IN SEARCH OF MAX WEBER’S
NEW PROPHETS
Submitted by Bruno Kahne
to the University of Exeter
as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology
March 2009
This thesis is available for library use on the understanding that it is copyright
material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper
acknowledgment.
I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been
identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for
the award of a degree by this or any other University.
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ABSTRACT
One hundred years ago, Max Weber postulated in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism that after a tremendous development, capitalism would either reach a dead end,
or would enter a new era of development through the guidance of new prophets (Weber, [1904]
2003:182). The tremendous development foreseen has occurred but have Weber’s new prophets
appeared? Through a close analysis of the context in which the word prophet is found in the Bible
and through the description that Weber gave to the concept of prophet in The Sociology of Religion
(Weber, 1963) a prophet’s ideal type was constructed with fourteen specific characteristics. This
ideal type was then used as a grid of analysis to put to the test the nineteen most renowned
leadership gurus, potential candidate to the title of prophet.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This doctorate has been financed by AirBusiness Academy – the Airbus international training
center. I wish to express my deep gratitude for the financial support and all the encouragement I
have received from the three successive Directors of AirBusiness Academy: Professor Paul Clark,
David Bradley, and Michèle Oberto.
I wish to thank my supervisor Professor Grace Davie. No PhD student could dream of a better
supervisor. Professor Davie manages with perfect discretion to allow creativity and selfdevelopment and with presence to avoid unnecessary dispersion. Her advice was always given
through sound questions which forced me to think, and to come to my own conclusions, placing the
responsibility of the decisions and of the direction to take on me, thereby allowing me to grow
under her tutelage. Her constant demand for a high standard of work accompanied, at the same
time, by strong respect and consideration, has been a great source of motivation for me throughout
the research. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work under her guidance.
I am grateful for the love, patience and support I have received from my family. Despite the fact
that, over the last few years, I have been seldom either present or participative in family life, I have
never heard a single complaint or reproach uttered. I admire and love my wife and children for
their abnegation. I have especially been touched by my youngest son, Liam, who, for five years, has
placed me at the heart of every single of his evening prayers, praying for the success of my research.
His example has taught me the real meaning of the word steadfastness. I am also indebted to my
parents, for the foundations they laid and on which I continue to establish my life today. The effort I
was able to make to engage in this research finds its roots in these foundations.
Finally, I also wish to express my admiration for my predecessors who have obtained a doctorate
without the support of today’s electronic equipment. They have often been in my thoughts when I
was using word processors, calculating sheets and Internet search engines.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................................................................................................3
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES ............................................................................................................................5
FOREWORD ...................................................................................................................................................................................7
Genesis .............................................................................................................................................................................................7
From general idea to precise hypothesis .........................................................................................................................8
Max Weber .....................................................................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1
Social drivers ............................................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1.1.
The influence of the corporate world .......................................................................................................... 11
1.1.2.
The influence of religion ................................................................................................................................... 15
1.2. Two worlds that drifted apart ............................................................................................................................. 16
1.3.
The two worlds converge once again............................................................................................................... 17
1.4. The Structure of the thesis .................................................................................................................................... 18
1.5. Clarification of terms ............................................................................................................................................... 20
1.5.1.
Religion and spirituality .................................................................................................................................... 20
1.5.2.
Sacred texts ............................................................................................................................................................. 21
1.5.3.
Leadership and management .......................................................................................................................... 22
1.5.4.
Motivation................................................................................................................................................................ 23
1.5.5.
Power and authority ........................................................................................................................................... 25
1.5.6.
Gurus and prophets ............................................................................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER TWO: BODIES OF KNOWLEDGE .................................................................................................................. 29
2.1. Three bodies of knowledge ................................................................................................................................... 29
2.1.1.
The secularization / desecularization debate ......................................................................................... 29
2.1.2.
The spiritualization of the corporate world ............................................................................................. 30
2.1.3.
Guru theory ............................................................................................................................................................. 30
2.2. Framing the research .............................................................................................................................................. 31
2.2.1.
Rationalization ...................................................................................................................................................... 33
2.2.2.
Polarization ............................................................................................................................................................. 35
2.2.3.
Complexification ................................................................................................................................................... 39
2.2.4.
Popularization ....................................................................................................................................................... 42
2.3. Two worlds which converge once again ......................................................................................................... 45
2.4. Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................................................. 47
CHAPTER THREE: FINDING A METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................... 49
3.1. Establishing a list of potential candidates ...................................................................................................... 50
3.2. Selecting a specific tool of analysis .................................................................................................................... 54
3.3. Defining what a prophet is .................................................................................................................................... 55
3.4. Developing a grid of analysis ............................................................................................................................... 59
3.5. Organizing the screening process ...................................................................................................................... 62
3.6. Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 64
CHAPTER FOUR: INITIAL SCREENING ........................................................................................................................... 65
4.1. Characteristic one: charisma, authority, power, and disciples ............................................................. 65
4.1.1.
Condition one: to score higher than Weber in a Google search ....................................................... 68
4.2. Characteristic two: exhorting, testifying, warning and writing ............................................................ 72
4.2.1.
Condition two: to have published at least one book ............................................................................. 73
4.3. Characteristic three: preaching and wandering .......................................................................................... 78
4.3.1.
Condition three: to have participated to international conferences ............................................. 79
4.4. Characteristic four: commandments of God, religious teachings ........................................................ 85
4.4.1.
Condition four: to display a use of religious words above the norm ............................................ 87
CHAPTER FIVE: SEARCHING FOR THE PROPHETS .................................................................................................. 99
5.1. Characteristic five: advising important people ............................................................................................ 99
5.1.1.
Condition five: to have made public work with a Fortune 500 .................................................... 100
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5.2. Characteristic six: exemplary behavior, ethics, and values ................................................................. 101
5.2.1.
Condition six: to have written about ethics ........................................................................................... 102
5.3. Characteristic seven: prophesying, making predictions ....................................................................... 107
5.3.1.
Condition seven: to be turned more towards the future than the past ..................................... 108
5.4. Characteristic eight: using symbols ............................................................................................................... 110
5.4.1.
Condition eight: to structure the world around 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12 ............................................. 112
CHAPTER SIX: FINDING A PROPHET ........................................................................................................................... 115
6.1. Characteristic nine: healing ............................................................................................................................... 116
6.1.1.
Condition nine: to have elaborated theories on how to improve health .................................. 116
6.2. Characteristic ten: using ancient wisdom ................................................................................................... 118
6.2.1.
Condition ten: to quote wisdom taken from ancient sacred texts ............................................... 119
6.3. Characteristic eleven: a unified vision of the cosmos ............................................................................ 122
6.3.1.
Condition eleven: to promote the idea of connectedness ............................................................... 124
6.4. Characteristic twelve: persecutions, afflictions and adversity .......................................................... 126
6.4.1.
Condition twelve: to have grown from serious difficulties in life ............................................... 127
6.5. Characteristic thirteen: personal call ............................................................................................................ 130
6.5.1.
Condition thirteen: to have been called to the job .............................................................................. 131
6.6. Characteristic fourteen: believing in God .................................................................................................... 132
6.6.1.
Condition fourteen: to express openly a belief in God, or the Divine ......................................... 133
6.7. To recapitulate ........................................................................................................................................................ 134
CHAPTER SEVEN: CLOSING THE LOOP, WEBER’S NEW PROPHET(S) ......................................................... 135
7.1. Listening to the prophet ...................................................................................................................................... 135
7.2. The portrait of a prophet .................................................................................................................................... 141
7.3. A controversial prophet ...................................................................................................................................... 144
7.4. Prophets or profits? .............................................................................................................................................. 146
7.5. Prophets or gurus ? ............................................................................................................................................ 1468
7.6. Will there be other business prophets? ....................................................................................................... 148
7.7. An invisible religion .............................................................................................................................................. 149
7.8. Possible further research.................................................................................................................................... 150
7.8.1. Fluctuation analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 146
7.8.2. Prophets, gurus, leaders and managers ....................................................................................................... 146
7.8.3. Clustering and new categories ........................................................................................................................ 146
7.8.4. Additional populations .................................................................................................................................... 1462
7.8.5. Religious lexical DNA ........................................................................................................................................ 1462
7.9. Reflections on the operationalisation of the criteria .......................................................................... 1462
7.10. Recapitulation and conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 1504
7.11. A final comment ...................................................................................................................................................... 156
APPENDICES .................................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES
Illustrations
Illustration 1: Image search done on Google.cn using the key word ‘Tiananmen’ (p. 13)
Illustration 2: Image search done on Google.com using the key word ‘Tiananmen’ (p. 14)
Illustration 3: Googlefight between God and Satan on June 2007 (p. 67)
Illustration 4: Googlefight between God and Satan on August 2008 (p. 67)
Illustration 5: “Everyone his or her own way” (p. 88)
Illustration 6: Lexical specificities (p. 88)
Tables
Table 1: Gurus listed by at least six sources of information (p. 52)
Table 2: Background information on each candidate for the title of prophet (p. 53)
Table 3: Characteristics of a prophet according to Weber and the Bible (p. 59)
Table 4: Order of priority of the characteristics, methods and tools (p. 61)
Table 5: Binary condition applied to each characteristic (p. 61)
Table 6a: Popularity of the nineteen gurus based on a Google search – data (p. 70)
Table 6b: Popularity of the nineteen gurus based on a Google search – chart (p. 71)
Table 7: Number of gurus passing condition 1 (p. 71)
Table 8: Number of books written by each guru (p. 73)
Table 9: Number of gurus passing condition 2 (p. 78)
Table 10: Number of gurus passing condition 3 (p. 85)
Table 11: Religious lexical DNA of each guru (p. 93)
Table 12: Religious lexical DNA of other books (p. 93)
Table 13: Percentage of ABC&D words for each writer / book (p. 94)
Table 14: Percentage of AB words for each writer / book (p. 95)
Table 15: Percentage of CD words for each writer / book (p. 96)
Table 16: Number of gurus passing condition 4 (p. 96)
Table 17: Number of gurus passing condition 5 (p. 101)
Table 18: Number of gurus passing condition 6 (p. 106)
Table 19: Representation of the past, present and future in the guru’s work (p. 109)
Table 20: Number of gurus passing condition 7 (p. 110)
Table 21: Frequency in the use of sacred numbers for each guru (p. 113)
Table 22: Number of gurus passing condition 8 (p. 114)
Table 23: Number of gurus passing condition 9 (p. 118)
Table 24: Number of gurus passing condition 10 (p. 122)
Table 25: Number of gurus passing condition 11 (p. 126)
Table 26: Number of gurus passing condition 12 (p. 129)
Table 27: Differences between gurus and prophets according to Weber (p. 151)
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FOREWORD
My professional background for the last fifteen years has been in leadership and management
consultancy. For the last ten years, I have been working for Airbus 1, its suppliers, and its clients,
managing a team of consultants and trainers, developing and delivering courses on the topic of
human performance, coaching, and counseling people. I train and counsel hundreds of people every
year in many different countries – in France, Germany, UK, Spain, Russia, Senegal, India, Thailand,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and China to name only a few – to help them perform better, faster, with
more pleasure and less effort. One of my responsibilities as a Senior Consultant in AirBusiness
Academy, is to look for the latest trends, ideas and approaches to business management, to find
what can be created within or imported into the aerospace environment to sustain its development,
and to analyze what needs to be adapted to its specificities. The field of research I have selected, the
spiritualization of the corporate world, or to be more precise, the spiritualization of leadership and
management theories, focuses on understanding the power and authority managers have, which is
influenced by the culture of their company, their family, their country and of course by the religious
and spiritual beliefs they may or may not hold. I could have chosen a Business School for the
corporate facet of the research, a Psychology Department for its impact on the workers, or even a
Theology Department for the special focus given to religion and spirituality, but after much
consideration, I deliberately chose to frame the research in Sociology, and specifically in the
sociology of religion, judging it as the most favorable grounds to balance the undeniably important
influence of the three other disciplines.
Genesis
Formally, my research started in April 2004 in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS)
of the University of Exeter, under the supervision of Professor Grace Davie; informally it started
many years ago in an unstructured form through my numerous readings, reflections, personal
observations and discussions with colleagues and trainees.
My initial project was to trace the possible influence of sacred texts on today’s theories of
leadership and management. At the origin of the idea were the frequent and animated discussions I
had had at the end of several management courses with participants coming from diverse cultural
and religious backgrounds, who wanted to persuade me that the content of the training had been
taken out of the sacred texts of their respective religions. They were so convinced of it, that, in New
Delhi, some of them offered me a Bhagavad-Gita and not long after, in Karachi, I received a Koran,
with the same strong recommendation: ‘Please read it to understand the roots of your teaching’.
Some participants even introduced me to their gurus or imams with whom I had enriching debates.
Airbus is one of the world’s two leading aircraft manufacturers. Having factories all over the world, Airbus is a company of
57,000 people from 85 nationalities, speaking 20 different languages. Airbus must today deliver more aircraft than at any
other time in its history, while industrializing A380 production and ramp up, developing three new programmes and
achieving the targets of Power8, a restructuring plan which includes the reduction of the total Airbus overhead workforce by
10,000.
1
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The impact of these discussions and encounters reinforced the feeling that I sometimes had over
the years in classrooms, when I had caught myself paraphrasing verses from the Bible to support
certain leadership ideas or principles. This led me, step by step, to the desire of finding whether
there truly was a link between the sacred texts of these religions and the major theories of
leadership.
From general idea to precise hypothesis
The field of leadership and management is wide and complex. It can be divided into two major
branches: technical / organizational and behavioral, two families which together contain many
subcategories such as budgeting and finance, business processes, change management, information
management, business organization, quality, sales and marketing, project management, strategy,
procurement, supplier management, and many more. Being conscious of this complexity, and to
bring it down to a manageable level, my first decision was to limit my research to the behavioral
branch, in other words, my daily work. Just like a matryoshka doll, behavior can also be divided into
two main categories, personal skills and interpersonal skills, in which many sub-topics will be
found: self-awareness, values and ethics, balancing work and life, time management, stress,
management, emotional intelligence, creative thinking, communication essentials, assertiveness,
dynamic listening, giving and receiving feedback, managing meetings, writing skills, negotiating to
win, influencing and persuading, dealing with conflict, dealing with difficult people, problem
solving, leadership and management, leading virtual remote teams, motivation in the workplace,
coaching for performance, delegating for results, managing change, team building, training and
facilitating, and effective presentations, to list only a few! Once again, the field being too wide, I
decided to focus on only one topic, the one that lies at the heart of my daily work, the cornerstone of
all the topics listed above: motivation, the energy and desire required before any action.
Turning to the sacred texts, I found a similar complexity. My first idea was to list the different
religions in the world in order to look at their sacred texts. However, for Christianity alone, one of
the nineteen major religions of the world, 34,000 separate denominations can be counted (Barrett,
2001). The idea of starting from that side was therefore quickly discarded, in favor of looking
directly at what could be considered as a sacred text. The Internet Sacred Text Archive project
(http://www.sacred-texts.com) has published more than 256 sacred texts, from the most famous –
the Bible, the Koran, the Torah and the Bhagavad-Gita – to lesser known ones such as the Shakers’
Compendium, the Latter Day Saints’ Book of Mormon, the Buddhists’ Sutta, the Sikhs’ Adi Granth,
the Jainists’ Agamas and the Zoroastrians’ Avesta. This list still needed to be reduced as had been
done with the leadership topics. To achieve this goal, I decided to focus only on the sacred texts of
the ‘Big Five’ – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism – leaving me with 27 texts
(Appendix 1)2.
2
In reading the following chapters, it is necessary to refer to the detailed information gathered in the Appendices.
8
I had 27 sacred texts to explore in order to find the roots of today’s theories of motivation.
However, which theories should be studied? I needed now to work on the gurus who were at the
origin of these theories. Who were they? How many of them were there? Where did they come
from? To answer these questions, I compiled, over several months, through my readings and
through discussions with colleagues and participants, a list of experts in leadership who had
worked on the topic of motivation.
At this stage, I had a specific area of leadership, several leadership experts, and 27 sacred texts to
study. To further reduce the list of sacred texts, I decided to identify the religious beliefs of the
leadership experts, in order to focus only on the sacred texts which might have influenced their
writings. It did not take long to discover that while for two or three of them this information was
easily obtained (e.g. Stephen Covey and Peter Senge), for most of the others it was considered a
private matter. Without information on the gurus’ religious beliefs, I decided to investigate their
national origins, and found that over 90% of them were North American or currently lived in the
US. Consequently, understanding that the theories of leadership and management had been
developed during the last century mainly by American writers – or controlled by American
publishers – being de facto under a strong Christian influence, I decided to focus only on the sacred
texts of Christianity3. As a result, the list of 27 sacred texts was reduced to the seven shared by the
largest denominational families of Christianity in the U.S. or belonging exclusively to one of the
following: Anglicans, Assemblies of God, Baptists, Churches of Christ, Congregationalists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, Lutherans, Methodists, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Roman
Catholics, and Shakers (Appendix 1).
Having now a precise idea of the work to accomplish, and having limited it to a manageable level, I
started to read and analyze writings on motivation, comparing them to the teachings found in the
selected sacred texts. It did not take long to understand that the task was impossible as the great
majority of people, including highly respected management gurus, confuse the sacred texts with
their personal beliefs, going sometimes as far as quoting verses from the Bible which does not exist
(Prothero, 2007). If the sacred texts were not the reference, and if I could not have access to the
religious beliefs of the leadership gurus, how could I succeed? It seemed as if I had reached a dead
end.
Max Weber
It was at that time that Professor Grace Davie encouraged me to take a step back, to change lenses,
and recommended I read as much as possible on the secularization / desecularization debate. While
reading Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism for the second time, I
suddenly understood that I was approaching the problem from the wrong angle. Three paragraphs
According to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), 77 % of the American population is Christian. The
survey was done through a random digit-dialed telephone call to 50,281 American residential households in 48 American
states. Respondents were asked to describe themselves in terms of religion with an open-ended question. Interviewers did
not offer a suggested list of potential answers.
3
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before the end of the book, I could once again see the way forward. “No one knows […] whether at
the end of this tremendous development, entirely new prophets will arise” (Weber, [1904]
2003:182). The key was neither the sacred texts, nor the influence of a specific religion, not even
one precise area of leadership or management. As will be explained in greater detail in the next
chapter, the key was the notion of ‘prophet’. In this small paragraph, all the elements were present:
the stress and pressure found in companies, the growing influence of spirituality and religion in the
corporate world, the power of management gurus, the potential repackaging of ancient wisdom,
and the hypotheses of possible futures. I had reached the end of the first journey and was ready to
begin the next one: in search of Max Weber’s new prophets.
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
One hundred years ago, Max Weber, one of the most respected – and sometimes contested – of
sociology’s founding fathers, postulated in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism that after a tremendous development, capitalism would either collapse or enter a new
era of development through the guidance of new prophets:
No one knows who will live in this cage in the future, or whether at the end of this
tremendous development, entirely new prophets will arise, or there will be a great
rebirth of old ideas and ideals, or, if neither, mechanized petrification, embellished
with a sort of convulsive self-importance. For of the last stage of this cultural
development, it might well be truly said: ‘Specialists without spirit, sensualists
without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never
before achieved’ (Weber, [1904] 2003:182).
Did Weber use the word prophet accidentally, a word so full of meaning and history? Knowing that
he wrote extensively on the sociology of Protestantism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Judaism, and would also have written on Christianity and Islam, had a sudden death
not prevented him (Bendix, 1977:285), it is plausible to believe that Weber selected this word
deliberately.
1.1 Social drivers
This quote from Weber which highlights two of the greatest social drivers – business and religion –
is the starting point for this research.
1.1.1. The influence of the corporate world
Be it in a private business or a state-owned institution, the workplace is where we spend most of
our waking hours. Not only do we labor in the workplace, but we also eat, socialize, exercise, and
sometimes even date and sleep there (Bunting, 2004). And as our managers and colleagues are the
people with whom we spend most of our time, this relationship undoubtedly has an impact –
positive or negative – on our work, and often even on our private lives. However, this influence is
not limited to our working life. Once the legal hours of work have been accomplished, the influence
of the corporate world on workers, their families, current and future clients, continues through
intense marketing schemes.
This capacity to influence the potential employee and consumer from the earliest possible age has
frightening results. According to Freedland (2005), by the age of ten, the average British child is
familiar with up to 400 brand names and is more likely to recognize Ronald McDonald than Jesus.
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While half of four year olds are not even able to give their own family name, 69% of three year olds
are able to identify McDonald’s arches. One American out of eight has worked for McDonald’s
(Schlosser, 2002) which was the first employer of an estimated one American out of ten (Royle,
2000). According to Royle’s six years of research, McDonald’s which standardize menus
purposefully recruits at a very young age and from marginalized sectors of the labor market to also
standardize people. With no previous experience, these employees are almost unable to resist or
oppose managerial authority and control, or the formatting nature of training and socialization.
Consequently, McDonald's, which employs 447,000 people worldwide, and serves nearly 50 million
people every day in more than 119 countries (Hoovers, 2005), has been highly successful in passing
unto its employees its corporate values which transcend personal or national ones (Royle, 2000). If
this analysis is correct, it is legitimate to wonder how much of American culture, as we know it
today, comes from a ‘McConditioning’ done over the last 68 years, and what is the impact of
McDonald’s on the culture of the 118 other countries in which it is established? According to Ritzer,
the McDonaldization of the world – “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant
are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the
world” (Ritzer, 2004:1) – is the extension of Weber's theory of rationalization, and more specifically
of his model of formalized social control, known as bureaucracy. Ritzer sees in this modern
rationalization five dominant themes: efficiency (customers pay for the privilege of helping
themselves at the salad bar, at the ATM, or at the gas station), calculability (quantity rather than
quality: ‘Big Mac’, ‘Double Whopper’, ‘Big Gulp’), predictability (the same product and the same
layout in every outlet around the world allowing customers to be on auto-pilot), increased control
(employees are not required to think. Each interaction they have with the customer is scripted, they
just have to follow the instructions), and the substitution of human by non-human technology
(everything is calibrated, measured, and controlled by the machine). This new form of industry has
spread not only to all types of restaurants – e.g. pizza, Chinese, seafood, chicken – but also to hotels,
gas stations, bookstores, supermarkets, banks, newspapers, TV programs, etc. Still according to
Ritzer, these corporations have been investing billions of dollars to McDonaldize children so that it
will become their only standard. The zapping generation – people who want everything fast, fun,
colorful, identical and… without any surprises – is one of the results of this new form of
socialization.
Another remarkable example of the influence of business on social behavior is Google, an influence
so strong that the verb ‘to google’ entered the American Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the
Oxford English Dictionary in 2007. Incorporated as a privately held company in 1998, Google has
become the corporation with the strongest influence on the Internet, in less than ten years. As
Battelle states it in his book The Search, "as far as the internet ecosystem is concerned, Google is the
weather" (Battelle, 2005:183). Yet, despite this immense power, in January 2006 Google faced a
major crisis. When the company decided to launch a Chinese version of its search engine from
servers based in the Republic of China, Google was confronted with the dilemma of either
submitting to the censorship demanded by the Chinese authorities or not being allowed to do
business in the country. Despite the company’s motto ‘Do No Evil’, and despite numerous threats of
12
boycott if they were to take part in the ‘Great Firewall’ devised by Chinese regulators, the company
promised to comply with the local laws restricting information, and launched the self-censored
search engine: google.cn. Many people claimed that the decision was made purely with profit in
mind, but, to defend the company’s decision – and motto – Google co-founder Sergey Brin declared
in an interview with Reuters (January 25, 2006) at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland: “I didn’t think I would come to this conclusion, but eventually I came to the conclusion
that more information is better, even if it’s not as full as we’d like to see.” Whatever the reasons
behind this business move, the results and the consequences on the people are dramatic. The
number of internet search users in China was estimated in 2006 at about 100 million and,
according to sources such as Ethicalcorp and iResearch, this number was predicted to rise to 187
million by 2008. What then is the impact of a company like Google on these millions of people? A
simple comparison of a Google search on both sides of the Great Firewall is self-explanatory. The
results of an image search done in August 2007 first on Google.cn (Illustration 1) and then on
Google.com (Illustration 2) using the same key word – Tiananmen – are significant. While Google
China shows only pictures of Tiananmen Square with flowers and national flags, more than 50% of
the images displayed on Google.com show tanks and events related to the 1989 protest.
Illustration 1: Image search done on Google.cn using the key word ‘Tiananmen’
13
Illustration 2: Image search done on Google.com using the key word ‘Tiananmen’
If McDonald’s and Google have such an influence on society, what then is the impact of a company
such as Microsoft on the culture of Redmond, Washington, where its 30,000 full time employees is
equivalent to about 66% of the population of the city?4 Or what about Gazprom, the biggest
extractor of natural gas in the world, the world's third largest corporation, with 300,000
employees? What is the cultural impact of Gazprom on the individual and social behavior of the
inhabitants of Noviy Urengoi, a city of 100,000 inhabitants that the company recently created in
Siberia for the sole purpose of extracting gas? What about the impact of ExxonMobil or General
Electric? And what about my own parent company, Airbus, with a total of 57,000 employees, of
which 11,500 work in the Blagnac (Toulouse) plants, representing an average of 50% of the local
population?5 Could a strong company culture promoted by the charisma of some key leaders and
supported by intense internal communication and training, transform – for better or worse – not
only a company, but also the city where it is based?
In 2005, Microsoft had 30,000 employees in Redmond, a city of 45,256 inhabitants, according to the US Census 2000.
These statistics should be considered very cautiously. The first reason is that the above numbers were not taken from the
same year, corporate statistics being more up-to-date, sometimes by several years, than national ones. The second reason is
that employees often commute. The population of a company cannot consequently be compared to the population of the city
where the company is based. However, even if employees don’t always live in the city where their company is based, they
work there and interact throughout the day with the local population, through their visits to restaurants, supermarkets,
doctors, etc.
4
5
14
1.1.2. The influence of religion
If the corporate world has a dramatic influence on our lives, so does religion – an influence which is
often stronger than most of us imagine or wish to acknowledge. As expressed by Roman Catholic
intellectual and papal biographer George Weigel, “the heart of culture is cult – religion” (Weigel,
2005:41) and the heart of our culture is Judeo-Christian, with an imprint that can be observed
everywhere: in the structure of our cities and villages where a church is always located in the
centre, visible from afar; in the names of countries (El Salvador, Trinidad, St Christopher, etc.), cities
and villages (Los Angeles, Eden, Christchurch, etc.); in the names of people (Peter, James, John,
Christian, and even Jesus or Maria Dolores in Hispanic countries 6); in the names of animals (St
Bernard, praying mantis, etc.) and plants (angelica, Mary’s thistle, Job’s tears, etc.); in the way we
cook (fish on Friday, bain-marie, etc.) our food (Christmas pudding, madeleine, etc.); in what we
drink (St-Emilion, Lacryma Christi, etc.); in the way we dress (frock, etc.) our body (Adam’s apple,
etc.); and even in our hobbies, for when we listen to music, for example, once again, we are affected
by Judeo-Christianity, as the musical notation finds its roots in the Ut queant laxis, a hymn to John
the Baptist, sung in Roman Catholic Churches, every 24 June. 7
This influence is visible to any person who wishes to look for it; but what about the influence which
is more subconscious? What about the impact of religion on our values and beliefs? What if our very
self-concept has been formed by these impacted values and beliefs, consequently influencing our
emotions, feelings and behaviors (Schutz, 1958)? And as the world turns into a global village,
forcing cultures, economies and religions to face one another, this influence is becoming more and
more visible: from the altercations concerning Mel Gibson’s The passion of Christ, to the violence
following the 2006 publication of cartoons depicting Allah in the Danish newspaper JyllandsPosten; from the political and social turmoil provoked by ‘l’affaire du foulard’ in France, to the
shocking 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, in
2001. This last event and the reaction of the American people, starting with the then President,
elected thanks to the strong lobbying of religious groups, reminded everybody that religion
continues to have a strong influence on the lives of people, and thus on social, political and
economic interactions. The statement made by Durkheim almost a century ago is clearly still valid:
The believer, who has communicated with his god, is not merely a man who sees new
truths of which the unbeliever is ignorant; he is a man who is stronger. He feels
within him more force, either to endure the trials of existence, or to conquer them
(Durkheim, [1912] 1995:464).
Canon #761 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law: "If the parish priest cannot induce the parents to do so, he should add the
name of some saint to that suggested by the parents and enter both in the baptismal register." Canon #855 of the 1983 Code
of Canon Law legislates that parents, godparents and pastor should give a name that is not foreign to Christian sensibilities
(Prummer, 1995).
7 “Ut queant laxis, Resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, Famuli tuorum, Solve polluti, Labii reatum, Sancte Ioannes” meaning “So
that your servants may, with loosened voices, resound the wonders of your deeds, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O
Saint John”. The Ut was later on replaced by Do probably coming from the word Dominus (Lord).
6
15
And indeed, the demonstrations of violence listed above can be seen from different angles. If some
people are ready to fight and die for their religious beliefs, would it be possible, instead of rejecting
this zeal because of our fears, to research it in order to better understand, channel, and even
reproduce this form of motivation to reach more constructive objectives? Could this incredible
force be used within the corporate world? Could a company tap into this source of spiritual
motivation to compete more effectively? And if so, who or what could guide workers and managers
in search of more spirituality, and consequently more performance (McCarthy, 1996; Tischler,
1999)? Could it be the new prophets foreseen by Weber?
1.2. Two worlds that drifted apart
Weber suggested in 1904 that the Protestant ethic was at the origin of Western capitalism. He also
predicted that step by step the religion and business worlds would drift apart, or that the first
would succumb to the second. A hard working society also displaying frugality would create,
according to Weber, more and more capital which would quickly lead people to idleness and sinful
behavior. What Weber called the natural relationship between man and money would then be
reversed.
One hundred years later, exactly as Weber predicted, money and business which were created as
means to satisfy people’s material needs, dominate their lives. The consequences of this form of
capitalism are today exposed in all the headlines: a global financial crisis, which was officially
revealed to the world on September 14, 2008, with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers followed by
a global domino effect, leaving tens of thousands of people unemployed and homeless. Is this not
one of the results of the work of specialists without heart, as described by Weber?
Another cause for these two worlds to drift apart has been the rise of rationalization through the
increasing influence of scientific thought, and new technical and technological discoveries, which
have led to a decrease of magical and religious signs, symbols and ceremonies. “The spirit of
religious asceticism [had] escaped from the cage” (Weber, [1904] 2003:181). Capitalism was now
able to grow and develop without the support of the Protestant ethic.
The rosy blush of its laughing heir, the Enlightenment, seems also to be irretrievably
fading, and the idea of duty in one's calling prowls about in our lives like the ghost of
dead religious beliefs. Where the fulfillment of the calling cannot directly be related
to the highest spiritual and cultural values, or when, on the other hand, it need not be
felt simply as economic compulsion, the individual generally abandons the attempt
to justify it at all. In the field of its highest development, in the United States, the
pursuit of wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become
associated with purely mundane passions, which often actually give it the character
of sport (Weber, [1904] 2003:182).
16
As a consequence, more and more people became hostile to religion, feeling that, as with politics,
work should also be kept separate from religion, that religious beliefs are detrimental to industry,
and that the idea of a better life in paradise was childish and obsolete. ‘Seize the day’8 was the new
motto. The idea of the secularization of the world was born. The accuracy of Weber’s description of
our times is impressive, and this precision gives additional weight to his next postulate. If such a
scenario were to occur, then maybe new prophets would arise to guide capitalism out of the crisis.
1.3. The two worlds converge once again
Approaching the third millennium, the situation seems to be changing again. When reading the
works of top management gurus, it is surprising to observe that in a world that is supposed to be
more and more secular, the books written by business gurus contain so much spiritual – and
sometimes even overtly religious – vocabulary and ideas. For example, a clear religious lexical
thread can be detected in the book In Search of Excellence (Peters & Waterman Jr., 1982). This book
which, according to some academics (Huczynski, 1993a), started the fashion of management gurus,
is a bestseller which sold over six million copies, and in the first year of publication sold more
copies than any other book except the Living Bible in 1972 and 1973 (Clark & Salaman, 1998). The
work revolves around words such as extra mile, evangelism, commandment, spirit, praise, sacrifice,
destinies, Mecca, zealots, catechism, devil, litany, gospel, prophecies, evangelist, preaching, hermit,
faith, missionary, dogma, etc. to list only a few. The choice of such words in a management book
may be surprising. Is this the language and advice of a management consultant or the chapter and
verse of a preacher? Similarly, Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) not only use religious wording,
but also religious metaphors. The authors explain, for example, that some companies are ahead of
others from a financial and organizational standpoint because their leaders listened to the inner
voice, and also exhort the reader to listen to that voice within. But what exactly are they talking
about? Is this a reference to the Freudian superego? Or are they referring to the still small voice of
the Holy Ghost, as described in the Old Testament 9? Other major thinkers, such as Stephen Covey
and Peter Senge, not only use religious wording and comparisons, but they acknowledge sacred
texts as being at least partly the source of their inspiration. Covey for example regularly uses stories
and quotes from the Bible to illustrate secular points with additional strength. To outline the
concepts of pro-activity, he uses the story of Joseph who was sold as a slave by his brothers, and
who, within a few years became the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to the pharaoh. To
reinforce the message that, for a transformation to be enduring, change must work inside-out and
not outside-in, Covey quotes Psalms 84:5: “Search your own heart with all diligence for out of it
flow the issues of Life” (Covey, 1989). Senge, who has received worldwide recognition for his book
The Fifth Discipline (1990), clearly uses not only a Judeo-Christian filter, but also a distinctively
Buddhist one to explore new ways of looking at the corporate world. Amongst the management
gurus, Senge is certainly one of the most prolific in terms of religious and spiritual language. And as
with Peters, Covey and others, his writings contain not only a strongly religious thread with words
8
9
An adaptation of the Latin « Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero » from a poem of Horace (Odes, I, 11, 8).
1 Kings 19:12. The King James (KJV) is the version of the Bible used throughout this research.
17
such as parochial, scapegoats, born-again, heaven, Jesus, meditation, prayer, apocryphal, church,
guiding stars, sacrosanct, absolve, spiritual, etc. but also figurative comparisons such as the gift of
tongues of the Quakers, the pure observation of the Buddhists, the witnessing of the Hindus and the
awakening of the Muslims.
As shown through the above examples, the line between secular and spiritual teaching is at times so
blurred that, without a cover page stating clearly that the book is on leadership, readers could
easily be confused. Are they dealing with business or salvation? Is this the message of a
management guru or of a spiritual leader? And should they even be surprised at such a mix of
business management and spirituality when companies as different as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in
the food industry, Deloitte & Touche in accounting or the law firm Hays & Haroller, promote
teachings usually heard in churches, temples or mosques, or when companies such as Coca-Cola
contract corporate chaplains to motivate their employees (Mitroff & Denton, 1999)?
Are these bible-thumping consultants, recommending deep introspection, meditation and retreats,
or business-minded preachers encouraging employees to share the vision of the CEO for more
profits? Whatever the approach, one of the current trends that is clearly gaining the favor of the
corporate world is to help employees understand that they can find not only peace but also
motivation in the dormant spirituality that they have within themselves. For more and more
management gurus, spirituality is the ultimate tool of motivational management, the way to give a
company its cutting edge, the quest for a new holy (corporate) grail. Some go even as far as
suggesting that spirituality could be the ultimate competitive advantage (Mitroff & Denton, 1999).
Titles of books such as Jesus CEO (Jones, 1995), Corporate Christ (Finan, 1998), Moses on
Management (Baron, 1999), and The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus (Manz, 1998) speak for
themselves. There are many gurus out there, but do any of them deserve the title of prophet?
1.4. The Structure of the thesis
My hypothesis is that the new prophets evoked by Weber have appeared, or are on the verge of
appearing. To validate or invalidate this hypothesis, I have chosen the following approach:
Chapter one, entitled “Bodies of Knowledge”, frames the research in terms of both the
secularization / desecularization debate – starting approximately one hundred years ago, when
prominent sociologists, psychologists and philosophers wrote extensively on the topic – and the
theorization of leadership and management. In this chapter are described these two themes in
parallel, divided into four broad periods, starting first with a movement I have called
‘rationalization’, a period which in my opinion was initiated by the major discoveries in science,
forcing everyone to see, understand, validate and justify every aspect of life through the scientific
method. I have called the second period ‘polarization’, for its strong tendency, after World War II, to
dichotomize every facet of the world. I have labeled the third phase the ‘complexification’ of the
world, mainly visible in the globalization and the internationalization of the corporate world,
18
caused by the rapid development of transportation and communication technologies. Finally, I
describe the fourth period, which I have called ‘popularization’, a period situated at the end of last
century, when both the secularization / desecularization debate, and leadership theories left the
circle of experts to enter into the life of non-specialists. It was during this period that a new trend, a
fifth period, going against all the predictions made at the beginning of the 20 th century started to
appear: namely the marked ‘spiritualization’ of the corporate world.
Chapter two deals with methodology. Here, I focus primarily on the conceptual apparatus,
identified by Weber as the ideal type, starting with a review of Weber’s typological approach,
referring to his two most famous ideal types: authority and bureaucracy. Subsequently, drawing
from Weber’s description of a prophet in The Sociology of Religion (Weber, [1922] 1964), and from
a close analysis of the context in which the word ‘prophet’ is found in the Bible10, an ideal type of a
prophet is constructed, using as far as possible unambiguous characteristics. These characteristics
are then illustrated with examples taken from the Bible and current corporate life, and are
gradually developed until a clear ideal type made of fourteen unequivocal elements emerges. These
fourteen characteristics are subsequently converted into fourteen clear cut conditions serving as a
selection process in search of Weber’s new prophet(s). Then, a list of several hundred gurus is
compiled – theorists (e.g. academics) and practitioners (e.g. CEOs) – out of which nineteen gurus
are eventually selected following a rigorous procedure. The grid of analysis is then ready to put to
the test each of the nineteen potential candidates to see if any of them meet all of the fourteen
characteristics of the prophet’s ideal type.
In the following three chapters – “Initial Screening of the Gurus”, “Searching for the Prophets”, and
“Finding a Prophet” –the selected top management gurus are subjected to the fourteen
characteristics of the ideal type, analyzing if, like the prophets of old, these top management gurus
have disciples, preach in foreign lands, use symbols and make predictions about the future. I verify
if they follow God’s commandments, and display ethical behavior. Then, their works are analyzed to
see if, like the biblical prophets, they refer to ancient wisdom, have a unified vision of the cosmos,
and have suffered persecution in their lives. To screen these gurus against the characteristics of the
ideal type, a wide range of sociological tools are used, such as data and statistical analysis, word
retrieval, interviews and content analysis. Each tool is introduced and explained at the appropriate
place in the text.
In the final chapter entitled “Closing the Loop: Weber’s New Prophet(s)”, I reassess the methods
and tools that were used in the research, as well as the results found. I analyze which events could
have influenced the research in a different direction, and what impact this might have had on the
results. Finally the most significant findings are reviewed, attempting to answer the following two
questions: Was Weber’s assumption correct – have new prophets appeared? And what might be
the impact of these findings on both sociology and the business world.
10
Having been raised in a Christian environment and having studied religions for years, Weber knew the Bible very well.
19
1.5. Clarification of terms
Before embarking on this journey in search of Max Weber’s new prophets, the following ten words
must be defined in order to build a common foundation and limit confusion, or misunderstandings:
- Religion and spirituality
- Sacred texts
- Leadership and management
- Motivation
- Power and authority
- Guru and prophet
While I wish to clarify how these words are used in this thesis, I acknowledge that the definitions or
descriptions given below have not always been validated by scholars, or recognized as universal,
and I concede that some readers might disagree with them. However, the purpose here is not so
much to reach a common agreement – which might simply be impossible – as to suggest working
definitions in order to share a common language throughout the thesis.
1.5.1. Religion and spirituality
Many people use the words religion and spirituality interchangeably, as if they were synonyms.
Some perceive spirituality as the mystical side of religion. Others defend one and oppose the other,
