208 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
These are probably similar questions to the ones that Moses asked
Joshua in the tent, or that David posed to Solomon before transferring
the crown. One thing is certain: Neither Welch nor any of these biblical
leaders would trust pure ‘‘book learning’’ or lectures to prepare the
leaders of the future. Action learning was key if the organization was to
create a strong new generation of leaders.
In running his ‘‘Building the Business’’ top-level executive develop-
ment sessions for PepsiCo, Roger Enrico incorporated both action
learning and developmental assignments. At the end of the first five-day
workshop, all participants were asked to return to the workplace to
initiate or continue work on real projects, which would then be dis-
cussed and analyzed when they returned for a three-day follow-up
workshop several months later.
Gary Wendt, CEO of GE Capital, annually would take several hun-
dred top performers and their spouses to China, India, or some other
‘‘exotic’’ site, which also just ‘‘happened’’ to be an area envisioned as a
new market for GE. In this expedition, Wendt and his executives would
soak in the area’s culture, probe for growth opportunities, and form
relationships with key businesspeople and politicians. Although pleasur-
able, this was not a ‘‘junket’’ dedicated to the serious pursuit of drink-
ing, eating, and playing. Such an approach would be too close an
approximation to the revelry surrounding the worship of the Golden
Calf. These ‘‘tours’’ were more like developmental learning events—
windows to the future—than hedonistic celebrations that merely dissi-
pate the organization’s energy and distract it from its purpose.
If leaders are created from difficult or challenging experiences, it
should be no surprise that the trying experiences of the people in the
Bible were the forge out of which a host of new leaders were created.
Jay Conger and Beth Benjamin cite a number of challenges that, if ne-
gotiated successfully, lead to the development of even stronger leaders.^14
Each of these can be matched with a number of biblical leaders:
❖Managing difficult relationships with supervisors or key staff
(Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph and Pharaoh, David and
Absalom)