Communication 101
goal. And exaggeration, as long as it is not overdone, frequently works
well in tandem with repetition. Jack Welch of General Electric ob-
served:
In leadership, you’ve got to exaggerate every statement you make.
You’ve got to repeat it a thousand times and exaggerate it. So I’ll say
things like, ‘‘No one can get promoted if they’re not a Green Belt in Six
Sigma.’’ Such statements are needed to move a large organization. And
then you must back them up with personnel moves to show people you’re
serious.^16LISTENINGSKILLS
Will the led truly listen and respond to the exhortations of the leaders,
even when these seem unrealistic, daunting, and/or repetitive? The an-
swer to this partly depends on the answer to another question: How
well is the leader listening to the followers? Does the leader want to
hear only good news, brushing off or ignoring attempts to point out
tacks in the road (or scorpions in the desert)? Or is the leader truly
willing to listen to constructive criticism or ways that the operation can
be improved? When the followers look at the leader, do they see a pair
of ears in front of them, or only a large, ever-moving mouth?
The Bible is full of leaders who failed to listen. Lot’s wife didn’t listen
to the warning not to look back at the burning cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah, and wound up as a pillar of salt. Pharaoh did not listen to
Moses, not even after his nation was hit with ten catastrophic plagues.
Noah, on the other hand, was a man who saw and understood the
value of listening. Seeing the corrupt state of the world around him, he
had no reason to doubt that God (‘‘top management’’) was about to
destroy it by flood and start over. As someone who had never built a
boat, he was ready to listen and comply when God gave him the exact
measurements (450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high). He even
listened when God told him that he could fit his entire extended family