as if they were in competition with each other. Spirituality and religion are two separate topics, and
the common tendency to polarize them simply as good vs. bad is not fruitful (Hill, Pargament, Hood,
McCullough, Swyers, Larson, & Zinnbauer, 2000). Why then is there such a dichotomy? Can a
person be spiritual without being religious, or religious without being spiritual? Or is a religious
person automatically spiritual? Are the two topics really separate or does one of the two encompass
the other?
To this day, there is no agreement on a definition of what religion is. Some scholars have even
compared the effort to define religion to the construction of the tower of Babel (Lambert, 1991). If
Weber consistently refused to provide a definition of religion, others were bolder. Durkheim, for
example, describes it as “…a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is
to say, things which are set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single
moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them” (Durkheim [1912] 1995:47), and
Fromm sees it as “any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a
frame of orientation and an object of devotion” (Fromm 1950:21). Worshipping in chapels,
churches, mosques, temples or simply at home, a religion is structured around people and
teachings, and facilitates the interaction between its members, who consequently form groups,
branches, parishes, or communities.
20
Spirituality tends to refer to the personal journey of someone who is in search of his or her purpose
in life. While I agree that spirituality is more basic, precedes and is different than religion or
religiosity (Elkins, Hedstrom, Hughes, Leaf & Saunders, 1988; Haase, Britt, Coward, Kline & Penn,
1992), the fact that spirituality does not need a supernatural component (Maslow, 1970; Coles,
1990; Moberg, 1984) can be questioned.
Both religion and spirituality deal with something greater than us; however, while religion belongs
to the outer world, spirituality belongs to the inner one. For this reason, people tend to perceive
religion as more diverse and thus more disruptive, with a higher potential to lead to conflict. This is
of course a simplistic and superficial vision of the world. It is true that if some people bow their
heads on a prayer rug five times a day, others sit passively in their best Sunday apparels listening to
sermons, while others dance and sing praises together. Yet, ask two members from the same
congregation, who meet on a weekly basis, and share the same religious doctrine, dogmas and
rituals, what spirituality is, and different, if not opposite views will undoubtedly arise.
Is religion decreasing in favor of spirituality (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005) or is the form of religious
worship in the process of mutation (Davie, 1994)? It might be too early for a definitive conclusion.
However, one point is clear: if religion and spirituality are sometimes opposed, it is seldom because
of the meaning of the words as such, but because of the beliefs, values, interpretations and attitudes
of the people that express them.
1.5.2. Sacred texts
Sacred texts lie at the heart of most religious communities, providing the group with an identity in
space and its ideology, consistency in time. It is in these sacred writings that community members
find the answers to the universal questions on the meaning of life and death – what theologian Paul
Tillich called the ultimate concern (1957) – as well as information on the rites and rituals which
must be performed in order to please their supreme power or being, be it Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim,
Allah, Krishna, Shiva, Brahman, Buddha, Ahura Mazda, or any other divinity.
Profound and authoritative, the sacred texts of the different religious movements are based on
reflections of their founders or the revelations they have received from their God or Supreme Being.
It is through this process that Abraham, Moses, Peter, Muhammad, Siddhartha and Zarathustra
acquired the status of prophet, consequently acceding to a different position from that of the
mystics, or simply the learned. These sacred texts are often written in such a way that they are able
on the one hand to unify and to distinguish millions of people as a single community, while on the
other hand providing enough room for individual interpretation to satisfy very different human
expectations. Consequently, within a same religious family, a wide variety of movements – for
example the numerous Christian sects, parties and religions – can appear, all of which contradict
one another while referring to the same sacred text: the Bible.
21
Thus, what bestows upon a text its status of sacredness? It is surely not the fact that it is written. It
is not the simplicity or complexity of its structure, nor the attractiveness of its appearance. It is not
even the profound or superficial nature of its contents. What makes a text sacred is the fact that it is
read, that it inspires and unifies thousands, sometimes even millions of people. For this reason, no
scholar, religious authority or body of experts should have the right to decide which texts are
sacred and which are not. The sacredness of a text and its power belong to its believers, and this
simple principle should be respected by all. We spend years of our lives studying other nations’
cultures, languages, geography and history hoping to develop through this process more
understanding, respect and tolerance for one another. Why should it be different with a religion and
its sacred texts?
1.5.3. Leadership and management
In 1977, Abraham Zaleznik, a psychoanalyst on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, started
to draw a distinction between leaders and managers in the now famous article "Managers and
Leaders: Are They Different?" Until then, management was essentially centered on developing
competence, control, and balance of power, with a specific focus on organizational structure and
processes. This vision, according to Zaleznik, missed the essential leadership elements of
“inspiration, vision, and human passion, which drive corporate success” (Zaleznik, 1977). The
difference between managers and leaders are according to him the following:
Managers embrace process, seek stability and control, and instinctively try to resolve
problems quickly - sometimes before they fully understand a problem's significance.
Leaders, in contrast, tolerate chaos and lack of structure and are willing to delay
closure in order to understand the issues more fully. In this way, business leaders
have much more in common with artists, scientists, and other creative thinkers than
they do with managers. Organizations need both managers and leaders to succeed,
but developing both requires a reduced focus on logic and strategic exercises in favor
of an environment where creativity and imagination are permitted to flourish
(Zaleznik, [1977] 2004:40).
Other writers built on Zaleznik’s vision. Bennis, for example, used the following paired contrasts to
differentiate the two concepts: a manager administers, a leader innovates; a manager maintains, a
leader develops; a manager accepts reality, a leader investigates it; a manager focuses on systems
and structures, a leader focuses on people; a manager relies on control, a leader inspires trust; a
manager has a short-range view, a leader has a long-range perspective; a manager asks how and
when, a leader asks what and why; a manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line, a leader
has his or her eye on the horizon; a manager imitates, a leader originates; a manager accepts the
status quo, a leader challenges it; a manager is the classic good soldier, a leader is his or her own
person (Bennis, 1989).
22
This approach, which has been promoted in the corporate world for the last 30 years, is, I believe,
dangerous. If this vision is clear on paper, it is completely different in the day-to-day reality of
business. At first glance this approach seems to clarify a situation which is said to have been
confusing before Zaleznik. However, when one wishes to apply or even simply communicate this
vision to the employees of a company, an interesting reaction automatically appears, based on a
simple and logical deduction: if there is leadership and management, then there are also leaders
and managers. If there are two categories, the implication is often in the minds of people that one is
better than the other. And who wants to be a manager when the initial explanation, which was
already flawed at the start, has been distorted over the years, describing managers as less efficient
than leaders? To give only one example, www.1000ventures.com states that managers restrict,
control, play safe, force, regiment, and are rigid while leaders enable, free, take risks, enhance,
challenge and are flexible (Appendix 2).
Consequently, this thesis will refer to the vision of Kotter (1990): both leadership and management
give direction: management providing planning, organization, staffing, and control; leadership
providing vision, strategy and motivation. Consequently, both leadership and management are to
be applied everywhere in the organization, and at all levels of hierarchy. And if the words
‘leadership’ and ‘management’ should be used to specify the elements of responsibility one refers
to, the words ‘leader’ and ‘manager’ should be avoided for the divisive element they contain.
1.5.4. Motivation
The roots and meaning of words have always fascinated me. The word ‘motivation’ comes from the
Latin movere which gave three stems: mouv-, mov- and mot-. The use of French, closer to Latin,
helps us understand the different meanings which gravitate around movere. From the root mouvcome the words: (1) émouvoir (to move, touch, disturb, upset), (2) ému (filled with emotion), (3)
promouvoir (to promote, upgrade), (4) mouvement (movement, motion), (5) moment (moment)
and their derivatives. From the root mov- comes the word: (6) amovible (removable) and its
derivatives. From the root mot- come the words: (7) motion (motion), (8) emotion (emotion), (9)
promotion (promotion), (10) commotion (shock) and its derivatives. When all of these different
meanings are assembled, the most complete definition that people give to motivation is obtained: a
force of movement (4) full of emotion (1) which occurs at a specific moment in time and for a
limited duration (5) empowering people to leave their comfort zone (6) to improve their initial
situation (3), even if it is disturbing for them or their environment (10).
In the context of the corporate world, numerous contemporary writers have attempted to define
motivation. For Fry (2003), motivation includes the internal and external forces that energize,
channel and sustain human behavior. Kreitner (1995) describes it as a psychological process that
gives behavior purpose and direction, Buford, Bedeian and Lindner (1995) define it as a
predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs, while
Schermerhorn Jr., Hunt and Osborn (1997:87) describe it as the forces within an individual that
23
account for the level, direction, and persistence of the invested effort, and Higgins (1994) as an
internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need.
Some attempts have also been made to devise approaches in order to support the motivational
responsibility of managers, like Path-Goal Leadership: achieving individual and organizational goals
through congruence between the employees’ characteristics and the task (Evans, 1970; House &
Mitchell, 1974; Jermier, 1996); Charismatic Leadership: being a role model for specific values,
beliefs and ideological goals, desiring to influence, and being able to motivate and build confidence
to reach high expectations (House, 1976; Conger & Kanungo, 1998); Transactional Leadership:
focusing on exchanges between managers and team members, mainly satisfying followers’ extrinsic
needs (Burns, 1978; Bryant, 2003); Transformational Leadership: creating change, developing team
members into leaders for the good of the organization (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1998; Bryant, 2003) with
charisma, compelling vision, intellectual stimulation, consideration for individuals and the
promotion of a common culture (Tourish & Pinnington, 2002); or Authentic Management which
suggests that the most motivated and motivating managers are those who behave in a genuine and
authentic manner, not according to a prescribed model (Herman & Korenich, 1977).
Having worked closely with groups and individuals all over the world, I have observed in the last
decade a visible shift in the motivation of managers and team members at work: from a financial
obligation, a responsibility toward the family, a social duty, sometimes an obsession or a convenient
way to escape personal problems (workaholism), or even from an easy access to power and
recognition (Bunting, 2004), to a means for attaining rather more individual objectives such as the
financing of leisure and hobbies, the access to self-development, self-fulfillment and possibly even
self-actualization. In other words, a turn away from life lived in terms of roles, duties and
obligations – the role of wife, father, husband, manager, etc. – to life lived in connection with one’s
personal experiences of oneself-in-relation (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005).
This behavioral shift observed in the ‘real world’, can also be visible in the evolution of the major
leadership models elaborated over the last hundred years, and skillfully summarized in the study of
Ritchie and Martin (1988), known as the Twelve Factors. Having developed a questionnaire based
on the last hundred years of management theories, Ritchie and Martin surveyed more than 1400
professional workers and managers from several European countries on twelve independent
motivational factors: money (salary, rewards…), physical conditions (working conditions,
comfort…), structure (structure, organization, rules…), people contact (light level, wide range…),
relationship (deep level, long term, stable, intimate…), recognition (appreciation from others,
feedback…), achievement (challenges, conquest…), power (influence, control, competitiveness…),
variety and change (stimulation, avoidance of routine…), creativity (exploration, open-mind…), selfdevelopment (autonomy, growth…), interest and usefulness (meaningfulness, social utility…). The
results of the survey clearly underline two distinct categories of motivation: outer or physical
motivators vs. inner or psychological motivators, the extrinsic rewards (tangible) vs. the intrinsic
rewards (intangible). The second category, which would include spirituality, clearly stands out as
24
the preferred mode of motivation expressed today by the majority of the people interviewed
(Appendix 3).
This shift in the motivation of people at work is particularly interesting for this research, as it
clearly matches a similar shift from visible religiosity to invisible spirituality described by several
scholars in the sociology of religion (Davie, 1990; Heelas & Woodhead, 2005), a shift from an outer
relationship needing a structure and expecting a submission to some form of power to a more
discreet but not necessarily less profound inner relationship.
1.5.5. Power and authority
If people sometimes have difficulty in defining the words power and authority, they have no
difficulty in feeling them. And even if the literature sometimes mixes the two, sociology, theology
and business do seem to agree on their meanings. In sociology, for example, power is the
synonymous with dominion, force, and control, while authority is the legitimate access to power.
Weber defines power – macht – as "the probability that one actor in a social relationship will be in a
position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this
probability rests" (Weber, 1947:152), while authority for him is a legitimate form of domination
obtained through traditional, charismatic, legal or rational sources (Weber, 1947), commanding
obedience without the need to enforce, coerce or constrain. In business, power is defined as “the
ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your
position or your might” while authority is “the skill of getting people to willingly do your will
because of your personal influence” (Hunter, 1998:30). The Bible appears to support the same
vision. The two words first occur in the Bible, just a few chapters apart in the book of Genesis. The
first appearance of the word ‘power’ in the Bible refers to the encounter between Laban and Jacob
on the hill of Gilead, where Laban uses the words “I have the power to harm you” (Genesis 31:29).
The first time that the word ‘authority’ is used in the Bible, it is when Joseph is storing up “grain
under the authority of Pharaoh” to save people from seven years of famine (Genesis 41:35).
Therefore it can be concluded that if power dominates, authority serves; if power subdues,
authority frees; if power divides, authority unifies; if power engenders hate, authority generates
respect. In short, while power is egocentric serving only the leader’s needs, authority is altruistic
and exists only in accordance to followers’ acceptance of it.
1.5.6. Gurus and prophets
In the East, gurus are venerable teachers highly respected by their followers for their knowledge
and ability to enlighten the minds of their disciples. It is from their spiritual wisdom that their
followers learn the sacred, perform the required rituals and ceremonies 11, and receive the secrets
of the Vedas12, in order to walk on the path of Enlightenment (Radhakrishnan & Moore, [1957]
11
12
Such as the initiatory mantra, a series of Sanskrit syllables repeated cautiously to provide concentration (e.g. Aum).
The oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism.
25
1989). Beloved and respected, the guru is expected to be a beacon in the night, a guide to help the
disciples reach the divine. In exchange, disciples are obedient, and devoted to the guru. One of the
most famous examples of this form of discipleship is described in the relationship between Lord
Krishna and Arjuna, and constitutes most of the content of the Bhagavad-Gita.
As secularization developed in the West, or as the Western forms of religion underwent mutation,
significant numbers of people looked for substitutes to the established religions, and turned to the
East, in search of gurus who could answer their questions on life. Books were written, communities
created, and some gurus even traveled from the East to Europe and the USA. However, the
transplant did not always work. Gurus appeared on the front pages of the media, accused of
deceiving their followers, pretending to be holy, but actually only interested in power and wealth,
and inciting followers to social withdrawal and psychological dependence. To avoid this, some
scholars like Lane (1994) proposed checklists to differentiate real gurus from false ones. Yet,
despite these clarifications, confusion ensued, and step by step the word ‘guru’ lost much of its
sacred and spiritual connotations and was trivialized to the point of being used to describe anyone
having authority or expertise in any field, and even at times becoming an insult.
The notion of prophet, the Western ‘cousin’ of the guru, has followed, it seems, a similar path.
Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions see prophets as the representatives of God, receiving
revelations from the deity and delivering them to the people in the name of God. According to the
Talmud there were forty-eight prophets (nebî') including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron,
Joshua, Samuel, King David, Solomon, Elijah, Joel, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Malachi, and seven
prophetesses (nebî'ah) including Sarah, Miriam, and Esther. The online Catholic Encyclopedia
(http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia) defines a Hebrew Prophet as an “…interpreter and
supernaturally enlightened herald sent by Yahweh to communicate His will and designs to Israel.
His mission consisted in preaching as well as in foretelling. He had to maintain and develop the
knowledge of the Old Law among the Chosen People, lead them back when they strayed, and
gradually prepare the way for the new kingdom of God, which the messiah was to establish on
earth.” Concerning Islam, twenty-five prophets are mentioned by name in the Qur’an. These include
Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Adam was, according to Islam, the first prophet, Muhammad was
the last one (Qur'an 16:36). Muslims believe that Allah assigned a specific mission to each prophet.
The difference between Muhammad and the other prophets is that while the other prophets were
sent to deliver a message to a specific group of people, only Muhammad was sent to convey God's
message to the whole world.
Nowadays, some religious movements still believe in the existence of prophets. It is the case for the
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Joseph Smith, Jr. and for the
Seventh Day Adventists with Ellen G. White. It is also the case for some millennial or apocalyptic
groups such as the Davidians led by David Koresh, or Heaven’s Gate led by Marshall Herff
Applewhite (Chryssides, 2005), two movements which ended in tragedy. For the televangelists of
the 60’s, or the leaders of the new megachurches such as Kenneth Hagin (Rhema), Joel Osteen
26
(Lakewood Church), or Robert Schuller (Crystal Cathedral), the situation is not clear. Do they
deserve the title of prophet? Apparently some people believed it was the case for the Kansas City
prophets (e.g. Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, and Mike Bickle) and the House Church Movement (e.g. Rad
Zdero).
What should be done then with all the people who have been given the title of prophet like
American social worker, consultant and writer Mary Parker Follet (Graham, Moss-Kanter, Drucker
& Parker 1995), sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (Smith, 1999), philosopher Richard Rorty (Hall,
1994), mathematician, physicist and psychologist Lewis Fry Richardson (Ashford, 1984),
psychologist Carl Jung (Stern, 1976), political leader Mahatma Gandhi (Kapur, 1992), writers Frank
Parsons (Davis, 1969), and Salman Rushdie (Edmundson, 1989), chemist Sir Christopher Ingold
(Leffek, 1996), civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (D’emilio, 2003), poets Edward Carpenter
(Tsuzuki, 1980), Alfred Tennyson (Henderson, 1978), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (Cayton, 1987),
philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary Karl Marx (Schmidt, 1964), and even German
chancellor Adolf Hitler (Redlich, 1998)! All were attributed the title of prophet. Yet, is the title of
prophet appropriate for a man who has been responsible for he death of millions of people, or for
someone like Marx who wrote in the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy
of Right (Marx, [1843] 1977) that religion was “the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”? Or, formulated
differently, is it possible to be a secular prophet?
This is what is often understood when one comes across the words prophet and guru. However, as
this thesis is framed in sociology and as Weber will be our guide throughout the research, it is
important to explain right at the beginning how Weber understood these two concepts.
According to Weber, prophets explicitly oppose the established order (Weber [1922] 1964:xxxiv,
50-51), while gurus implement it (Weber [1922] 1964:xxxv). Gurus, whom Weber sometimes
compares to priests (Weber [1922] 1964:201), exert their influence through their knowledge and
vocational qualifications while prophets do it by virtue of their personal gifts or charisma (Weber
[1922] 1964:29). To legitimate their authority, prophets refer to a personal call they have received
(Weber [1922] 1964:46). Priests or gurus do it through their office or hierarchical position.
Prophets transmit revelation, gurus pass on acquired knowledge (Weber [1922] 1964:52),
Prophets own authority, gurus are commissioned by other people (Weber [1922] 1964:52). A final
significant difference that Weber makes between prophets and gurus is that prophets become the
object of a cult after their death (Weber [1922] 1964:52). This is what differentiates a prophet from
a guru according to Weberian sociology. As the research will move forward, a definition being part
of an ideal type developed in the chapter on methodology will slowly emerge. It is de facto too early
to reveal it.
There is for Weber a clear distinction between what a prophet and a guru are, and the postulate he
made in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, [1904] 2003:182) is that new
27
prophets will arise, not new gurus. Consequently, even if this thesis may sometimes be perceived as
dealing with the guru theory found in business management, it is not the case. And even if there are
clear bridges between sociology, theology and business management which I will have to cross
regularly, this research is about prophets in the sociological meaning of the word.
Now that a common language has been established to limit misunderstandings, let us embark on
the journey in search of Max Weber’s new prophets.
28
CHAPTER TWO: BODIES OF KNOWLEDGE
2.1. Three bodies of knowledge
The search for Max Weber’s new prophets lies at the intersection of three bodies of knowledge: the
secularization / desecularization debate, the spiritualization of the corporate world and a growing
body of theory concerning gurus – an intersection which could be labeled business prophets. In
order to precisely define a clear framework for my research on business prophets, these three fields
will be described:
1. The secularization theory with its contested vision that, if certain kinds of religious beliefs
encouraged the economic development of the modern world alongside the growth of science, these
same beliefs would progressively disappear.
2. The growing spiritualization of the corporate world with different spiritual approaches to
leadership – some being openly promoted as such, some being presented in a more discrete
manner.
3. Theories concerning gurus – i.e. a growing body of knowledge analyzing a specific population of
consultants, CEOs and academics who are at the origin of each new trend in management.
I will start by outlining very briefly the research that has been conducted to date in these areas.
Then, their evolution and interaction over the last century will be reviewed; this development will
be structured in four chronological sequences. This done, the chapter will conclude by introducing a
fifth sequence which supports the desecularization theory or the spiritualization of the corporate
world.
2.1.1. The secularization / desecularization debate
The secularization / desecularization debate began approximately one century ago when
prominent personalities such as Marx, Freud, Durkheim, Simmel and Weber analyzed the
interaction between beliefs and economic development and predicted that science would bring
about a decline in religiousness. For several decades, most sociologists, psychologists and
philosophers supported this claim, until Martin, among others, began to question the theory of
secularization, seeing in it more the fruit of an ideology, than the results of empirical studies
(Martin, 1965, 1978). Since then, numerous debates, sometimes cordial, sometimes less so, have
taken place between the supporters of the two theories, arguing over the interpretation of history,
the analysis of statistics, the mutation of groups and individual behavior, or simply arguing about
the definitions used for such important words as ‘spirituality’ and ‘religion’ (Luckmann, 1967;
Berger, 1967b, 1999; Davie, 1990, 1994; Casanova, 1994; Chaves, 1999; Lambert, 2000; Stark,
2000; Dobbelaere, 2000; Bruce, 2002; Norris, 2003). Is the world becoming more or less religious?
Is the trend local or global? Are we currently dealing with a blip in the statistics or with an
29
identifiable tendency? Or does the whole problem simply lie in the lack of agreement about certain
definitions: “…secularization, secularity, or the secular is always relative to some definition of
religion or the religious” (Swatos & Christiano, 2000:5)? As of today, there is no agreement on what
religion or spirituality is. Some see spirituality as the emotion that one can have towards God
(Cavanagh, 1999), others as the outward expression of an inner source of energy (Dehler & Welsh,
1994), as something higher than the physical or mental spheres (Harung, Heaton, Graff and
Alexander, 1996), as one’s deepest and most sacred self (Neal, 1997), as a connection to the cosmos
and to other people (Hendricks & Hendricks, 2003), as the understanding of who we are and how
we contribute to a bigger whole (Vaill, 1996), as the “need to find meaning and purpose and
develop our potential” (Howard, 2002:231), as a form of self-actualization (Maslow, 1943; Tischler,
1999) or of personal transcendence (Butts, 1999).
2.1.2. The spiritualization of the corporate world
Moving to the business world, it seems that the current and growing interest concerning the
spiritualization of the corporate world (Dehler & Welsh, 1994; Mirvis, 1997; Butts, 1999; Russell &
Stone, 2002; Tourish & Pinnington, 2002; Bell & Taylor, 2003; Eisler & Montouori, 2003; Giacalone
& Jurkiewicz, 2003; Krahnke, Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003; Kurth, 2003; Pfeffer, 2003; Kinjierski &
Skrypnek, 2004; Duchon & Plowman, 2005; Fry, Vitucci & Cedillo 2005; Case & Gosling, 2007;
Aburdene, 2007) supports the desecularization thesis. Several factors could be at the origin of this
growing interest: the evolution of society, the influence of some cultures over others, the change in
the needs of the employees, the introduction of New Age training, the popularization of eastern
philosophies with practices such as yoga, meditation, etc., the recruitment of corporate chaplains,
the organization of retreats, or simply the influence of management gurus who are convinced that
spirituality in the workplace is the ultimate tool of motivation.
2.1.3. Guru theory
The earliest use in the media of the term ‘management gurus’ was, it seems, in an article published
in the UK’s Sunday Times, in 1983 (Greatbatch & Clark 2005:5). It then took a full decade before the
academic world started to recognize this idea as a dominant paradigm within management theory
(Huczynski, 1993a). Clark and Salaman described the theory as “…the presentation of ambitious
claims to transform managerial practice, organization structures and cultures and, crucially,
organizational performance, through the recommendation of a fundamental, almost magical cure of
transformation that rejects the past, and reinvents the organization, its employees, their
relationships, attitudes and behavior” (Clark & Salaman, 1998:148). In the last two decades more
and more scholars have conducted research on the writings of gurus (Keisling, 1984; Samuelson,
1984; Zibergeld, 1984; Conrad, 1985; Freeman, 1985; Grint, 1993; Jeffcutt, 1994; Fincham, 1995;
Gerlach, 1996; Jackson, 2001), and on the gurus themselves (Hucsynski, 1993a, 1993b; Watson
1994; Abrahamson, 1996; Clark & Salaman, 1996; Kennedy, 1996; Crainer, 1998; Jackson, 2001).
Other scholars have questioned the benefits that the teachings of gurus bring to the companies.
30
Some of them believe that these teachings are only fads, which have the perverse effect of first
raising the hopes of employees, only to reduce their level of motivation even more dramatically
once they understand that nothing has changed. This is one of the reasons why some scholars
accuse gurus of doing more harm than good in the corporate world (Carroll, 1983; Mayer, 1983;
Kilmann, 1984; Byrne, 1986; Eccles & Nohria, 1992; Guest, 1992; Gill & Whittle, 1993; Grint, 1993;
Shapiro, 1995; Abrahamson, 1996; Clark & Salaman, 1996; Gerlach, 1996; Hilmer & Donaldson,
1996; Ramsay, 1996; Kieser, 1997; Mickethwait & Wooldridge, 1997; O’Shea & Madigan, 1997;
Jackson & Carter, 1998; Collins, 2005; Furusten, 1999; Pinault, 2000; Spell, 2000).
2.2. Framing the research
In order to position the research on Max Weber’s new prophets correctly , it is necessary to review
the history, the evolution, and the current trends of each of these bodies of knowledge. I will start
with a historical perspective, focusing initially on the premises of secularization, as the history of
leadership begins much later. Moving then to the turn of the 20th century, and given that the
theories of secularization and leadership have some common roots (notably Max Weber), the
evolution of these two distinct themes will be described in parallel in four specific sequences or
movements which I have called: rationalization, polarization, complexification, and popularization.
Each of these sequences is limited in time, usually lasting between two to three decades, with the
first sequence reaching its pinnacle around the beginning of the 20th century, the following three in
the 1960s, the 1980s and the beginning of the 21st century respectively. That said, it is clear that
traces of each sequence can be found years before the corresponding trend emerged in an explicit
manner, and continued in different forms and places even after most of the corporate world had
moved onto the next trend. As a result, it is not uncommon to find two or more sequences
overlapping each other, be it in the teachings found in the gurus’ books or in the practices
established in a company. To avoid confusion in the presentation of these four themes, they will not
be presented with overly-precise dates which indicate their start and finish, but simply in
chronological order, acknowledging however that the reality is not as clean cut. Once done, the
chapter will conclude by introducing the current and latest emerging phase, the “hybridization of
managerial […] and religious rhetoric in popular business discourse” (Jackson, 1999:355).
According to Swatos and Christiano (2000), the etymology of the word secularization comes from
the Latin ‘saeculum’ and was used by the Roman Catholic Church to describe the notion of eternity.
The phrases ‘world without end’ and ‘forever and ever’ that still can be heard at the end of some
Christian prayers, are translations of the Latin in ‘saecula saeculorum’. By the fourth century, the
word had added to its initial meaning the notion of ‘the world out there’. Having acquired this
double meaning the word secularization was used in opposition to the sanctity of life that a person
would experience when taking the vows in a religious order or congregation, a life cut off, and thus
protected, from the negative influence of the world. Consequently, a secular priest was a
representative of the Catholic Church working in ‘the siècle’13 to save souls, by taking responsibility
13
To be translated in this case by ‘in the world.’
31
of a parish and guiding people on the straight and narrow path. This form of active priesthood was
strongly encouraged during the thirteenth century by Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas
Aquinas over the secluded form of priesthood.
In 1517, German religious reformer Martin Luther posted on the door of the Wittenberg castle the
95 theses, disputing the power and worth of indulgences. Contesting the hegemonic religious
power in place, Luther encouraged ordinary people to express their discontent. Step by step, this
discontent blossomed into a movement which later became known as the Reformation. Until then
the control of doctrine had remained largely in the hands of the institutional church which was
actively involved in politics. The door was now open to new forms of Christian theologies and
political power. As a result, the debate about theology which until then was kept within the walls of
the Church became a much more public debate between religions, sects, parties and people, with
each attempting to gather as many supporters as possible by proving its doctrines through a
different interpretation of the Bible. This was an additional step toward secularization. As stated by
Durkheim: “Pluralism eroded religious faith, fragmented the Western Christendom, destroyed the
hegemonic power of a single pervasive theological faith, sowing the seeds of skepticism and doubt”
(Durkheim, [1912] 1995:159).
The era, however, which is recognized by most sociologists as the incubator of secularization is the
Enlightenment which took place in the eighteenth century. The astonishing discoveries made in
particular in the field of astronomy forced people to see the world in a different way. The elements
composing the universe were now perceived as organized in an orderly manner, each element and
interaction responding to specific laws waiting to be discovered and explained by man. Encouraged
by this new vision of the universe, European philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Hume
advocated rationality and knowledge based on empirical studies rather than superstitious dogma.
Encouraging social, technical, political and economic changes to improve individual and social life,
their aim was to lead the world out of what they perceived as the ‘Dark Ages’. It is during this
tumultuous era that sociology finds its roots. The notion of secularization as a specific social
process is closely linked to the discipline of sociology. It started with the precursors of the
discipline, with among them Auguste Comte, who coined the term ‘sociology’. Society evolved from
a theological to a metaphysical stage, then to the current scientific stage (Davie, 2007).
This constant challenge and questioning of both religious and secular powers provided favorable
ground for the French revolution. Seen by many as one of the main turning points in the history of
France and Europe, with a lasting impact on the Western world, the French Revolution was the
natural outcome of the resentment of a starving population angry with King Louis XVI, who was
unable to deal with the depression, the continuously increasing taxes, and with the abuse of power
and the dogmatism of the Roman Catholic Church, the only legitimate religion. The reaction was
inevitable. The subsequent deportation or condemnation to death of members of the clergy, the
closing of churches, the destruction of statues, crosses, bells and religious monuments, the
outlawing of religious education, etc., dictated by successive French governments between the start
32
of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801, all led to the erosion of religious
power and the emergence of the movement known as ‘laïcité’14 (Tallet, 1991).
2.2.1. Rationalization
The triumph of scientific method was a revolution in itself. Each aspect of life would henceforth
require scientific validation in order to enlighten modern populations. One of the most prolific
writers on this epistemological and social transformation was Max Weber. According to Weber, all
modern societies are affected by reason, calculation, efficiency, predictability, technology and
control over uncertainties. Weber called this transformation rationalization (rationalität), which he
saw as the most important catalyst in the development of capitalism, influencing every aspect of
Western society and accounting in large part for their economic and social success.
Weber also postulated that religious and business life would be influenced by rationalization. He
called this process secularization for religion, and bureaucracy for business. Weber had noticed that
in Germany, business leaders, financiers and highly skilled laborers were overwhelmingly
Protestant. He had also observed that both as employers and as employees, Protestants showed a
particular tendency to develop economic rationalism which was not observed to the same extent in
other religions, such as Catholicism.
The Catholic is quieter, having less of the acquisitive impulse; he prefers a life of the
greatest possible security, even with a smaller income, to a life of risk and
excitement, even though it may bring the chance of gaining honor and riches. The
proverb says jokingly, 'either eat well or sleep well'. In the present case the
Protestant prefers to eat well, the Catholic to sleep undisturbed (Weber, [1904]
2003:40-41).
According to Weber, it is only through a continual process of education that ascetic Protestantism
was able to promote virtues such as honesty, trust, punctuality, hard work and frugality.
Consequently, limited consumption combined with increased productivity would result in the
accumulation of wealth, which, as long as it was not an incitation to sloth and gluttony, was not
condemned by Protestant asceticism (Weber, [1904] 2003:163). Indeed the Bible through the story
of Job, the parable of the talents, or the injunction of Paul: "He who will not work shall not eat" (2
Thessalonians 3:10) seemed to confirm that God helped only those who helped themselves.
“…asceticism looked upon the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself as highly reprehensible; but the
attainment of it as a fruit of labor […] was a sign of God's blessing” (Weber, [1904] 2003:172). To
achieve this, labor had to be performed as if it was a calling, a task set by God. This was the only
Even if this ideology exists in other parts of the world under different forms, ‘la laïcité’ is closely linked to French culture
and history. Following the French revolution, a strict separation between state and religious powers was enforced, having to
this day numerous repercussions on the everyday lives of people (e.g. people not having the right to talk about religious
matters at school or inside a company). ‘La laïcité’ is referred to in the very first article of the French constitution: “La France
est une République indivisible, laïque, démocratique, et sociale.” Consequently, the French Republic does not recognize or
financially support any religion, but acknowledges the right of its citizens to belong or not to a religion.
14
33
way of living acceptably in the eyes of God. As a result, believers were no longer requested to live
outside the world in the protected and secluded environment of monastic communities, but within
the world, as secular monks, actively participating in economic development. As life was short for
man to attain the certitudo salutis, every instant was precious, and any waste of time considered as
a sin. However, quoting John Wesley, Weber was convinced that a society which worked hard and
was at the same time frugal, would automatically create more and more capital which would
quickly become a temptation to idleness and the sinful enjoyment of life (Weber, [1904] 2003:175).
It was, therefore, not the rational acquisition of wealth as such that was condemned, but the
pursuing of wealth as an end in itself, as this attitude to wealth would inevitably create irrational
behavior, together with “pride, […] anger, […] the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the
pride of life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly vanishing away” (Weber,
[1904] 2003:175).
The consequence of this rationalization of the world, according to Weber, would bring about a
progressive rejection of the mysteries of faith, in other words a disenchantment (entzauberung)
leading people to look toward reason or technology in order to solve questions or difficulties.
Weber called this double-sided coin – entzauberung / rationalität – secularization, a word which
was quickly adopted by others, starting with the philosopher and theologian Ernst Troeltsch.
Others, politicians, philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists such as Marx, Freud, Simmel and
Durkheim, also supported this vision.
And indeed, as the twentieth century progressed, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to
believe in complete control over the environment. Science, it seemed, had solved or would solve
any social, physical or psychological problem. When people were hungry, they could now help
themselves in the refrigerator, when thirsty they had only to turn on the tap, when in the dark they
could turn on the light, when cold they could turn on the heat, and when sick they could take
medicine.
The development of scientifically based techniques also had an impact on the lifeworld: domestic tasks became increasingly mechanized, and even the most intimate,
sexual relationships and their consequences were considered to be calculable and
controllable. Not only could one control the consequences, but in modern handbooks
the sexual act itself was also presented as technically improvable (Dobbelaere,
2000:24).
Through functional rationality people were increasingly convinced that they didn’t need the
intervention of God anymore. And so it was in the corporate world. Businessmen, engineers and
writers such as Henry Ford, Frederick W. Taylor and Henri Fayol also declared that economic
prosperity was to be achieved through rationality. This rationality had to be translated for them
into the business world. It took the form of hierarchical systems, clearly defined spheres of
34
competence, contracts governing duties and rights, technical qualifications to do the job, salaries, a
primary occupation, no ownership of positions, and everyone being subject to discipline.
Taylor, known as the father of scientific management, believed that performance could be achieved
only with science helping workers reach maximal productivity. Taylor looked first at a task, divided
it into its constituent parts, then measured the time needed by a worker to accomplish each of these
basic units of work and finally defined the most effective sequence to carry out the whole job. The
process would then be put in written form, with everyone performing it that way. Taylor called this
process job fractionation, and as he considered incentive as the only motivational factor, he
encouraged workers with a variable salary based on their productivity. It was an interesting
approach in which, however, there was no room for trust, compassion or psychology.
And Taylor was not the only one who thought this way. Despite the fact that his book
Administration industrielle et générale (Fayol, 1916) was translated into English only in 1949, the
influence of Fayol on the organization of industrial production processes was nevertheless quite
significant. His major contribution came from his obsession with structuring. His idea was to divide
business activity into six functions (still in use today): technical, commercial, financial, security,
accounting, and managerial. With respect to managers, Fayol divided their responsibilities into five
functions: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. Fayol’s final legacy are
his fourteen principles for a performing industry, acquired from his experience in the mining
business: specialization of work, the need for authority, the need for discipline, unity of command
(only one boss), unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to those of the group, fair
remuneration, centralization of management functions, formal chain of command, order (for
material and staff), equity, tenured personnel (limited turnover), initiative and esprit de corps (team
cohesion).
Henry Gantt (known for the Gantt chart), Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (time and motion studies), John
Keynes (Keynes economics), and Henry Ford (Fordism) were all influential actors in this rational
scientific movement.
2.2.2. Polarization
After World War II, the world seemed to be divided into two sides: the ‘good guys’ vs. the ‘bad guys’,
the ‘winners’ vs. the ‘losers’, the ‘capitalists’ vs. the ‘communists’, the ‘democracies’ vs. the
‘dictatorships’, the ‘rich developed North’ vs. the ‘poor undeveloped South’. And so it was in the
sociology of religion; following the dichotomizing trend of the day, two sides gradually began to
emerge: the supporters and the opponents of the secularization thesis. Building on the work of the
founding fathers of the secularization thesis, well-known sociologists like Berger, Luckmann,
Wilson and Dobbelaere, appropriated the theory and transformed it from a prediction into an
axiom. Claims at the time were often very dramatic: “Christianity has been its own gravedigger”
(Berger 1967b:129), suggesting that religious beliefs and practices belonged to the past and would
35
necessarily struggle in a modern and complex society where science, industrialization,
urbanization, and economic and social development ruled and where religion would eventually
disappear. Davie explains:
As Europe’s economic and political life developed, religion diminished in public
significance; religious aspirations were increasingly relegated to the private sphere.
Bit by bit, however, the thesis rather than the data began to dominate the agenda.
The ‘fit’ became axiomatic, theoretically necessary rather than empirically founded –
so much so that Europe’s religious life was considered a prototype of global
religiosity: what Europe did today, everyone else would do tomorrow. Secularization
was a necessary part of modernization, and as the world modernized, it would
automatically secularize (Davie, 1999:76)
Gradually however, other scholars, with Martin being one of the first, began to question the theory
of secularization, seeing in it more the fruit of an ideology than the result of empirical studies
(Martin, 1965, 1978). A breach having been opened, other scholars followed. Stark for example,
observed that if the secularization thesis was correct, scientists should be the first to reject religion.
However, statistics did not reveal evidence of scientific atheism. Indeed the opposite was true in
countries such as the US. Mathematicians, for example, rated themselves as noticeably more
religious than psychologists (Stark 2000). Another problem is that advocates of secularization – who
believe that the level of religiousness today is lower than it was previously – focus only on the
present day situation without questioning the level of belief in yesterday’s ‘Golden Age of Faith’.
However, some historians of medieval religion – Morris, Bossy, Obelkevich, Murray, Thomas, and
Coulton, to name only a few – have questioned this, suggesting that there never was an Age of Faith
and that this supposed past era of piety is simply a myth. According to them, the aristocracy rarely
attended church and when common people did, it was because they were forced to, meanwhile they
continued to practice their pagan religions barely disguised as Christian rites. Of course, part of this
reluctance to go to church can be explained. Who would enjoy standing for several hours in an
unheated building, listening to a religious service delivered in language they did not understand by a
priest who did not even know Latin and consequently was mumbling nonsense? (Stark, 2000:4755).
William Tyndale noted in 1530 that hardly any of the priests and curates in England
knew the Lord’s Prayer or could translate it into English. This was confirmed when in
1551 the Bishop of Gloucester systematically tested his diocesan clergy. Of 311
pastors, 171 could not repeat the Ten Commandments and 27 did not know the
author of the Lord’s Prayer (Stark, 2000:48).
That said, still according to Stark, Christianization was often limited to the political act of baptizing
kings and nobles in order to get their allegiance and to the recognition of the ecclesiastical
sovereignty of the church. Relatively little emphasis was placed on the Christianization of the
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peasant masses. No wonder then that people went to church only when compelled and that their
behavior was rarely what we would consider today as appropriate – for example using the church
as a marketplace, a place to store crops, shelter livestock, or simply a place to sing and dance. If this
is compared to the current practice of people who go to church willingly, frequently and with a real
comprehension of what they are doing, would it still be appropriate to talk of secularization? (Stark,
2000:47-55). For all these reasons, Stark and Finke, using a very provocative, expressive and
deliberately religious language, suggested that the theory as such be buried: “After nearly three
centuries of utterly failed prophesies and misrepresentations of both present and past, it seems
time to carry the secularization doctrine to the graveyard of failed theories, and there to whisper
requiescat in pace” (Stark, 2000:62). Confronted with such polarization, scholars of the sociology of
religion faced a real dilemma: they either had to support or to reject the secularization theory.
In business management, the theories of the time seemed to follow the same trend: Abraham
Maslow opposed lower needs (physiological) to higher ones (psychological), Frederick Herzberg
opposed extrinsic to intrinsic motivators, Douglas McGregor X managers to Y managers, Victor
Vroom pleasure to pain, and John Stacey Adams inputs to outputs. Each of these ideas will now be
considered in turn.
The model most often referred to in leadership and management training must be Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1943), a theory sometimes praised, sometimes criticized, but always
used and misused in the training room; it is presented occasionally with three layers, and at other
times with five, six or even nine layers. Whatever the number of layers Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs is in fact a simple polarization between the physiological needs (the lowest) and the
psychological needs (the highest). Maslow’s theory of human motivation was first published in
1943 in the Psychological Review. According to him, man is continuously driven by unsatisfied
needs, which push him from a lower level of needs to a higher one, once the previous level has been
substantially satisfied. In his first publication, Maslow presented the hierarchy as follows: (1)
physiological needs (food, drink, sleep, sex, etc.), (2) safety needs (employment, revenues, health,
etc.), (3) social needs (friends, colleagues, family, etc.), (4) ego needs (self-esteem, need to be
respected, etc.), and (5) need for self-actualization. As Maslow’s hierarchy of needs grew in
influence, it started to penetrate new fields such as the business world. In 1965, wishing to
humanize the workplace, Maslow explained his theory of enlightened management in his landmark
book Eupsychian Management (Maslow, 1965) a book which received praise and recognition from
the whole management intelligentsia.
In 1959, Herzberg published the results of his research on the Two Factors Theory, another
polarization based on the extrinsic and intrinsic factors which influence the behavior of workers.
According to him, the extrinsic factors, also called hygiene factors, are related to animal needs while
the intrinsic factors, or motivators, are related to human needs. The major difference between the
two categories is that while the intrinsic needs lead to motivation and job satisfaction when
satisfied, the extrinsic ones never do, but if they are not met, demotivation automatically results
37
(Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman, 1959). Hygiene factors encompass interpersonal relations, work
conditions, salary, job security, company policy and administration, relationships with supervisors,
peers, and subordinates, personal life, status, security, etc., whereas motivators include
achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, growth, etc. Despite its
weaknesses, Herzberg’s theory has been without doubt one of the most influential theories on the
topic of motivation.
In 1960, McGregor, an American social psychologist, published The Human Side of Enterprise
(1960) in which he described the different styles of management he had observed in industry,
services, schools and public agencies. McGregor believed that managers could be classified into two
groups which he called X and Y, each group having very specific assumptions about their
subordinates. According to him, X managers believe that people naturally dislike work and
responsibilities, and will do everything they can to avoid both. For this reason, if a manager wants
team members to reach their objectives, he or she must force them to work by using threats or even
punishment if necessary. In opposition, Y managers see work as something as natural as play. They
see people as creative, as seeking to learn, and as wanting to have more responsibilities. They
believe that the most important reward they can give is linked to self-respect and personal
development. When studying McGregor, it is very important to understand that the X-Y Theory
does not describe team members as they are, but as they are perceived to be by managers; this
perception being automatically translated, even subconsciously, into a specific style of management
which will induce a specific type of reaction, reinforcing the initial belief of the manager.
Vroom's polarization is based on pleasure vs. pain. His Expectancy Theory was published in 1964.
Vroom presumed that man’s behavior resulted from conscious choices always aimed at maximizing
pleasure and minimizing pain. He also believed that, based on this assumption, it was possible to
predict the level of motivation of an individual (Vroom, 1964). To do this, Vroom developed an
equation with three factors: M=E*I*V. Motivation is equal to Expectancy (the likelihood that effort
will result in an accomplishment) multiplied by Instrumentality (the probability that performance
will lead to outcome) multiplied by Valence (the value given to the outcome). Vroom’s equation,
which reminds us of rational choice theory, is of course valid only if managers understand that it is
the team member’s perception of the effort, performance and outcome that must be taken into
account, and not their own. And this might be the biggest weakness of Vroom’s theory. As
mentioned previously, what motivates one person might demotivate another.
The Equity Theory developed by behavioral psychologist Adams in 1965 was an additional piece in
