A Leader Lesson From Ousted Home Depot Chief

Orginally published on Monday, January 15, 2007 at 1:33 PM
by Todd Rhoades

A recent headline in the New York Times read “Home Depot Ousts Highly Paid Chief.” While you may not be highly paid as a minister, all of us can learn a valuable lesson from this leader’s failure. When time ran out for Home Depot’s chairman and chief executive, Robert Nardelli, the cause of his dismissal was reportedly linked to his inordinate compensation—but the underlying cause is one where we, as church leaders, may also be vulnerable.

The problem was not Nardelli’s work ethic. He’d commonly rise at 4 a.m. and work 14-hour days, plus many weekends, putting in time at the company’s headquarters and many stores. The problem was not Nardelli’s productivity in terms of company growth. During his tenure, Home Depot doubled sales and increased its earnings per share.

But less than a year ago, in a meeting for stockholders, Nardelli limited the length of questions and abruptly ended the meeting after 30 minutes. Afterward the angry outcry came not only from the handful of shareholders who attended the meeting, but also from all those who’d been discouraged from attending the meeting in the first place.

“It was an erosion of relationships over several months. He lost the confidence of the board,” said a person close to the board.

The leader lesson for those of us in church life is this—while we have to keep the ship afloat and mind the hours of sermon prep, we cannot afford to lose focus on the influencers around us. When we let relationships fray because of avoidance or lack of attention, the result will come back to bite us.

Shrewd and savvy leaders know that they must consistently carve out time to connect with organizational influencers in order to strengthen the bond of relations and trust. We can’t rely on hard work or even productivity to become the ultimate measurements of our effectiveness. These are insufficient. As pastors, we can’t assume people should know our hearts. We need to invest in heart-connecting opportunities.

FOR DISCUSSION: So whom do you need to call today? What board member is overdue for coffee or lunch? What power broker in the church deserves to be invited over for dinner—for your sake, and ultimately the church’s sake, even though he or she may never ask for it?

TAGS:  Church Leadership

Alan Nelson is the executive editor of Rev! Magazine (www.rev.org), the author of a dozen books, and has been a pastor for 20 years. You can reach him at . You can subscribe to the Rev! Weekly Leadership Update here.

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