Massive Income

Saying No to Yes

Another of Marshall’s traits was a willingness to listen. General Omar Bradley tells of being called into Marshall’s office in 1939, a week after the outbreak of the war in Europe. Marshall expressed his disappointment in Bradley and his fellow officers: “You haven’t disagreed with a single thing I have done all week.” The next day the officers returned with a recommendation that in Bradley’s recollection seemed “questionable.” To which Marshall replied, “Now that is what I want. Unless I hear all of the arguments against something I am not sure whether I have made the right decision or not.”^[33]

After Pearl Harbor, Marshall called Ike to his office and told him to draft a plan to save the Philippines. Ike took a few hours, then reported that it was not possible but suggested alternatives. Marshall said, “Eisenhower, the department is filled with able men who analyze their problems well but feel compelled always to bring them to me for final solution. I must have assistants who will solve their own problems and tell me later what they have done.”^[34] To General Marshall, leadership was not about pleasing the boss or saying the right words; leadership was doing the right thing. This was the creed by which he lived. Read more »

The Statesman

Truman so admired Marshall that he twice called him into his cabinet, first as secretary of state and later as secretary of defense. It was in the former role that Marshall gained recognition as a humanitarian. In a speech at Harvard when he was given an honorary degree, Marshall spoke of Europe’s suffering and slow recovery and its need for assistance in the wake of the war.

The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. . . . It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is not directed against any country or any doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.^[29] Read more »

The Right Words of Diplomacy

Time and again Marshall proved himself adept at communicating his point of view without creating rancor, and in the process he gained respect for his position as well as for himself. With Congress, Marshall could be charming as well as informative. He was the same with the Allies, especially Britain. Having seen the folly of disunity among the Allies during World War I, he argued forcefully for a unified command during World War II. He wanted an American commander, but he was willing to put British generals into leadership positions, or even to put an American officer in a subordinate position to a British officer as a means of demonstrating a willingness to cooperate.^[23]

Marshall drew a distinct line between the military and politics. Throughout the war, by virtue of his position, he was required to testify before Congress. Even though the process was time-consuming and took him away from his military duties, he prepared himself and underwent the rigor of testifying. He also ordered full cooperation with the Truman committee’s investigation of military purchasing, rather than stonewalling. The result was twofold: First, Truman’s committee uncovered waste and sometimes fraud and in the process ended up saving the nation billions of dollars, and second, he and Truman had the opportunity to assess each other; this paved the way for greater understanding when Truman was thrust into the presidency after Roosevelt’s death.^[24] Read more »

The Right Man for the Job

In 1939 General Marshall was appointed army chief of staff. It was the fulfillment of a dream for a lifelong soldier who had devoted himself to the service of his country. Marshall had had a slow rise through the ranks from second lieutenant in the Philippines in 1902 through outposts in the American West, service under General “Blackjack” Pershing in World War I in France, and then service in Asia, including China. Now, as chief commander of air and ground forces, it fell to Marshall to mobilize the American military for war should it come.

The challenges that Marshall faced were enormous. While President Franklin Roosevelt was a supporter of intervention, the American people for the most part were not. Fortunately, Marshall had the organizational skills necessary for the task. The army grew from a force of less than 500,000 at the outbreak of war to 12.9 million at the end. Marshall mobilized American men, women, and material. It was he who made certain that troops were equipped for battle and that generals had the troops, supplies, and armaments that they needed in order to wage war.^[20]

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George C. Marshall—The Great Mobilizer

“I feel I could not sleep at night with you out of the country,” said Franklin Roosevelt. And with those words General George C. Marshall’s lifelong ambition of commanding troops in battle was denied. Dwight Eisenhower, an officer he had developed and promoted, would get the supreme command in Europe. Roosevelt had given the choice to General Marshall himself, but, ever the soldier, Marshall had declined. The decision belonged to the commander in chief. This selfless gesture assured the president that the best man for overall command would remain in Washington.^[18] As a result, Eisenhower would become the more famous of the two; after all, as Roosevelt himself once said, “Ike, you and I know who was the Chief of Staff during the last years of the Civil War but practically no one else knows. . . . I hate to think fifty years from now practically no one will know who George Marshall was.”^[19] Read more »

