76 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
Corporation, was asked by researchers Kouzes and Posner to describe
his personal best. ‘‘After a few moments, Flanagan said he couldn’t do
it. Startled, we asked him why. ‘Because it wasn’tmypersonal best. It
wasn’tme.It wasus.’’’^6
Walter Shipley of Citibank says, ‘‘We have 68,000 employees. With
a company this size, I’m not ‘running the business’... My job is to
create the environment that enables people to leverage each other be-
yond their own individual capabilities... I get credit for providing the
leadership that got us there. But our people did it.’’^7
Bob Tillman, CEO of Lowe’s companies, a retailer of home im-
provement products, does not even like to give ‘‘personal’’ interviews,
because he doesn’t feel that the success of his company is ‘‘personal.’’
‘‘I would not have done this (interview) if our PR folks had not pres-
sured me. And the reason for that is... I don’t agree with singling out
our leadership when... talking about our success. One person neither
builds nor manages a business... the more you highlight one person,
the more you detract from the team itself.’’^8
Ray Gilmartin, CEO of Merck, takes this a step further: ‘‘If I were
to put someone on the front cover ofBusiness WeekorFortune, it would
be... the person who heads up our research organization, not me. Or
I would put a team of people on the cover.’’^9
Lou Gerstner is known for his tough, goal-oriented, hard-hitting
management style, not his humility. But even Gerstner, when pushed
to the wall, can become humble: ‘‘I haven’t done this,’’ he says, refer-
ring to IBM’s amazing turnaround since he became CEO. ‘‘It’s been
280,000 people who have done it. We took a change in focus, a change
in preoccupation, and a great talented group of people... and changed
the company.’’^10
Says Dan Tully of Merrill Lynch, ‘‘It’s amazing what you can do
when you don’t seek all the credit. I find nothing is really one person’s
idea.’’^11
Bernie Ebbers, CEO of MCI WorldCom, sees himself not as the boss
but rather as the ‘‘steward.’’ ‘‘I look at my stewardship of this company
as an opportunity that the Lord has given to me. And that the funda-
mental principle in my life is to serve Him and to serve people through