The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham

work. In the David Frost interview cited above, Billy said he rec-

ognized his wasn’t the most important factor in seeing results, but

that “people were listening to another voice inside.” The re-

deemed ego recognizes such mysterious forces and puts all indi-

vidual efforts into a transcendent context.

In Humiliation, Lead On
None of us anticipates humiliation, and every fiber of our
being fights that possibility. Yet leaders often experience, through
little or no fault of their own, humiliations that tear at their self-
respect. One man, going through deep waters, saw a dog in his
yard violently yanking and snapping at an old cloth. He said he
felt his reputation was like that shredded cloth.
But in the time of humiliation, leadership is needed all the
more, and one’s perspective will determine whether the leader
folds or steps up to a very different sort of challenge.
One of General Robert E. Lee’s most significant moments of
leadership was not on a battlefield but on the eve of his surren-
der. After four years of warfare, during which, except for the final
campaign, he had repeatedly outperformed his opponents, he
now had to face the reality that he didn’t have the men or sup-
plies to continue the war against the well-resourced Union army.
His Army of Northern Virginia numbered 15,000, while Union
forces under General Grant numbered 80,000. His soldiers
weren’t ready to quit. Even with their shortages of food and
ammunition, they would greet him,
“General! General! Say the word, Gen-
eral, and we’ll go after them again.”
The night before he met with General
Grant to discuss an end to the war, his
artillery officer, E. P. Alexander, recom-
mended that the Confederate army
should “scatter like rabbits and partridges
in the woods” and fight a guerilla war.
It had to have been a tempting suggestion. Lee had already
lost his home and virtually all his worldly goods, including his

The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham

I have been driven many

times to my knees by the

overwhelming conviction

that I had nowhere else to

go. My wisdom, and that of

all about me, seemed

insufficient for the day.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN