Book Value: As God is My Witness

A spate of recent business books implore CEOs to ask "What would Jesus do?" An unearthly consideration of books that claim divine inspiration.

By Paul B. Brown | 
 

Book Value

There's only one subject that's still off-limits at the office. Some new books suggest it's time to change the rules

It used to be that you didn't discuss sex, politics, or religion in polite company (which included, theoretically, one's coworkers). But sex seems to be an acceptable subject these days -- providing the content can't be construed as harassment -- and do you know anyone who doesn't talk politics?

All of which leaves religion as the only office-chatter taboo. Spirituality, however, has made headway. Consider values-based investing. Nowadays it's easy to find financial planners who can steer you around companies that sell tobacco or run gambling facilities. Money for Life, by Stephen R. Bolt, which came out last year, covers ethical investing in detail. And on the management front, Laurie Beth Jones, in her 1995 book, Jesus, CEO, holds up Jesus' leadership style as a model for today's CEO. But the Jesus in Jones's book isn't anyone as risky as the Son of God; he's just a really, really smart manager. Jones downplays the religious angle.

She is one of a growing number of managers, consultants, and authors who advocate bringing religious faith into the workplace and who sincerely believe that it is only by committing fully to God -- without exception they are referring to the Christian God -- that one can succeed in business as well as in life.

Jones now has written a follow-up tome, Jesus, Inc.: The Visionary Path. And a new book by Larry Julian, God Is My CEO: Following God's Principles in a Bottom-Line World, treats faith-based management as a silver bullet. The book by Julian, a Jewish-born consultant who has "developed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," is the better of the two.

Julian got 20 senior managers and leaders to talk on the record about business and their faith. Some of the inter- viewees are well-known for their religious beliefs, such as C. William Pollard of ServiceMaster and S. Truett Cathy, head of Chick-fil-A; others are just well-known, such as Tampa Bay Bucs head coach Tony Dungy, Coors brewing scion Jeffrey H. Coors, and Marilyn Carlson Nelson, head of the Carlson Cos. (Radisson Hotels & Resorts and Carlson Wagonlit Travel). Some small-company CEOs are also quoted.

Julian presents 20 mini case studies. First he outlines a common business or leadership problem in the form of a question, such as, "How do I avoid becoming a slave to urgent, short-term pressure?" or "What do I do when faced with choosing between a bad solution and a worse solution?" or "How do I balance employee needs with profit obligations?" He follows the question with a passage from the Bible and then shows how two of the managers used that piece of Scripture to answer or explore the question.

But the book, published by a midsize publishing company based in Massachusetts, has serious flaws. You'd be hard-pressed to find revenues or earnings figures for the various businesses profiled. And how the book's executives have actually put their faith into action isn't explained in any detail. Yet the book is noteworthy; it may very well break the ice so that bigger publishing houses and more-experienced reporters can tackle the subject of faith in the workplace in more depth.

If you're looking for the definitive how-to book, complete with formulas to guide your daily managerial behavior, this isn't it. However, there is no doubt that "the vision thing," the ability to frame a company's daily work in terms of larger aims, is a key part of running a business. Even if you are an atheist or an agnostic, God Is My CEO will probably spur you to rethink some of the ways in which you do business.

That was also the idea behind Jones's second book. The problem is that the work isn't very, um, inspirational. Somewhat like Julian, Jones begins each chapter with a line from Scripture, such as "New wine must be poured into new wineskins" (Luke 5:38), and then spins a business moral around it. The moral she divines from the wineskins passage is that business procedures "have to change as the times change." Jones ends each chapter with a short prayer designed to reinforce the message of the chapter. For this particular chapter the prayer reads, "Dear Lord, You see all -- know all. ... Give me your gift of discernment and help me always to seek current information." All in all, the "lessons" never seem to rise above homily.

The search for the best way to apply biblical wisdom to leadership and business practices continues.

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