42 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
daunting obstacles for a line manager or CEO. Without a sense of pur-
pose, it is easy to be overcome by these obstacles.
Gordon Bethune took over Continental Airlines when it definitely
needed a prophet and a savior. The airline’s on-time performance was
among the worst in the industry. The organization was ‘‘off purpose.’’
Pilots were flying at slower speeds and skimping on air conditioning to
save fuel, making the on-time record even worse, and leaving custom-
ers ‘‘late, hot, and mad.’’
Bethune quickly re-established purpose. He offered every employee
a $65 bonus for better on-time performance each month. This seems
like merely a symbolic bonus, but that’s what the employees needed—a
symbol of purpose, not just ‘‘more money.’’ The employees knew what
to do to make Continental an ‘‘on-time’’ airline, they just needed the
direction to make it happen. Within a few months, Continental had the
best on-time record in the industry.
Bethune maintained that it all boiled down to unity of purpose.
‘‘There is no autopilot for success. You can’t take your eye off the ball.
The good news is that it’s a pretty simple thing to keep doing just as
long as you don’t forget about it.’’^14 It may be ‘‘simple,’’ but it isn’t
always easy. Bethune had to let go a large portion of the management
team, overcome a huge amount of negativism and cynicism, and turn
the Continental culture around 180 degrees. Continental became a
thriving airline with an excellent on-time performance record.
LEADERSWITHOUTPURPOSE
The Bible gives us several examples of ‘‘leaders’’ whose sense of purpose
did not extend beyond themselves. A case can be made that despite
their talents and strengths, such people are not really leaders at all. Their
modern counterparts are those ‘‘leaders’’ whose main ‘‘purpose’’ is pure
material gain and personal aggrandizement.
Esau, son of Isaac and Rebecca, is one example of a man whose
carnal appetites and lack of purpose disqualified him as a leader and left
the field open for his physically weaker but stronger-purposed twin