geś, but
rather gave intrinsic rewards for developing their teams, and more au-
thority.)
At Home Depot, store managers are constantly encouraged to em-
power and develop themselves and their teams. They are given a large
amount of leeway in ordering products, setting prices, and hiring peo-
ple, with a minimum of interference from ‘‘corporate.’’
Bill O’Brien, CEO of Hanover Insurance, one of the top-performing
insurance companies of the past decade, realizes that the word team rings false if people are not empowered to make increasingly complex decisions or given the skills to do so: ‘‘In the type of organization we seek
to build, the fullest development of people is on a plane with financial
success.’’29
Like Paul, all these organizations realize that a team is only as strong
as its individual members, that members must be constantly developed,
and that financial rewards can motivate a group but it takes deeper in-
trinsic rewards to create and empower a true team.
BIBLICAL LESSONS ON TEAM DEVELOPMENT
A team is a group of individuals who may have different needs
but are pursuing a common, unifying goal.
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An effective team is more than the sum of its parts; an
ineffective team achieves less than individuals working on their
own might have.
Acknowledge the unique talents and motivation of each team
member.
A carefully selected team with complementary strengths
outperforms a collection of talented individuals who are
competing to be the ‘‘star.’’
A strong leader is empowered, not threatened, by selecting
strong team members.
Remind each team member how his actions contribute to
group goals.
Remind team members that even the most powerful,
competent leader can’t do it alone and that you need their help.
Actively reward team-oriented actions and attitudes.
Expect resistance to team building. Overcome it with verbal
encouragement and actions that confirm your commitment to
the team approach.
Delegate to team members according to their strengths and
developmental needs.
C H A P T E R
E I G H T
Courage
‘‘Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.’’
—E. 2:6
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terri-
fied, do not be discouraged.’’
—J. 1:9
oshua, Jack Welch, and the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard
of Oz may appear to be an unlikely trio, but each in his own
way recognized the value of courage. Time and again,
Joshua exhibited this trait as he knocked down seemingly
impregnable walls and led the Hebrews into battle against seemingly
insurmountable odds. Welch, who spent a large portion of his time
developing leaders at GE’s Management Development Center in Cro-
tonville, New York, worked with many technically adept candidates for
top management. He noted that what separated a manager from a leader
was ‘‘the instinct and courage to make the tough calls—decisively, but
with fairness and absolute integrity.’’
The Cowardly Lion is another story. He started out as a nonleader
with no purpose and a ferocious demeanor that hid a total lack of cour-
age. When the members of the ‘‘Oz Team’’ come upon the lion, he is
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occupying himself with the meaningless task of scaring anyone who
happens along his path. Only when he finds meaning through a mutu-
ally shared goal and loyalty to others on the team does his true courage
come out. As the story progresses, the lion meets many more ferocious
characters than the ones he initially tried to frighten. His courage grows
as he becomes protective of his team and increasingly dedicated to the
team’s mission, which is merged completely with his own mission.
Part of the lion’s problem, of course, is not so much his need to
develop courage as to define it. The lion assumed that because he felt
fear, he must not be as courageous as the ‘‘King of the Forest’’ is sup-
posed to be. What he (and most biblical and business leaders) needed to
learn is that courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to act despite feeling fear: ‘‘Feel the fear and do it anyway.’’
The Bible is replete with heroes and leaders who exhibit many kinds
of courage: physical, political, and moral. The prototype, of course, is
David, the shepherd boy confronting a heavily armored, battle-