Of course, Moses did not always have an easy time of it, nor did
Sculley or Jobs. Without an ongoing sense of mission and vision, Jobs’s
failures (such as the Lisa) could have been as demoralizing as the near
starvation of the Israelites during forty years in the desert. Jobs was
thrown out of the CEO slot in the company he had so courageously
created because the company had outgrown his leadership style and
business skills. Moses was also denied the honor of leading the Israelites
into the Promised Land. Like Jobs, he was a great leader in times of
calamity and innovation, but he was not the best man to lead a maturing
group to the next stage of its development (and into its new offices).
While wandering in the literal desert (not just the proverbial one)
both Moses and his successor, Joshua, had to hang on to their purpose
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
for dear life in the face of physical calamity and psychological doubt. Of
course, it helped to have manna from heaven when the food was about
to run out. But still the people questioned the wisdom of their course
and actively rebelled: ‘‘All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and
Aaron [Moses’ brother], and . . . said, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or
in this desert! . . . We should choose a new leader and go back to
Egypt!’ Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the people and
Joshua tore his clothes.’’ To these dramatic nonverbal communications,
they added some strong verbals: ‘‘The land we passed through is ex-
ceedingly good.’’ The loyal assembly’s reaction? ‘‘The whole assembly
talked about stoning them.’’ (Num. 14)
The executive triumvirate of Moses, Aaron, and Joshua was able to
turn the situation around, but only with a strong appeal to a higher
power and a reminder of their purpose. And Moses died there in the
desert. Steve Jobs may have been sent into exile, but at least he got a
second chance (‘‘Next’’ indeed, and then more Apples!)
After Joshua had led the Israelites into the Promised Land and ac-
complished his purpose of settling it, he resoundingly reminded the
nation of the continuity of its purpose and the need to carry that pur-
pose to its next stage of development. He urged them to be strong, to
obey all that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses, and not to
intermarry with other nations or to form too close an alliance with any
nation, since that would threaten their identity and, ultimately, their
sense of purpose.
A few centuries later, King David’s purpose was to consolidate the
power of Israel and strengthen it ideologically. In a sense, he was the
great builder of corporate culture for the new nation. A renaissance man
equally at home with a sword and a harp, he made certain that the
kingdom was strong culturally, monetarily, and militarily.
His son, Solomon, further built on that sense of purpose, the mani-
festation of which was the first temple in Jerusalem. It took seven years
to build (presumably longer than any of today’s corporate headquarters),
but the process of building it was just as important to the nation as the actual completion. The mobilization of people and resources was just as
galvanizing as the launch of a landmark new product like the Boeing
707.
Purpose
27
THINKING BIG
Alan Mullaly was the leader of the team that built that pioneering air-
craft. Here is how he describes the experience: ‘‘We wanted everyone
to feel that, oh boy, building a brand-new airplane would be worth
contributing to! The mission has to be bigger than any one of us, and it
has to feel good . . . So that became our mission: building the best new
airplane we could.’’ One of the engineers of the project noted, ‘‘Alan
energized us.’’1
Like Solomon, Mullaly wasn’t just building a product; he was leading
a mission with a purpose. And the best leaders approach all tasks that
way. John F. Kennedy galvanized a nation by proclaiming his purpose
of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Martha Stewart
grew her vast culinary/fashion empire from a small catering business,
with her ultimate mission in mind from day one. Meg Whitman,
founder of eBay, could have been knocked ‘‘off purpose’’ when her
computer systems crashed in 1999. Instead, she worked 100-hour
weeks for a month until the problem was solved. Fred Smith of Federal
Express could easily have been deterred from the Promised Land; his
blueprint for the company was dismissed as unworkable when he sub-
mitted it to his business school professor. But he intuitively felt that
using one airport as a ‘‘hub’’ to achieve twenty-four–hour guaranteed
delivery was an idea that would actually work.
When a leader is dedicated to a purpose, and when all the ‘‘troops’’
see that dedication is unwavering and ‘‘for real,’’ great things happen.
King David, faced with the daunting task of the construction of a tem-
ple, handed it over to his son Solomon, who admittedly lacked experi-
ence in the construction business. But David had also given himself
wholeheartedly to this project: ‘‘With all my resources have I provided
for the temple . . . gold for the gold work, silver for the silver . . .
bronze . . . iron . . . onyx . . . stones of various colors. Besides I now
give my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above everything
I have provided for this holy temple . . . Now who is going to conse-
crate himself today to the Lord?’’ (1 Chron. 29:2–5)
What David really meant was, ‘‘Who is going to follow my example
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
and give of their wealth and labor to help build this temple?’’ And
because he put his money where his purpose was (like Fred Smith of
Federal Express, who invested large amounts of his own money), he got
a tremendous response: ‘‘Then the leaders of the families, the officers of
the tribes . . . the commanders of the thousands and commanders of
hundreds . . . gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple
. . . five thousand talents . . . of gold, ten thousand talents of silver . . .
eighteen thousand talents of bronze . . . The people rejoiced at the
willing response of their leaders . . .’’ (1 Chron. 29:6–9)
No leader ever unified the efforts of thousands of people or raised
large amounts of capital without an unwavering sense of purpose. King
David serves as a shining example.
PURPOSE AND MODERN BUSINESS
But are we ‘‘pushing the analogy’’ a little too far? Can today’s prag-
matic, secular business leader be compared to a biblical prophet or king?
Aren’t most executives’ ‘‘purposes’’ focused squarely on the bottom
line, with such intangibles as group solidarity, ‘‘mission,’’ and ‘‘vision’’
placed firmly at the rear?
Not always. Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines, says his vi-
sion is to have a company where ‘‘kindness and the human spirit are
nurtured,’’ where you ‘‘do what your customers want and are happy in
your work.’’ Of course, this is backed up by tremendous effort and a
carefully conceived niche strategy: a low-cost airline connecting out-
of-the-way routes with a minimum of frills. At Southwest, a rational
plan and an inspirational vision add up to one tremendously potent
purpose.
We all know that Herb is not exactly your typical Rotarian. But he
is not the only business leader who talks about Purpose with a capital P, meaning it is about more than just profit. Consider the philosophy of
Konosuke Matsushita, founder of the giant Japanese conglomerate that
bears his name: ‘‘The mission of a manufacturer should be to overcome
poverty, to relieve society as a whole from misery, and bring it wealth.’’
Purpose
29
Further, it should contribute to the ‘‘progress and development of soci-
ety and the well-being of people . . . thereby enhancing the quality of
life throughout the world.’’2
Matsushita’s first really successful product was a bicycle light in the
1920s. Perhaps his purpose at that time was to make the world’s best
bicycle light. He could not have built his multibillion-dollar business
empire without having developed a larger purpose.
‘‘A’’ PLAYERS WITH AUDACIOUS GOALS
Jack Welch of GE wrote that the effective leader leads through a vision.
Like King David, he constantly sought to field teams of ‘‘A’’ players.
Central to being an ‘‘A’’ player is a sense of purpose: ‘‘At the leadership level, an ‘A’ is a man or woman with a vision and the ability to articulate that vision to the team, so vividly and powerfully that it becomes their
vision.’’3
The Bible is full of A’s, all of whom had a specific role to play in
forwarding the purpose of their people. If you look closely at what