I came across this from Peter Kim in the first issue of Fast Company Magazine:

I’ve always believed there are two reasons why anybody would take a hill with you and risk getting killed. One is that the leader is so valiant that he will be first to take the bullet, therefore his people follow. I’ve never really bought into that school of leadership. For me, my men and women follow me because they know I won’t get them killed. People sense that you’re not taking them to some far-out place for the hell of it, that it’s for their well being. You will take them there, you will get them there, and, by following you, they will be better off.

— Peter Kim in Fast Company, November 1995, Page 34

That reminded me of this from Jesus:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down is life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep”

– John 10:10-13

The marketplace is certainly more fickle—and getting killed in the line of commerce even more a possibility—than when Peter Kim spoke with Fast Company ten years ago. It seems to me that the business leaders who don’t have to look over their shoulders to see if anyone is following are the ones who A) don’t abandon workers when the wolf is at the door, B) don’t put worker’s well-being on the line needlessly and C) share the wealth (when there’s wealth to share). These are—to my mind at least—clear differences between ownership and oversight, between leading and just managing a business.