ment had been frequently adversarial. When she left, the union local
gave her a plaque for her ‘‘leadership, courage, risk taking, and hon-
esty.’’5
In a biblical example, the disciples Peter and John were also men
initially ‘‘out of their element,’’ except that their problem was the op-
posite of Carrigan’s. Whereas Carrigan had ‘‘too much education,’’ they
had no schooling at all, only courage and inspiration. Peter and John
did not revive a plant, they revived a man, a lame beggar sitting by the
temple gate. When they encouraged him to get up and walk, they were
immediately brought before the court, which questioned the power by
which they had healed him.
Peter and John explained to the court that their faith had enabled
them to heal the crippled man, and they did not deny their allegiance
to Jesus, in whose name they had healed. ‘‘When they saw the courage
of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary
men, they were astonished.’’ (Acts 4:13) But they were also alarmed.
‘‘Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus.’’ Peter and John’s courageous response?
‘‘Judge for yourself whether it is right . . . to obey you rather than God.
For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’’
(Acts 4:19–20)
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159
Did Patricia Carrigan, Peter, and John feel some fear? Probably. But
their courage helped them to act despite it. They became role models
for others, not because they were totally fearless, but because they over-
came whatever fears they had to act and speak strongly and decisively.
The Bible never says that courage and fear are mutually exclusive. In
fact, the most courageous acts take place despite fear. The Book of He-
brews expresses this quite graphically: ‘‘Stand firm on your shaky legs
. . . those who follow will become strong.’’ The message here is that
even when leaders are afraid or vulnerable and others see some of their
fear, the courage of the followers actually increases when they see lead-
ers acting in the face of fear or vulnerability.
One leader who justifiably might have had ‘‘shaky legs’’ was New
York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani during the World Trade Center disaster.
Giuliani, normally a fighter unfazed by public criticism, had been
rocked by a bout with prostate cancer and his much-publicized extra-
marital affair and marital separation. If anyone might have had his
‘‘shaky legs’’ knocked out from under him by the worst terrorist attack
on United States soil, Giuliani was a ripe candidate.
Instead, the mayor met the situation with a mixture of courage and
compassion. Minutes after the planes hit the World Trade Center, he
was on the scene. Like the firefighters and police whose ultimate boss
he was, he headed straight for the site of the disaster. When the first
tower collapsed, Giuliani was in a temporary command bunker, which
he had to hastily evacuate through a haze of dust and silt. But rather
than run for his life, the mayor insisted on setting up a news conference.
‘‘The mayor was adamant to have communication,’’ noted an assistant.
‘‘He was adamant to let it be known that we were not going to cede
the city.’’
Just after this, the mayor did have to run for his life, as the north
tower collapsed. But he quickly found another command post in mid-
town. He stayed in the thick of the action, but also managed to stay
above it, meeting with key deputies and commissioners, visiting hospi-
tals, comforting those who lost family members. ‘‘There is no doubt
that Giuliani is the man you want in charge of this situation,’’ observed
a policeman. ‘‘In this situation, it is like he is the only one who seems
to take command.’’6
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Another leader who stood firm on his ‘‘shaky legs’’ is Phil Myers, a
hospital account manager for ServiceMaster. ‘‘Housekeeping’’ is not ex-
actly high in the pecking order at a hospital, and Myers had only been
on the job two weeks, but he knew he had to respond courageously
when the director of surgery mistreated his people. He stormed into her
office and pulled all twenty of his staff out of the operating room be-
cause she had used foul language and ‘‘talked to them like dogs.’’ He
told her, ‘‘These people are my people. If you’ve got a problem, yell at
me. Don’t yell at them.’’7 A true leader takes the heat.
Frank Dale took over the Los Angeles Herald Examiner when the
newspaper itself was on shaky legs, so it would be understandable if he
had them too. The newspaper was coming off of a ten-year strike. The
front door of the building had been barricaded for years, and people
had been killed in the ongoing labor strife. As the new president, Dale
had to enter ingloriously through the back door, where he was searched
and fingerprinted. His response? He immediately announced to a group
of employees, ‘‘Maybe the first thing we ought to do is open up the
front door.’’ It was exactly the courageous act that was needed. Every-
one stood up and cheered. Grown men and women cried.8
Were the ensuing weeks easy as the Herald Examiner sought to reposition itself in the eyes of the public and its employees? Of course not.
But the employees knew that they had a courageous leader who was
capable of taking the right actions quickly and early. And they knew
they could count on his courage bolstering their own as the fight con-
tinued.
In 1997, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, CEO of Nestle, knew he needed
a courageous manager in the company’s Mexican operation: ‘‘The peo-
ple in charge were very correct, very decent, doing a fair job. But they
didn’t have the hunger to win.’’ Brabeck-Letmathe found a new leader.
He was not totally fearless, but his hunger and courage were greater
than his fear. ‘‘He came up with a new plan, a good, judicious plan,’’
recounts Brabeck-Letmathe. ‘‘And I remember I looked into his eyes
and said, ‘Somehow, I know you can do more.’ ’’ Brabeck-Letmathe
then asked the manager to double the sales volume.
The manager realized the size of the task, so he did not respond
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161
instantly or with exaggerated swagger. In fact, ‘‘his face turned pale.’’
But then, like Isaiah, he set that face ‘‘like flint.’’ (‘‘I have set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame—Isaiah 50:7).’’ ‘‘If you
have confidence in me,’’ he announced to Brabeck-Letmathe, ‘‘I will
get it.’’ What happened? ‘‘They (the manager’s team) became like ti-
gers, each one of them,’’ exults Brabeck-Letmathe. ‘‘It was a systemic
change—within each person. They decided to go out and fight and win
. . . They practically doubled sales in three years. The team that had
been too easily satisfied suddenly developed a real fighting spirit.’’9
The leader could not have done this without his team. But the team
also could not have achieved this without a courageous, inspired leader.
STANDING FIRM
Repeatedly, the leaders of the Bible are urged to stand firm in their
actions and beliefs: ‘‘Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . .
take up the shield of faith . . . take the helmet of salvation . . . and the Sword of the spirit.’’ (Eph. 6:14–17)
But what does a company do when two strong leaders have equally
firm but opposing beliefs and seemingly equal amounts of courage? Bill
Weiss, CEO of Ameritech, knew he was taking a courageous step
when, in his early sixties and just a few years before retirement, he
began the effort to transform his company from a sleepy, monopolistic
local phone company to a forward-looking, competitive, far-reaching
telecommunications giant. He courageously demonstrated commitment
to this transformation, delivered the message unceasingly, and promised
he would let go those who resisted the company’s new direction.
As part of this effort, he assembled the ‘‘Group of 120,’’ a group of
top managers analogous to King David’s ‘‘mighty men,’’ and asked
them to evaluate each other on key leadership qualities as a first step in
unifying and improving the team. However, one of the ‘‘mightiest
men’’ did not jump on board; in fact, he used all his power and courage
to oppose the plan.
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Bob Knowling, a general manager from Indiana Bell, was a towering
(6⬘ 3⬙) former football player who buttonholed many of the other man-
agers to tell them he thought that this aspect of the plan was counter-
productive and that he wasn’t going to cooperate. Soon, he had ignited
a groundswell of opposition. ‘‘I can remember one night in a bar,’’ says
Dick Notebaert, who was soon to become CEO of Ameritech, ‘‘We
were going to do appraisals, and this huge guy . . . is in my face saying