the motivational puzzle. A piece of puzzle also based on the opposition between two elements:
inputs vs. outputs, inside the company vs. outside the company. Adams stated that employees
always seek equity among themselves and others (Adams, 1965). To achieve this, they regularly
look for a fair balance between what they invest in their job (input) and their return (output).
Effort, time at work, skills, flexibility, positive behavior with superiors, colleagues and subordinates
are typical inputs, while outputs are financial (salary, bonus, trips, car, etc.) or human rewards
38
(recognition, promotion, responsibilities, personal development, sense of achievement, etc.). Equity
is reached when an employee perceives that inputs equal outputs or that his or her inputs / outputs
ratio equals the ratio of other people inside the company and in the marketplace. If this balance is
disturbed, a feeling of unfairness or inequity rises, causing demotivation which is often expressed
by a decrease of commitment, effort and performance and an increase of passive and open
resistance, criticism, blaming and finger pointing; it can sometimes lead to sabotage, but always to
turn over.
All of these theories and others, such as Yerkes and Dodson’s Optimal Level of Arousal, George
Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Studies, or Kurt Lewin’s Group Dynamics, contributed to the development
of this polarization movement which forced company owners to consider employees as more than
merely another simple company asset comparable to machines and tools. However, two decades
later, researchers started to drift away from this simplistic black and white vision of the world.
2.2.3. Complexification
In the 1980s, small sized companies turned into complex and huge organizations and left the local
market for the global one, facing an entirely new range of challenges. Peters and Waterman give a
striking example of this complexification:
… for the world of big companies is complex. Just how complex is suggested by the
fact that as the number of people in a company goes up arithmetically, the number of
possible interactions among them goes up geometrically. If our company has ten
employees, we can all stay in touch with one another because the number of ways we
can interact, say, in one-on-one discussions is forty-five. If our company has 1,000
employees, on the other hand, that same number of possible one-on-one interactions
goes up to about 500,000. If there are 10,000 employees then the number rises to 50
million. To cope with the complex communications needs generated by size alone,
we require appropriately complex systems, or so it would seem (Peters & Waterman
Jr., 1982:64).
Fifty million possible interactions in a company of 10,000 employees! And since Peters and
Waterman Jr. wrote their bestseller, companies have continued to grow. Today, I work with
companies of up to 300,000 employees. Unsurprisingly, the process of complexification stimulated
a new debate, opposing leadership to management. The catch phrase of the period attributed to
Drucker was: “management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing.” C.K. Prahalad,
Chris Argyris, Don Tapscott, Edgar H. Schein, Henry Mintzberg, John P. Kotter, Rosabeth Moss
Kanter, Warren Bennis, Gary Hamel, Michael E. Porter, Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.,
Peter Drucker and Peter Senge all tried to explain and clarify this sudden complexification of the
business environment.
39
Peters and Waterman, two McKinsey consultants, did it by analyzing long-term profitable American
companies to find out what had made them so successful (Peters & Waterman Jr., 1982). IBM,
McDonald’s, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, 3M, Procter and Gamble, and Marriott were among those
that they studied. After a long and detailed examination, they concluded that all these companies
had eight attributes of management excellence in common: (1) a bias for action, (2) being close to
the customer, (3) autonomy of entrepreneurship, (4) productivity through people, (5) hands-on,
value driven, (6) stick to the knitting, (7) simple form, lean staff, and (8) simultaneous loose-tight
properties.
From the end of the thirties until his death in 2005, Drucker, one of the few management gurus of
European origin, wrote 31 books and numerous articles in specialized magazines on business,
society and politics. Among his most famous books are The Effective Executive (Drucker, 1967), and
Management Challenges for the 21st Century (Drucker, 1999). Drucker was one of the first
management experts to highlight the need for innovation and knowledge management in the
corporate world. His vision was that to ensure a positive future for the company, the only way was
for the company to create it. However, Drucker’s greatest contribution to business remains his
work on Management By Objectives (MBO) whose five principles (1) cascading goals and
objectives, (2) setting specific objectives for each team member, (3) sharing decision making, (4)
setting time periods and performance evaluations and (5) giving and receiving feedback, are
covered in detail in The Practice of Management (Drucker, 1954).
The third major writer of this movement is Senge, who is mainly known for his concept of Learning
Organizations. According to him, to create the future, a company must insure that both groups and
individuals within the company improve continuously. To achieve this goal, five disciplines are
required: (1) personal mastery, (2) understanding our mental models, (3) building a shared vision,
(4) team learning, and (5) systems thinking (Senge, 1990).
The business world was not to be analyzed anymore, as for the polarization movement, through
only two sets of data, but through five, eight or more attributes, principles, and disciplines. At the
same time, and in similar ways, the rapid development of transportation and communication
technologies in the 1980s turned the planet into a small village, and this also influenced the world
of religion. People, whatever their level of income, were now able to physically or virtually leave
their ‘village’ and find new thoughts, beliefs and ways of life. The results on the religious
marketplace were twofold: on the one hand it created more competition among the different
religions, parties and sects, and on the other hand, more choice on the consumers’ side. Observing
this fast changing environment, some scholars, notably Berger, began to review their standpoints.
The results were striking, none more so than the following unequivocal statement:
…a whole body of literature by historians and social scientists loosely labeled
‘secularization theory’ is essentially mistaken. In my early work I contributed to this
theory. I was in good company – most sociologists of religion had similar views, and
40
we had good reasons for holding them […] The world today […] is as furiously
religious as it ever was and in some places more so than ever (Berger, 1999:2).
Yet, this was only the beginning. As the secularization / desecularization debate left Europe and the
US, and included in new cultures, more and more data and examples started to undermine the
initial model. And as the situation became more complex, sociologists started to open new doors,
proposing new interpretations of data previously used by their colleagues (and sometimes even by
themselves) to support the secularization thesis. Where some scholars saw low church attendance
as a sign of a lack of faith, others, like Davie, questioned why so many people persisted in believing
but without the “need to participate with even minimal regularity in their religious institutions?”
(Davie, 1990:395). And indeed, when the majority of a country’s inhabitants hold at least some
religious beliefs, even if they do not go to church, is it logical to label such a country as secular?
Davie coined this behavior as believing without belonging (Davie, 1990, 1994). And what about
those people who belong without believing (Hervieu-Léger, 2000)? Should the secularization theory
be completely rejected or just updated, refined or redefined to explain variations? Using a more
moderate language than usual, the following statement by Stark is indicative:
Indeed, what is needed is a body of theory to explain religious variation, to tell us
when and why aspects of religiousness rise and fall, or are stable. In this regard, the
secularization theory is as useless as a hotel elevator that only goes down (Stark,
2000:61).
Consequently, the debate is no longer about secularization vs. desecularization, but has instead
become an attempt to understand the unpredictable movement of the elevator. Does it affect social
behavior or individual behavior? Is it a definitive trend or part of a cycle? Does it affect all cultures
or only Western ones? All religions or only Christianity? And if it concerns only Christianity, are all
Christian religions, sects and parties influenced by it? Does secularization have the same impact on
old religions as on new religious movements? And if it does not just affect Christianity, how can the
secularization of the Christian world, where religious worship is based on group rituals and
practices, be monitored and compared with a potential Asian secularization where religious
practice is considered an individual or family affair, and where the appropriation of beliefs from
other religions is common practice?
To start answering some of these questions, Casanova recommended distinguishing between three
different ideas: secularization (1) as the decline of religious beliefs and practices, (2) as the
privatization of religion, and (3) as the differentiation of secular spheres such as state, economy,
and science (Casanova, 1994). And to refine the principal effects of modernity on religion, Lambert
suggested the following categorization: (1) decline, (2) adaptation and reinterpretation, (3)
conservative reaction, (4) innovation (Lambert, 1999). Others, like Chaves or Stark, tried to look for
a more global explanation: the Religious Market Theory suggesting that demand is relatively
constant and fluctuation in religiosity depends on the supply side. For example, the massive
41
number of churches in the United States, their social, political, cultural and welfare role, and the
religious freedom provided by the First Amendment could all stimulate the religious sensibility of
the American people and explain one of the highest levels of religiosity in the world despite its level
of industrialization (Chaves, 1999). A second approach supports the idea that the demand for
religion is not constant, but depends on sociotropic events like wars or economic depressions and
egotropic events such as the amount of religious instruction during the formative years of
childhood or the depth in questioning the meaning of life during the middle age crisis.
People who experience ego-tropic risks during their formative years (posing direct
threats to themselves and their families) or socio-tropic risks (threatening their
community) tend to be far more religious than those who grow up under safer,
comfortable, and more predictable conditions. In relatively secure societies, the
remnants of religion have not died away; in surveys most Europeans still express
formal belief in God, or identify themselves as Protestants or Catholics on official
forms. But in these societies the importance and vitality of religion, its ever-present
influence on how people live their daily lives, has gradually eroded (Norris, 2003:23).
Postulates attempting to explain the fluctuations and changes in religious practices have been
numerous, forming subgroups of scholars supporting or opposing one another in their arguments.
Yet, little by little, the debate left the realm of the experts.
2.2.4. Popularization
The turn of the century was marked by the popularization of both leadership theories and the
secularization / desecularization debate. Leaving the circle of the experts and initiates, the two
debates were opened to non specialists. Books and publications were now addressed to anyone
who wished to know more about these topics. Accessibility and individualization became the key
words. The boom in all sorts of community websites – wikipedia, wikiquotes, wikibooks, wikinews,
etc. – has revealed not only peoples’ need to exchange information with each other, but also the loss
of trust in formal institutions and power. Scholars have of course still been writing on these topics,
but other categories of writers coming from different backgrounds (notably journalists) have
entered the debate often with more success than the experts – if success can be measured in terms
of the number of books sold.
Consequently, a new type of behavior has appeared. Instead of accepting all the articles of faith of a
religion, people have started to make up their own individual religions, a behavior labeled as
bricolage by Luckmann (1967), describing people who pick and choose different principles and
beliefs, creating in effect a religion à la carte (Swatos & Christiano, 2000; Dobbelaere, 2002). It is
interesting to note that Luckmann observed this new behavior of pick-and-choose or do-it-yourself
related to religion, only a few years after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
42
which led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to
people. Heelas and Woodhead add that
Film, television and the Internet also appear to be giving increasing space to new
forms of spirituality. Partly, but by no means only, through the influence of the
media, key terms of subjective-life spirituality – such as feng shui, chakra, chi, yin and
yang, tao, meditation and a whole host of ‘life’ idioms – have now entered into
everyday language (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005).
Not only have key terms entered daily life, but also key beliefs, leading to a complete change of
behavior. A Gallup poll shows that nearly one third of Americans consider that spirituality implies
no reference to God or a higher authority, and 72 percent think of spirituality more in a personal or
individual sense than in terms of organized religion or church doctrine (Gallup & Jones, 2000:4950).
The same popularization trend has occurred with the leadership theories in two different ways.
First, through books on the leadership secrets of famous leaders: historical figures like Sun Tzu and
Confucius (Krause, 1997), Alexander the Great (Kets de Fries & Engellau, 2004), Elizabeth I (Higgins
& Gilberd, 2000), Grant and Lee (Bowery Jr., 2005), politicians like Lincoln (Phillips, 1992),
Churchill (Hayward, 1997), Kennedy (Barnes, 2005), Martin Luther King Jr. (Phillips, 1998), and
Gandhi (Nair, 1994); religious leaders like Billy Graham (Myra & Shelley, 2005); business ones like
Welch (Welch & Welch, 2005) or Trump (Trump & McIver, 2008) and finally sport personalities
like Dr. Jacks (Ramsay, 2004). The second way often resembles the parables found in the Bible: little
stories, simple, and easy to relate to, always ending with a moral. These books are slim – usually
less than 100 pages – written in a large font and with numerous illustrations to avoid boredom. The
style is simple to understand, and the chapters are short enough to retain the limited attention span
of the new zapping generations. The approach is story telling to retain the focus of readers, while
full of symbols to stimulate their minds. Finally the title and the cover page are part of a whole
marketing scheme which not only supports the sales of the book, making it a bestseller, but also its
spin–offs: training sessions, workshops, guest speakers, tapes, CDs, calendars, post-its, stickers and
sometimes even t-shirts. Welcome to Disneyland15!
One of the most representative books of this movement is The One Minute Manager (Blanchard &
Johnson, 1981). The content of the book could be summarized as follows: if you want to have high
performers in your company, praise them for one minute every day. Following the success of this
book, Blanchard wrote or published a whole series of One Minute guides, such as: Putting the One
Minute Manager to Work (Blanchard & Lorber, 1984), The One Minute Sales Person (Johnson,
1984), Leadership and the One Minute Manager (Blanchard, Zigarmi & Zigarmi, 1985), The One
Minute Manager Meets the Monkey (Blanchard, Oncken, & Burrows, 1989), The One Minute
Manager Builds High Performing Team (Blanchard, Parisi-Carew & Carew, 1990), The One Minute
15
See Alan Bryman’s work on the Disneyization of society (Bryman, 2004).
43
Apology (Blanchard & McBride, 2003), The On-time On-target Manager (Blanchard & Gottry, 2004),
and even The One Minute Golfer (Blanchard, 1992). A question naturally comes to mind: is the
purpose of the writer to educate or to make ‘quick bucks’?
Who Moved My Cheese (1998), written by Spencer Johnson and Ken Blanchard, is another book of
the same kind. It is the story of two mice, Sniff and Scurry, whose reserve of cheese is diminishing
and who have the choice of either remaining there and starving or venturing into a maze in search
of more cheese. One of the two mice decides to explore the maze and finds more cheese; the other
one refuses to adjust to the change, remains at the same place, and dies. The parable is about
change and as recommended by the author, the book can have a real effect on a company only if
everybody reads it: "It works best, of course, when everyone in your organization knows the story –
whether it is in a large corporation, a small business, or your family – because an organization can
only change when enough people in it change" (Johnson, 1998:94). And indeed, it is much more
profitable to sell the book to each employee in a company of several thousand people than to only
one of them. Encouraged by the success of this first book, just like Blanchard, Johnson wrote an
additional thirteen books called the value tales series for children.
Like many health-and-wealth churches promising everything and more, Did You Spot the Gorilla
written by Richard Wiseman, can, according to its author, create miracles:
Gorilla-spotting has already changed the world, and has the potential to further
revolutionize both the shape of history and our everyday lives. It can inspire amazing
and insightful scientific theories, produce inventions and technology that allow us to
live longer and better than ever before, create bestselling products and services, help
people forge novel relationships and modify existing ones, and reveal new ways of
seeing both ourselves and others (Wiseman, 2004:94).
In the introduction, Wiseman explains that whe he wrote the book he had as an objective to help
people “view the world in new and original ways”, “see the bigger picture by being playful and
relaxed”, “treat every moment as if it were the first and only”, and “be curious and so transform the
ordinary into the extraordinary.” And even if the book is not life changing, it certainly brings some
fun and relaxing moments to the reader.
Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2000),
How Full is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life (Rath and Clifton, 2004), the Chicken
Soup for the Soul series, which of course includes a volume on the workplace (Canfield, Hansen,
Rogerson, Rutte & Clauss, 1996), and The Luck Factor (Wiseman, 2003) are other examples that
belong to this popularization movement. Yet, at the turn of the 21 st century, a new movement has
started to appear: the spiritualization of the corporate world.
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2.3. Two worlds which converge once again
Weber knew that, without the continuous support of the Protestant ethic, the capitalist model
would not last forever. Pessimistically, he predicted a future of petrification, convulsions, arrogance,
and nullity without heart or spirit as the future of capitalism. A frightening description made a
century ago of a situation the world is currently facing with crises in motivation, in environmental
issues, in corporate ethics, in corporate trading, and in the place of large corporations in societies. If
Weber was right in his description of the problem, could his vision of the solution also be correct?
At the end of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, [1904] 2003), Weber
suggests that the rebirth of old ideas or ideals, or in other words, the reuniting of business with
spirituality might save the capitalist world. Could this be possible?
Many historical events support the idea that religion is not necessarily a stumbling block to
progress and can even be a catalyst to business development: Copernicus, the Polish astronomer,
who first put forward a mathematically based system of planets revolving around the sun was
supported by Pope Clement VII and urged by Bishop Guise and Cardinal Schonberg to publish his
work (Rosen, 1994); Christopher Columbus, as recorded in his Book of Prophecies, believed that
God guided him in his mission (Colombus, 1997); Mendel, the father of genetics, was a monk; Isaac
Newton, who wrote an entire book on the interpretation of biblical prophecies in the books of
Daniel and the Revelation of John (Newton, 1733), saw the hand of God in all laws of physics;
“Religion without science is blind and science without religion is lame” (Einstein, 1954), is a quote
of Einstein which beautifully summarizes his point of view on religion.
As if defying the mass of literature, theories and supporters of the idea that the industrialized world
will turn away from the obscurantism of religion and spirituality, a new trend is clearly emerging:
the spiritualization of leadership and management. This new trend finds its roots in a landmark
essay The Servant as Leader (Greenleaf, 1970), in which Greenleaf puts forward a rough outline of a
concept which later became known as Servant Leadership. According to this approach, servant
leaders are rarely people who seek power as their aim is to serve others – team, colleagues, clients,
society – by getting in touch with and encouraging others to get in touch with personal core values
such as trust, appreciation of others, empowerment, vision, faith and altruistic love. It is by creating
a sense of spiritual survival through calling and membership that servant leadership takes on its
full meaning and produces its best results (Russell, 2001; Russell & Stone, 2002; Fry, 2003).
Greenleaf went on to refine his vision of servant leadership in Servant Leadership (1977), Teacher
as Servant (1979), Seeker and Servant (1996), and The Power of Servant Leadership (1998).
However, despite his prolific writings, numerous conferences on the topic and the creation of the
Robert Greenleaf Center, it took nearly 30 years for the concept of servant leadership to become
popular (Spears, 1996) and to find its place in companies. Other approaches, more or less serious,
which belong to this spiritual trend are value-based leadership (DePree, 1992; Tichy & Sherman,
1993; Despain & Converse, 2003), inspired leadership (Dourado & Blackburn, 2005), principlecentered leadership (Covey, 1990), authentic leadership (George, 2003), spiritual quotient (Zohar &
45
Marshall, 2000), and emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995). Additional authors like Barrett
(2003), who built on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and Fairholm (1998), who built on Greenleaf’s
theory, can also be listed in this movement.
Aiming at a more holistic approach to leadership including not only the body (physical), the mind
(rational) and the heart (emotional), but also the spiritual side of man for a complete coverage of
the essence of human existence (Moxley, 2000), spiritual leadership is an interesting combination
between the world of God and that of Mammon. “Employees have spiritual needs (i.e., an inner life),
just as they have physical, emotional, and cognitive needs, and these needs don’t get left at home
when they come to work” assert Duchon and Plowman (2005:811), while Mirvis goes even further
by claiming that “Work itself is being re-discovered as a source of spiritual growth and connection
to others” (1997:193). Still in its infancy, spiritual leadership has gained increasing popularity in
the last decade (Case & Gosling, 2007) and invites empirical research (Russell & Stone, 2002). Part
of a broader field called workplace spirituality, well described by Pfeffer (2003) and Kurth (2003),
spiritual leadership has its supporters and critics; supporters who argue that the approach
increases peace, pleasure, job satisfaction, ethics, authenticity, creativity, commitment,
productivity, etc., and is consequently good for both the employees and the company (Dehler &
Welsh, 1994; Butts, 1999; Eisler & Montouori, 2003; Krahnke, Giacalone, & Jurkiewicz, 2003;
Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003; Kinjierski & Skrypnek, 2004; Duchon & Plowman, 2005; Fry, Vitucci,
& Cedillo, 2005), while critics see in this approach to leadership a new way to establish
management domination, manipulation, power and control over employees (Tourish & Pinnington,
2002; Bell & Taylor, 2003;).
Why does this idea create so much debate? Does anyone have any doubt that we urgently need to
rethink the way we relate to others in our corporate organizations, that we need to replace the
traditional hierarchical, power-driven model (Lloyd, 1996)? It is possible that these hesitations find
their roots in two major questions.
First, it is important to ask whether the concept of spiritual leadership is so revolutionary.
According to Greenleaf the idea of the leader as servant did not come to him as a conscious logic but
as an “intuition-based concept” (Greenleaf, 1977:26) stimulated by his reading of Hermann Hesse's
Journey to the East (Hesse, 1956) – in which Leo, the central figure, is a leader of a secret order
disguised as a servant who sustains a group of people on their journey with his spirit alone. When
Leo disappears, the group cannot continue. That may be so, but it is difficult to believe that Journey
to the East is at the origin of the concept of servant leadership. The concept and even the label is,
surely, even closer to the famous “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew
23:11), “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 10:44),
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven” (Matthew 18:4), “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your
Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:13-14),
or “…Christ Jesus […] who […] took upon him the form of a servant…” (Philippians 2:5-7). Thus, if
46
the Bible and not Hesse is at the origin of Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership, then this is possibly
an example of Weber’s suggestion about a “great rebirth of old ideas“ (Weber, [1904] 2003:182).
Second, in the current context of cynicism about the integrity of our leaders, both in the public and
private sectors – for example, in 2007 CEO Noël Forgeard, left Airbus in difficulty with a golden
parachute of € 8.5 million – who can trust that if the top management of a company adopts a
spiritual leadership approach, it is for a genuine purpose? For if today a growing number of
companies are attempting to implement a spiritual culture, their ultimate goals have not changed:
greater commitment and greater productivity. The launch of Starbucks’ campaign “The Way I See
It” provides an example. In 2005, Starbucks printed 63 quotes from famous people (artists, athletes,
scientists, politicians and writers) on their cups to encourage the tradition of discussion and debate
over a cup of coffee. One of these quotes was an extract from the best-selling book The Purpose
Driven Life written by the charismatic Christian leader Rick Warren. The quote stated:
You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He
wanted you alive and created you for a purpose […] You were made by God and for
God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we
discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our
destiny (Warren, 2003).
Starbucks was fiercely criticized for this quote and accused of co-branding coffee with Christianity.
And indeed, what was the real purpose of using this quote? Was it to favor debates between
customers enjoying a cup of coffee or to send a message to employees and customers that for
Starbucks, charismatic Christianity is the way, the truth and the life? Corporate cultism is a growing
business phenomenon. One of the most remarkable cases recorded in the last decade has been the
rise and fall of Enron which had as a corporate objective to go “from the world’s leading energy
company – to the world’s leading company” (Tourish & Vatcha, 2005). Many analysts have
explained Enron’s collapse through its business accountancy practices, but few have analyzed its
leadership practices which were described by the Economist (June 2000) as “some sort of
evangelical cult”, an analysis supported by numerous, and somewhat frightening details in the
research done by Tourish and Vatcha. This corporate cultism is sometimes less visible, but is as
present in other organizations, as the comment of David Carr, columnist and reporter for The New
York Times, made to Le monde (March 3, 2009) reveals: “Travailler au Times relève plus de la
religion que d’un emploi!”16
2.4.
Concluding remarks
Religion and business are converging again, and at their intersection a number of gurus can be
found. Could it be that some of them are the new prophets foreseen by Weber? The question begs at
least to be asked. And if this is the case, who are these gurus, what is the essence of their gospel, and
16
“Working for The Times is more of a religious vocation than a job!”
47
where do they come from? North America is most likely the place to look, as suggested by Weber
([1904] 2003:182) and confirmed by both Blackaby and Blackaby (2001) and Sanders (1986).
Writers from the popularization movement offer another lead. After all, their way of
communicating through parables reminds us of the most famous parable teller of all. Blanchard,
who belongs to this movement, could well deserve the title of new prophet in that he co-wrote a
book entitled: Lead Like Jesus (Blanchard, 2006) and co-founded “The Center for FaithWalk
Leadership, a nonprofit ministry committed to challenging and equipping people to Lead Like
Jesus” (Blanchard & Johnson, 1981:110). Or perhaps new prophets could be found in the
complexification movement. As seen above, Senge, one of its representatives, enjoys referring to
mystical teachings related to John the Baptist and to early Christians, and does not hesitate to use
sacrosanct words such as metanoia which means “having a direct knowledge of God” (Senge, 1990).
And what about Covey? Interestingly, Jackson – an expert on guru theory – used the words of a
specialist of the desecularization thesis, Thomas Luckmann, to suggest that at least one
management guru – Covey – had created “an invisible religion” (Jackson, 2001:115).
However, in order to move away from conjecture in my search for Weber’s new prophets, I have
striven for measurability. Only variables that could objectively be measured, without the influence
of personal opinion, beliefs or personal experience, were taken into account. Standardized
procedures were rigorously applied in order to reduce potential criticisms as much as possible. It is
also important to stress that in this research no specific religious or spiritual trend was given
preference at the outset, but as the wide majority of leadership gurus are either American or live in
the US, special attention had to be given to Christianity. The precise details of the methodology are
set out in the following chapter.
48
CHAPTER THREE: FINDING A METHODOLOGY
The scientific method contains at least four steps when applied to sociology. First, it requires an
idea which needs to be tested; in this research, the idea has been formulated by Max Weber “No one
knows […] whether […] entirely new prophets will arise…“ (Weber, [1904] 2003:182). Second, it
needs a hypothesis derived from the idea, which can be proved or disproved. Concerning Weber’s
new prophets, my hypothesis is that these new prophets have indeed appeared, or are on the verge
of appearing. Third, tools must be designed to test and measure the accuracy of the hypothesis.
Fourth, based on the results obtained, the idea must be accepted, adjusted or rejected. This chapter
will focus in particular on the design of the tools used to test the hypothesis.
Sociologists often refer to two types of sociological enquiry, based on quantitative and qualitative
methods. Quantitative methods are used to explain and predict social phenomena which are
measurable and quantifiable. The most common quantitative methods are experimentation
(experimental group vs. control group), surveys (questionnaires), and secondary analysis (using
data and statistics). This type of investigation is sometimes preferred over the qualitative method
for its easily measurable elements. On the other hand, to understand social phenomena, qualitative
methods are preferred. This approach places the focus more on the qualitative aspect of the
research. To collect data and test a hypothesis with this method, other tools are necessary, such as
observation (watching subjects and recording their practices and interactions), interviews, or focus
groups (group interviews). But if most of the tools are specific to one or the other method, some of
them, like content analysis (e.g. of books, websites, etc.), can be applied to both quantitative and
qualitative methods.
To collect the relevant data in my search for Weber’s new prophets, and to test the hypothesis that
some of them have appeared, I needed to combine both quantitative and the qualitative
approaches, seeing them as complementary. Therefore, which tools were the most appropriate?
Indeed, it would have been difficult to organize experimental groups, focus groups, observations of
or interviews with gurus who are spread throughout the world and who request huge sums of
money to be interviewed. The use of content analysis at first seemed more easily applicable, but
only for prophets listed in the sacred texts, not for the population I was interested in, the
management gurus working in a business environment, who do not declare themselves as
prophets, and who do not know that they might merit this title. A second challenge to be faced, at
the very beginning of this research, was the varied definition of the word prophet. Depending on
the religion (Christianity or Islam), the era (before or after Christ), or the field of study (theology or
sociology), the definition was different. The description of a prophet in the Old Testament is for
example not the same as its description in the New Testament. Prophets were at times essentially
seer-priests performing rituals, while at others solely messengers from God (Mazar, 1971).
49
After much research and reflection, I came to the conclusion that, in order to resolve these two
issues, I needed to proceed in a five step approach:
1.
To establish a precise list of potential candidates for the title of prophet, using recognized
sources of information on the subject, looking at the three populations who are defined as
follows by Huczynski (1993): academic gurus, consultant gurus, and hero managers.
2.
To select a specific tool of analysis, or an analytical construction that could serve as a
measuring rod on which the selected management gurus, who might aspire to the title of
prophet, could be compared, in order to measure similarities as well as differences.
3.
To define precisely what a prophet was in the eyes of Weber, according to his sociology of
religion and to the sacred texts he had access to.
4.
To develop a grid to analyze the specific characteristics turned into binary conditions,
requesting a yes or no answer, in order to obtain unambiguous results for each potential
candidate.
5.
To organize the screening process with selection gates, listing the conditions in the most
rational order, allowing the most effective mode of selection.
3.1. Establishing a list of potential candidates
In order to establish the list of the most famous management gurus, credible sources which ranked
them were found. This first task was simple as gurus tend to promote their status through market
reputation (Alvesson & Johansson, 2002; Gluckler & Armbruster, 2003). Consequently, I selected
eleven of the best known sources of information on the subject matter which are coded S1 to S11:
S1: 56 gurus from the Guide to the Management Gurus
The Guide to the Management Gurus (Kennedy, 1991), a best-selling guide of the classic gurus and
latest thinkers who influenced the corporate world of the 20th and beginning of 21st centuries.
S2: 50 gurus from Accenture
The Top 50 leading business gurus from a list of more than 300 names, ranked by the consulting
firm Accenture based on information taken from Google, the Social Sciences Citation Index and the
Media (2006).
S3: 12 gurus from BusinessWeek
The 12 Top Management Gurus selected by BusinessWeek online, derived from a survey sent to
514 companies around the world in 2001.
S4: 55 gurus from the University of Derby MBA
The 55 most important living management thinkers as listed in the MBA Management Masters
Programme of the University of Derby Business School (2006).
S5: 54 gurus from Thinkers 50
The world’s 54 most important and influential business thinkers as listed in 2005 by Thinkers 50,
devised by Suntop Media in association with the European Foundation of Management
Development (EFMD).
50
S6: 11 gurus from “Who’s Who of Gurus”
The article “Who’s Who of Gurus” published by Samuel Greengard in Workforce Management in
April 2004 listing 11 top Business gurus, along with their books, speaking fee, and message.
S7: 50 gurus from IIM
The 50 Management Gurus listed in the Management Hall of Fame 2006 of the International
Institute of Management (IIM), a list based on the work, media coverage and recognition within the
consulting, academia and international management communities.
S8: 20 thinkers from IIM
IIM’s list of the 20 world’s most respected management thinkers.
S9: 20 gurus from “Who Are the Gurus’ Gurus?”
The Top 20 gurus listed at least twice by two hundred of today’s leading management thinkers,
published in the article “Who Are the Gurus’ Gurus?” by the Harvard Business Review (Prusak and
Davenport, 2003)
S10: 40 gurus from Amazon.co.uk
A list of the 40 Top Management gurus provided by Amazon.co.uk in 2005.
S11: 13 gurus from “The Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management”
“The Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management” from the website BBC World Service, a series
examining the roles and teachings of 13 major management gurus.
Once these eleven sources were merged, the list of gurus reached a total of 173 names (Appendix
4). I then decided to search for additional gurus, this time not from the point of view of experts, but
of readers. Acknowledging the fact that the action of buying a book is not often (if ever) motivated
by the free will of the consumer – but by recommendations from other readers, or different forms
of marketing – I monitored the twenty best sellers on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.fr
on a weekly basis. After three months of monitoring, I realized that the fluctuations were not
significant enough to require such a close monitoring and that a monthly follow up of the top ten
best sellers would give the information needed. Accordingly, from August 2004 to August 2006 on
the first Monday of each month, the ten top leadership and management best sellers on the three
websites were collected. Through this process, I retrieved, from the page ‘Management and
Leadership’, 66 names from Amazon.com, 68 names from Amazon.co.uk and 83 names from
Amazon.fr (Appendix 5), the difference between the three figures comes from the repetition or non
repetition of some names from one month to the next. Once merged, these three lists produced a
total of 217 names out of which fourteen were common to two sites and eight to all three. I used
these 22 names common to at least two websites as the twelfth and last source of expertise (S12) to
select the gurus who would be the potential candidates for the title of prophet. Added to the
previous list of 173 names, I now obtained a new list of 182 names (Appendix 6), thirteen of the
names being already included in at least one of the eleven sources of information previously
selected. In this new and final list, nineteen gurus clearly stood out, having been listed by at least six
of the twelve sources.
51
Table 1: Gurus listed by at least six sources of information
Name of Guru
Gates Bill
Hammer Michael
Handy Charles
Kotter John P.
Mintzberg Henry
Schein Edgar H.
Welch Jack
Kaplan Robert S.
Kotler Philip
Moss Kanter Rosabeth
Ohmae Kenichi
Prahalad C.K.
Senge Peter
Bennis Warren
Covey Stephen R.
Drucker Peter
Peters Tom
Hamel Gary
Porter Michael E.
#
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
11
S1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S5
1
S6
S7
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S8
S10
1
1
S11
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
S12
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
When looking at this list, I was astonished not to find a guru such as Kenneth Blanchard. In my
view, Blanchard would have been one of the most promising candidates for the title of prophet.
Having coauthored over 30 best-selling books, including The One Minute Manager (Blanchard &
Johnson, 1981), which has sold more than thirteen million copies and has been translated into more
than 37 languages, Blanchard, an author, speaker, and business consultant, is without any doubt a
guru. Having written several books on Jesus such as It Takes Less than One Minute To Suit Up for
The Lord (Blanchard, 2004) and Lead Like Jesus (Blanchard & Hodges, 2006) to describe his
journey to God, Blanchard is clearly not only a guru: he is a spiritual one. To support this claim,
Blanchard who is the cofounder of The Center for FaithWalk Leadership, a center dedicated to
training people to lead like Jesus, boldly promotes the fact that he is not the CEO, but the CSO –
Chief Spiritual Officer – of his company (Blanchard & Johnson, 1981:63). With such a curriculum
vitae, it was hard for me to understand why Blanchard was not on the final list. Consequently,
before putting the nineteen top management gurus through the screening process, I decided to use
Blanchard as a test case in order to check the level of difficulty of the characteristics composing my
measuring rod. I was surprised, to say the least, to discover that, despite all his efforts to present
himself as a spiritual guru, Blanchard passed only one out of the first four conditions! This gave me
confidence that if any guru was able to succeed with all the conditions, he or she really would be a
prophet, as foreseen by Weber.
I must emphasize before going further that, despite the fact that, if like most consultants or trainers,
I have read, studied and shared with managers, trainees and companies, the theories, teachings and
vision of these nineteen gurus, I am not a specialist nor adept of any of them. The table below gives
brief background information on each of the gurus who is a candidate for the title of prophet:
52
Table 2: Background information on each candidate for the title of prophet
Code
Name / Birth /Death
Information
G1
Warren Bennis
(1925)
University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business
Administration and Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the
University of Southern California. American scholar, organizational
consultant. Pioneer in the field of leadership studies.
G2
Stephen Covey
(1932)
Author of the international bestseller: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People (1989). Founder of the Covey Leadership Center which later became
the FranklinCovey Company.
G3
Peter Drucker
(1909 - 2005)
Former Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Sciences and Management at
Claremont Graduate University. Writer and consultant. Pioneer on
management theories, including decentralization, privatization, and
empowerment.
G4
Bill Gates
(1955)
William Henry “Bill” Gates III. American entrepreneur, former CEO and
current chairman of Microsoft. Ranked by Forbes magazine in 1995 as the
richest person in the world.
G5
Gary Hamel
(1954)
CEO of Strategos, an international management consulting firm. Visiting
Professor of Strategic Management at the London Business School. Director
of the Woodside Institute, a non-profit research foundation.
G6
Michael Hammer
(1948)
Former professor at the MIT and lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of
Management. One of the founders of the theory of Business Process
Reengineering (BPR).
G7
Charles Handy
(1932)
Irish philosopher and writer. Expert in organizational behavior and in
management.
G8
Robert Kaplan
(1940)
The Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School. Co-creator
of the balanced scorecard.
G9
Philip Kotler
(1931)
Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University. One of the pioneers of social marketing. He has
created the consulting firm: the Kotler Marketing Group (KMG).
G10
John Kotter
(1947)
Professor at the Harvard Business School. He is considered to be one of the
most famous gurus on leadership and change.
G11
Henry Mintzberg
(1939)
Currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels
Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Prolific
writer on management and business strategy.
G12
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
(1943)
The Ernest L. Arbuckle professor at the Harvard Business School. Former
Editor of the Harvard Business Review.
G13
Kenichi Ohmae
(1943)
Former senior partner in McKinsey & Company, Inc. Expert in strategy.
Created the 3C's Model.
G14
Tom Peters
(1942)
Thomas J. “Tom” Peters. American writer and expert on business
management practices. Former management consultant at McKinsey &
Company. Co-writer of the bestseller In Search of Excellence (1982) with
Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
G15
Michael E. Porter
(1947)
American academic. Expert in competitive strategy, management and
economics.
G16
C.K. Prahalad
(1941)
The Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of
Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Specialist in corporate strategy.
G17
Edgar Schein
(1928)
Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Expert in organizational
development. He was the first to coin the term ‘corporate culture’.
G18
Peter M. Senge
(1947)
Former Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan
School of Management. Currently on the faculty at MIT. Founding chair of the
Society for Organizational Learning. Major figure in organizational
development.
G19
Jack Welch
(1935)
John Francis "Jack" Welch, Jr. Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric.
53
3.2. Selecting a specific tool of analysis
I had nineteen management gurus, whom I had codified G1 to G19 (Appendix 7)17, each having an
equal chance of success. I now needed a sociological tool to put them to the test. As Weber was the
one who provided the goal of my journey, I thought he would also be the most appropriate person
to provide me with a map in order to reach my destination. Is there a better way to understand
someone else’s world than looking at it through that person’s eyes? But what would that map look
like? The ideal type – which is so often associated with Weber that many people consider him as its
father – could be that map. Weber defines it as “the one-sided accentuation of one or more points of
view” and “the synthesis of a great many diffuse, discrete, more or less present and occasionally
absent concrete individual phenomena, which are arranged according to those one-sidedly
emphasized viewpoints into a unified analytical construct.” According to Weber, the ideal type is a
methodological “utopia [that] cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality” (Weber, [1904]
2003:90). As no conceptual apparatus is able to reproduce the infinite diversity of a specific
sociological phenomenon faithfully, the ideal type can only be used as a point of reference. Instead
of trying to explain social phenomena through abstract laws, the ideal type is used to study a
phenomenon in different cultures and eras, selecting the most rational and recurrent factors
observed when the phenomenon under review functions at its peak. Once done, these factors are
placed in a consistent whole which can then be used as a measuring rod to compare, analyze and
give meaning to social phenomena occurring at different periods and in different parts of the world.
To create an ideal type successfully, four separate and successive phases are required:
differentiation (highlighting the specific features of the social phenomenon), integration
(connecting these features to a whole), abstraction (separating them from reality), and
generalization (finding the significant and persistent commonalities). When an ideal type is
developed scrupulously following these phases, the result often gives the impression that it is the
description of a social phenomenon described in its perfection. Yet this is not and cannot be the
case. The sole purpose of the accentuation is not to describe a phenomenon in its perfection, but to
serve as a yard stick or a measuring rod (Lachmann, 1971) in an unambiguous, precise and
coherent manner. As stated by Guy Rocher, the ideal type is more an idea than an ideal (1993:629).
As an illustration, some of the most famous Weberian ideal types are those of bureaucracy and
capitalism, two ideal types relevant to this research. For example, the accentuation of the
characteristics for a capitalist system are, according to Weber, the appropriation of goods of
production, a free market, a rational technique of production, a rational dependable law, free labor,
the commercialization of business, the separation between business and household, accounting
systems, and the spirit of capitalism. However, when reflecting on this description, famous cases
challenge the idea that free labor and sound accounting systems are two characteristics of
capitalism. The first to come to mind are the child labor scandals which hit Adidas and some of its
competitors (The Guardian, November 19, 2000), WorldCom’s corporate accounting frauds of
In order to help the reader follow the selection process, the list of the potential candidates to the title of prophet can also
be found on the back cover of this thesis.
17
54
nearly 3.8 billion US dollars (The Independent, June 26, 2002), and more recently, the confession of
the founder and former chairman of the giant Satyam Computer Services to having filled the
company's balance sheets with 1 billion US dollars of fictitious assets and nonexistent cash (The
New York Times, January 7, 2009). This inconsistency is true if Weber’s description is understood
as the perfect or pure description of a phenomenon as it can be observed in reality. However, there
is no inconsistency if this description is taken for what it is: an ideal type, or in other words a
measuring rod.
There is an important body of knowledge on the ideal type. Some scholars support the tool, others
criticize its origin, the method itself, its formulation and its results (Martindale, 1959:57; Lazarsfeld
& Oberschall, 1965:198; Bourdieu, Chamboredon & Passeron, 1968:79; Boudon, 1969:101; Aron,
1970). The ideal type remains, nonetheless, a valid tool for comparative studies, which sociologists
have continued to refine over the years (Becker, 1940, 1950; McKinney, 1966; Lopreato & Alston,
1970; Cahnman, 2005). And because of the special link that exists between Weber and the ideal
type, I believe that it is the most appropriate method for selecting who among the top management
gurus might deserve the title of prophet.
3.3. Defining the ideal type of a prophet
What then would be the ideal type of a prophet? The first difficulty in constructing correctly an
ideal type was to select the right sources of information from which to gather the recurrent
characteristics of a prophet. As seen previously (p. 25-28), the notion of prophet can be found in
many places: in Christian, Islamic or Jewish traditions, in old and new religious movements, as a
title for sociologists, mathematicians, politicians or philosophers, and even in philosophy like in the
seminal work of Kahlil Gibran (1923). This profusion of sources underlines one of the major
weaknesses of the ideal type approach. Since an ideal type is constructed by a person looking for
the salient elements of a repetitive sociological phenomenon, it is obvious that a different person
could have developed another ideal type of the same phenomenon, with fewer, more, or even
different characteristics. To mitigate this risk as much as possible, I decided to focus solely on the
sources directly linked to Weber. In other words, the ideal type constructed in this research must
be taken more as the ideal type of Max Weber’s understanding of prophets 18, than an ideal type of a
prophet ‘tout court’. As the word prophet – the starting point of this journey – was used by Weber,
it wouldn’t be fair to take someone else’s definition of the concept to understand what Weber
meant when he selected that word. Nor would it be logical to compare the business management
definition of a guru to the sociological definition of a prophet. For these reasons to achieve the task
of creating the ideal type of a prophet according to Weber, solely two specific sources of
information were used: as a primary source, the definition and description that Weber himself gave
of the concept of prophet, and as a secondary source, the Bible, a book Weber was familiar with19.
18 For
this reason, following Weber’s wording, the politically incorrect he, his, him will be used.
Weber’s ancestors were Protestants who had fled from Catholic persecution. If his parents did not have much religious
influence on him, Weber was however considerably marked by the deep Calvinist piety of Ida Baumgartens, his aunt, whom
he considered as his mother, and by his elder cousin, the theologian Otto Baumgarten (Kaelber, 2003).
19
55
In The Sociology of Religion Weber, who sees prophethood as the prototype of charismatic
leadership (Weber [1922] 1964:xxxiii), defines a prophet as “a purely individual bearer of
charisma, who by virtue of his mission proclaims a religious doctrine or divine commandment”
(Weber [1922] 1964:46). Weber contrasts this role of prophet with that of priest, magician, ethical
teacher, guru, philosopher, reformer, and mystery cultist. According to him, a personal calling is one
of the main distinctions that differentiates a prophet from a priest. Another difference is that, while
a prophet’s claim “is based on personal revelation and charisma”, a priest claims his authority “by
virtue of his service in a sacred tradition” (Weber [1922] 1964:46). Concerning the difference that
exists between a prophet and a magician, Weber explains that while both of them use their personal
gifts to establish their position, a magician announces divination for a fee, while a prophet declares,
free of charge, meaningful prophecies, revelations, teachings and commandments as religious
truths necessary for salvation, and lives by his own labor, as required by Christianity (Weber
[1922] 1964:46-59).
Still in The Sociology of Religion, Weber defines two major categories of prophets: the ethical
prophet and the exemplary one. According to his definition, ethical prophets proclaim the will of a
divinity by demanding and expecting followers to abide by concrete commands very strictly, their
preaching regularly referring to the divine mission that has been revealed to them. In contrast, it is
through their personal behavior that the exemplary prophets lead the way on the path to salvation,
their preaching focusing on the self-interest of the followers who look for salvation, guiding them
on the path that they themselves walked (Weber [1922] 1964:46-59).
In both categories, according to Weber, prophets present common traits and characteristics from
which I will start building an ideal type. Be it by preaching or by example, prophets, like Moses or
Mohammed, codify laws or reconstitute them, requisitioning practical values in order to regulate
behavior into a way of life common to all. As was the case in ancient Israel, prophets are concerned
about the problems of the society they live in, refuse the status quo, and attempt to find solutions.
Basing their teachings on either new forms of wisdom or on a repackaging of ancient ones, the
prophet “gathers disciples about him, counsels private individuals in personal matters and nobles
in questions relating to public affairs, and purports to mold ethical ways of life” (Weber [1922]
1964:52). Preaching with emotion, and disseminating the word through oral and written means,
the prophet establishes a binding relationship with his disciples. One of the recurrent themes used
by both the ethical and exemplary prophets is the “unified view of the world derived from a
consciously integrated and meaningful attitude toward life. For the prophet, both “the life of man
and the world, both social and cosmic events, have a certain systematic and coherent meaning”
(Weber [1922] 1964:59). Prophets consider the world as a cosmos in which every element and
event has an order and a meaning, being connected to each other, all elements being therefore
accordingly interdependent. Finally, wandering from place to place, prophets succeed in
establishing their authority, using at times magical healing (Weber [1922] 1964:46-59).
56
To construct the ideal type, I systematically reviewed the fourteen page description written by
Weber on the notion of prophet, capturing every trait, function and skill that he attributed to them,
and reached a list of seventeen characteristics describing Weber’s conception of this role. They are
presented below in their order of appearance in Weber’s work:

