Jones Looks To Jesus For Leadership Ideas

Some of us have had the unfortunate experience of playing on teams where no one gets along, no one makes a decision and nothing gets done.

Whether it’s in your back yard or your office, the experience is frustrating and the results usually disastrous. But occasionally, someone comes along and transforms that unruly gang into a winning team.

How does that happen? According to best-selling author Laurie Beth Jones, it takes a special leader. Someone who knows how to develop relationships, take risks and lead a group.

And women, she said, are naturally good team builders and team players because we have good communication and people skills.

Jones learned a lot about management styles while running a successful advertising firm. What Jones saw shocked and appalled her.

Many corporations practiced a philosophy of plunder and pillage.

They mistreated their employees to improve the bottom line and paid a far greater price.

Jones, author of “The Path” and “Jesus, CEO,” knew there had to be another model for corporate success. Her research convinced her we should discard the old model of a self-made man or a super mom and replace it with a team whose leader manages people the way Jesus did.

“Nothing in the world happens without a team,” Jones said. “Jesus had three years to train 12 people, and they went on to turn the world upside down. In the end they did the work for free and were willing to die for him.”

Just as Jesus knew exactly who he was and what he had to accomplish, Jones believes every person needs a personal mission statement for work and life. Knowing what you want helps you act decisively.

Jesus, she said, was “a turnaround specialist. Every situation he found himself in was a turnaround situation.”

But instead of falling into the trap of wasting time in documenting the problem, he used the resources he had available to find the solutions. And those resources often were far from ideal.

“Wherever you are, whatever you have is good enough,” Jones said. “We have been given so much that we’re not using, and yet we want more.”

Jesus also was successful because once he built a strong team, he mingled with them, Jones said. Too many managers and CEOs are out of touch with employees because they isolate themselves. Many executives are afraid expressing doubts makes them appear vulnerable.

On the contrary, co-workers can’t provide answers if they don’t know the questions, Jones said.

“When you show that you don’t have it all together, it gives people the opportunity to give to you,” she said.

Adding to the problem: Those who suffered from math anxiety as teenagers often have trouble making investment decisions later in life. A survey by Dreyfus Corp. and the national Center for Women and Retirement Research found those who were uncomfortable with math in their youth often put off personal financial decisions for fear of making mistakes. The study also found men tend to be more comfortable with their past and present ability in math than women.

Upside of downsizing: Laying you off is a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it. And chief executive officers of big companies are being rewarded with fat compensation for laying off more employees, although even some CEOs think it’s an outrageous practice, says a new study by the Institute for Policy Studies. The liberal research group’s survey found pay for CEOs at the 30 corporations with the biggest layoffs last year rose an average 67.3 percent. That’s compared with 54 percent for CEOs at the top 365 American corporations.

Dressing down daily: Dressing down on Fridays? At many companies, that’s old hat. What’s new is Procter & Gamble Co. considering a five-day casual dress code for its Cincinnati headquarters, the Wall Street Journal says.