organizations like Young Life, Campus Crusade, Youth for Christ,
InterVarsity. Academic institutions like Wheaton College, Fuller
and Gordon-Conwell Seminaries. Humanitarian outreaches like
World Vision, World Relief, the Salvation Army. Media ministries
like Transworld Radio and Christianity Today.
I later learned his founding of Christianity Todayhad been thor-
oughly hands on (see chapter 14). Billy’s accomplishments have
been an integration of executive and entrepreneurial leadership
with roiling streams of spiritual vitality. What is usually ignored,
yet is central to what has been achieved, is his entrepreneurial
vision, his driving and inspirational force as chief executive, his
continuous growth as a statesman.
This came into full focus when I read the chapter titled “Level
Five Leadership” in Jim Collins’s excellent book, Good to Great.
Collins, with a team of researchers, studied a highly select group
of companies that for years had experienced “extraordinary
results”—companies that had outperformed stars like Intel, Gen-
eral Electric, and Coca Cola. His studies revealed something unex-
pected. “We were surprised,” wrote Collins, “shocked, really, to
discover the type of leadership required.” He found the CEOs with
“extraordinary results”—what Good to Greatcalls “Level Five
Leaders”—were not ego-driven but “self-effacing.” They blended
“extreme personal humility” with “fierce resolve.” Instead of
being “I-Centric,” they channeled their ego needs away from
themselves and into the larger goal. When interviewed, these
leaders talked about others’ contributions. Collins reported that
they would say things like, “I don’t think I can take much credit.
We were blessed with marvelous people.”
Soon after studying Good to Great, I contacted Billy about writ-
ing a book to help convey the principles of his leadership. When
I received a letter back from him, I blinked and then smiled as I
read it:
“It seems to me that the Lord took several inexperienced
young men and used them in ways they never dreamed,” Billy
wrote. “The ministry sort of took off and got away from all of us!
We all seemed to be a part of a tremendous movement of the
Introduction