Bearing charisma, using personal gifts (“We shall understand prophet to mean a purely
individual bearer of charisma…” Weber [1922] 1964:46; "…who exert their influence by
personal gifts (charisma)…” Weber [1922] 1964:29).

Proclaiming a religious doctrine or divine commandment (“…who by virtue of his mission
proclaims a religious doctrine or divine commandment…” Weber [1922] 1964:46; “…preaching
as one who has received a commission from god…” Weber [1922] 1964:55).

Having received a personal call (“…the personal call is the decisive element distinguishing the
prophet from the priest.” Weber [1922] 1964:46).

Practicing magical healing (“…Prophets very often practiced divination as well as magical
healing...” Weber [1922] 1964:47).

Not being remunerated (“…what distinguishes the prophet […] from the types just described is
an economic factor, i.e., that his prophecy is unremunerated…” Weber [1922] 1964:47).

Wandering (“During the apostolic period of early Christianity and thereafter the figure of
wandering prophet was a constant phenomenon.” Weber [1922] 1964:47).

Succeeding in establishing his authority (“…a prophet succeeded in establishing his authority…”
Weber [1922] 1964:47).

Codifying new laws or repackaging ancient wisdom (“…codifying a law systematically…” Weber
[1922] 1964:49; “…full of a new or recovered understanding of ancient wisdom…” Weber
[1922] 1964:52).

Establishing ethics (“…influencing the crystallization of ethical regulations…” Weber [1922]
1964:52)

Advising individuals, including the important and the rich (“…counsels private individuals […]
and nobles…” Weber [1922] 1964:52).

Having disciples (“…gathers disciples about him…” Weber [1922] 1964:52).

Disseminating through speeches and the written word (“…disseminated by the spoken word,
the pamphlet, or any other type of literary composition…” Weber [1922] 1964:53).

Displaying exemplary behavior (“…an exemplary man who, by his personal example,
demonstrates to others the way to religious salvation…” Weber [1922] 1964:55).

Declaring new and meaningful revelations (“…bring completely new deliverances […] based on
personal revelation” Weber [1922] 1964:59; “…the prophet claims definite revelations…”
Weber [1922] 1964:47).

Regulating practical behavior for all people (“…organize practical behavior into a direction of
life, regardless of the form it may assume in any individual case…” Weber [1922] 1964:59).

Having a unified vision of life (“…a unified vision of the world derived from a consciously
integrated and meaningful attitude toward life. To the prophet, both the life of man and the
57
world, both social and cosmic events, have a certain systematic and coherent meaning…”
Weber [1922] 1964:59).

Having practical values (“The whole conception is dominated, not by logical consistency, but by
practical valuations.” Weber [1922] 1964:59).
These are the characteristics defining a prophet according to Weber’s own description, the primary
source of information. When collecting all the characteristics found in the Bible 20, my secondary
source of information, the notion of prophet presents many similarities and a few interesting
discrepancies with the description given by Weber. The root ‘prophe’ appears 573 times in the
Bible: 371 times in the Old Testament, 202 times in the New Testament. Yet, when all the variations
such as ‘prophesies’, ‘prophesy’, or ‘sons of the prophet’ as well as all the occurrences of the word
not being accompanied by a specific trait, function or skill are removed, only 301 occurrences of
interest remain: 181 times in the Old Testament, and 120 times in the New Testament (Appendix
8). Once analyzed and clustered, 13 characteristics stand out. They are presented below from most
to least frequent. According to the Bible, a prophet:

Delivers the word or commandments in the name of God. Exhorts, strengthens people, calls
them to repent, testifies against sin, warns people, witnesses, condemns, gives counsel, advises.
Guides people (79 occurrences).

Gives signs, prophecies, and makes predictions (56 occurrences).

Receives the word or commandments from God, an angel, the spirit, or through visions, and
dreams. Sees God face to face (44 occurrences).

Makes predictions that come to pass (32 occurrences).

Is persecuted, killed. Suffers, is patient in afflictions. Is not accepted in his own country, is
rejected by his own. Is not listened to (27 occurrences).

Enquires of God, prays to God, and intercedes between people and God (24 occurrences).

Transcribes the acts of kings, the word of God (16 occurrences).

Has power over people, the elements, life, and death - heals (11 occurrences).

Acts like God, sets an example (4 occurrences).

Anoints Kings (3 occurrences).

Prepares the way of the Lord (2 occurrences).

Is anointed, ordained (2 occurrences).

Uses symbols (1 occurrence).
In sum, according to the Bible, the characteristics which define a prophet are: someone who
enquires of God, receives the word of God, and then delivers this in the form of commandments,
exhorting people to abide by them, and warning them about the consequences if they fail to do so.
In addition, a prophet is expected to give signs, prophecies, and predictions which will come to
pass. Once again, as discussed previously, I wish to underline the fact that I acknowledge that such a
The Bible is one of the major sources that influenced the development of capitalism in the Western world through the
Protestant ethic.
20
58
list of characteristics does not define the role of prophet at a specific time or place. Again, my
attempt is not to suggest any unity of conceptuality, but to create a generic ideal type which
surpasses the limits of time and place, which “cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality”
(Weber, [1904] 2003:90).
3.4. Developing a grid of analysis
To create this fictitious representation of reality using only the strictly necessary elements, I
clustered the seventeen characteristics of Weber’s description of a prophet into thirteen groups,
subdividing some of the biblical clusters in order to be able to compare them with Weber’s
characteristics21. As a result, I had in total thirteen characteristics for Weber and twelve for the
Bible.
Table 3: Characteristics of a prophet according to Weber and the Bible
WEBER
BIBLE
Characteristics shared by both sources
Having charisma, personal gifts, authority, disciples
Having power over people
Proclaiming divine commandments, religious
teachings, regulating behavior
Advising important people
Enquiring of God, delivering God’s commandments,
the word of God
Advising the poor and the rich, anointing kings
Preaching and writing
Exhorting, testifying, warning, and writing
Giving prophecies, revelations
Prophesying, giving signs and predictions
Healing
Healing, having power over the elements
Wandering
Not being accepted in his own country
Displaying exemplary behavior, ethics, values
Setting an example
Having received a personal call
Being anointed, ordained
Having contact with God
Believing in God, preparing the way of the Lord
Unique to Weber
Repackaging ancient wisdom
-
Having a unified view of the cosmos
-
Being unremunerated
Unique to the Bible
-
Using symbols
-
Being persecuted and patient in afflictions
As can be seen in the above table, Weber and the Bible share ten characteristics in common. To
these ten, Weber adds that a prophet ‘repackages ancient wisdom’, and has a ‘unified vision of the
cosmos’, while only the Bible insists on the fact that a prophet also ‘uses symbols’, and faces
‘persecutions or afflictions’. In short, every single characteristic from both the primary and the
secondary sources has been used to develop the ideal type, except one: the economic factor listed
by Weber. According to him, a prophet “must not professionalize his religious proclamations”,
“being enjoined to live by the labor of his own hands”, propagating “ideas for their own sake and
The Bible cluster “being persecuted and not accepted in his own country”, for example, was divided into two subcategories. If the Bible’s “not accepted in his own country” can clearly, in some senses, be compared to the Weberian
“wandering”, the Bible’s “being persecuted” cannot.
21
59
not for fees” (Weber [1922] 1964:48). The Bible confirms this characteristic with the story of Simon
Magus who, seeing what Peter was able to do through the laying on of hands, offered him money. To
this offer, Peter replied: “Thy money perish with thee” (Acts 8:18-20). Other Bible verses support
this characteristic as is illustrated by the injunction from the Lord: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8-10). On the other
hand, Weber also recognized that there were different types of prophets. If some prophets did not
professionalize their proclamations, others (nabi, nebim) found in the Old Testament, especially in
the prophetic books and in Chronicles, practiced remunerated divination, healing and counseling
(Weber [1922] 1964:47). Consequently, this last characteristic will be discarded for a time22, as this
condition can be disputed and as it hardly fits in the corporate world which is founded on financial
transactions.
In all, fourteen key characteristics were selected from Weber’s own description of a prophet as a
primary source and from the Bible as a secondary source, to build the ideal type of a prophet. The
characteristics are as follows:
1.
Having charisma, authority, power, disciples
2.
Delivering the commandments of God, religious teachings
3.
Advising important people
4.
Exhorting, testifying, warning, and writing
5.
Prophesying, giving predictions
6.
Healing
7.
Preaching and wandering
8.
Having exemplary behavior. Promoting ethics, values
9.
Using ancient wisdom
10. Having a unified vision of the cosmos
11. Having received a personal call
12. Believing in God
13. Using symbols
14. Having faced persecutions, afflictions and adversity
Once the selection of the characteristics needed to construct the ideal type was made, I started to
work on their order of priority. After much thinking about the pros and cons of positioning them in
different order to facilitate the screening process, the characteristics were prioritized as follow:
First priority was given to all the characteristics which could be analyzed through a quantitative
method. This decision was made in order to limit as much as possible any discussion regarding the
validity of the results obtained. My second criterion in establishing the position of the
characteristics was to favor those common to both Weber and the Bible. Finally, the characteristics
22
This characteristic will be reviewed in the last chapter of this thesis.
60
which were unique to only one of the two sources (Weber or the Bible), and which could be studied
only in a qualitative manner were placed at the end of the list. For an improved readability, I have
codified the fourteen characteristics from C1 to C14. Below is the list and order of priority I gave to
the fourteen characteristics, their codes, the method selected to analyze them (Quantitative = QT,
Qualitative = QL), the tool that was used, and the commonality or uniqueness of their source
(Common to Weber and the Bible = C, unique to either Weber or the Bible = U).
Table 4: Order of priority of the characteristics, methods and tools
Code
Ideal Type Characteristic
Tool
C1
Having charisma, authority, power, disciples
QT
Statistics on Google search
C
C2
Exhorting, testifying, warning, and writing
QT
Data from Library of Congress
C
C3
Preaching and wandering
QT
Data from gurus’ websites
C
C4
Delivering religious teachings
QT
Statistics on word retrieval
C
C5
Advising important people
QT
Data from gurus’ websites
C
C6
Having exemplary behavior. Promoting ethics
QT
Data from gurus’ books
C
C7
Prophesying, giving predictions
QT
Statistics on word retrieval
C
C8
Using symbols
QT
Statistics on word retrieval
U
C9
Healing
QL
Interview / Content analysis
C
C10
Using ancient wisdom
QL
Interview / Content analysis
U
C11
Having a unified vision of the cosmos
QL
Interview / Content analysis
U
C12
Having faced afflictions and adversity
QL
Interview
U
C13
Having received a personal call
QL
Interview
U
C14
Believing in God
QL
Interview
U
The next step in the creation of the ideal type was to amplify each of the fourteen characteristics in
order to obtain an unambiguous measuring rod on which each potential candidate could be
compared, enabling me to see if any of them would deserve the title of prophet. To achieve this
objective, each characteristic was written as a binary condition, to which only a yes or no answer
could be given, each time using as a source of inspiration a specific illustration taken from the Bible
as well as from today’s business environment. The conditions are displayed below in simplified
form. Detailed descriptions and explanations will be found in the following chapters.
Table 5: Binary condition applied to each characteristic
Code
Ideal Type Characteristic
Condition
C1
Having charisma, authority, power, disciples
Having scored higher than Weber on Google
C2
Exhorting, testifying, warning, and writing
Having published at least one book
C3
Preaching and wandering
Having participated in international conferences
C4
Delivering religious teachings
Used religious vocabulary above the norm
C5
Advising important people
Having counseled at least one of the Fortune 500
C6
Having exemplary behavior. Promoting ethics
Having promoted ethical behavior in business
C7
Prophesying, giving predictions
Being turned more towards the future
C8
Using symbols
Showing an inclination for sacred numbers
61
C9
Healing
Having elaborated theories to improve health
C10
Using ancient wisdom
Using wisdom from ancient sacred texts
C11
Having a unified vision of the cosmos
Referring to the notion of connectedness
C12
Having faced afflictions and adversity
Having gone through hardship
C13
Having received a personal call
Having been called to their role
C14
Believing in God
Believing in a God, a supreme power or a divinity
Once the conditions were clear, there was a need to define which data was to be looked for. For
Weber “the enterprise of the prophet is closer to that of the popular orator (demagogue) or political
publicist than that of the teacher” (Weber [1922] 1964:53). Weber also describes prophets as
people who “influence” others (Weber [1922] 1964:45) and use “propaganda” (Weber [1922]
1964:48). This vision of prophets being experts in marketing is supported by numerous stories in
the Bible. Noah building a boat far away from any river, Moses parting the Red Sea to cross it,
Joshua breaking the walls of Jericho playing trumpets, Jesus walking on the sea, multiplying loaves
and fishes, and changing water into wine, are just a few examples of the mises en scène that
prophets can elaborate. But is it surprising? No one can create a new social order by remaining
discreet. As stated in Matthew:
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto
all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 15:14-16).
Prophets not only must be visible. The message is not enough. Prophets don’t just preach or
perform miracles. They also promote their actions by publishing lots of details on the time of the
day – “about the third hour” (Matthew 20:3); “about the sixth and ninth hour” (Matthew 20:5);
“about the eleventh hour” (Matthew 20:6) – the places they visited – “Jesus went about all Galilee”
(Matthew 4:23); “Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon” (Matthew
15:21); “Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi (Mark8:27) – and the
number of people who were present – “they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women
and children” (Matthew 15:38); “About six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside
children” (Exodus 12:37); “And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men (Mark
6:44); “And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls”(Acts 2:41).
When reflecting on these elements, prophethood seems to rhyme more with advertising than with
humility. Consequently, following the same logic, in the search for data concerning the fourteen
characteristics, I have looked not so much for what the gurus did than for what they promoted.
There is no doubt that every top management guru has delivered conferences around the world,
but who are those who promoted the image of someone travelling around the globe, visiting every
country, city and culture? Following the same logic, I have considered that to deserved the title of
prophet it was not sufficient to advise important people if this was not proclaimed openly, and
62
similarly, that going through trials and afflictions without exposing them to the world in order to
teach followers was not the behavior of a prophet. To remain as faithful as possible to Weber’s
concept of prophethood, management gurus who remain humble and discreet in the following
chapters will have no chance of being qualified.
3.5. Organizing the screening process
The objective of this research was to find if any of the nineteen top management gurus deserved the
title of prophet. My aim was not to see which gurus scored the highest on the complete list of
characteristics. Nor did I want to compare them to each other. Consequently, any guru who did not
satisfy a minimum of two conditions was eliminated. To achieve this, I divided the fourteen
conditions into three groups of four (C1 to C4, C5 to C8, C9 to C12), and a final group of two (C13 to
C14) respecting the order of priority described above. Three selection gates were organized:

Gate 1: after the first four conditions, all the management gurus who did not fulfill a minimum
of three conditions out of four would be eliminated.

Gate 2: after the eighth condition, all the management gurus who survived the first phase, but
did not score a minimum of seven out of the eight conditions would be eliminated.

