106 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
even taken the trouble to speak to her: ‘‘If you’re not in management
(at that company), you’re no one,’’ she observes.^24
COMMUNICATIONSKILLS—
INNATE ORLEARNED?
There is a wide-ranging debate about the innateness or ‘‘learnability’’
of effective communication skills and the nature of ‘‘charisma.’’ Can
communication skills be learned and improved, or does a leader have
to be naturally charismatic to communicate effectively and gain the en-
thusiastic support of others?
To help answer this question, we can turn first to the Bible and next
to a couple of modern leaders. Moses was an extremely effective leader,
but not a particularly dynamic speaker. When asked to make a key
‘‘presentation’’ on behalf of his people to the Egyptians, Moses pro-
tested: ‘‘Oh Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor
since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and
tongue.’’ Most biblical scholars interpret this to mean that Moses had a
speech impediment, or, in modern terms, a ‘‘communication disorder,’’
which today would land him in special education class.
God’s suggestion to Moses was to team him with his brother Aaron,
who was a better speaker. But it was Moses, not Aaron, who spoke to
Pharaoh and led his people out of Egypt. What he lacked in speaking
ability, Moses possessed in conviction, courage, and compassion for his
people. These traits were communicated unmistakably to all who were
exposed to him, both follower and foe.
Another leader who had a speech impediment, a childhood stutter,
was Jack Welch. Welch recounts how his mother refused even to ac-
knowledge his stutter. He and his mother would drive to the train sta-
tion at night to pick up his father from his job as a conductor. They
would sit in the dark and talk, and eventually Welch stopped stuttering.
He became an excellent speaker, particularly when addressing General
Electric managers at the company’s famed Management Development
Center in Crotonville, New York.^25