160 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Another leader who stood firm on his ‘‘shaky legs’’ is Phil Myers, a
hospital account manager for ServiceMaster. ‘‘Housekeeping’’ is not ex-
actly high in the pecking order at a hospital, and Myers had only been
on the job two weeks, but he knew he had to respond courageously
when the director of surgery mistreated his people. He stormed into her
office and pulled all twenty of his staff out of the operating room be-
cause she had used foul language and ‘‘talked to them like dogs.’’ He
told her, ‘‘These people are my people. If you’ve got a problem, yell at
me. Don’t yell at them.’’^7 A true leader takes the heat.
Frank Dale took over theLos Angeles Herald Examinerwhen the
newspaper itself was on shaky legs, so it would be understandable if he
had them too. The newspaper was coming off of a ten-year strike. The
front door of the building had been barricaded for years, and people
had been killed in the ongoing labor strife. As the new president, Dale
had to enter ingloriously through the back door, where he was searched
and fingerprinted. His response? He immediately announced to a group
of employees, ‘‘Maybe the first thing we ought to do is open up the
front door.’’ It was exactly the courageous act that was needed. Every-
one stood up and cheered. Grown men and women cried.^8
Were the ensuing weeks easy as theHerald Examinersought to reposi-
tion itself in the eyes of the public and its employees? Of course not.
But the employees knew that they had a courageous leader who was
capable of taking the right actions quickly and early. And they knew
they could count on his courage bolstering their own as the fight con-
tinued.
In 1997, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, CEO of Nestle, knew he needed
a courageous manager in the company’s Mexican operation: ‘‘The peo-
ple in charge were very correct, very decent, doing a fair job. But they
didn’t have the hunger to win.’’ Brabeck-Letmathe found a new leader.
He was not totally fearless, but his hunger and courage were greater
than his fear. ‘‘He came up with a new plan, a good, judicious plan,’’
recounts Brabeck-Letmathe. ‘‘And I remember I looked into his eyes
and said, ‘Somehow, I know you can do more.’ ’’ Brabeck-Letmathe
then asked the manager to double the sales volume.
The manager realized the size of the task, so he did not respond