Gate 3: after condition number twelve, only the management gurus who had passed a minimum
of eleven out of the first twelve conditions would be retained for the last two questions.
This three gate process disqualified some of the gurus at a very early stage. If a different approach
had been chosen, there is no doubt that every guru would have cumulated more characteristics of
the ideal type than this study reveals. But once again, this research does not aim to compare gurus
among themselves, on how many characteristics each of them scores, nor to cluster them around
specific characteristics, even if this might have also been interesting to know. The aim of this
research is simply to find out if any of the gurus deserves the title of prophet. Keeping this in mind,
even if the total number of characteristics scored by each guru had varied using a different order in
the conditions, or screening each guru on the complete list of characteristics, there would have
been no impact on the final result of this research; the gurus failing more than twice were
automatically discarded.
Before summarizing this chapter on methodology a final comment needs to be made. It is possible
that the reader might feel closer to one guru than to others. To avoid disappointment or subjective
criticism it is important to keep in mind that this study is not a competition. At the end of the
screening, there will be no winner, but the simple conclusion that Weber’s postulate was either
right or wrong.
63
3.6. Summary
In this chapter, different variables were taken out of Weber’s Sociology of Religion (Weber, [1922]
1964) and out of the Bible to create the ideal type of a prophet in order to find if any new prophets
evoked by Weber in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber,
[1904] 2003) have appeared. A total of fourteen variables have been retained and operational
conditions were formulated for each variable to allow a clear selection or rejection of each potential
candidate on each characteristic. To form a pool of potential candidates for the title of prophet,
twelve recognized sources of information listing top management gurus were used. Once
consolidated, these lists created a pool of 182 gurus, out of which nineteen stood out, being listed
by over 50% of the sources. Only these nineteen gurus were selected for the screening.
In the following chapters, the relevant data are set out and then analyzed for each of the nineteen
gurus in order to measure them against the fourteen conditions representing the fourteen
characteristics of the ideal type. Once completed, I was able to formulate a possible conclusion:

As of 2009, there is no / one / several management guru(s) who deserve(s) the title of prophet

As of 2009, there are / there are no signs that the hypothesis formulated by Weber one
hundred years ago is about to come true
A detailed record of the research was kept to provide evidence of the integrity of the investigation.
The data gathered are as objective and valid as possible, and the result obtained for each variable is,
I believe, reliable. The procedure applied throughout this research has been carried out rigorously,
and if reproduced by anyone interested in this topic, I am convinced that the results would be the
same.
64
CHAPTER FOUR: INITIAL SCREENING
In this chapter the nineteen management gurus already chosen will be tested against the first four
characteristics of the ideal type of a prophet. These four characteristics, shared both by Weber and
the Bible, describe a prophet as 1) an individual bearer of charisma, gathering disciples about him
or her, and exerting authority over them, 2) someone who disseminates the word through
pamphlets and other types of literature, 3) a wandering figure, and 4) someone who proclaims a
religious doctrine and divine commandments as if commissioned by God.
In the following paragraphs, the four characteristics are first discussed, refined and exemplified by
illustrations taken from the Bible and business life. Then these characteristics are converted into
four precise conditions against which the data gathered for each guru are compared.
4.1. Characteristic one: charisma, authority, power, and disciples
There is considerable confusion about what charisma really is (Bryman, 1992). One reason for this
confusion might be the divergent reactions produced by the attraction charisma can engender, and,
conversely, the fear of its dark side into which so many people fall (Keeley, 1995; Solomon, 1998).
The results produced by different researchers are inconsistent, they contradict one another, and
the process used in many of these studies is methodologically flawed. To avoid this confusion, as
well as any unnecessary debate, this research will simply use the notion of charisma as described
by Weber:
A certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from
ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least
specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to
the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the
basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader [...] How the quality in
question would be ultimately judged from an ethical, aesthetic, or other such point of
view is naturally indifferent for the purpose of definition (Weber, [1904] 1947: 358359).
When reflecting on this definition of charisma, Moses is the first figure that comes to mind out of
the Old Testament, and if the notion of authority and discipleship are added to this quality, Jesus is
the figure that stands out in the New Testament. The confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh is
an excellent example of a non-armed struggle for power and authority. Moses’ request to Pharaoh
to allow the Hebrews to make a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to their God, could
only have been taken as a provocation by the human god Ramses. The contest that followed
between Moses the prophet and Pharaoh’s magicians, known today as the ten plagues, resulted
finally in the death of every first born Egyptian child, including Pharaoh’s own son. The exodus is a
65
clear demonstration of Moses’ (or Yahweh’s) power and authority not only over the king of Egypt,
but even more over the 2,000,000 Hebrew slaves who followed Moses into the desert 23. The case of
Jesus is similar. He was also constantly challenged to justify his authority: ‘By what authority doest
thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?’ (Mark11:28) ‘…we would see a sign from
thee’ (Matthew 12:38). But despite these constant confrontations, every event from his birth to his
death, his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the selection of his disciples, the moneychangers he
drove out of the Temple, the Sermon on the Mount, in summary, his teachings, his ministry, and the
over two billion Christians today in the world (Barrett, 2001) testify of his charisma.
How then could charisma, authority, power and discipleship be measured nowadays? Not so long
ago, charismatic people were still walking in the footsteps of Moses and Jesus, bringing huge
crowds into the streets. This was the case for Gandhi leading his non-cooperation movement in the
1920s across India or for Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to a crowd of 200,000 marchers in
Washington, D.C. in 1963. However, the world has changed, and charisma is now expressed through
new means of communication. It is no longer measured by the number of people demonstrating in
the streets, but by the Nielsen ratings, or by the number of hits on a webpage. Today, people can
track their own level of celebrity on a daily basis by simply typing their name into Google, to
measure the increase or decrease of the number of appearances and to compare it to the most
charismatic and powerful people in the world, such as Bill Gates who showed 62.1 million results in
March 2007 (two years later, Gates is on the decrease with 27.6 million results in March 2009).
This approach to measuring fame is increasingly common. More and more people ‘google’
themselves, or somebody else on a regular basis to monitor the fluctuation of their visibility.
Googlefight.com24, for example, uses this process to allow its users to compare any two people or
things: themselves with a colleague, their favorite tennis player with a new challenger, two actors
they like, two products they want to buy, in a word, everything and anything… even God and Satan,
a fight listed in the classics. God, it should be noted, had the lead over Satan by 333.2 million
additional hits in June 2007 (Illustration 3). A second fight, done one year later, in August 2008
(Illustration 4), shows that even if the popularity of Satan is growing, God has increased his lead
over Satan by 67%, with more than 555.1 million additional hits.
According to the Old Testament 600,000 men (not including women and children) followed Moses into the desert (Exodus
12:37). Estimations for the total population reach 2,000,000 souls. There is a good chance that most of the Israelites who
followed Moses into the desert did not even know him, nor why they were going in the desert. But they followed the
movement and each evening, around the fire, discussed the decisions of a prophet they had never seen or talked to.
24 Googlefight.com is not affiliated with, nor sponsored by Google.
23
66
Illustration 3: Googlefight between God and Satan on June 2007
Illustration 4: Googlefight between God and Satan on August 2008
In order to define the minimum number of hits that the nineteen management gurus would have to
score to be considered as charismatic, I have gone back to a common pattern found in the Bible: the
fact that someone was often chosen to prepare the way of a prophet. This was the case for John the
Baptist concerning Jesus. John was chosen before his birth to herald the coming of Christ (Luke 1:525). Having pointed out Jesus and baptized him, John’s influence waned while the influence of Jesus
grew to the point that the disciples of John left him and followed Jesus (John 3:25-26). Later, John
was imprisoned and beheaded (Mark 6:17-28). A prophet is always greater than his spokesperson.
It was the case with Aaron and Moses. It was again the case with John and Jesus. Messengers can
never be more charismatic than the person they herald. And in this research, as he was the one to
herald the potential new prophets of capitalism, Weber is the messenger. To deserve the title of
prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
67
4.1.1. Condition one: to score higher than Weber on leadership in a Google
search
Before displaying the results of this Internet search, I must first open a short parenthesis to explain
how search engines, such as Google, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc., offer “…potential fieldwork for
thousands of doctorates in cultural anthropology, psychology, history, and sociology” (Battelle,
2005:3). On the one hand, it is through these search engines that the greatest library of all times
exists and continues to grow on an hourly basis. Through their crawlers, the latest versions of
search engines constantly index not only the titles of millions of web pages but also their html
content, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents, and every sound and video file that they can
find. Google alone has more than 175,000 computers dedicated to this job – i.e. more computers
than existed in the whole world in the early 1970s (Battelle, 2005). On the other hand, everyday
billions of searches are entered, results consulted, and paths taken. This represents an
incomparable source of data to track our thoughts, queries, and trends both at a social and
individual level. Exploring this incredible centralization of information, Thomas Friedman 25 in a
New York Times’ column asked: "Is Google God?" (Friedman, 2003). Battelle, the expert on Google,
explains:
What do Japanese teenagers think is cool this week? What pop star is selling, and who
is falling off the charts? Which politician is popular in Iowa, New Hampshire, or
California, and why? Where do suburban moms get their answers about cancer? Who
visits terrorist-related or pornography sites, and how do visitors find them? What
type of insurance do Latino men buy, and why? How do university students in China
get their news? Nearly any question one might frame can be answered in one way or
another by mining the implacable Database of Intentions that is building second by
second across the Internet (Battelle, 2005:12-13).
One key problem for investigators, however, is that the web has no memory. Anyone who would
like to read an issue of his or her favorite e-newspaper from two or three years ago would be
disappointed. So it is for most websites. Very few keep records of the former versions of their sites
when they upgrade them. Therefore, as the web has no time axis (Google Trends and Google
Zeitgeist being only in their pioneer stages), it is necessary in the meantime to create this timeline
by entering a precise search on a regular basis and by keeping track of the results, a process which
was used with Amazon for the selection of the gurus (p. 51), and above in monitoring the popularity
of God vs. Satan. In this research, the search engine selected to measure the charisma of the
management gurus is indeed Google, which according to ComScore (Piper Jaffray & Co, Global
Search Market Share Q1, 2005) is the most important portal on the web (51% of the market)
compared to other portals such as Yahoo (24%), MSN (13%), AOL (5%), or Ask Jeeves (5%).
Friedman who has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize three times, is an American journalist and columnist to The New
York Times.
25
68
Consequently, Google, the pulse of the planet, was selected. Using the nineteen names on May 6,
2007, the following rules were applied:

Each surname was typed with its first name, first name and surname being placed between
quotation marks, to limit confusion with other people. If Senge is not a common surname,
Peters is.

Each surname and first name was first typed in Google to collect the different forms of the
name, looking for middle names (e.g. Warren Gameliel Bennis), middle initials (e.g. Michael E.
Porter), or even nicknames (e.g. Bill Gates).

Whenever the name of a guru was found in different forms, all forms were entered once in the
search engine, placed between quotation marks, to ascertain which form was the most popular.
For example, for Drucker, “Peter Drucker”, “Peter F. Drucker”, and “Peter Ferdinand Drucker”
were entered. “Peter Drucker” was retained, being the most popular version on the web. For
Schein, after entering “Edgar Schein”, “Edgar H. Schein”, and “Edgar Henry Schein”, the form
“Edgar H. Schein” was retained. The scores of the different forms of each name were not
cumulated as their results sometimes referred to the same webpages.

Through this process, an initial idea of general popularity was obtained. To refine this result,
this time concerning the reputation of the gurus in relation to the topic of leadership and
management, the selected form of the name of each guru was typed once again between
quotation marks, but followed this time by the words ‘leadership’ and ‘management’.

Finally, to give an equal chance to every management guru, the number of results found on the
web, both for their general popularity and for their popularity linked to leadership and
management, was divided by the number of years separating their first publication to 2007, the
year of the Google search.
I acknowledge that by using this process, a great number of references made on the World Wide
Web to the nineteen gurus were certainly missed, as most of the time these appear only with their
surname: Weber, Bennis, Peters. Unfortunately, this approach could not be chosen as it was the one
which also presented the greatest risk of confusion with homonyms. Despite this fact, the results
obtained through the approach described above were extremely interesting. In Table below, on the
vertical axis, displaying the gurus’ general popularity, only 53% of them scored higher than Weber,
with the two CEOs – Welch and Gates – leading the group; on the horizontal axis, measuring the
popularity of the gurus in relation to the topic of leadership, the number of gurus scoring higher
than Weber increased as could be expected. After all, Weber was an expert in sociology, not in
leadership. Fifteen gurus, this time, scored higher than Weber as opposed to ten gurus scoring
higher than Weber in both general and leadership popularity. It is worth noting that Gates does not
appear in the chart given his result of 62.1 million hits in general popularity, nearly 40 times more
than Weber – quite literally off the page! 26 Gates’ wealth and the nature of his company might be
part of the explanation of such popularity, but this certainly cannot explain all of it. If a person’s
name, position and fortune were the only explanation to popularity, why then would Walt Disney
26
Otherwise, the chart would have been eight A4 pages long!
69
appear only 81 times when typed with the words ‘leadership’ and ‘management’, while Gates
accumulates 859,000 hits?
Table 6a: Popularity of the nineteen gurus based on a Google search – data in K hits
Edgar H. Schein
General popularity
2.0
Kenichi Ohmae
Popularity in leadership
0.8
Kenichi Ohmae
John P. Kotter
4.7
5.4
Edgar H. Schein
John P. Kotter
1.0
1.7
Warren Bennis
Moss Kanter
6.1
6.4
Robert Kaplan
Max Weber
1.9
2.0
Charles Handy
Henry Mintzberg
7.0
10.5
Charles Handy
Philip Kotler
2.1
2.5
Robert Kaplan
C.K. Prahalad
11.3
12.9
Moss Kanter
C.K. Prahalad
2.5
2.7
Max Weber
Peter Drucker
15.5
16.3
Henry Mintzberg
Warren Bennis
3.2
3.5
Michael Hammer
Gary Hamel
19.9
20.0
Michael Hammer
Stephen R. Covey
3.9
4.7
Philip Kotler
Michael Porter
20.9
21.6
Michael Porter
Peter Drucker
4.7
5.3
Peter Senge
Stephen R. Covey
23.3
28.9
Gary Hamel
Peter Senge
6.2
8.3
Tom Peters
Jack Welch
47.2
79.3
Tom Peters
Jack Welch
16.5
25.1
Bill Gates
5175.0
Bill Gates
71.6
70
Table 6b: Popularity of the nineteen gurus based on a Google search – chart
85
80
75
70
G17 Schein
65
G13 Ohmae
G10 Kotter
60
G1 Bennis
G12 Kanter
55
G7 Handy
G11 Mintzberg
Genral Popularity
50
G08 Kaplan
45
G16 Prahalad
Weber
40
G3 Drucker
G6 Hammer
35
G5 Hamel
G9 Kotler
30
G15 Porter
G18 Senge
25
G2 Covey
G14 Peters
20
G19 Welch
15
10
5
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Popularity in Leadership
As can be seen from the chart, four gurus failed this first condition on charisma: Kaplan, Kotter,
Ohmae and Schein; and fifteen passed: Bennis, Covey, Drucker, Gates, Hamel, Hammer, Handy,
Kotler, Mintzberg, Moss Kanter, Peters, Porter, Prahalad, Senge, and Welch.
Table 7: Number of gurus passing condition 1
G1
C1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
      
G8
G9
G10

71
G11
G12


G13
G14
G15
G16



G17
G18
G19


4.2. Characteristic two: exhorting, testifying, warning and writing
According to the number of occurrences of the word ‘prophet’ in the Bible (Appendix 8) the most
important characteristic of a prophet is to exhort, strengthen people, call them to repentance,
testify against sin, and warn the people against its consequences. Prophets of old exhorted, testified
and warned first orally, talking to a crowd, as recorded in Matthew 13:2-3, “And great multitudes
were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude
stood on the shore. And he spoke many things unto them in parables…” Yet they also recorded
these talks on different materials such as scrolls (Isaiah 8:1) or stones (Exodus 34:1). Even if the
teachings of the prophets have been passed on orally from one generation to the next, it is mainly
through their writings that the majority of potential believers know about them. From the
estimated 2,039 billion Christians in the world today (Barrett, 2001) none have ever actually heard
the prophets of the Bible speak, but they still believe in what they said. Thus, it is today with
modern gurus. Many local gurus might deliver powerful talks, perform excellent training sessions,
or move people in conferences, but only if they publish can they be recognized. And even if the
Internet can help gurus to become more visible on the market, the electronic form has not yet
reached the same status of the published work. The traditional way in which management gurus
disseminate their ideas to management users is indeed by writing a seminal text (Fincham, 1995;
Clark & Salaman, 1998). This seminal work can be placed under one of three heading: 1) an analysis
followed by prescriptions on a general topic, 2) methods for improving a specific topic, or 3)
success stories of individuals or companies (Wood, 1989). This work which gurus use to legitimize
their status, gain followers and disseminate their ideas, is so important that some of them have – it
seems – manipulated best-seller lists in order to have access to fame and consequently… wealth
(Jackson 2001).
Best-selling books are of such importance to launching a guru and their ideas that
some authors may have sought to artificially inflate their sales figures and in the
process influence the best-seller lists. For example, in the 1995 Business Week
exposed an intricate scheme that manipulated the sales of Treacy and Wiersema’s
The Discipline of Market Leaders (1995) to ensure that it entered the New York
Times best-seller list. Employees of CSC Index […] appeared to have spent at least
$250,000 purchasing more than 10,000 copies of the book. In addition, Business
Week claimed that CSC Index channeled corporate purchases of an additional
30,000 to 40,000 copies through selected bookstores with the intent of raising the
book’s profile on the Times list. These purchases were in small quantities from
dozens of bookstores across America that went unnoticed but had an impact on
the book’s place on the Times list. The magazine also suggested that Re-engineering
Management, the follow-up by CSC founder and chief executive James Champy to
his earlier book Re-engineering the Corporation, was also pushed up the best-seller
lists by careful bulk purchases (Greatbatch & Clark 2005:9-10).
72
Clearly, the great majority of gurus do not use this manipulative process, but such attempts
demonstrate, however, the importance of a first seminal text to have access to fame. Consequently,
to deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
4.2.1. Condition two: to have published at least one book
Management gurus are usually prolific in their writings. In order to provide reliable information on
the number of books each guru has written, two sources have been used and compared: the Library
of Congress (http://catalog.loc.gov), and the British Library (http://catalogue.bl.uk). In the lists
retrieved from the Library of Congress and the British Library, only the books, papers and essays
written by the gurus or co-authored with someone else were taken into account (Appendix 9).
Books edited by the gurus, sound recordings, video recordings, and software were not retained.
Books with only a foreword written by them, containing a simple contribution, as well as
translations into other languages were also discarded. Reprinted editions were not accepted, except
if the title was different enough to reflect important changes. The data were gathered on December
2008.
Table 8: Number of books written by each guru
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
G11
G12
G13
G14
G15
G16
G17
G18
G19
LC
27
18
48
2
3
5
18
16
43
18
15
16
8
14
15
8
16
9
3
BL
26
9
53
2
3
4
23
8
32
16
17
13
6
10
13
5
15
2
3
As displayed in the above chart, the number of books written by the nineteen gurus ranges from 2
to 53. Nevertheless, regardless of the number of books each has written, most of them have built
their fame on only one or two best sellers – Stephen Covey on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People (Covey, 1989), Tom Peters on In Search of Excellence (Peters & Waterman Jr., 1982), and
Peter Senge on The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990). This difference between two gurus in productive
writing existed also for the prophets of old. If David is known for his 150 Psalms, Obadiah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai are known for no more than three short chapters. Consequently,
it was considered that a single book was sufficient for a candidate to qualify for condition two. With
this in mind, each guru’s best seller(s) – whenever possible – as well as the guru’s field of expertise
are briefly presented in a short paragraph below. Gurus are cited in alphabetical order.
(G1) Warren Bennis
The two major best sellers written by Bennis are Leaders (Bennis & Nanus, 1985) and On Becoming
a Leader (Bennis, 1989), both translated into 21 languages. In Leaders Bennis underlines the need
for vision, communication and trust in companies. In On Becoming a Leader, Bennis attempts to
define leadership which, according to him, requires self-knowledge and clear personal goals. In this
book, Bennis also highlights the difference between leaders and managers. Leaders are able to unite
people. They are curious and they have faith in their inner voice.
73
(G2) Stephen Covey
Covey is the author of several acclaimed books, but his seminal work is without any doubt the
international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989), which has sold over
20 million copies and been translated into 38 languages. In this book, Covey presents to his readers
simple but powerful rules for life: the power to decide for themselves, the ability to select relevant
activities and then to implement them, the constant search for a co-operative approach, the need to
understand before trying to be understood, the ability to see the good in the contributions of others,
and finally the need to constantly nourish themselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.
(G3) Peter Drucker
It is difficult to pinpoint Drucker’s seminal work because of the diversity of his writings. Drucker
wrote fifteen books on management, sixteen on society, economics, and politics, two novels, one
autobiographical essay and even a book on Japanese paintings. Yet, despite this diversity, the same
constant messages can be found in his books: decentralization and simplification, skepticism
towards macroeconomic theories, respect for employees, the need for change, the need to think
before taking action, the need to create communities where people can find a sense of belonging,
the need to manage by objectives and the responsibility to serve customers.
(G4) Bill Gates
Gates published The Road Ahead (Gates, 1995), which remained number one on the New York
Times' bestseller list for seven weeks. In this book, the Chairman and former CEO of Microsoft laid
out his vision of an interconnected world built around the Internet. In 1999, Gates also published
Business @ the Speed of Thought (Gates, 1999), a book which shows how computer technology can
solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was translated into 25 languages
and was listed on the best-seller lists of The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal
and Amazon.com.
(G5) Gary Hamel
Labeled “the world’s leading expert on business strategy” by Fortune magazine, Hamel’s landmark
book, Leading the Revolution (Hamel, 2000) which was translated into more than twenty
languages, remained on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA
Today, and Business Week for several weeks. In this book, Hamel draws on the experience of
companies which, despite a highly competitive global market, were successful at maintaining their
growth through innovation.
(G6) Michael Hammer
Hammer and co-writer James Champy are the main advocates of reengineering business processes.
In their international best-seller Reengineering the Corporation (Hammer & Champy, 2001), they
74
advise their clients to regroup their companies into transversal processes instead of using the
classic organization of a company into functions such as engineering, production, sales, etc. which
creates silos. According to them, companies would be more efficient if each team, which should
include suppliers and business partners, was responsible for all the tasks pertaining to a process.
(G7) Charles Handy
In his book The Age of Unreason (Handy, 1989) Handy champions ideas like the portfolio worker, or
the shamrock organization. A portfolio worker is a freelancer who, for freedom, stimulation and
security, draws a living from different sources. Handy expands this concept to life. A portfolio life is
a life based on a whole set of occupations so that if one fails, the whole is not ruined. The shamrock
organisation is the way Handy sees the future of companies. The first leaf represents the shrinking
working population owned by the companies, the second leaf symbolizes the vital contributions of
contractors who must remain outside, and the third leaf groups temporary and part-time workers,
as well as portfolio workers – i.e. workers who are not, and often do not wish to be, considered as
part of the organization. They want a job, not a career.
(G8) Robert Kaplan
Kaplan’s research, teaching, and consultation work focus on linking cost, performance, strategy
implementation and operational excellence. Kaplan’s name is associated with the balanced
scorecard, a strategic planning and management system which helps to align business activities
with the vision and strategy of the organization. Kaplan has authored or co-authored four books on
the topic, the most famous one being The Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1996), which has
been translated into 22 languages and won the Wildman Medal in 2001.
(G9) Philip Kotler
Kotler has written numerous books on the topic of marketing for about every aspect of life: for
hospitals, schools, non-profit organizations, professional services, and even for nations, among
them one of the most authoritative textbooks on marketing: Marketing Management (Kotler, 1967),
now in its 12th edition. Two additional books which can also be of interest for this research, either
because of their titles, or because of the topics being covered, are Ten Deadly Marketing Sins
(Kotler, 2004) and Building Strong Congregations: Attracting, Serving, and Developing Your
Membership (Shawchuck, Kotler & Wrenn, 1992).
(G10) John Kotter
Kotter is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on leadership and change. His
international best-seller Leading Change (Kotter, 1996) outlines an actionable eight-step process,
explaining to organizations how to ‘do’ change. The eight steps are: establishing a sense of urgency
in order to prompt action, forming an initial core group of three to five charismatic people who
75
believe in the change, having a picture of the future that is easy to communicate, communicating
that vision in a clear and appealing manner, empowering others to act on the vision, creating shortterm wins to show people that their efforts are rewarded, keeping the momentum and
institutionalizing the new approaches.
(G11) Henry Mintzberg
Mintzberg’s field of expertise is in management, strategy, and organization. In the past decade, he
has worked in collaboration with colleagues from Canada, England, France, India, and Japan, to
develop new approaches to management education. His conclusions can be read in his latest book
Managers, not MBAs (Mintzberg, 2004) in which he describes the disconnection he has observed
between the real practice of management needed in the corporate world and what goes on in
classrooms, specifically in MBA programs. According to Mintzberg, as top companies recruit top
MBA holders, and as top MBAs are disconnected with reality, such companies reinforce internal
managerial difficulties. In this book, Mintzberg offers some solutions to this problem.
(G12) Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Kanter specializes in strategy, innovation, and change management. Her classic prizewinning book
translated into seventeen languages, Men and Women of the Corporation (Moss Kanter, 1977),
offers insight about the individual and organizational factors that promote success. It won the C.
Wright Mills prize for the year’s best book on social issues. Her latest book, Confidence: How
Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End (Moss Kanter, 2004), a New York Times
business and number one Business Week best-seller, describes the culture and dynamics of highperformance organizations as compared with those in decline, and shows how to create
turnarounds, whether in businesses, hospitals, schools, sports teams, community organizations, or
countries.
(G13) Kenichi Ohmae
Ohmae is considered by many as Mr. Strategy (Ohmae, 1982). His specific area of expertise is the formulation
and development of creative strategies and organizations for the private and public sector. Ohmae is the
author of the 3C model (Corporation, Customer, Competitors), a model which highlights the
importance of the three key success factors of a company. To elaborate a successful business
strategy, a company must focus on these three main players of the business world: the corporation
itself, its customers and the competitors. According to Ohmae, it is only by taking this strategic
triangle into account that a company can sustain its competitive advantage.
(G14) Tom Peters
In Search of Excellence, published in 1982 by the two McKinsey consultants Peters and Waterman
Jr., is the result of a project launched by their firm to better understand the success of some
76
corporations. The two consultants were mandated to interview and analyze the best companies in
the world and to find the secrets of their success in terms of organization, structure and people. In
total, Peters and Waterman Jr. examined 43 of Fortune 500's top performing companies. From their
study, eight themes stood out as success factors: active decision-making, learning from the
customer, fostering innovation, employees as a source of quality improvement, committed
management, staying close to the core business, lean organization, and autonomy on the shop-floor.
(G15) Michael Porter
Porter’s core business is competitive strategy. Competitive Strategy (Porter, 1980), was his first
book-length publication on strategy and has been translated into nineteen languages. According to
Porter, there are two types of competitive advantages that a company can have over others: low
cost and differentiation. It is by combining these two types that a company can take the lead, rising
above the competition.
(G16) C.K. Prahalad
A professor, researcher, speaker, author and prominent consultant, Prahalad co-authored in 1994
with Gary Hamel, the best-seller Competing for the Future (Hamel & Prahalad, 1994) which was
translated into fourteen languages. Using real business life examples (e.g. IBM and Apple), Prahalad
and Hamel explain that the objective of a company should not be to focus on how to become the
current number one, but on how to be the first to get into the future. According to them, it is by
fighting internal complacency and routine, and by imagining new markets and reinventing
themselves that companies can create their future.
(G17) Edgar Schein
Schein is the founding editor of Reflections, the Journal of the Society for Organizational Learning
devoted to connecting academics, consultants, and practitioners around the issues of knowledge
creation, dissemination and utilization. Schein has been a prolific researcher, writer, teacher and
consultant. He is credited with coining the term corporate culture. In his book Organizational
Culture and Leadership (Schein, 2004) Schein identifies three levels of organizational cultures
which are key to understanding any resistance to change in the company: artifacts (visual
organizational structures and processes), values (strategies, goals, and philosophies), and basic
assumptions (perceptions, thoughts and feelings).
(G18) Peter Senge
Senge has lectured extensively throughout the world, translating the abstract ideas of systems
theory into practical tools to drive economic and organizational changes. Senge is the author of the
widely acclaimed book, The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990). This book hit a nerve within the
business and education community by introducing the theory of learning organizations. Since its
77
publication, more than a million copies have been sold world-wide. In 1997, the Harvard Business
Review identified it as one of the seminal management books of the past 75 years.
(G19) Jack Welch
In 1981, Welch became the eighth and youngest CEO of General Electric. During his 20-year tenure,
Welch led his company from a market value of $12 billion in 1981, to approximately $280 billion in
2001, when he retired. In Jack: Straight from the Gut (Welch & Byrne, 2001) and Winning (Welch &
Welch, 2005) Welch recounts his career, the business strategies and the style of management that
helped GE become one of the most successful companies in the world.
For this second condition, 100% of the nineteen gurus passed the test.
Table 9: Number of gurus passing condition 2
G1
C1
C2
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
      

         
G11
G12




G13
G14
G15
G16







G17
G18
G19





4.3. Characteristic three: preaching and wandering
Traveling on foot, on the back of a mule or by boat, it is impressive to follow a biblical prophet on
his journey. During the three years of his active ministry, Jesus visited Jerusalem (Mark 11),
Ephraim (John 11), Samaria (Luke 9), the regions of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7), Caesarea Philippi
(Mark 8), Decapolis (Mark 7), Perea and Judea (John 11) to name only a few. Paul’s journeys are
even more widespread, including Jerusalem (Acts 15:2), Caesarea (Acts 25:4), Antioch (Acts 15:35),
Tarsus (Acts 21:39), Athens (Acts 17:15), Corinth (Acts 18:1), Ephesus (Acts 19:1), and Rome (Acts
23:11). In short, prophets of old covered impressive distances, traveling by day and night. And not
only did they travel, but it seems that it was important for them to write about these travels, to
make them visible to the world. Abundant details are given about the cities prophets visited, the
purpose of the visit, their means of traveling, the duration of their stay, and the reactions of the
people to their preachings – so many details that it cannot be chance, as if prophets of old insisted
on the fact that to be a prophet meant going beyond the boundaries of one’s own country. Perhaps
this is due to the fact that "only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a
prophet without honor" (Mark 6:4). This characteristic seems to be shared by top management
gurus in so far as the guru’s public performances are critical to both their popularity and income. As
expressed by Greatbatch and Clark (2005:3) “As the popularity of their book begins to wane their
continued success on the international lecture circuit helps them to maintain their star status.
Indeed, many gurus become better-known for their live performances than their books as they
attract and sustain a mass live following.” Therefore, to deserve the title of prophet, a guru must
fulfill the following condition:
78
4.3.1. Condition three: to have participated at international conferences
There is no doubt that a guru who has written a book has also spoken at conferences. However, the
third characteristic of the ideal type does not so much focus on how often gurus speak at
conferences, nor in which countries around the world they travel, but on whether or not they
choose to publicize these promotional journeys. To find these data three sources of information
were used:

The gurus’ personal, professional and academic website(s)

Their official Curriculum Vitae27

Their biography or the paragraph often entitled “On the Author” displayed at the beginning or
at the end of their books
In June 2007, calendars, agendas, lists of events and papers presented at conferences, displaying
clearly some kind of travel abroad were observed and noted in these three sources of information.
Even if, in some cases, there were strong indications that some gurus had travelled, to avoid any
discussion about the objectivity of the results found for this condition only the gurus who clearly
displayed the name of a country or a city, foreign to their place of residence, have been considered
as successfully satisfying the third condition.
Before displaying the results, it must be clarified that I recognize that the information found on a
website, a CV or in a biography is not always accurate. These tools are, after all, created for a
specific purpose: the promotion of an individual. As a result they can only reflect a subjective vision
of reality and must therefore be used with considerable caution. However, whatever truth lies
behind the words, my interest regarding these data is not so much to prove or disprove that travel
abroad occurred, but to analyze for which gurus it is important to show to the world that he or she
is participating in the international management lecture circuit.
(G1) Warren Bennis
Bennis has no personal or professional website, and there is no specific information on travel on his
book jackets. On the page dedicated to him on the University of Southern California website where
he serves as Professor of Business Administration and Founding Chairman of the Leadership
Institute (http://www.usc.edu/programs/cet/faculty_fellows/bennis.html), no calendar, agenda,
list of conferences or presentations of papers can be found. Visitors learn, however, that Bennis has
served in different positions at Harvard University, UCLA, MIT, Boston University, the State
University of New York and the University of Cincinnati – in other words there is a great deal of
travel but all within the United States. That said, this page also notes that Bennis is a visiting
professor of leadership at the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom. Thus, he qualifies for
condition number three.
The word ‘official’, in this context, means that the CV is posted in a recognized and public place, for example the university
website where they teach.
27
79
(G2) Stephen Covey
Covey’s
calendar
is
easily
accessible
from
the
homepage
of
his
website
(http://www.stephencovey.com), which displays both public and private events. In public events,
we learn that in September 2007, Covey delivered three conferences in Pennsylvania and one in
Texas; in October, one in Luxemburg, one in the Netherlands, one in the Bahamas, one in the
Dominican Republic and two in Costa Rica; in November two in China, one in Singapore, and one in
Florida; in February 2008, one in Texas and one in Nevada; and in March one in Australia and one
in New Zealand. There is also a calendar listing private events but to have access to it a password is
required. Covey passes the test.
(G3) Peter Drucker
Despite his death in 1995, Drucker still has two active websites. The first can be found at the
Drucker School of Claremont Graduate University (http://www.cgu.edu/pages/292.asp), where
visitors can read about the major events of his life. Drucker was born in Austria in 1909, moved to
Germany in the 1920s, then to the UK in the 1930s only to finally settle in the US in 1939, which is
the place I have considered here as his place of residence. The second site is
http://www.peterdrucker.at where visitors learn that Drucker worked with “nearly every major
corporation”, with “numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations both home and
abroad” in which are specifically listed Canada and Japan. Consequently, Drucker also satisfies
condition three.
(G4) Bill Gates
Simply for the period from January 2006 to May 2007, according to the calendar posted on the
Microsoft website (http://www.microsoft.com), Gates participated in nineteen conferences, either
representing Microsoft or talking about technological breakthroughs: fifteen of these conferences
were in the US in cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Dallas, and five
were outside the US: in China, Colombia, Scotland, Germany, and Portugal. Gates succeeds with
condition number three.
(G5) Gary Hamel
On the personal website of Hamel, or to be more precise on his personal webpage, as the site
consists of only one screen (http://www.garyhamel.com), visitors find a short biography, the list of
his publications as well as a link to the website of his consulting firm: http://www.strategos.com.
Both sites inform visitors that Hamel, who is based in Northern California, is a Visiting Professor of
Strategic and International Management at the London Business School. This allows him to pass condition
number three.
80
(G6) Michael Hammer
Hammer is the founder and president of Hammer and Company (http://www.hammerandco.com).
His biography does not refer to any position of visiting professor, consultant to a company based
abroad, or to a foreign government. A list of major clients are posted on the site, including
customers like Banco de Credito del Peru, Canada Post or Zurich Financial, but no mention is made
of who – Hammer or one of his associates – delivered the service, nor if it was the consultant or the
client who travelled. In addition, the names of the countries or cities listed on the website are not
geographical places, but parts of the names of companies. Only one workshop with the venue is
mentioned on Hammer’s website: A One-Day Executive Workshop, on October 12, 2007 in Boston.
No additional information can be found on the flaps of Hammer’s books. Hammer does not fulfill
condition number three.
(G7) Charles Handy
Handy has no personal, professional or academic website. The only three serious biographies about
Handy that can be found on the Internet are on Wikipedia, BBC World Service and Thinkers50, but
none of them presents Handy as a man who has travelled around the world to consult or to
participate in conferences. There is no additional information in the section “About the Author”
found in his books. Consequently, Handy does not succeed with condition number three.
(G8) Robert Kaplan
Without going into as much detail as some of his colleagues, Kaplan has posted, on the website of
the Harvard Business School where he works as the
Baker Foundation Professor
(http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=rkaplan), a short paragraph
stating that Kaplan “consults on the design of performance and cost management systems with
many leading companies. He regularly offers seminars in North and South America, Europe, Middle
East, South Africa, Asia, and Australia / New Zealand.” Consequently, Kaplan fulfills condition
number three.
(G9) Philip Kotler
On his professional website (http://www.kotlermarketing.com) Kotler displays a calendar with the
dates, locations and fees for each of the engagements that he undertook from September to
December 2007. According to this agenda, Kotler was to speak in Mexico City in September, Port
Elizabeth, S.A. in October, Toronto, Canada, Dusseldorf, and then Stuttgart, Germany, Vienna,
Austria, Turin, Italy and Detroit in November. Kotler is successful with condition number three.
81
(G10) John Kotter
Kotter has four websites: his professional one (http://www.johnkotter.com), two to promote his
last two books: http://www.ouricebergismelting.com and http://www.theheartofchange.com, and
an academic one (http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=jkotter) in
connection with his position as Professor at the Harvard Business School. There is no doubt that
Kotter enjoys talking at conferences; the homepage of his professional site displays a picture of him
in the act of speaking and describes the style he uses to deliver his speeches. However, none of the
four websites gives the slightest hint of Kotter delivering a conference in any other country. On the
back flap of one of his books, a short sentence says that he “…is a frequent speaker at top
management meetings around the world”, but no foreign country or city is quoted. To apply the
rules as fairly and consistently as possible, even if there is no doubt that Kotter travels abroad, as it
is apparently not important for him to promote the image of a consultant who has visited many
countries and places, it must be considered that he does not fulfill condition number three.
(G11) Henry Mintzberg
Mintzberg does not display on his website (http://www.henrymintzberg.com) any calendar with
dates, places or the titles of papers he delivered around the world. However, an extensive CV
(twenty-seven pages long!) dated March 2005 is posted on his website. In this CV, Mintzberg
describes in detail his education, the awards he has received, his professional experience, all his
publications (books, articles, reviews, etc.), as well as all the speeches, conferences and
presentations he gave from 1963 to 2004. In total, six pages with dates, places, types of conferences,
and topics covered. In these six pages, we learn that Mintzberg, in addition to delivering many
conferences in North America, delivered speeches in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, New
Zealand, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the UK. For condition
number three Mintzberg behaves exactly like a prophet of old.
(G12) Rosabeth Moss Kanter
As the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School,
Kanter has a page (http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=rkanter) on
the school’s website where visitors learn that Kanter is an adviser to the CEOs of numerous large
and small companies and has served on the boards of various business and non-profit
organizations and national or regional commissions. She also speaks widely, often sharing the
platform with Presidents, Prime Ministers, and CEOs at national and international events, such as
the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On the same webpage, a link to all the papers
Kanter has presented since 1967 can be found, with the title, the place and the date when each was
delivered. It is also indicated that Kanter has delivered conferences not only in many parts of the
USA, but also in Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico. Kanter succeeds with condition number three.
82
(G13) Kenichi Ohmae
Born in Japan, and currently living once again in Japan, Ohmae has a professional website
(http://www.kohmae.com) fully displayed in Japanese characters except for two links written in
English: “Biography” and “Major Publications”. In the biography visitors learn that Ohmae is
“regularly sought out as a public speaker and management consultant” and that “some of Japan’s
most famous and internationally successful companies continue to seek his help in shaping their
competitive strategies. Likewise, his counsel is also much in demand among Asian, European and
North American-based multinational and governmental institutions.” Ohmae is a Trustee and
Adjunct Professor of Bond University, on the board of SEI at The Wharton School (University of
Pennsylvania), advisor to Liaoning Province and Tianjin City in China, Honorary Distinguished
Professor of the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha Womans University in Korea, and
Honorary Visiting Professor at Korea University. Ohmae fulfills condition number three.
(G14) Tom Peters
According to the information posted on his professional website (http://tompeters.com), Peters
“presents some 60 or so major seminars each year, more than half outside the U.S. He estimates
that since 1978, when the work on In Search of Excellence (1982) began, he has given about 2,500
speeches, flown 5,000,000+ miles, spoken before 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 people, and presented in
47 states and 63 countries.” Still on his website, the visitor has access to his calendar, and can see
that Peters spoke in Brazil and in the UK in August 2007, in the USA and in Australia in September,
in the USA, in Korea and in the UK in October, in Argentina, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and
Mexico in November, and in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Dubai in December. Peters is
certainly the guru who comes the closest to the apostle Paul on characteristic number three.
(G15) Michael E. Porter
Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at the Harvard Business School, Porter has a
webpage at http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=mporter which
informs visitors that he “has served as a strategy advisor to top management in numerous leading
U.S. and international companies […] has also advised national leaders in numerous countries
including Armenia, Ireland, Nicaragua, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
He has personally led major studies […] for the governments of such countries as Canada, India,
Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Portugal, and Thailand. Currently, he is leading a national economic
reform initiative for the country of Libya […] has also assisted many state and local governments in
enhancing competitiveness […] has also advised Governors and private-sector leaders on economic
policy in states and regions such as Basque Country, Catalonia, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Jersey,
and South Carolina.” Consequently Porter succeeds with condition number three.
83
(G16) C.K. Prahalad
Prahalad is the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy
of the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan. On his academic webpage
(http://www.bus.umich.edu/FacultyBios/FacultyBio.asp?id=000161713) a biography of only three
short paragraphs is displayed which includes the comment that Prahalad “has consulted with the
top management of many of the world's foremost companies.” However, no information is given on
which companies, nor in which countries. There is a further website, a sort of discussion forum
exchanging articles about the Indian Guru which, apparently, has been developed by some of his
disciples: http://www.ckprahalad.com – but once again, no information about Prahalad’s travels is
given. Prahalad does not fulfill condition number three.
(G17) Edgar Schein
As a Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School
of
Management,
Schein
has
a
webpage
hosted
by
the
Business
School
at
http://sloancf.mit.edu/vpf/detail-if.cfm?in_spseqno=121&co_list=F. This page, however, does not
give any details about his preaching and wandering. There is another official website 28 developed
this time by Dori Digenti, Director of Training and Special Executive Programs at MIT
(http://web.mit.edu/scheine/www/home.html), also found on the MIT website. The biography
presented on this website states that “…among his past and current clients are major corporations
both in the U.S. and overseas such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Ciba-Geigy, Apple, Citibank,
General Foods, Procter & Gamble, ICI, Saab Combitech, Steinbergs, Alcoa, Motorola, HewlettPackard, Exxon, Shell…”, which even if it gives us enough hints that Schein does not limit his actions
to the American territory, does not promote his travels as no names of foreign countries or cities
are listed. No additional information can be found in the paragraph “On the Author” of any of his
books. Schein does not fulfill condition number three.
(G18) Peter Senge
Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning, a global
community of corporations, researchers, and consultants, Senge has participated in numerous
conferences. His calendar (http://www.solonline.org/PublicationsAndResources/authorevents/)
shows that he spoke in November 2006 on Strategy held in Waltham, MA (USA), in June 2006 on
Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling in Malboro, MA (USA), in June 2006 on Leading Learning
Organizations in New Zealand, in February 2007 on The Fifth Discipline in Utrecht (Netherlands), in
February 2007 on Global Corporate Citizenship in New York (USA), in March 2007 on
Organizational Development in Washington DC (USA). In October 2007, Senge was also scheduled
to deliver a talk in a conference on Learning Organization in Sydney (Australia), in November 2007
28
Official meaning, according to Digenti, that Schein has agreed to the content presented.
84
on Systemic Consulting in Vienna (Austria), in November 2007 on Systems Thinking in Seattle, WA.
(USA). Senge successfully fulfills condition number three.
(G19) Jack Welch
Welch has only one website (http://www.straightfromthegut.com/index/index.html) which
promotes his book: Jack (Welch & Byrne, 2001). On this website, his biography is only three
paragraphs long and doesn’t reveal anything about preaching and wandering. The visitor will find a
page with questions and answers. The last question is “What's next for you?” and the answer is “I'm
going to coach a little, teach a little and play golf a lot. I'm looking forward to working with a diverse
group of companies and their CEOs on a variety of subjects: management practices, boundaryless
behavior, people – leadership in general. And, of course, I'll golf. I'm still hoping to get better. The
future's not set in stone but I know this: I'll continue to have fun and love what I do.” No foreign
countries or cities being listed, Welch does not qualify under condition number three.
In conclusion, based on the data retrieved and on their analysis, six gurus don’t qualify for condition
number three: Hammer, Handy, Kotter, Prahalad, Schein, and Welch.
Table 10: Number of gurus passing condition 3
G1
C1
C2
C3
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
      