True to Her Beliefs

Those from the secular world found Mother Teresa a holy individual, but many of them did not agree with her doctrinaire support of the Church’s position on contraception and abortion. Mother Teresa did not turn them away. Similarly, she accepted an award from dictator Baby Doc Duvalier of Haiti and laid a wreath at the tomb of Enver Hoxha, the communist tyrant of Albania. Critics assailed her. Mother Teresa was not bothered. She “saw Christ in them, and believed they could be redeemed.”^[11]

Deeply Human

For all the talk of Mother Teresa’s saintliness, she also was very human. In excerpts from her diaries published after her death, we see a woman who is more like us-plagued by doubts. “In my soul, I feel just the terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.” Those words were from a journal she kept between 1959 and 1960, when she was urged by her confessor to keep a record of her thoughts.^[12] Thirty years later, she seems much more at ease. “I have begun to love my darkness, for I believe now that is a part, a very small part, of Jesus’ darkness and pain on earth.”^[13] Read more »

Words to Live By

Like many leaders, Mother Teresa was a powerful storyteller. Many of her writings tell of the people she has encountered and what they have taught her. Rather than assuming some kind of superior role, she paints a portrait of herself as a seeker. She was famous for telling the story about the first person to whom she ministered. The woman’s body was half-eaten by rats; instead of revulsion, Mother Teresa saw “Christ in his distressing disguise.”^[8] And in her Nobel Peace Prize lecture she tells the story of a bedridden man whose only joy was smoking. He abstained from tobacco for a week and sent Mother Teresa $15 for the mission. “It must have been a terrible sacrifice for him but see . . . how he shared. And with that money I brought bread and I gave to those who are hungry.”^[9] Read more »

Burden of Sainthood

Mother Teresa was not comfortable with the label of “living saint.” It is true that she had an aura, a kind of charisma, that drew people to her. But she was also very human. A documentary about her, done over a 5-year period, depicts in gritty detail the world that was her life. As one reviewer put it, “The frail figure huddled inside the Indian sari is clearly a force, a soft-spoken lode of iron reserve. The deeply committed no-frills humanity comes through.”^[5] When asked what it is like to be a living saint, Mother Teresa responds, “I have to be holy in my position. That’s nothing extraordinary. It’s my simple duty. We have been created for that.”^[6]

Also depicted in the film is her visit to Beirut in 1982 at the height of the fighting between Muslims and Christians. Mother Teresa wishes to retrieve a group of spastic children who were isolated in an abandoned hospital. A priest says it’s a good idea, but it’s impractical because the hospital is in a free-fire zone. To which Mother Teresa responds, “It’s not an idea. It’s our duty.” At her insistence, a cease-fire was arranged and the children were rescued.^[7]

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Mother Teresa—A Life of Healing

She radiated holiness pure and simple. She was drawn to the poorest of the poor, and as a result the world was drawn to her. She was Mother Teresa. Founder of a religious order and a Nobel laureate, she lived as she died, in Calcutta tending to those in need. One of the ways she was able to achieve what she did-always for others-was through her unique ability to communicate. Through prayer, through meditation, through interviews, and through her own writings, Mother Teresa demonstrated an ability to bring people to her cause. Read more »

Hints on Facilitated Dialogue

When staging a facilitated dialogue, consider the following:

• Brief the facilitator beforehand. Let the facilitator know the issues and the topics to be discussed.
• Ask the facilitator to develop a list of questions to ask the leader.
• Invite the facilitator to provide periodic summaries of the discussion so that everyone in the group stays together.
• Require the facilitator to keep the meeting on time and on task. The facilitator should focus discussion on the issues, not go into extraneous topics. (There may be times, however, when there will be a deliberate veer in the dialogue in order to cover hot issues or deal with unexpected surprises.)
• Ask the facilitator to summarize, but then invite the leader to close the dialogue.

The bottom line is that leadership communications is about content and meaning. A facilitated dialogue can be a wonderful way to explore new ideas as well as to affirm organizational values and create deeper levels of trust. Read more »