         
    
 
G11
G12






G13
G14
G15
G16










G17
G18
G19






4.4. Characteristic four: commandments of God, religious teachings
As far as I can recall, words have always fascinated me, by their sound, their meaning and their
etymology. I have also been frequently intrigued by the fact that, to say exactly the same thing, each
person will choose different words and word combinations. In my opinion this does not occur by
chance. In fact, the words people use are an incomparable source of information about them. It is
for this reason that out of the fourteen characteristics considered here, the fourth one is in my view
particularly convincing.
When reading the Bible, different styles of writing are obvious. Some are historical (e.g. Ezra 1),
others genealogical (e.g. Matthew 1), architectural (e.g. Exodus 26), poetical (e.g. Song of Solomon),
geographical (e.g. Genesis 2), or even political (e.g. Matthew 22). Yet, whatever the style, the
purpose remains the same: to pass on religious teachings. The Ten Commandments found in
Exodus 20, or the Beatitudes in Matthew 5-7, by their visibility or clarity are the most obvious
examples, but the experienced reader knows that some key words such as ‘Thus saith the Lord…’,
85
‘Behold…’, or ‘Verily I say unto you…’ are discreet ways to warn the reader that an important
commandment or teaching is about to follow.
In the secular world the situation is more complex. Over the last two centuries the growing
influence of the social sciences, specifically the birth of psychology and sociology competing with
theology in an attempt to explain life, has made the picture rather more complicated. Principles and
teachings which originated in any of the three disciplines can now be found in the other two. In a
somewhat provocative text written by Hillman and Ventura (1993), the two psychologists describe
psychotherapy as a new religion in which psychologists officiate as priests 29. Hillman and Ventura
support their vision with a whole series of testimonies such as the following:
As a survivor of Delta 1141 plane crash, I entered therapy the day after the crash […]
I am still in therapy for one simple reason: it has changed my life […] Most of my
friends are now in therapy, and I prefer to date men who have had at least some
counseling or are willing to go. I love mental health and hope that more people can
discover that therapy is where inner peace begins (Hillman & Ventura, 1993:135).
On April 29, 1990, The Boston Globe reported that "each week, 200 types of 12-step recovery
groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Overeaters Anonymous draw 15 million Americans to
500,000 meetings across the nation", thus making psychotherapy the third largest religion in the
US. The religious teachings found in the writings of business gurus might be problematic as it will
be difficult to prove that their origins are specifically religious. To resolve this difficulty, it is the
words, not the message, which will be focused upon. Which gurus used words such as damn30, God
knows, Heaven knows, Hell, Jesus, my God…to express surprise, pain or joy? Which authors use
distinctively religious wording such as absolve, angels, angel’s advocate, apocalyptic, apocryphal,
ark, bible-thumping preacher, born-again, calling, catechism, chaos, charisma, charitably, Creator,
christened, church, confess, converts, deluge, demons, devil's advocate, epiphany, evangelism, faith,
Father, genesis, God, godfather, gospel, grace, guiding stars, Heaven, heretic, hermit, holy grail, on
my knees, leap of faith, litanies, Mecca, meditation, messianic, on-high, parable, parochial, plant a
seed, praise, prayer, prayerful, proselytize, prophecy, religious, sacred cow, sacrifice, sacrosanct,
salvation, scapegoats, scriptures, second mile, sin, soul, spirit, spiritual, testament, or zealot in a
non-religious context, requiring – or perhaps not – a conscious effort to be selected?
Christian language is exclamatory not explanatory, intensive not discursive,
particular not abstracted. It has a logic of responding to the world as emblem rather
than treating it as object […] It has a logic of symbolic affinity rather than rigorous
implication, which is one major source of its malleability when it comes to political
“This is why we're all priests, we're no longer psychologists. We're delivering them from the maw of Hell. Because let's call
a spade a spade here, this is not childhood, you're delivering them from Hell itself” (Hillman & Ventura, 1993:192).
30 These words are taken from the books Hillman & Ventura, 1993; Peters & Waterman Jr., 1982; Senge, 1990, Goleman,
McKee & Boyatzis, 2002; Stephen R. Covey, 1989.
29
86
inferences or moral casuistry. Crucially its mode of address is personal and direct not
analytic (Martin, 2005:189-190).
The use of Christian language is indeed not neutral. To measure the level of religiosity in the
teachings of a guru, I decided to focus more on the form than on the content, more on the words
than on the speech. Which authors used Christian language in the non-religious field of leadership
and management, and which did it consciously, requiring a particular mental effort or specific
religious knowledge? To deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
4.4.1. Condition four: to display a use of religious words above the norm
The idea of counting words has a long history. This practice was used several thousand years ago in
Hebrew texts and was also common in other places and eras, such as the Hellenic period
(DeRocher, 1973). However, it is only at the beginning of the last century that science became
interested in the topic, through the development of psycholinguistic models which analyzed word
frequency in order to understand the structure of human language (Jespersen, 1922; Zipf, 1929;
Martinet, 1960; Oldfield & Wingfield, 1965; Fidelholz, 1975; Jescheniak & Levelt, 1994; Bybee,
1996). The conclusions of these various studies showed that everyone uses a different set of words,
unconsciously creating what might be termed as a personal lexical DNA or signature. The study of
linguistic style called stylometry 31 is so precise that it can be used for a wide range of purposes
from authorship identification (Matthews & Merriam, 1993; Stamatatos, Fakotakis & Kokkinakis,
2001; de Vel, Anderson, Corney & Mohay, 2001) to discourse analysis. One of the most famous cases
of authorship identification was the analysis by Monsarrat (Monsarrat, 2002) of “A Funeral Elegy”,
a poem attributed to William Shakespeare, but which, through stylometry, showed more
resemblance to John Ford’s linguistic signature than to Shakespeare’s. In discourse analysis, a
recent example can be found in the French Presidential election of 2007. During the election
campaign, Jean Veronis32 examined the word frequency count of the four major candidates. Using a
total of 209,563 words (Bayrou: 64,175 words; Le Pen: 23,931; Royal: 44,748; Sarkozy: 76,709),
Veronis was able to highlight the overuse and underuse of certain words compared to the norm.
One of the conclusions was that while Bayrou and Le Pen tended to use a consensual nous33, Royal
overused the vous34 form, while Sarkozy preferred je35 as represented on a factor analysis of
correspondence presented below, which positions words horizontally and people vertically 36.
The first principles of stylometry were described by Polish philosopher Wincenty Lutosławski as early as 1890. Today,
digitized books, powerful computers, and specialized software such as Signature (Oxford University) and JGAAP (Duquesne
University) allow researchers not only to recognize the most specific words used by people, but also their language patterns
and word combinations. As my research does not look at authorship identification, it was sufficient to focus only on the most
salient elements of the gurus’ books.
32 Veronis is professor of linguistics and IT at Provence Aix-Marseille 1 University (http://www.up.univ-mrs.fr/veronis).
33 We
34 You
35 I
36 For a detailed explanation of the complex construction of these charts, the reader is referred to Statistique textuelle
(Lebart & Salem, 1994).
31
87
Illustration 5: “Everyone his or her own way”
Without any doubt, this difference between the two candidates in the second round (Sarkozy and
Royal) had an impact on the thinking of French voters, even if it was only at a subconscious level.
Sarkozy was perceived as the only one able to take courageous decisions, someone able to take
charge (je37), while Royal was seen as placing too much weight on the voters (vous38), with the risk
of becoming stuck in endless negotiations with the partenaires sociaux39. This very basic analysis
can of course be developed in any number of ways, helping to uncover, for example, what the major
themes used by each of the candidates were. As can be seen in Illustration 6 while jeunesse, possible,
valeur, cesser, démocratie, crise and homme40 were recurring themes in the discourses of Sarkozy,
Royal preferred the words énergie, entrendre, salarié, construire, juste and femme41.
Illustration 6: Lexical specificities
I
You
39 Labor unions and social representatives
40 youth, possible, value, stop, democracy, crisis and man
41 energy, listen, worker, build, right and woman
37
38
88
In the search for Weber’s new prophets, I have applied the principles of stylometry in order to
measure the level of religiosity in the lexical signature of the nineteen leadership and management
gurus. The following process has been used:
Step 1: Selection of a book for each guru and its transformation into an electronic format
Step 2: Separation of the content words from the function words
Step 3: Development of a stop word corpus made out of religious words
Step 4: Screening of each book through this religious word corpus
Step 5: Analysis of the results
Step 1: Selection of books
To select the best book for each guru in order to allow the signature to speak at its full potential,
several criteria were taken into account and placed in order of priority, being combined whenever
possible. The full list of selected books can be found in Appendix 10.
Criterion 1: The bestseller that made the author famous
Criterion 2: The latest book released
Criterion 3: The size of the book – a minimum of 36,000 words is usually recommended
Criterion 4: The format of the book – quality of paper, size of margins, text layout, type of font for
OCR reasons
Criterion 5: The author as the sole writer42
In order to analyze the results of the leadership and management gurus objectively, three
additional types of literature were selected. First, for religious literature, two books were taken
from the Bible, one from the Old Testament (Genesis) and one from the New Testament (Matthew).
Second, four books deeply influenced by Christianity, each one presenting a different angle: Max
Weber, as the constant reference to this thesis; Joel Osteen as an American church leader 43, speaker
and writer, convinced that religious beliefs develop personal and professional efficiency; Karl Marx
for the opposite reasons; and Grace Davie, as a modern sociologist of religion. Third, two randomly
chosen books which have no connection with religion were used: one on gardening, and one on
cooking. For copyright reasons, the electronic versions of all these books remain in my possession
but can be consulted on request. An additional attempt was initially made with 44,366 words taken
from the breaking news section of major newspapers such as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal,
The Financial Times, The Herald Tribune, The London Telegraph, and The London Times, but this
attempt was quickly dismissed, firstly because it was impossible to have the signature of a single
writer, and secondly because sporadic events such as Hurricane Dean distorted the results.
An exception had to be made for Kaplan and for Peters as the books that made each of them famous was co-written with
someone else. I postulated, however, that as they both were the main author, the lexical signature found in the books was
likely to be theirs. For Welch, the case is more complex as he used a ghost writer. As he has not written any books by himself,
I have assumed that the numerous quotes and dialogues found in the book were likely to be his and could compensate for
the journalist’s style.
43 Joel Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church, a non-denominational mega-church based in Houston, Texas. He is
the author of the best-seller Your Best Life Now (Osteen, 2004)
42
89
Once the books were selected, the next step was to convert them into machine-readable documents.
To do this a scanner equipped with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) was used. Each book was
scanned in its entirety, with the exception of the acknowledgments, the introduction to revised
versions, the index, the bibliography, the biography, the charts and the footnotes. Aware of the
potential inaccuracy of OCR processing due to poor printing, poor paper quality, and multiple fonts,
the risks were mitigated by selecting books with OCR friendly fonts, large margins and two visual
checks of the quality of the text retrieved were conducted, one during the OCR process and one
using Microsoft Word spelling and grammar check. In total, 2,531,154 words were scanned and
analyzed.
Step 2: Content and function words
The English language can be divided into two categories of words: content words and function
words. Content words consist mainly of nouns, verbs and adjectives. They carry a high lexical
meaning, while function words, mainly articles, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs and
interjections, create grammatical relationships between content words. A stylometric analysis can
focus on either word corpus as each person prefers certain content and function words over others.
For this research, as articles, pronouns, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs have been less influenced
by the Judeo-Christian culture than content words, only the content words were focused on in order
to obtain a more precise picture.
The lexical density – the ratio of content words to function words in a specific text – is a key
quantitative parameter (Stubbs, 2002:39) in my calculations. A conservative measurement of
lexical density often referred to, comes from the analysis made by Miller, Newman and Friedman
(1958) on a text of 36,299 words, separating content words from function words. According to their
study, while function words account for only 6.4% of the vocabulary, they total 59% of all word
occurrences. My conclusion was that once all the function words had been deleted from the
electronic books, the words left would account for 61% of the total word count.
At this stage, by simply looking at the OCR results with a specific focus on the content words, some
interesting results were already emerging, such as the richness of the language of each writer (how
many different content words they use per 1000 words) or the precision in the choice of the title of
their book. By looking at the three most recurrent content words of each book and by comparing
them to the title of the book, it became clear that most of the time the title of the book was perfectly
representative of what could be found in it. In The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990), the three content
words most used by Senge are: people, learning, and vision. For Porter’s On Competition (Porter,
1979), they are companies, competitive, and clusters. For Moss Kanter’s The Change Masters (Moss
Kanter, 1983), they are people, new, and change.
90
Step 3: Stop word corpus
Once the books had been selected, transformed into electronic format and simplified in a database
containing only content words, the next step was to create a religious stop word corpus, a list of key
words to which each of the books would be compared. To create this corpus, three different sources
were used: a Bible dictionary, a thesaurus, and an etymological dictionary. From the 4,640 entries
of the Smith’s Bible dictionary (Smith, 1884), once the names of people and places were removed,
only 243 words remained. From Roget’s Thesaurus (Roget, 1987:498-551), the words found in
section five, Religion, were taken. From this section, all the words that were not specifically
Christian such as those found under the subcategories ‘Hindu’, ‘Egyptian’, ‘Nordic’, ‘Celtic’, ‘Aztec’,
etc. were excluded. Deities, as well as words related to fairy tales such as trolls, ogres, giants,
vampires, and werewolf, were also rejected. Finally Christian words that I found too technical such
as words specific to church architecture were also taken out. Once done, the list numbered 2250
words. Then using the online Oxford Dictionary (http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl) a search
for words having a religious etymology was then conducted. This resulted in a total of 1435 words.
The three lists were then merged into a single one and given to twenty readers (all native English
speakers) who were asked to mark only the words they knew, including through passive
recognition. By deleting all the words that had not been selected by a minimum of ten people, the
list was reduced to a mere 629 words, which was then increased to 876 words by adding to the
major word roots the most common prefixes and suffixes (e.g. church / unchurched), and both
American and British spellings. Once done, this final list was again given to twenty different readers
(again, all English native speakers) who were asked to rate each word in terms of religiosity (do
you consider this word as religious or not?) and in terms of singularity (do you consider this word
as common or rare in everyday language?). The idea was to weight each word based on people’s
current perception. Through this process, the 629 words, which are all religious to some degree, fell
into four distinct lists (Appendix 11):
A. Words used by everyone and that are not perceived by people as religious (328 words)
B. Words used by few people and that are not perceived by people as religious (38 words)
C. Words used by everyone and that are perceived as religious (291 words)
D. Words used by few people and that are perceived as religious (219 words)
As the C and D words were considered by most people as religious, it was considered that if any of
the gurus had used them in a non religious context (i.e. leadership), it had been done consciously,
even more so for the uncommon D words, as they required a specific effort to be selected.
Step 4: Screening
To screen each text through the established word corpus, two types of software were combined:
Excel and Visual Basic44. The first step was to create for each book – which was at this stage only in
44
My thanks are due to Philippe Basset, AirBusiness Academy IT Developer, for his precious support in this task.
91
a Word format – an index in an Excel worksheet, containing every single word found in each book,
with its number of occurrences. Each Excel worksheet was then electronically compared to the stop
word corpus, automatically generating a chart summarizing the number of different words existing
in each book as well as their specificities (how many A, B, C, and D words, and how many non-A, B, C
and D words). In order to limit the risks of error as much as possible in the automatic retrieval of
data and in the comparison between the gurus’ writing and the stop word corpus, the following
rules were applied:

A word was defined as being delimited by blank spaces and/or dashes

The difference between lower and upper cases was ignored

Compound items such as ‘burning bush’, ‘narrow gate’ and ‘last supper’ were discarded

For compound items including a specific religious word (e.g. ‘lamb of God’) only the religious
word was retained (‘God’)

Unambiguous names like ‘Samson’, ‘Potiphar’ and ‘Lucifer’ were retained, while more usual
names such as ‘Matthew’, ‘Mark’, ‘Luke’ and ‘John’ were rejected

The difference in spelling between American and British English was taken into account

Words or expressions which are religious only within a specific context – e.g. ‘thorn’, ‘I AM’,
‘brother’, ‘father’, ‘just’ and ‘Job’ – were removed to avoid a unjustified counting
These rules, of course, reduced the real level of religiosity that could be found in the gurus’ writings.
However, the possibility of a lower visibility of their religious signature was preferable in order to
avoid the risk of gathering inaccurate data and consequently reaching incorrect conclusions. In any
case, as these rules were applied to all the books, both those of the gurus and those used for
comparison, the comparison remains accurate and valid in that the conditions were the same for
everyone.
Step 5: Analysis
In the table below the data have been structured as follows: column 1, the code set at the beginning
for each guru and a code of the eight books used for comparison; column 2, the name of the gurus,
and the name of the books or authors used for comparison; column 3, the total number of words
retrieved in each book; column 4, the number of content words left in each book once the function
words were deleted; columns 5-8, the number of A, B, C, and D words contained in each book,
according to the classification made in the stop word corpus; columns 9-12, the percentage of A, B,
C, and D words contained in each book; column 13 (%AB), the percentage of religious words which
are not perceived as such by people; column 14 (%CD), the percentage of religious words perceived
as such and consequently requiring conscious selection when used in a non-religious context,
especially for the uncommon D words (uncommon words having a stronger religious connotation);
column 15 (%ABCD), the total percentage of religious words used by each author.
92
Table 11: Religious lexical DNA of each guru
Code
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
G11
G12
G13
G14
G15
G16
G17
G18
G19
Writer
Bennis
Covey
Drucker
Gates
Hamel
Hammer
Handy
Kaplan
Kotler
Kotter
Mintzberg
Kanter
Ohmae
Peters
Porter
Prahalad
Schein
Senge
Welch
Words Content
A
B
C
53912
22104 977
2 125
97438
39950 1312
2 268
55403
22715 836
1 91
96755
39670 1219
1 55
100624
41256 1450 11 178
76020
31168 1096
5 114
62222
25511 792
5 76
73848
30278 754
0 47
59535
24409 778
2 22
46304
18985 971
5 23
122135
50075 1361
1 154
139512
57200 1894
6 118
97340
39909 1601
0 61
108836
44623 1424 14 198
83188
34107 1053 16 22
115536
47370 1601
6 97
126251
51763 2899 17 222
124358
50987 2329
3 211
124447
51023 1439 19 119
D %A %B %C %D %AB %CD %ABCD
19 4.4 0.0 0.6 0.1
4.4
1
5.1
23 3.3 0.0 0.7 0.1
3.3
1
4.0
19 3.7 0.0 0.4 0.1
3.7
0
4.2
19 3.1 0.0 0.1 0.0
3.1
0
3.3
31 3.5 0.0 0.4 0.1
3.5
1
4.0
16 3.5 0.0 0.4 0.1
3.5
0
3.9
9 3.1 0.0 0.3 0.0
3.1
0
3.5
36 2.5 0.0 0.2 0.1
2.5
0
2.8
99 3.2 0.0 0.1 0.4
3.2
0
3.7
17 5.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
5.1
0
5.4
60 2.7 0.0 0.3 0.1
2.7
0
3.1
12 3.3 0.0 0.2 0.0
3.3
0
3.5
28 4.0 0.0 0.2 0.1
4.0
0
4.2
31 3.2 0.0 0.4 0.1
3.2
1
3.7
12 3.1 0.0 0.1 0.0
3.1
0
3.2
35 3.4 0.0 0.2 0.1
3.4
0
3.7
14 5.6 0.0 0.4 0.0
5.6
0
6.1
46 4.6 0.0 0.4 0.1
4.6
1
5.1
37 2.8 0.0 0.2 0.1
2.9
0
3.2
Table 12: Religious lexical DNA of other books (benchmark)
Code
Ge
M
Z01
Z02
Z03
Z04
C
Ga
Writer
Genesis
Matthew
Weber
Marx
Davie
Osteen
Cooking
Gardening
Words Content
A
38025
15590 1004
24453
10026 618
39080
16023 896
238426
97755 2023
101479
41606 1851
109458
44878 1810
16229
6654
26
26156
10724 164
B
C
D %A %B %C %D %AB %CD %ABCD
14 556 474 6.4 0.1 3.6 3.0
6.5
7
13.1
4 763 181 6.2 0.0 7.6 1.8
6.2
9
15.6
6 1116 254 5.6 0.0 7.0 1.6
5.6
9
14.2
2 557 65 2.1 0.0 0.6 0.1
2.1
1
2.7
10 2431 239 4.4 0.0 5.8 0.6
4.5
6
10.9
0 2773 143 4.0 0.0 6.2 0.3
4.0
6
10.5
0
1
1 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0
0.4
0
0.4
7
20
8 1.5 0.1 0.2 0.1
1.6
0
1.9
When looking at these figures, it is hardly surprising to see that the two books taken from the Bible,
Genesis and Matthew (Ge and M), two books on the sociology of religion (Z01 and Z03), and a book
written by a religious leader (Z04) are among the written source containing the highest percentage
of religious words, regardless of the category. It is interesting to observe, however, that Marx is
extremely low in A and B words while relatively high in C and D words, as if he had consciously
deleted from his writing all common traces of religiosity to keep only the specific and precise
religious words he needed. The word counts also highlight, as anticipated, that the field of
leadership and management tends to be significantly more religious than other fields – in this case
cooking and gardening (C and Ga) – and this is true in every category.
In Table 13, analyzing the percentage of ABC and D words for each writer / book, in which the
gurus are represented in blue, the books from the Bible, cooking and gardening in purple, and the
specialists in religion in pink, the comparison is even more striking: while cooking and gardening
score the lowest in religious words, Matthew, Weber, Genesis, the sociologist Davie and the
televangelist Osteen score the highest. Marx has a religious signature closer to cooking and
gardening than to the sacred texts, lower in religious imprint than any of the gurus. All the
management gurus, without exception score higher than Marx, or books on cooking and gardening.
93
Table 13: Percentage of ABC&D words for each writer / book
C
Ga
Z02
G8
G11
G19
G15
G4
G12
G7
G16
Writers
G14
G9
G6
G5
G2
G13
G3
G18
G1
G10
G17
Z04
Z03
Ge
Z01
M
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
% of ABCD words
However, when leaving to the side the full picture of religious words (A, B, C, and D words) to focus
only on the words which are not perceived by most of the people as religious (A and B words) a
new picture emerges. Three gurus (nearly four) score higher than a professional preacher and a
recognized sociologist of religion as if they had adopted – consciously or unconscious – a religious
vocabulary in their writing style (Table 14).
94
Table 14: Percentage of AB words for each writer / book
C
Ga
Z02
G8
G11
G19
G15
G7
G4
G14
G9
Writers
G12
G2
G16
G6
G5
G3
Z04
G13
G1
Z03
G18
G10
Z01
G17
M
Ge
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
% of AB words
Finally, when focusing only on the words which are perceived by people as religious (C and D
words), and which require consequently a conscious effort on the part of the user to place them in a
non-religious context, the picture changes yet again. In this part of the analysis, the one selected to
differentiate the gurus from the prophets – a prophet being someone with an evident religious
signature – the books are divided into two groups: while the cooking and gardening books and
fourteen of the gurus disappear as they do not display any specific religious lexical DNA. On the
other hand, five gurus, even if their signature is weak, display a conscious – and consequently
voluntary – use of religious wording (Table 15).
95
Table 15: Percentage of CD words for each writer / book
Ga
C
G19
G17
G16
G15
G13
G12
G11
G10
G9
Writers
G8
G7
G6
G4
G3
Z02
G18
G14
G5
G2
G1
Z04
Z03
Ge
Z01
M
0
2
4
6
8
10
% of CD words
As a result, despite the fact that every single guru has displayed a general religious signature, only
five of them – Bennis, Covey, Hamel, Peters, and Senge – use specific religious wording above the
norm (the norm being the secular books on cooking and gardening). This overuse of words
recognized as specifically religious qualifies these five gurus for characteristic number four. Among
the fourteen gurus who failed are found Ohmae and Prahalad, which carries a certain logic as both
of them were raised in non-Christian cultures.
Table 16: Number of gurus passing condition 4
C1
C2
C3
C4
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10




     

        
   
 


96
G11
G12






G13
G14
G15
G16











G17

G18
G19






The first selection gate has now been reached; here only the gurus who have successfully fulfilled a
minimum of three conditions out of four can continue to aspire to the title of prophet. Hammer,
Handy, Kaplan, Kotter, Ohmae, Prahalad, Schein and Welch do not meet this condition. Only the
following eleven gurus, therefore, can enter the second stage of the selection process: Bennis,
Covey, Drucker, Gates, Hamel, Kotler, Mintzberg, Moss Kanter, Peters, Porter, and Senge.
97
98
CHAPTER FIVE: SEARCHING FOR THE PROPHETS
The American gurus, Hammer, Kaplan, Kotter, and Schein have failed to meet the necessary
conditions. Handy, the Irish philosopher, Ohmae, the Japanese consultant, Prahalad, the Indian
academic, and Welch, the CEO can no longer aspire to the title of prophet. However, eleven gurus
are still in the race: nine Americans: Bennis, Covey, Hamel, Kotler, Moss Kanter (the only woman),
Peters, Porter, Senge, and Gates (the only CEO), one Canadian: Mintzberg, and one Austrian:
Drucker.
In this chapter, these eleven gurus will face four new challenges. Each guru will be compared to the
next four characteristics of the ideal type. The first three characteristics are shared by both Weber
and the Bible. They state that a prophet (1) advises important people, (2) behaves in an exemplary
way and promotes ethics, and (3) prophesies. The fourth characteristic, which is unique to the
Bible, affirms that a prophet also uses symbols.
5.1. Characteristic five: advising important people
Prophets of old have always mingled with humble and poor people. The stories of the New
Testament about Jesus healing the deaf, the blind and lepers reinforce this belief. It is however
sometimes more surprising to discover, when reading the Bible, that prophets were also close to
rich and important people. Abraham, for example, received a blessing from Melchizedek King of
Salem (Hebrews 7:1), David played the harp to relieve Saul, the first king of Israel, from his
torments (1 Samuel 16:16), Joseph became the most important man in Egypt, after Pharaoh
(Genesis 40), and Daniel interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (Daniel 2).
Today, the expertise and the value of the gurus’ advice are increasingly questioned (Clark &
Fincham, 2002; O’Shea & Madigan, 1997). Facing a problem of legitimacy (Kitay & Wright, 2007),
and having a somewhat ambiguous professional status (Alvesson & Johansson, 2002), consultants
look for protection against criticism by associating their name with the rich and famous. Stephen R.
Covey, for example, presents in his last book, The 8th Habit (Covey, 2004) the praise and support of
prominent people from the media (Larry King, Steve Forbes), the business world (J.W. Marriott, Jr.,
Kevin Rollins), the academic world (Warren Bennis, Clayton M. Christensen) and the world of
sports (Michael Jordan). The next generation, his son, Stephen M. R. Covey who is following in his
father’s footsteps, includes in his book The Speed of Trust (Covey, 2006) the praise of no less than
62, marketing, media, government, education, healthcare authorities or CEOs. A total of 11 pages of
celebrities testifying to the value of the book!
To establish their credibility, management gurus need important people to help them sell their
books, for they hope to reproduce the success stories of In Search of Excellence (Peters &
Waterman, 1982), or of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989). To reach this goal,
99
they know that their name must appear next to those of prominent people in order to become more
visible. It is by referring to their most famous and successful clients that gurus claim both authority
and credibility (Clark & Salaman, 1998), and in today’s world, the rich and famous are no longer
kings and pharaohs, but captains of industry. Fortunately for this research, these important people
are easy to find as they are listed on a yearly basis in Fortune 500, the list of the top 500 companies
ranked by gross revenue, compiled and published by Fortune magazine. Here, again – just as in the
case for characteristic number three (preaching and wandering) – the key aspect of this
characteristic is not so much the fact that a guru has or has not worked for one of the Fortune 500,
but the fact that he or she believes it is important to tell the world about this fact. Consequently, to
deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
5.1.1. Condition five: to have made public work with a Fortune 500
The major sources of information used to answer this question are the front and back flaps of the
gurus’ books, their websites, as well as their biographies. The number placed in parenthesis next to
the name of the companies is the ranking of the companies in Fortune 500, as of 2006 (Appendix
12).
G1: Warren Bennis has been a consultant for Ford Company (9), and General Electric (11),
Mckesson (30), Chase Manhattan Bank (45), Accenture (379).
G2: Stephen Covey has been a consultant for 82 of the Fortune 100 companies and more than twothirds of the Fortune 500, with clients such as Hewlett Packard (33), Procter & Gamble (81),
Johnson & Johnson (104), Disney (180), and DuPont (205).
G3: Peter Drucker has been a consultant for General Motors (5), General Electric (11), Intel (144),
and Coca-Cola (267),
G4: Bill Gates is the chairman of Microsoft (140).
G5: Gary Hamel has worked for companies such as Shell (3), General Electric (11), Nestlé (53),
Procter & Gamble (81), Time Warner (122), Nokia (131), Microsoft (140), Best Buy (189), and 3M
(301).
G9: Philip Kotler has been a consultant for companies such as General Electric (11), Bank of
America (37), Motorola (152), Honeywell (200), Merck (289), and Michelin (335).
G12: Rosabeth Moss Kanter has been a consultant for companies such as General Motors (5),
Novartis (177), and Volvo (178).
G14: Tom Peters has been a consultant for companies such as Axa (15), Siemens (22), BNP Paribas
(34), Home Depot (43), Boeing (91), Motorola (152), Nextel (165), Raytheon (293), and Ericsson
(319).
G15: Michael Porter has been a consultant for companies such as Royal Dutch Shell (3), Procter &
Gamble (81), Caterpillar (156), Sysco (192), and DuPont (205).
G18: Peter Senge has been a consultant for Royal Dutch Schell (3), Ford (9), Procter & Gamble (81),
and AT&T (121).
100
A special mention should be given to Covey who, like the prophets of old who counseled Kings and
Pharaohs, in addition to the Fortune 500, lists political leaders with whom he worked, such as US
President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung,
and Mexican President Vicente Fox. Other gurus, like Moss Kanter, also state that they have worked
with political or national leaders but without giving their names.
Out of eleven gurus, only one did not promote his name next to the name of an important political
leader or captain of industry. There is no doubt that Mintzberg (G11) also advises some of the
Fortune 500, but no mention of this is to be found in his CV, biography, on his website, academic
webpage or book flaps. Despite the fact that Mintzberg should be commended for his humility, he is
the only one not to fulfill condition number five.
Table 17: Number of gurus passing condition 5
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10










    

       
  
 

  

G11
G12







G13


G14
G15
G16











G17

G18
G19







5.2. Characteristic six: exemplary behavior, ethics, and values
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘ethics’ as “the science of morals; the department of
study concerned with the principles of human duty.” It was in December 2001 that ethics was
brought to the forefront of the business scene when the world discovered that the growth of Enron,
one of the world’s leading energy companies, claiming an increase in sales from $13.3 billion in
1996 to $100.8 billion in 2000 (Forbes, January 15, 2002), existed only in the accounting books
written by fraudulent and corrupt people, and supported by the top management of the company.
The bankruptcy of Enron left 22,000 people out of work and in its fall, brought down the famous
Arthur Andersen consulting firm which was in charge of auditing its accounts. Since then, books
and papers have grown exponentially on the topic of business ethics with some scholars
questioning the fact that good ethics make good business (Godfrey, Whetten & Gregersen, 1998),
others being convinced that true capitalism improves ethics (McCloskey, 2006). McCloskey, for
example, argues that capitalism promotes seven virtues: hope through entrepreneurship, faith
through integrity, love through friendship, justice through social balance, courage through
endurance, temperance through humility, and prudence through foresight.
The sixth characteristic of the ideal type of a prophet is described by Weber as someone who “…by
his personal example, demonstrates to others the way to religious salvation…” (Weber [1922]
1964:55), being able to influence “…the crystallization of ethical regulations…” (Weber [1922]
101
1964:52). It is of course difficult, if not impossible, to prove that any guru is an exemplary person,
just as it is impossible to prove that those who write books and papers on ethics walk the talk.
However, this is true not only for the current candidates to the title of prophet, but also for the
prophets of old. While the Bible teaches that lying “is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:22)
and that whosoever does it “shall not tarry in my [the Lord’s] sight” (Psalm 101:7), everyone knows
the story of Abraham who, fearing for his life, told the Egyptians that his wife Sarah was his sister
(Genesis 12). The story of Jacob who deceived his father in order to steal his brother’s birthright
(Genesis 25) is another famous lie found in the Old Testament. David sending Uriah to death on a
battle field to hide the fact that he had slept with his wife (2 Sam. 11) is even worse, as it adds
murder to lying. And the New Testament is no better. At the end of the four gospels, everyone can
read about Peter, the apostle, saying three times that he doesn’t know Jesus (Luke 22). Is this
disturbing? It is hard to say. Why do we expect other people to be perfect, when we are ourselves so
far from it? Should we be moved by the perfection of prophets, or by the power of their speech and
the way it echoes in our own lives?
Accordingly, no attempt was made to evaluate the exemplary behavior, or ethics of the gurus
themselves. Nor was what has been said about them analyzed, or what they had to say about
themselves. More simply, their writings and preachings about ethics were considered. To do this,
titles, tables of contents and indexes of their books45 were examined for the word ‘ethics’46. Once
found, the book, the chapter or the paragraph was checked to see if it did indeed encourage
exemplary behavior. It was also checked to see if it had been written by the guru him or herself.
Accordingly, to deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
5.2.1. Condition six: to have written about ethics
Which of the remaining eleven gurus encourage their readers to develop exemplary behavior and
promote a more ethical approach to business? A search of the titles, in the tables of contents and in
the indexes of their books reveals the following:
(G1) Warren Bennis
Bennis is without any doubt a supporter of corporate ethics. He has written a book entitled Beyond
Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics, and Ecology (Bennis, Parikh & Lessem, 1994) and in
Managing People is like Herding Cats (Bennis, 1997) he spends a whole chapter, entitled
“Leadership Pornography and Optional Ethics”, which deals with integrity, declaring that it is one of
the basic ingredients of leadership. After listing many unethical people, Bennis explains that “in this
highly materialistic nation, the prevailing ethic is, at best, pragmatic, and, at worst, downright
dishonest. It’s every man for himself” and warns “it is time, then, to face this ethical deficit or
America will end in shambles. Ethics and conscience aren’t optional. They are the glue that binds
45
46
Only books that have been written or partly written by the gurus were taken into account.
The words ‘integrity’ and ‘moral’ were also examined to see if these words would lead to something on ethics.
102
society together – the quality in us that separates us from cannibals. Without conscience and ethics,
talent and power amount to nothing” (Bennis, 1997:61). Then, referring to Aristotle’s ethical
theory, Bennis recommends his readers to observe virtuous men in order to become virtuous
themselves, as ethics, according to him, starts at home. In Learning to Lead (Bennis & Goldsmith,
2003), Bennis suggests an exercise to help his readers write what he calls the Ethical Ten
Commandments, a code of ethics which should encourage them to put forward values, integrity,
moral and intellectual honesty. In addition, Bennis has also written articles which were published
by the Josephson Institute of Ethics whose mission is “To improve the ethical quality of society by
changing personal and organizational decision making and behavior.” For Bennis ethics isn’t
optional (Bennis, 1997:61). He consequently passes condition number six.
(G2) Stephen Covey
In his major best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989), it takes only three
pages for Covey to introduce a chapter entitled “The Personality and Character of Ethics”. In this
chapter, Covey supports the literature which promotes “integrity, humility, fidelity, modesty, and
the Golden Rule” (Covey, 1989:18) as the foundation of success, and criticizes the success literature
of the last fifty years which he perceives as too superficial, focusing only on social image and
suggesting only quick fixes. In Principle-Centered Leadership (Covey, 1990) Covey opposes the
personality ethic (human relations techniques) with the character ethic (a change in our inner
core), and promotes the latter, as according to him the former can only trigger a sense of insecurity
or duplicity with others. Finally, in his last book The 8th Habit (Covey, 2004), Covey refers to our
ethical nature and the amount of trust or confidence others have in our integrity (Covey, 2004:129).
In this same book, Covey refers to ethics many times throughout the book. Covey also passes the
test.
(G3) Peter Drucker
The case for Drucker is slightly more complex. Following Drucker’s article “What is Business
Ethics?” (Drucker, 1981) several authors such as Hoffman and Mills Moore from the Center for
Business Ethics in Bentley College, USA, accused him of not understanding the nature, scope and
purpose of business ethics (Hoffman & Mills More, 1982). Yet, when not only this article is read but
all of Drucker’s work considered, as suggested by Klein in “Drucker as Business Moralist” (Klein,
2000), the irrefutable conclusion is that Drucker takes business ethics very seriously and is in favor
of business morality, while still rejecting the latest corporate wave of being ethically chic. Two
examples will be sufficient to prove the point. In Management (Drucker, 1973) Drucker says:
“Countless sermons have been preached and printed on the ethics of business or the ethics of the
businessman. Most have nothing to do with the business and little to do with ethics” (Drucker,
1973:366). According to Drucker, everyday honesty or cheating, stealing, lying, bribery, etc. are not
linked to a job or work, but to men and women as individuals. In other words, there cannot be
separate codes such as business ethics and personal ethics. Secondly, Drucker reminds us of the
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Hippocratic Oath, the famous ‘primum non nocere’. A company cannot promise to do good, it can
only do its best not to knowingly do harm. Whatever the merits of these particular arguments,
having written on ethics, Drucker fulfills condition number six.
(G4) Bill Gates
Gates has written two books: The Road Ahead (1995) and Business at the Speed of Thought (1999).
Neither of them refers to ethics. Might it be possible that Gates does not believe that “good ethics
make good business?” (Godfrey, Whetten & Gregersen, 1998). Indeed, the Microsoft success story
didn’t start in a very ethical manner. In 1983, Microsoft, which was a third party developer for
Apple, announced a new mouse-based system for a user interface called Windows. This
revolutionary interface was in fact ‘borrowed’ from Apple. Apple filed a monumental copyright
lawsuit against Microsoft in 1988 which was finally settled in 1997, out of court, with Microsoft
injecting $150 millions into Apple’s capital and Microsoft’s commitment to develop Internet
Explorer and Microsoft Office for Mac OS until 2002 if Apple renounced its lawsuit. It is of course
not this anecdote which disqualifies Gates, but the fact that he does not refer to ethics anywhere in
his books47.
(G5) Gary Hamel
Neither in Leading the Revolution (Hamel, 2000) nor in Competing for the Future (Hamel &
Prahalad, 1994) does Hamel refer to ethics. In Strategic Flexibility a book he co-edited with
Prahalad, Thomas, and O'Neal, the reader can find the article quoted above “Opening Pandora’s
Box: Do good ethics make good business?” written by Godfrey, Whetten and Gregersen, not by
Hamel. And even if this article is not against ethics, it warns the corporate world that: “calling for
firms to act morally by claiming that ‘good ethics makes good business’ does little to give firms the
skills and competencies for dealing with the multitude of situations in which moral behavior may
not lead to improvements in the bottom line” (Godfrey, Whetten & Gregersen, 1998:170). Hamel
does not fulfill condition number six.
(G9) Philip Kotler
In Social Marketing, Improving the Quality of Life (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002) Kotler devotes a
whole chapter to “Making Ethical Decisions”. He first quotes Thomas Huxley: “My belief is that no
human being or society composed of human beings ever will come to much unless their conduct is
governed and guided by love of some ethical ideal” (Kotler, 2002:391). Kotler acknowledges that on
a daily basis social marketers face ethical dilemmas related to issues such as social equity, full
disclosure, responsible stewardship or whether the end justifies the means. Consequently, he refers
If the unethical beginning of Microsoft does not disqualify Gates for condition number six, his recent donation of £30
billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation funding health and education projects around the world (Daily Mail, 20 June
2008) does not qualify him either. Condition six states that only the gurus who clearly promote in their books an ethical
approach to business succeed with this condition.
47
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the reader to the code of ethics written by the American Marketing Association, posted on their
website, referring to the principles of doing no harm, being fair, providing full disclosure, being
good stewards, owning the problem, being responsible, and telling the truth. Kotler goes even
further. In an article entitled “Wrestling With Ethics: Is Marketing Ethics an Oxymoron?” (Kotler,
2004) Kotler challenges marketing professionals not only to analyze how they market but also what
they market, reminding readers, however, in Marketing Insights from A to Z (Kotler, 2003) that
companies should avoid ethics for ethics’ sake. Kotler succeeds with condition number six.
(G11) Henry Mintzberg
Mintzberg does not talk about ethics. In Mintzberg on Management (Mintzberg, 1989) Mintzberg
discusses the fall of Hitler and attributes this to the fact that he went from a person of conviction, to
someone doing what others expected him to do. It seems that for Mintzberg the power of leadership
lies in the alignment between someone’s beliefs and actions, be they aligned to do good or evil. In
the same book, Mintzberg refers to two surveys conducted in 1962 and 1977 respectively by the
Harvard Business Review showing even more cynicism on the part of respondents concerning the
ethical conduct of their peers, nearly half of them perceiving American executives as more
preoccupied by gain than by ethics and professional amorality turning into economic morality. No
book or chapter written by Mintzberg uses the word ethics or deals with it. Mintzberg does not
qualify for condition number six.
(G12) Rosabeth Moss Kanter
No book of Moss Kanter’s contains a chapter or paragraph on ethics. In Best Practices: Ideas and
Insights from the World's Foremost Business Thinkers (Brown & Heller, 2003) a chapter entitled
“Ethical Ambition” is found. However, this chapter was not written by Moss Kanter who only wrote
the introduction to the book. The closest Moss Kanter gets to characteristic number six is with
America the Principled (Moss Kanter, 2007), in which, in chapter three entitled “Growing Good
Companies”, Kanter asks if values-based capitalism can replace imperial excess. Yet, nowhere does
Moss Kanter truly deal with ethics or use the word. She consequently fails with this condition.
(G14) Tom Peters
Not one word on ethics can be found in Peters’ best seller In Search of Excellence (Peters &
Waterman, 1982). Seven years later, however, in Thriving on Chaos (Peters, 1987) Peters concludes
with a chapter in which he demands total integrity from corporate leaders. According to him,
honesty has always been the best policy to achieve financial market success. Integrity, meaning
living up to the commitments inside and outside the company, must be applied as much in little
things as in big ones. Peters recommends his readers to “set absurdly high standards for integrity –
and then live them, with no fuzzy margins” (Peters, 1987:518). Additional articles such as “New
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Work Ethic or New Management Ethic” (Peters, 1987) posted on his website support the fact that
Peters promotes ethics in the corporate world. Peters succeeds with condition number six.
(G15) Michael Porter
Porter, the world’s foremost guru on competitiveness and strategy does not refer anywhere to
ethics. There is no book title, no chapter, no mention in any index, not even a paper on the topic.
Porter does not, consequently, fulfill condition number six.
(G18) Peter Senge
In his book The Dance of Change Senge wrote a subchapter on how to develop “better strategic
thinking and ethical thinking” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Roth, Ross & Smith, 1990:499-500).
However, when the content of this subchapter is analyzed, it is surprising to observe that while the
words ‘strategy’ and ‘thinking’ recur repeatedly, the word ‘ethics’ has completely disappeared. In
the edited text, Schools that Learn (Senge, Cambron McCabe, Lucas, Kleiner, Dutton & Smith, 2000),
a whole chapter entitled “Schooling as an Ethical Endeavor” underlines the moral responsibility of
those who enter the teaching field, insisting on the fact that teachers and professors must do more
than transfer information. According to the author of this chapter, there are moral and immoral
educational practices. And children have the right to be guided by moral principles like justice,
fairness, liberty, etc. In other words, it is a nice chapter on ethics but written by Nelda CambronMcCabe and not by Senge. No hints of ethics or morals are found in his major work The Fifth
Discipline (Senge, 1990) nor in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Smith,
1994). Consequently, Senge does not succeed with condition number six.
Even if all the eleven remaining gurus might be convinced by the need for a more ethical world, or
even demonstrate this in their lives, only Bennis, Covey, Drucker, Kotler and Peters clearly write
about it in their books and papers. .
Table 18: Number of gurus passing condition 6
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10












    

       
  
 

  



106
G11
G12







G13


G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19







5.3. Characteristic seven: prophesying, making predictions
There is a significant difference between the way the Old Testament and the New Testament define
the role of a prophet. While the purpose of the Old Testament is, according to Christians, to foretell
the coming of the son of God (e.g. Psalms 22:1; Psalms 22:16-18; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 40:3-4; Isaiah
53:7), the role of the New Testament is to affirm the fulfillment of this prophecy (e.g. Matthew
27:46; Matthew 27:35; Luke 1:27-28; Luke 3:3-5; Luke 23:9). As a result, the Old Testament insists
thirty-nine times that a prophet has the responsibility to prophesy, while it rarely (only seven
times) refers to the fact that these prophecies must come to pass. In contrast, only seventeen
references are made in the New Testament to the fact that a prophet must prophesy, while it refers
twenty-five times (three times more than in the Old Testament) to the fact that a prophecy must
come to pass (Appendix 8).
Prophets are historians of the future. The incorrect predictions on the date of the second coming of
Christ by William Miller, prophet of the Millerites, Ellen White, founder of the Seven Day Adventists
movement, or the Watchtower Society, all confirm a quote attributed to Danish physicist Niels
Bohr: "Prediction is very difficult, especially of the future." And because it is difficult, very few
people dare to do it. Only when time confirms a prophecy can someone deserve the title of prophet.
Yet, the difficulty is that time can be perceived very differently. In Matthew 24:34, Jesus makes a
prophecy. Referring to the second coming, he boldly states that "this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place." As the second coming didn’t occur, several explanations can
be given: (1) Jesus was a false prophet, (2) the second coming happened but not in the way it was
expected or understood, (3) the word ‘generation’ should be understood in a different way than it
commonly is. Could it be the same with Hamel who predicted in the 1980s (Hamel & Prahalad
1994) that Komatsu would without any doubt bring Caterpillar to bankruptcy – Caterpillar being
fifteen years later still twice as big as Komatsu? As long as both companies are operating, it is
impossible to judge the validity of this prediction. What about Bennis’ prediction in Changing
Organizations (Bennis, 1966) that the bureaucratic organizations as we know them would
disappear by the end of the 20th century? The century is over but most large companies are still
struggling with bureaucracy. Is the prophecy false? Should Bennis be given a few additional years
before deciding on the validity of his prediction? Or are the key words as we know them, meaning
that there still will be bureaucracy, but in a different form? What about Moss Kanter’s prediction in
Men and Women of the Corporation (Moss Kanter, 1977) that men and women would become
equal in the workplace? Or Peters’ prediction in 2000, in “What Will We Do For Work” (Time, May
22, 2000), that within ten years, 90% of white collar jobs in the U.S. would disappear or would be
altered beyond recognition? Or what about the forty-three companies he singled out in his book In
Search of Excellence (Peters, 1982) as having demonstrated superiority over the last twenty years?
Five years after the publication of his book, two-thirds of them had declared bankruptcy or were in
serious difficulty (Pascale, 1990; Jackson, 2001). Indeed only Drucker and Gates stand out – both by
the number and the precision of their predictions.
107
Kantrow (1980) commented that Drucker’s ability to foresee the future was remarkable. As Steve
Forbes summarized it in an article in The Wall Street Journal (Forbes, 2005), Drucker predicted in
the 1950s and 1960s the rise of knowledge workers, the fall of the hierarchical industrial
corporation, the rise of the Japanese economy and in the 1980s its decline. In 1989, Drucker
predicted in The New Realities (Drucker, 1989) that Russia would divide and collapse, that
terrorism would increase and that the military would suffer from an identity crisis. In 1993 Drucker
predicted a merge between the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada. In 1997, he
predicted (Lezner & Johnson, 1997) that technology would make large universities of brick and
mortar obsolete within thirty years.
Perhaps due to the nature of his business, Bill Gates also has been very prolific in predictions.
Everyone knows the vision Gates had to put "a computer on every desk and in every home" (Gates,
2002). A daring prophecy when compared to the vision of the Chairman of IBM who predicted in
the 1940s that the world market for computers would be approximately five, or the vision of the
CEO of Digital who in 1977 could not understand why anyone would need a personal computer.
However, when reviewing Gates’ predictions over the years, one cannot but have mixed feelings. If
Gates built his fortune understanding that the future of computers was not in hardware but in
software, he totally missed the mark on search engines. While he was correct predicting in 1997,
during the Microsoft CEO Summit, that "Within ten years the majority of all adults will be using
electronic mail and living a form of that Web lifestyle" (Gates, 1997), he was totally wrong when he
declared during the World Economic Forum, in 2004, that: “Two years from now, spam will be
solved" (The Independent, January 25, 2004).
As these examples demonstrate, it is very difficult to recognize a forecast from a prophecy and a
real prophecy from a false one. In addition, management gurus are too intelligent and consequently
too cautious to use certain types of words. My first idea was to use the books scanned for condition
number four, and to screen them again for sentences such as ‘I prophesy’, ‘I predict’, or ‘I forecast’.
Of course, none of these expressions were found. Therefore, the solution to overcome this difficulty
was to analyze the gurus’ relationship with time. A prophecy being a snapshot of the future, it was
sufficient to determine if these management gurus were more turned towards the past or towards
the future. The titles of many of their books such as The Future of Leadership (Bennis, Spreitzer &
Cummings, 2001), Managing for the Future (Drucker, 1992), The Road Ahead (Gates, 1995), The
Future of Management (Hamel & Breen, 2007) and Competing for the Future (Hamel, 1994), or
Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow (Moss Kanter, 2001) seem to show that
management gurus, indeed, just like prophets of old, enjoy looking into the future. However, is this
the case for all of them? To deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
5.3.1. Condition seven: to be turned more towards the future than the past
To evaluate the gurus against this condition, the best-sellers used for condition four were screened
again, searching this time for six words representing common perceptions of time: ‘past’, ‘present’,
108
‘future’, ‘yesterday’, ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’. It is clear that these words are not the only ones used to
measure time. Each of them has many synonyms. To express the present time one can use the word
‘today’, but also ‘nowadays’, ‘these days’, ‘now’, ‘at the moment’, ‘at present’, ‘in the present day’, or
‘in our day’. As this is the case for each of the six words, none had an advantage over the others. The
results are displayed in the chart below:
Table 19: Representation of the past, present and future in the guru’s work
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G9
G11
G12
G14
G15
G18
Content words
(P) Past
Percentage
22104 39950 22715 39670 41256 24409 50075 57200 44623 34107 50987
22
20
19
26
41
20
31
56
25
21
40
0.100 0.050 0.084 0.066 0.099 0.082 0.062 0.098 0.056 0.062 0.078
(Pr) Present
Percentage
(F) Future
Percentage
(Y) Yesterday
Percentage
18
0.081
36
0.163
3
0.014
78
0.195
19
0.048
2
0.005
40
0.176
22
0.097
9
0.040
58
0.146
68
0.171
0
0.000
47
0.114
106
0.257
2
0.005
42
0.172
26
0.107
1
0.004
97
0.194
18
0.036
1
0.002
123
0.215
58
0.101
1
0.002
66
0.148
22
0.049
2
0.004
80
0.235
16
0.047
1
0.003
92
0.180
66
0.129
6
0.012
(To) Today
Percentage
(T) Tomorrow
Percentage
33
0.149
5
0.023
22
0.055
6
0.015
37
0.163
6
0.026
167
0.421
10
0.025
35
0.085
8
0.019
76
0.311
1
0.004
58
0.116
4
0.008
22
0.038
3
0.005
46
0.103
4
0.009
41
0.120
1
0.003
72
0.141
4
0.008
P+Y
0.114
0.055
0.124
0.066
0.104
0.086
0.064
0.100
0.060
0.065
0.090
Pr+To
F+T
0.230
0.186
0.250
0.063
0.339
0.123
0.567
0.196
0.199
0.276
0.483
0.111
0.310
0.044
0.253
0.106
0.251
0.058
0.355
0.050
0.321
0.137
Total
0.072
0.008
-0.001 0.130
0.172
0.025
-0.020 0.006
-0.002 -0.015 0.047
Table 19 presents the following information:

On the first horizontal line the code of the gurus

On the second, the number of content words found in each book

On the following lines, the number of times the words ‘Past’, ‘Present’, ‘Future’, ‘Yesterday’,
‘Today’ and ‘Tomorrow’ were found, and their frequency calculated on a ratio of 100 content
words

Finally, the percentage of the pairs ‘Past’ and ‘Yesterday’, ‘Present’ and ‘Today’, ‘Future’ and
‘Tomorrow’ were added to be compared one with another in order to compare each guru’s
relationship with time.

The last line, labeled ‘Total’, compares the percentage of words expressing the future with
those expressing the past (F+T)-(P+Y). If (F+T)-(P+Y) > 0 then the writer is turned towards the
future. If (F+T)-(P+Y) < 0 then the writer is turned towards the past.
The results are clear: most of the gurus are clearly in the present when they discuss the topic of
management, Bill Gates (G4) scoring the highest. When comparing the preference the remaining
gurus have in using the past or the future, seven of them clearly prefer the future, while four of
them prefer the past, Mintzberg (G11) being the most nostalgic. Special mention should be given to
Gary Hamel (G5) who is the only guru to prefer the future, even compared to the present!
109
According to condition seven, to deserve the title of prophet, a management guru must be turned
more towards the future than towards the past, the present being omitted. Seven gurus succeeded
with this condition: Bennis, Covey, Gates, Hamel, Kotler, Moss Kanter, and Senge.
Table 20: Number of gurus passing condition 7
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10














    

       
  
 

  



 

G11
G12








G13


G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19








5.4. Characteristic eight: using symbols
Characteristic eight is the first characteristic grounded in only one of the two sources used to create
the ideal type of a prophet. It is the Bible, not Weber, which insists on a link between prophets and
the use of symbols. Different forms of religious or spiritual symbols could have been deployed
under this characteristic: the use of shapes, of parables, or even of Hebraic poetical forms such as
chiasmus48. Yet, the most important and revealing symbol is without any doubt the use of sacred
numbers. Indeed, in the Hebraic culture, each letter of the alphabet has a numerical value, and as
words are made of letters, words consequently also carry a numerical value. The opposite is also
true. Numbers symbolize very precise notions with some numbers being considered as more sacred
than others. The online Jewish Encyclopedia states that “certain numbers were regarded as having
a sacred significance or were used with symbolical force, the origin of their symbolism lying in their
connection with primitive ideas about nature and God” (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com) and
lists five numbers as specifically sacred: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12.
The sacredness of the number three is “probably due to the fact that primitive man divided the
universe into three regions – heaven, earth, and water, respectively represented in Babylonian
mythology by the divinities Anu, Bel, and Ea” (Ibid.). The number four is sacred because of “the four
cardinal points of the compass. In cabalistic literature its sacredness is enhanced by the fact that the
Tetragrammaton contains four letters” (Ibid.). The number seven is ranked by the Jewish
Encyclopedia as the most sacred number of all.
The most famous chiasmus in the Bible is “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). Bennis uses this very
same technique in chapters such as “Leading Followers, Following Leaders” (Bennis, 1997) or “The Defeat of
Disappointment versus the Disappointment of Defeat” (Bennis, Spreitzer & Cummings, 2001).
48
110
The origin of its sacredness is found by some in its factors three and four; by others,
in its correspondence to the number of the planets; while others assert that it arose
from a sacred six by the addition of one. In Judaism its sacredness was enhanced by
the institution of the Sabbath. The number occurs in the seven days of Creation, the
institution of the seventh year of release, the forty-nine years between the jubilees,
the seven altars, the seven lamps, the sprinkling of the blood seven times, etc. (Ibid.).
The number ten “had a symbolical character in part because it is the basis of the decimal system,
and in part because it is the sum of three and seven.” Finally, the number twelve is considered as
sacred “from the fact that it is the product of three and four and is the number of the months of the
year” (Ibid.).
It is, therefore, not a coincidence if, in the Bible, some numbers appear more often than others. Most
people have heard of the twelve tribes (Genesis 49:28), the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:2), and the
twelve stars (Revelation 12:1); the ten plagues (Exodus 5-12), the ten commandments (Exodus 20),
the ten pieces of silver (Luke 15:8-10), the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), and the ten lepers (Luke
17:11-18). Yet, this recurrent use of sacred numbers in the Bible exists also in a more discreet form.
The story of Abraham, for example, is based on a structure using the sacred number seven. God
makes seven promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3; 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:18-21; 17:4-8; 18:14;
22:16-18, the first promise being formulated itself in seven successive affirmations (my numbers in
parentheses): “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And (1) I will make of thee a
great nation, (2) and I will bless thee, and (3) make thy name great; and (4) thou shalt be a blessing:
(5) And I will bless them that bless thee, and (6) curse him that curseth thee: and (7) in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
If the Bible is fond of sacred numbers, so is leadership and management literature. Titles of books
are representative: The Three Faces of Leadership (Hatch, Kostera, and Kozminski, 2005), The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989), Ten Steps to a Learning Organization (Kline &
Saunders, 1998), and the Twelve Essential Laws for Becoming Indispensable (Zeiss, 1999), and this
tendency to use sacred numbers in the title of books does not stop there. Once the book is opened,
many others appear: the three resolutions, the seven steps, the ten competencies, the twelve rules,
etc. This phenomenon has already been recognized by some scholars. Fenwick and Parsons, for
example, commented that the title of Covey’s main best-seller was a good use of a sacred Biblical
number, and quoted Revelation 3:1, 5:1, 6:8, 8:6, 11:15, 16:1, 17:9, and 21:9 to support their
comment (Fenwick & Parsons, 1995).
However, why would gurus use sacred numbers? In his work on political oratory, Atkinson (1984a,
1984b) lists seven rhetorical devices recurrent in powerful speeches, one of them being the use of
the number three. One could ask if Atkinson himself does not use the same technique. Are there
really only seven devices or did he consciously or unconsciously make it seven? According to him,
111
one rhetorical device to make a powerful speech, is to use the number three just as is, to repeat the
same word three times (e.g. “try, try, and try again”) or to use a three-part list (e.g. “liberty, equality,
fraternity”). Miller (1956) brings an additional piece to the puzzle. As quoted by Huczynski “Miller
identified a number of constraints on human information processing. He referred to the span of
immediate memory which, for many different test materials, appeared to be about seven items. He
also discussed the span of absolute judgment that could distinguish up to seven categories”
(1993a:88). Again, why seven, and not six or eight? Is it because the brain really works that way, or
because of the influence of the sacred texts? Less obviously, in his analysis of the guru industry,
Huczynski (1993a) also postulates that twelve recurring themes are found in the gurus’ speeches
and books which can partly account for their popularity. Twelve themes, not eleven, nor thirteen. Is
it a coincidence? History shows that before modern research became interested by the topic,
ancient Israel was using these numbers in a very conscious and precise manner. Today, the
precision seems to still be there, even if the consciousness – why we tend to select and feel more
comfortable with certain numbers than others – seems to have disappeared. As a result, to deserve
the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
5.4.1. Condition eight: to structure the world around 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12
In order to measure this tendency to use sacred numbers in leadership, similarly to condition six,
the title and the table of contents of the books written by the eleven gurus have been analyzed. To
bring this task to a manageable level, only the most famous books – 120 of them – were used. The
following process was used to reach a conclusion:
1.
To focus only on the numbers which were consciously or unconsciously selected by the gurus,
the numbers used for dates, the first three ordinal and cardinal numbers (first, second, third,
double, triple), the numbers defining percentages and amounts of money have not been
retained as all of these usually represent real facts and cannot consequently be adapted to the
desire of the author.
2.
For the purpose of comparison, some non-sacred numbers as well as the sacred ones have been
selected. I have chosen the numbers 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13 to be compared to the numbers 3, 4, 7,
10, and 12 listed as sacred by the Jewish Encyclopedia.
3.
To succeed, a management guru must have a delta (sacred numbers minus non-sacrednumbers) of more than one, as a single use could potentially be due to chance. The data
gathered are displayed in the table below. For more details, please refer to Appendix 13.
112
Table 21: Frequency in the use of sacred numbers for each guru
3
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Sacred
Non-Sacred
Delta
G1
2
4
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
7
0
7
G2
1
2
2
17
3
0
0
0
0
0
20
5
15
G3
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
3
0
3
G4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
G5
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
G9
0
0
1
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
4
1
3
G11
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
G12
6
0
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
8
2
6
G14
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
G15
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
G18
Total
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
10
8
5
21
3
0
7
0
1
0
47
8
This table reveals that, as expected, sacred numbers are clearly preferred over the non sacred ones
by the management gurus. The numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12 are used six times more often in the
titles of their books and of their chapters than the numbers 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13. It is also interesting
to note that the frequency in the use of the sacred numbers (1 to 21) has a far greater range than
that of the non sacred numbers (0 to 5). Does the difference between these two variables reveal the
normal and abnormal use of numbers within a certain amount of words? If 0 to 5 is the normal
frequency of a number in a list of 473 words (the total number of words extracted from the 120
books), this would mean that while the sacred number 12 is in the norm, the sacred numbers 3, 4, 7,
and 10 have clearly required a specific effort and consequently a conscious decision on the part of
the guru to be used disproportionately.
When analyzing the results of the eleven gurus, one of them clearly stand out, with the use of
twenty sacred numbers, and a specific preference for the number seven, considered by the Jewish
Encyclopedia as “the most sacred number.” Most of the people would refer to Covey’s The 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989) when thinking about the sacred number seven and
leadership. However, when another of his books is considered, for example the lesser known
Principle-Centered Leadership (Covey, 1990), the table of contents displays the following chapters:
“Seven Habits”, “Three Resolutions”, “Six Days of Creation”, “Seven Deadly Sins”, “Thirty Methods of
Influence”, “Eight Ways to Enrich Marriage and Family Relationships”, “Seven Chronic Problems”,
“Six Conditions of Empowerment”, and “Seven Habits and Deming's fourteen Points”, as if for Covey
the world was governed by numbers.
To sum up, out of the eleven gurus, four do not pass condition number eight: Gates (G4), Hamel
(G5), Peters (14), Porter (G15), and Senge (G18).
113
Table 22: Number of gurus passing condition 8
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
















    

       
  
 

  



 



G11
G12










G13


G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19








The second selection gate has now been reached. After screening nineteen gurus through the first
four characteristics, eight of them were not allowed to continue. After the first eight characteristics
of the ideal type of a prophet, only three of the eleven remaining gurus have passed the minimum of
seven conditions required to go to the next stage, two of them, Warren Bennis and Stephen Covey,
scoring a perfect eight out of eight. Accordingly, these three gurus will move to the next stage to
discover if any of them deserve the title of prophet. Warren Bennis (G1), Stephen Covey (G2), and
Philip Kotler (G9) are still contenders; Peter Drucker (G3) the Austrian, Bill Gates (G4) the
remaining CEO, Gary Hamel (G5), Henry Mintzberg (11) the Canadian, Rosabeth Moss Kanter (G12)
the only woman, Tom Peters (14), Michael Porter (15), and Peter Senge (G18) have all been
eliminated.
114
CHAPTER SIX: FINDING A PROPHET
Three out of nineteen gurus at this point are still eligible for the title of prophet: Warren Bennis
(G1) American scholar, organizational consultant, and Professor at the University of Southern
California; Stephen Covey (G2) author of several international best-sellers; and Philip Kotler (G9) a
pioneer of social marketing, consultant and Professor at Northwestern University.
In this chapter, the gurus will go through the six remaining conditions, divided in two phases. In the
first phase, they will be measured against the four following characteristics of the ideal type of a
prophet: (1) healing, (2) using ancient wisdom, (3) having a unified vision of the cosmos, (4) having
faced persecutions, afflictions or adversity.
As the data that are relevant to these four characteristics were more personal and consequently
more subjective than for the previous characteristics, the plan for this phase, as described in the
chapter on methodology, was to shift from a quantitative approach to a qualitative one. The idea
was to interview by e-mail each of the remaining gurus so as to let them speak for themselves. Have
they elaborated any theory to help their readers improve their health? Have they quoted any verses
from ancient sacred texts such as the Bible, the Koran, or the Bhagavad-Gita? Have they referred
anywhere to principles such as synchronicity, connectedness, or collective unconscious? Have they,
finally, had to overcome serious difficulties in their lives that helped them grow? Their publications
had of course been very carefully scrutinized for answers to all of these questions, but given the
nature of the four characteristics, I was concerned that something important might be overlooked.
As a first step, therefore, I contacted each of them personally (Appendix 14) to request their
cooperation. The reaction of the gurus was extremely different. The descriptions below of their
answers should not be interpreted as a criticism of any of them. I acknowledge that having reached
this level of fame, these gurus are extremely busy. On the other hand, the differences in their
reactions are worth noting as these people are supposedly specialists of human interactions.
Kotler answered my e-mail the very same week that he received it. The tone of the mail was
friendly and supportive, using words such as “Dear Bruno”, “Your project is quite imaginative”, “I
am a fan of Max Weber”, “I look forward to hearing about your findings”, “Feel free to contact me
later if I can be of help”, etc (Appendix 15). For Covey, it was more difficult. Covey does not even
display his personal e-mail address or phone number, nor even that of an assistant. Thus, how
should one contact him? By filling in the ‘Speaking Inquiries’ or the ‘Request Interview’ template
posted on his website. I used both templates, explaining who I was and what my project was about,
but received no answer. I then contacted Stephen M.R. Covey, his son, to ask him if he could put me
in contact with his father, or forward my e-mail to him. Yet, once again, I did not receive an answer.
For Warren Bennis, despite the fact that he is a visiting professor at the University of Exeter, and
despite the three requests I made by e-mail49 I did not receive any answer (Appendix 15).
One to his academic e-mail address, copied to his assistant, one from his assistant to his private e-mail address copied to
me, and one sent directly by me to his private e-mail address.
49
115
Consequently, I had to change my initial plan, using the answers I had received from Kotler, and
compensating for the lack of answers from the other two by the most systematic search possible of
their prolific writings, hoping that I would not miss anything. To achieve this goal, I read a
minimum of five books (the most famous ones) and as many papers I could obtain. Once again
analyzed the prefaces, tables of contents, bibliographies, and references in their writings. I also
studied their indexes, read the quotes used in the introductions of each chapter, and made an
Internet search with their names in combination with key words related to conditions nine to
twelve: ‘healing’, ‘health’, ‘wisdom’, ‘Bible’, ‘Koran’, ‘Bhagavad-Gita’, ‘cosmos’, ‘synchronicity’,
‘connectedness’, ‘collective unconscious’, ‘persecutions’, ‘affliction’, and ‘adversity’. Below are the
results obtained.
6.1. Characteristic nine: healing
Stories of healing are numerous in the Bible. They are always accomplished by God, but often
through the ministry of one of his servants. Even if the most popular stories refer to miracles
performed by Jesus healing both body and spirit (Matthew 4:23, 8:16, 12:22; Mark 1:31; Luke 10:9,
etc.), some interesting healings performed by prophets can also be found in the Old Testament like
the people of Israel plagued in the desert with fiery serpents and healed by lifting up their eyes to
the serpent of brass that Moses had made (Numbers 21), the poignant story of the widow of
Zarephath whose son, Elijah raised from the dead (1 Kings 17), or the story of Naaman, a captain in
the Syrian army, healed by Elisha from leprosy by dipping himself seven times – a sacred number –
in the Jordan river (2 Kings 5). Without going as far as looking for management gurus who heal
people by the laying on of hands, I searched for those who, in addition to their advice on business
practices, give advice on how to improve either mental or physical health. To deserve the title of
prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
6.1.1. Condition nine: to have elaborated theories on how to improve health
(G1) Warren Bennis
No theory, information or recommendation on how to improve health could be found in any of
Bennis’ books or papers. And as Bennis did not wish to answer my e-mail, based on the data I was
able to gather, my conclusion is that Bennis does not succeed with condition number nine.
(G2) Stephen Covey
Covey writes at length on the topic of health both in his prominent writings and in his less known
ones. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, in the chapter entitled “Sharpen the Saw”, Covey
focuses on “the principles of balanced self-renewal” (Covey, 1989:287-307). The name of this socalled habit comes from the story of a man sawing down a tree with great effort, not willing to stop
for even a few minutes to sharpen the saw in order to cut the tree faster and with less effort.
116
According to Covey this habit is the most important one as it makes the six others possible. For him
self-renewal must be achieved in all four dimensions that compose human nature: physical,
spiritual, mental, and social. This means that for the physical dimension one should exercise
regularly, eat healthy foods, and get sufficient rest. Covey also gives recommendations on how to
improve the endurance, flexibility, and strength of our bodies. He then covers the spiritual, mental
and social dimensions of self renewal as, according to him, self-renewal becomes effective only
when “we deal with all four dimensions in a wise and balanced way. To neglect any one area
negatively impacts the rest” (Covey, 1989:301). To improve spiritual health, Covey recommends
daily prayers, meditation and the reading of scriptures. To improve mental health, Covey
encourages his readers to continue learning after their formal education, reading quality literature,
keeping a journal of their thoughts, experiences and insights. To develop the social and emotional
dimension of life, Covey pushes the reader to develop relationships with others. Finally, Covey
concludes that the four dimensions are synergetic. “The things you do to sharpen the saw in any
one dimension have positive impact in other dimensions because they are so highly interrelated.
Your physical health affects your mental health; your spiritual strength affects your
social/emotional strength. As you improve in one dimension, you increase your ability in other
dimensions as well” (Covey, 1989:303). In The Eighth Habit (Covey, 2004), his latest book, Covey
answers some questions related to health, such as “Could this approach to personal leadership help
me solve one of my lifelong challenges – losing weight and staying in shape?” For him, the answer is
positive, recommending, once again, “a strict regimen of exercise, proper nutrition, and rest”, but
insisting on the fact that most of the time the commitment to a healthier life fails because it is based
on the goal to look better, or on New Year’s resolutions, instead of on a firm vision and a conscious
connection to our deepest values and motivations (Covey, 2004:86-88).
(G9) Philip Kotler
Kotler co-authored a book on social marketing offering theories and examples concerning how
people can improve their health mainly in relation to tobacco, blood donation, breast cancer
screening, physical activity, drinking and driving, contraception, safe gun storage, sexual assault
prevention, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), skin cancer detection, AIDS prevention,
nutrition, suicide prevention, etc. In this book, the reader discovers the results of the latest
research, and an overview of several successful prevention campaigns. In his answer to my e-mail,
Kolter also informed me that he will soon co-author a book called Marketing for Health Care
Organizations (Kotler, Stevens & Shalowitz, 2008) which “mentions problems of health care and
emphasizes the need for investing more in preventative medicine as opposed to only spending
money on curative medicine” (Appendix 15).
Consequently, Covey and Kotler meet condition number nine.
117
Table 23: Number of gurus passing condition 9
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10

















    

       
  
 

  



 




G11
G12










G13


G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19








6.2. Characteristic ten: using ancient wisdom
According to Weber prophets are “…full of new or renewed ancient wisdom” (Weber [1922]
1964:52). And indeed, it does not take long to find examples in the Bible of prophets using ancient
wisdom: Joshua referring to the Law of Moses (Joshua 8:31), David making reference to the book of
Jasher (2 Samuel 1:18), Jesus quoting David (Matthew 21:13), or Paul citing Isaiah (Romans 10:15).
The expression “It is written” appears 80 times in the Bible – 17 times in the Old Testament, and 63
times in the New Testament – the first occurrence being found in Joshua 8:31, which carries a
certain logic. The foundation of the Bible is the Torah, the five books of Moses, also called the
Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The second part of the Old
Testament, the 34 books following the Pentateuch and starting with Joshua, uses the first part as a
reference, as the four Gospels of the New Testament use the first and the second part of the Old
Testament as a basis for its teachings, and just as the second part of the New Testament, starting
with The Acts of the Apostles refers to the first and second part of the Old Testament, as well as to
the first part of the New Testament to support its messages.
One of the most famous examples of a prophet repeatedly using ancient wisdom is the argument
which occurred between Satan and Jesus in the desert. After Jesus had fasted for forty days, he was
led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). The devil challenged
him to satisfy his hunger by transforming stones into bread. Jesus rebuked him, quoting
Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth
of God.” Not at all discouraged by such an answer, the devil took Jesus to the top of the temple, and,
quoting Psalm 91:11-12, which states that angels will always protect the son of God, he challenged
him to jump. Jesus answered this temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.” Then, Satan showing to Jesus the kingdoms of the world, promised him their
118
splendor if he would only worship him. Once again Jesus rebuked Satan and dismissed him, by
quoting another scripture Deuteronomy 6:13: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” 50
The use of ancient wisdom can also be found in the repackaging of ancient rituals and celebrations.
Easter, which for Christians represents the sacrifice of Jesus, the lamb of God, can be seen as the
fulfillment or as the repackaging of the Jewish Passover (Pesach) 51 which for the Jews celebrates
the Angel of Death, sent by God to destroy all the firstborns in Egypt, who ‘passed over’ the Jewish
homes which had been marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb. The Last Supper during which
Jesus blessed and shared bread and wine with his apostles can be seen either as the traditional
Jewish Passover meal, or, as the first Eucharist or Catholic Mass. Shavuot which is celebrated by the
Jews seven weeks after Passover (seven times seven days: see characteristic eight, on sacred
numbers), in remembrance of the Ten Commandments given by God on Mount Sinaï, and which
represents the establishment of the children of Israel as a people, can be compared to the Christian
Pentecost. Pentecost, which means fifty, is celebrated by Christianity fifty days after Jesus’ last
Passover, in remembrance of the Spirit descending during Shavuot on the apostles, thus marking
the establishment of Christianity.
Many additional parallels could be made: for example the resemblance between Sukkot which
celebrates the people of Israel entering into the Promised Land and the American Thanksgiving,
which also celebrates the first steps of a religious people in a promised land, or the similarity
between the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian one. Yet, is this really surprising? After all, the
Christian Bible was written by Jews. Peter who is considered by the Catholic Church as its first Pope
was also a Jew. And so was Jesus, who Christians see as the son of God. Turning now from the world
of religions to enter the corporate one, the question remains the same. Have management gurus
adopted the same practice as prophets of old? Do they use ancient wisdom as a source of
inspiration? Is part of their teachings a repackaging of the verses, stories and wisdom taken from
ancient sacred texts such as the Bible, the Koran or the Bhagavad-Gita? To deserve the title of
prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
6.2.1. Condition ten: to quote wisdom taken from ancient sacred texts
(G1) Warren Bennis
Bennis refers to several religious figures in his writings: for example Moses and Jesus in Leaders
(Bennis & Nanus, 1985:3-4), and to the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II in An Invented Life
(Bennis, 1994). Bennis also recommends to his readers religious principles such as going on
sabbaticals or retreats in order to avoid burnout (Bennis & Thomas, 2002:181). However, Bennis
does not quote the ancient sacred texts. The closest he comes to it is in Learning to Lead (Bennis,
50
51
It is worth noting that if Jesus knows the scriptures seemingly by heart and uses them to his benefit, Satan does the same.
In French the link between the two celebrations remained more obvious: ‘Pâques’ vs. ‘la Pâque’.
119
2003), where he suggests to the readers to write their own Ten Commandments. “One of the most
powerful archetypes of a leader in Western culture” says Bennis
is Moses, whose leadership was based on his ability to move people to action with a
vision of freedom and personal responsibility. He was as troubled by the corruption of
his time as we are today. His response was to deliver to his people the Ten
Commandments, which provided a code of ethics, by which his followers could live to
achieve their vision […] Our nation’s integrity will be restored only when each of us
asserts our individual integrity and becomes responsible for upholding values in our
own lives […] Ethics, values, and integrity, like charity, begins at home. In the
following exercise, you are asked to take an honest look at your own code of ethics
and values. Using the metaphor of the Ten Commandments… (Bennis, 2003:167).
Even if Bennis does not quote a lot of wisdom from the ancient sacred texts, he displays enough to
succeed with condition number ten.
(G2) Stephen Covey
When it comes to quoting the ancient sacred texts or to referring to ancient prophets, Covey stands
out from the crowd. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989), for example, Covey
refers to the Old Testament in order to support the idea of proactivity.
One of my favorite stories is one in the Old Testament […] It's the story of Joseph,
who was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers at the age of seventeen. Can you
imagine how easy it would have been for him to languish in self-pity as a servant of
Potiphar, to focus on the weaknesses of his brothers and his captors and on all he
didn't have? But Joseph was proactive […] And within a short period of time, he was
running Potiphar's household (Covey, 1989:89-90).
To encourage people to develop their skills, Covey expounds the parable of the talents (Covey,
1989:98). To encourage a better relationship between the police force and citizens, Covey refers to
the parable of the shepherd.
Who are the real leaders in community policing? It becomes obvious that the real
leaders are the police officers on the beat […] Like the parable of the shepherd, they
must know the sheep and be likewise known (authentic communication). The
shepherds care so much they are willing to lay down their lives for the sheep. That's
why they walk in front and the sheep follow. Hired shepherds claim to care but are
only there for "what's in it for them" (their wage) and desert the sheep when the
"wolf" comes around. That's why the hirelings have to drive from behind using the
carrot and stick (Covey, 1989:304).
120
In The 8th Habit (Covey, 2004), not only does Covey refer to the Bible, quoting for example Proverbs
20:27: “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” (Covey, 2004:53), but he also quotes other
sacred texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Covey, 2004:9) or Quaker proverbs (Covey,
2004:72). In Principle-Centred Leadership (Covey, 1990), chapter six, Covey uses the six days of the
creation of the world, as recorded in Genesis, to support the idea that one should not look for shortcuts in one’s own learning and development. Finally, on his website and at the end of most of his
books, Covey recommends wisdom books such as the Holy Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Book of
Mormon, the Dhammapada, the Instruction of Ptah-Hotep, the Book of Hopi, the Instruction of
Ke'Gemni, the Meaning of the Glorious Koran, Sufism the Alchemy of the Heart, Tao Te Ching, the
Torah, the Upanishads, the Way of Chuang Tzu, and the Wisdom of the Vedas to readers. Covey
passes the test.
(G9) Philip Kotler
In Marketing for Congregations (Shawchuck, Kotler, Wrenn & Rath, 1992), Kotler attempts to
address issues that congregations are facing today in their desire to expand and serve their
members. According to the e-mail exchange I had with Kotler (Appendix 15), in the second edition
(not yet published) of Marketing for Congregations, each chapter will start with a quote from some
sacred text. In the meantime, in the current edition, readers still find several references to verses
from the Bible supporting different principles of marketing: for example, Psalms 20:7-8,
Ecclesiastes 5:5, Zechariah 4:6, Numbers 13:1-2, 17-20, and 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Kotler also uses
the Bible as a means to convince the reader that marketing is not an evil process per se and that it
can also be used for spiritual purposes:
…the Bible is replete with examples of the use of marketing techniques by individuals
pursuing honorable ends […] The Lord said to Moses, "Send men to spy out the land
of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites." Moses sent them to spy out the land of
Canaan [to] “see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are
strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land they live in is
good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, and
whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not." While God
might have revealed this information to the Israelites in a dream, He chose to have
them use their own powers of observation, analysis, and planning to obtain and use
this data (Shawchuck, Kotler, Wrenn & Rath, 1992:43).
To support the idea that the experimental method is increasingly recognized in marketing circles as
the most rigorous method for market analysis, Kotler uses a story found in Daniel 1:11-16:
Then Daniel asked the guard whom the palace master had appointed over Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: "Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be
given vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our appearance
with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your
121
servants according to what you observe. So he agreed to this proposal and tested
them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better
and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations. (Shawchuck,
Kotler, Wrenn & Rath, 1992:162-163).
Finally, as a conclusion, paraphrasing Psalm 20, Kotler leaves the reader with a blessing:
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob
protect you. May God send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from
Zion. May God remember all your sacrifices and accept your offerings. May God give
you the desire of your heart and make all your plans […] May the Lord grant you all
your requests. Now we know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers them from
his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and
some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to
their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. O Lord save your people. Answer
us when we call. Amen (Shawchuck, Kotler, Wrenn & Rath, 1992:381-382).
Kotler also succeeds with condition number ten.
The three remaining gurus have clearly demonstrated that they all use in their leadership books
and papers ancient wisdom, and as a result all of them pass condition number ten.
Table 24: Number of gurus passing condition 10
G1
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10








G2









 
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
    

       
  
 

  



 





G11
G12






G13






G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19








6.3. Characteristic eleven: a unified vision of the cosmos
Synchronicity, connectedness, collective unconscious, and unified vision of the cosmos are often
seen as key beliefs of the New Age (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005). If this is true, it is equally important
to acknowledge that each of these ideas can also be found in many other forms of religion or
spirituality and in most of the sacred texts. "Religion is the audacious attempt to conceive of the
122
entire universe as being humanly significant” states Berger (1967b:28). Spirituality, adds
psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn, perhaps only means “experiencing wholeness and interconnectedness
directly, seeing that individuality and the totality are interwoven, that nothing is separate or
extraneous. If you see in this way, then everything becomes spiritual in its deepest sense. Doing
science is spiritual. So is washing the dishes” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994:265-266).
The vision of a unified cosmos in which all elements, including man, are interconnected, is a key
aspect of the role of prophet in the sacred texts. Weber states that a prophet has “…a unified vision
of the world derived from a consciously integrated and meaningful attitude toward life. To the
prophet, both the life of man and the world, both social and cosmic events, have a certain
systematic and coherent meaning…” (Weber [1922] 1964:59). The Old Testament confirms this
vision. The covenant that Jehovah made with Abraham, promising to “make [his] descendants as
numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore”, promising also that “through
[his] offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:15-18) is a good reminder of our
connection to the cosmos and to one another. The New Testament also teaches that no one is an
island. The most famous teaching on the notion of connectedness was, I believe, given by Jesus in a
parable:
…Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the
righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or
thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or
naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto
thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me
(Matthew 25:34-40).
When looking at synchronicity, it is the story of Cornelius and Peter which first comes to mind. One
day, as Peter was praying, and was very hungry, he felt into a trance. He saw in a vision a dish
coming down from heaven full of all types of food forbidden by the Law of Moses. Refusing to eat
any of them, Peter heard the voice of the Lord telling him, twice, that whatsoever the Lord had
cleansed, he should eat. As Peter woke up from this vision, and was attempting to understand it,
several men who had been sent by Cornelius, a Gentile, arrived at his gate, asking him to follow
them in order to teach Cornelius. The next day, Peter went away with them. When he met Cornelius,
Peter said to him “ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company,
or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man
common or unclean” (Acts 10:1-35).
123
However it is expressed or named – collective unconscious, interconnectedness, small world,
synchronicity, etc. – the message is always the same: we are all part of something greater. And as
we become more aware of this interconnectedness, we understand more clearly that when we
harm other people or even the planet, it is in fact ourselves that we harm. This might be the
message found in Matthew 7:12: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them.”
This interconnectedness can also be found in places other than the sacred texts, religion or
spirituality. For example, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote a whole book, attempting to explain the
principles of synchronicity (Jung, 1955); American psychologist Abraham Maslow described selfactualization as a state where people can feel a profound ‘cosmic-sadness’ (Maslow, 1971); in Mind
and Nature, British anthropologist Gregory Bateson asks the question: “What pattern connects the
crab to the lobster and the orchid to the primrose and all the four of them to me? And me to you?”
(Bateson, 1979:8); American attorney and consultant Joseph Jaworski also wrote on synchronicity
in the form of a personal journal to explain the impact it had on his life (Jaworski, 1996); and,
British sociologist Grace Davie (2007), discussing the new age and self-spiritualities, points to the
common trait that unites them all the interconnected person (mind, body and spirit) and the
interconnected universe (each individual is part of a cosmic whole). Therefore, to deserve the title
of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
6.3.1. Condition eleven: to promote the idea of connectedness
(G1) Warren Bennis
There is no trace in Bennis’ writings of a personal vision of a unified cosmos where we are all
connected to one another. The closest Bennis comes to this idea is in Learning to Lead in which he
spends a whole chapter on the concept of the inner voice (Bennis & Goldsmith, 2003:26). In this
chapter, Bennis recommends writing thoughts down, remembering dreams, talking things over
with someone we trust, engaging in an introspective process, and starting an internal dialogue with
ourselves in order to identify our inner voice. However, contrary to some of his colleagues who see
this inner voice as a connection to a collective consciousness, Bennis unequivocally states that “…
the development of leaders begins and ultimately ends with you, the one person who can reach
deep inside yourself, who can take hold of your desire to achieve, and who can commit yourself to
some noble purpose, value, or vision…” Apparently, Bennis recognize the spiritual aspect of the
inner voice, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”: “I don’t know when I started to
understand that there was something divine about that inner voice […] When I've been most
effective, I've listened to that inner voice”, but he also sees it as something very personal, not as a
link between people, or as a collective unconscious source of information to which everyone has
access. Consequently, Bennis does not pass condition eleven.
124
(G2) Stephen Covey
It is in The 8th Habit, that Covey reveals his point of view on connectedness. After discussing the
first three forms of intelligence (body, mind, and heart), Covey spends some time on the fourth one:
spiritual intelligence (SQ). According to him, spiritual intelligence is the most fundamental of the
four intelligences as it is the one that guides them all. It is our “connection with the infinite” (Covey,
2004:53). And to illustrate his conception of SQ, Covey quotes Richard Wolman, author of Thinking
with Your Soul (Wolman, 2001): “By spiritual I mean the ancient and abiding human quest for
connectedness with something larger and more trustworthy than our egos, with our own souls,
with one another, with the worlds of history and nature, with the indivisible winds of the spirit,
with the mystery of being alive.”
Recommending not to get stuck by the definitions of words, Covey encourages readers to look for
the meanings underlying the notion of spiritual intelligence which, according to him, helps to find
true principles and recognize, as a higher endowment, that people “cannot think and live
independently in an interdependent world”. To illustrate this, Covey recalls the story of Anwar
Sadat, ex-president of Egypt.
Sadat had been reared […] in a hatred for Israel. He would make the statement on
national television, "I will never shake the hand of an Israeli as long as they occupy
one inch of Arab soil. Never, never, never!" And huge crowds all around the country
would chant, "Never, never, never!" He […] unified the will of the whole country in
that script […] For a period of time during Nasser's administration, Sadat was
relegated to a position of relative insignificance. Everyone felt that his spirit was
broken, but it wasn't. They were projecting their own home movies onto him […]
when he became president of Egypt and confronted the political realities, he
rescripted himself toward Israel. He visited the Knesset in Jerusalem and opened up
one of the most precedent-breaking peace movements in the history of the world, a
bold, initiative that eventually brought about the Camp David Accord (Covey,
1989:103-104).
This is one of the many stories that Covey uses to illustrate that the only way to help other people
change is to start by changing ourselves first. A logical process if indeed we are all connected. Covey
passes the test.
(G9) Philip Kotler
I read Marketing Management (Kotler, 1967), Kotler on Marketing (Kotler, 1999), Marketing
Insights from A to Z (Kotler, 2003), Social Marketing (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002), and Strategic
Marketing for Health Care Organizations (Kotler, Stevens & Shalowitz, 2008) in search of
information revealing Kotler’s point of view on the vision of a unified cosmos. I analyzed the
125
prefaces of his books, the tables of contents, and all the indexes, but could not find any reference to
the notions of synchronicity, connectedness, or the collective unconscious. Following my request
for support, Kotler answered very kindly, saying that he had used these words in some of his
writings, specifically in an article on theories of consumer behavior but that he had not done this
very frequently or in depth. As the condition to pass this criterion is to have taught and promoted
these ideas, not simply to have made reference to them, Kotler does not pass the test.
Consequently, only Covey succeeds with condition eleven.
Table 25: Number of gurus passing condition 11
G1
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
C11








G2









 

G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
    

       
  
 

  



 





G11
G12








G13


G14
G15
G16














G17

G18
G19








6.4. Characteristic twelve: persecutions, afflictions and adversity
Prophets of all times have suffered all sorts of afflictions, very often seeing them as part of their
growth and preparation for ministry. Even after their ministry had begun, sufferings and
persecutions almost always continued, as people often rebelled against the nature of their
preachings. For example, in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, Noah is mocked for
building an ark in a place where there is no water (Genesis 6), Abram cannot have an offspring
(Genesis 15-17), Lot has his wife transformed into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19), Abraham is
commanded to sacrifice his only son Isaac (Genesis 22), Jacob must hide from his brother Esau who
plans to kill him (Genesis 27), Joseph is sold as a slave by his brothers (Genesis 37), is falsely
accused by Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39), and is put into prison (Genesis 39). Forty-four books later,
after the crucifixion of Jesus, little has improved. Peter and John are put into prison (Acts 5),
Stephen is stoned to death (Acts 7), and James is killed with a sword (Acts 12). However, the most
representative story of the degree of affliction a man of God can go through is without doubt the
story of Job, who lost his cattle and all his property, whose servants were killed by the sword,
whose sons and daughters were crushed under his crumbling house, who was smitten with boils,
accused of sin by his friends and pushed to curse God by his wife. The story tells us that Job’s faith,
126
despite all these afflictions, was constant and was finally rewarded not only by receiving twice as
much as he had lost (Job 42:10), but also by seeing God with his own eyes (Job 42:5).
What about our candidates to the title of prophet? What persecutions or afflictions have they had to
face? And if they have, have these sufferings helped them become top management gurus? To
deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following condition:
6.4.1. Condition twelve: to have grown from serious difficulties in life
(G1) Warren Bennis
In On Becoming a Leader (Bennis, 1989:86-91; 137-138) Bennis recognizes the fact that afflictions
can make people grow. He explains how famous people such as John Cleese, Don Ritchey, Barbara
Corday, Jim Burke, Sidney Pollack, Horace Deets, Shirley Hufstedler, Larry Wilson, and Alfred
Gottschalk learned from adversity. However, neither in this book, nor in any others could any hint
about his experience with similar tribulations be found. Nor did a search on the web linking his
name to key words such as ‘illness’, ‘accident’, or ‘suffering’ provide any additional information.
Bennis does not pass condition number twelve.
(G2) Stephen Covey
While many gurus describe best and worst practices by relating anecdotes which happened to
famous people, Covey uses often his own professional and personal experiences in order to teach.
The stories are often very positive, but some of them describe the difficulties he has faced in his life;
difficulties that taught him useful lessons for his job as a consultant. In the very first chapter of The
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, for instance, Covey recalls the following anecdote (italics are
mine):
A few years ago, my wife Sandra and I were struggling with this kind of concern. One
of our sons was having a very difficult time in school. He was doing poorly
academically […] Socially he was immature, often embarrassing those closest to him.
Athletically, he was small, skinny, and uncoordinated […] Others would laugh at him
[…] Nothing we did seemed to help, and we were really worried. […] No matter how
much we worked on our attitude and behavior, our efforts were ineffective because,
despite our actions and our words, what we really communicated to him was, "You
aren't capable. You have to be protected." […] We began to realize that if we wanted
to change the situation, we first had to change ourselves […]we became painfully
aware of the powerful influence of our own character and motives and of our
perception of him […] As the weeks and months passed […] He began to blossom […]
He became outstanding as measured by standard social criteria […] our son's
"socially impressive" accomplishments were more a serendipitous expression of the
127
feelings he had about himself than merely a response to social reward. This was an
amazing experience for Sandra and me, and a very instructional one in dealing with
our other children and in other roles as well (Covey, 1989:16-17).
Words like ‘struggling’, ‘difficult time’, ‘laughing at’, ‘worried’, and ‘painfully’ placed in contrast with
an expression such as ‘an amazing instructional experience’ is exactly what one would expect from
a prophet on characteristic number twelve. However, the real answer for this condition was not
found in any of Covey’s books, but in Fortune magazine, in an article entitled “What’s so effective
about Stephen Covey?” in which we learn that Covey
…would be an imposing man if he were two inches taller, which he figures he would
be, had he not suffered as a teenager from a terrible degradation of the thighbones,
which caused him to spend three full years on crutches with long steel pins
implanted in his legs. That circumstance, Covey figures, was one of the things that led
him to his present calling52. ‘I was a pretty good athlete, I really was. But this shifted
me totally into academics, and also into forensics. I got into debate, and speaking, and
I got turned on by that’ (Smith & Hadjian, 1994:116-126).
(G9) Philip Kotler
In the e-mail exchange I had with Kotler, he answered condition number twelve as follow: “All of us
have medical problems from time to time, but I have not reported on any of them publicly.
However, it does influence my preferred areas of philanthropy.” I of course respect the fact that
Kotler wishes to keep this information as private. However, as has been seen several times – with
condition three (preaching and wandering), with condition six (writting about ethics), or with
condition eleven (having a unified vision of the cosmos) – what makes prophets is not so much
what they think or believe or even do, but the fact that they bring it to the attention of others. In
other words, these essentially personal experiences are discussed in public in order to teach others,
even if this can sometimes be seen as a form of self-promotion or exhibitionism. It is clear that
Kotler went through some pain and affliction – as he says, “like all of us” – but the fact that he
neither sees them as a factor of growth, nor has revealed them to a journalist or to his readers in
any of his books, nor used them as teaching material, does not position Kotler as a prophet.
Consequently, only Covey succeeds with condition number twelve.
52
Please note the selection of the word ‘calling’ which will be very useful for the next condition
128
Table 26: Number of gurus passing condition 12
G1
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
C11
C12








G2









 


G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
G10
    

       
  
 

  



 





G11
G12










G13


G14
G15
G16












G17

G18
G19








The third gate has now been reached. Having screened nineteen gurus through the first twelve
characteristics of the ideal type of a prophet, only one guru, Stephen Covey, corresponds perfectly
to the twelve conditions. After Covey, Bennis and Kotler are the gurus with the highest scores, each
of them fulfilling nine out of the twelve first conditions. In other words, even if the amount of
conditions they have fulfilled is high, it is still significantly less than Covey. It is possible that these
two gurus, just like any of the other sixteen, apply in their personal life or believe covertly in some,
if not all of the missing conditions. Yet, it has been shown, specifically in this last phase, that what
makes a prophet is not so much the person, but the image which is projected. And these gurus
either do not fulfill the missing conditions, or do not wish the world to be aware that they do.
Whatever the case, based on the twelve characteristics of the ideal type and on the way they were
translated into conditions, only Covey can move to the next and final phase of the exercise, to the
two last characteristics set out in the ideal type.
Is Covey one of the new prophets foreseen by Weber? It is still too early to say. To deserve the title
of prophet, according to the prophet’s ideal type, two characteristics still need to be checked:
characteristic number thirteen – Personal Call – which states that to deserve the title of prophet a
candidate must believe to have been ‘called’ to the job; and characteristic number fourteen –
Believing in God – which requires the candidate to openly express a belief in a God, divinity or
supreme power.
As explained in chapter two on methods, the initial plan in this fourth phase was to request an
interview – face to face, by video conference or on the phone – with the remaining gurus in order to
validate with them the data compiled for the twelve first conditions and to discuss the remaining
two characteristics. As Covey was the only guru to match the first twelve characteristics perfectly, I
tried once again to contact him. However, I decided this time not to use the request form posted on
his website for people who wish to interview him or invite him to speak at a conference. Instead, I
129
remembered the small world experiment made by Travers and Milgram (1969) in which they
arbitrarily selected 296 people living in Boston and Nebraska, and asked them to start an
acquaintance chain targeting a person living in Massachusetts. Sixty-four chains (22%) reached the
target with an average of 5.2 intermediaries. I decided to try the same approach, and contacted
every single person I knew in the US to see if they could start an acquaintance chain targeting
Covey. I beat Travers and Milgram’s average with only two intermediaries. The problem, however,
was that the second intermediary was Covey’s executive assistant, not one of his personal friends or
clients. She first gave me hope, telling me that despite Covey’s extremely busy schedule, once he
had returned from vacation, she would organize an interview before the end of the year. My
excitement was unfortunately of short duration as after a few weeks, I was told that “Dr. Covey
spends most of his time on speaking tours and working on his current book projects, he will be
unable to be interviewed for your research. He hopes you will understand and wishes you the very
best with your research” (Appendix 15).
As I was not able to interview Covey for the two remaining conditions, I had no other option than to
return, once again, to a content analysis approach. I first had doubts that someone would reveal to
the world, in his or her public writings, private information such as his or her belief in God. This
doubt, however, was quickly dispelled when I found, after a relatively short period of time,
extremely precise data on the two last characteristics.
6.5. Characteristic thirteen: personal call
When studying the Bible, and more precisely the events preceding the call of a new prophet, a
recurrent pattern stands out: (1) the future prophet goes to a private and quiet place, (2) the
prophet converses with God or one of God’s messengers, and (3) the prophet receives a revelation,
a new message to be proclaimed to the world. This was the case for Moses who went to Mount Sinai
alone, talked to God, and came down with the Decalogue (Exodus 19-20); for the child Samuel,
servant of Eli, who heard the voice of the Lord three times, during the night when he was in bed,
and was then informed that he, not the sons of Eli, would take over the stewardship of their father
(1 Samuel 3:1-10); for Zacharias who went into the temple, talked to the angel Gabriel, and left the
temple with the information that his son, yet to be born, would prepare the way of the Lord (Luke
1); for Jesus, who stayed in the desert for forty days, was first tempted by the devil, then served by
angels, and who, coming out of the desert, was ready to start his ministry (Matthew 4). The story of
Saul, in the New Testament, is even more interesting as he was known by the disciples of Jesus as
extremely antagonistic towards the new sect:
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord […] came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? […] And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt
130
thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise, and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do (Acts 9:1-6).
Following this experience, Saul – later to be called Paul – became one of the greatest exponents of
early Christianity. What is the case of Covey, our last candidate to the title of prophet? Does he
believe that he has been called to the job of management guru?
6.5.1. Condition thirteen: to have been called to the job
Reference to Covey’s calling can be found in several of his books. In his last book, The 8th Habit, for
example, Covey recalls an event that took place in his life when he was a young man, an experience
that “profoundly shaped the rest of [his] life” (Covey, 2004:97). When he was in England, away from
home for an extended period of voluntary service, the president of the organization gave him the
task of travelling around the country to train local leaders. Covey was shocked. How could he train
people who were two or three times his age? Nevertheless, the confidence this leader had in him
inspired confidence in himself, and he accepted the assignment. This made him grow “physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually” (Covey, 2004:97). Covey concludes: “By the time I returned
home, I had begun to detect the work I wanted to devote my life to: unleashing human potential. I
found my ‘voice’.” (Covey, 2004:98). Once again, in this case, the three step pattern can be found:
First, going to a remote place; second, the spiritual experience, highlighted here by the words:
‘spiritually’ and ‘voice’; third, the calling, in this precise case, the calling to the job of management
guru to ‘unleash human potential’. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey shares with his
readers an even more striking experience which also can be linked to his calling:
… one day, as I was wandering between stacks of books in the back of the college
library, I came across a book that drew my interest. As I opened it, my eyes fell upon
a single paragraph that powerfully influenced the rest of my life. I read the paragraph
over and over again. […] I can hardly describe the effect that idea had on my mind.
[…] the way the idea was phrased – "a gap between stimulus and response" 53 – hit
me with fresh, almost unbelievable force. It was almost like "knowing it for the first
time," like an inward revolution, "an idea whose time had come." I reflected on it
again and again, and it began to have a powerful effect on my paradigm of life (Covey,
1989:309-310).
Once again the three steps: the remote and quiet place, the impact, the leaving of the place with a
new paradigm. Knowing that Covey is a Mormon, and knowing that Mormons believe not only in
ancient prophets, but also in modern day ones (Jackson, 2001), I wondered if parallels between the
story of Covey and Mormon prophets could be found. When analyzing and comparing the calling of
Covey as a guru to the one of Joseph Smith as the first Mormon prophet, surprising parallels can
indeed be made.
53
For an explanation of this principle, please see p. 128.
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Stephen Covey
Joseph Smith
“… one day as I was wandering between stacks of
“… I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first
books in the back of the college library, I came across
chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack
a book that drew my interest. As I opened it, my eyes
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
fell upon a single paragraph that powerfully
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
influenced the rest of my life. I read the paragraph
him. Never did any passage of scripture came with
over and over again. […] I can hardly describe the
more power to the heart of man than this did at this
effect that idea had on my mind. […] the way the idea
time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into
was phrased - "a gap between stimulus and response"
every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and
- hit me with fresh, almost unbelievable force. It was
again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom
almost like "knowing it for the first time," like an
from God, I did; […] At length I came to the conclusion
inward revolution, "an idea whose time had come." I
that I must either remain in darkness and confusion,
reflected on it again and again, and it began to have a
or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God”
powerful effect on my paradigm of life.” (Covey,
(History of the Church, Vol. 1, Chapters 1-5)
1989:309-310).
Is this striking resemblance the result of chance, of the unconscious impact of years of Mormon
teaching or of a voluntary and calculated copying of something Covey holds as sacred? It is difficult
to say without being able to ask him the question directly. Whatever the answer, it is clear that
enough data has been found in Covey’s writing to validate the fact that, just like the prophets of old,
Covey undoubtedly believes that he has received a personal calling.
6.6. Characteristic fourteen: believing in God
According to the Old Testament, “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his
servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Thus, if God needs prophets to talk to men, God must first
communicate with them. If this is the case, prophets are well placed to believe in God. The Bible
teaches that God did indeed talk to many of them, and in different ways: face-to-face with Moses
(Exodus 33:7-11), in dreams to Joseph (Genesis 42:9), in visions to Daniel (Daniel 2:19), and
through an angel to the apostles (Acts 5:19). The Bible also seems to demonstrate that for prophets,
this contact with the divinity is not just a one time experience, but the first of a series of
interactions which help the prophet to come to an unshaken belief – or knowledge – which enables
him or her to testify in the name of God.
How does this apply to the remaining candidate to the title of prophet? Does Covey limit himself to
scientific, rational, and business thought, or does he dare to sustain in his business writings,
addressed to a corporate world often suspicious of religious matters, the idea that the Divine exists,
that it is at the origin of his success, and that it can also help the reader succeed in his or her own
life, be it professional or private? To deserve the title of prophet, a guru must fulfill the following
condition:
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6.6.1. Condition fourteen: to express openly a belief in God, or the Divine
At the beginning of this research, when I had to rank the fourteen criteria in order to facilitate the
selection process, I positioned the belief in God at the last place as I thought that it would be
difficult to prove or disprove that a guru believed in the Divine without asking him or her directly. I
was surprised, however, to discover how easy it was to find in Covey’s writings data about this last
characteristic. Indeed, before publishing his first best seller, Covey wrote a book, The Divine Center
(Covey, 1982), which describes in minute detail his belief in God: three hundred and five pages of
explanations on how to centre one’s life on God and how to be more like Jesus. The key idea of the
book is based on the assumption that one sees the world not as it is, but as one is, a theory also
discussed at length in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989). Yet, in The Divine
Center, Covey goes further, asking and answering questions such as: What would be the effect on
the perception of security, guidance, wisdom, and power if one were to see the world as Christ
does? Without any doubt, this book testifies that Covey believes in God. Yet, is this enough to
validate condition number fourteen? One could argue that The Divine Center is not a book on
leadership and management, that it was not aimed at the corporate world but at people who shared
his faith. Therefore, the question remains: can any clear and open statement on his belief in God be
found in Covey’s writings on leadership, management and self improvement? The introduction to
The 8th Habit (Covey, 2004) and the conclusion of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, as well
as of Principle-Centered Leadership (Covey, 1990) answer this question, without a shadow of a
doubt.
In The 8th Habit, Covey sets the tone right at the beginning, in his acknowledgments, expressing his
thanks to his associates, his editor, his family and “to God and Father of us all, for His plan of
happiness for all His children” (Covey, 2004:xiii). In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey
concludes with
…I would like to share my own personal conviction concerning what I believe to be
the source of correct principles. I believe that correct principles are natural laws, and
that God, the Creator and Father of us all, is the source of them, and also the source of
our conscience. […] I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be
reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with.
[…] In the words of Teilhard de Chardin, ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual
experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience’ (Covey, 1989:319).
Covey concludes his book Principle-Centered Leadership in a similar way:
Further, I believe God is the true name and source of the collective unconscious and
is therefore the ultimate moral authority in the universe. The daily prayerful study of
His revealed word is the single most important and powerful discipline in life
because it points our lives, like a compass, to ‘true north’ – our divine destiny (Covey,
1990:324).
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His belief in God could not be clearer.
6.7. To recapitulate
One hundred years ago, Max Weber postulated in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, [1904] 2003) that after a tremendous development, capitalism would
either collapse or enter a new era of development through the guidance of new prophets. Having
developed an ideal type using Weber’s material, and having screened the nineteen most important
management gurus of the corporate world through the fourteen characteristics of the ideal type of a
prophet, one of the new prophets foreseen by Weber has been found. In the next and final chapter
of this thesis, entitled “Closing the Loop: Weber’s New Prophet(s)”, I will start by describing this
new prophet, and continue by discussing a variety of points – both methodological and theoretical –
that have arisen in the course this research. I will then conclude by reviewing the whole journey,
analyzing the possible consequences of my findings on social science and on the business world.
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CHAPTER SEVEN: CLOSING THE LOOP, WEBER’S NEW PROPHET(S)
This final chapter will start by presenting the business prophet that has emerged – Stephen Covey –
from the selection process established and described in the previous chapters. It will begin with a
summary of his teachings, describing the key ideas that Covey puts forward in his books, especially
in his best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989) indicated below under the
acronym T7H. Covey himself will then be described: the man, his accomplishments and rewards.
The reasons why some people could see him as a modern day prophet, and why others might see
him as controversial one will then be discussed. The following section will focus on the relationship
between prophets and profits, the only characteristic which was listed by Weber in The Sociology of
Religion ([1922] 1964), but not retained in the construction of the ideal type. The reason why this
characteristic was not retained, what the general relationship between gurus and money is, and
how Covey deals with money will also be covered in this section. Then two more general ideas will
be considered: the possibility that additional business prophets will appear and the idea that the
spiritualization of business might be a new form of religion – more discreet than today’s present
ones. In the final section, I will review the lessons learned through my research, demonstrating
their relevance to the secularization / desecularization debate, the spiritualization of the corporate
world and the guru theory.
7.1. Listening to the prophet
The best way to introduce Covey is to listen to him. Like the prophets of old who taught through
stories and parables (e.g. the parable of the ten virgins, the talents, the good Samaritan, the barren
fig tree, the lost piece of silver, or the prodigal son), Covey is a master storyteller (Clark & Salaman,
1998; Greatbatch & Clark, 2005). In his major best-seller, Covey teaches about seven principles of
life which, according to him, sublimate differences in gender, culture and religions. Covey positions
these seven habits at “the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire” (Covey, 1989:47), stating that
they are universal and timeless because they are based on correct maps (Covey, 1989:52). To
understand this notion of maps, which is a recurrent theme in most of his books, Covey draws the
following parallel:
Suppose you wanted to arrive at a specific location in central Chicago. A street map
of the city would be a great help to you in reaching your destination. But suppose you
were given the wrong map. Through a printing error, the map labeled Chicago was
actually a map of Detroit. Can you imagine the frustration, the ineffectiveness of
trying to reach your destination? You might work on your behavior – you could try
harder, be more diligent, double your speed. But your efforts would only succeed in
getting you to the wrong place faster. You might work on your attitude – you could
think more positively. You still wouldn't get to the right place, but perhaps you
wouldn't care. Your attitude would be so positive, you'd be happy wherever you
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were. The point is, you'd still be lost. The fundamental problem has nothing to do
with your behavior or your attitude. It has everything to do with having a wrong
map. If you have the right map of Chicago, then diligence becomes important, and
when you encounter frustrating obstacles along the way, then attitude can make a
real difference. But the first and most important requirement is the accuracy of the
map. Each of us has many, many maps in our head, which can be divided into two
main categories: maps of the way things are, or realities, and maps of the way things
should be, or values. We interpret everything we experience through these mental
maps. We seldom question their accuracy; we're usually even unaware that we have
them. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the
way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of those assumptions.
The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act (Covey,
1989:23-24).
Covey moves on to describe the seven habits which, according to him, “constantly, daily, express
our character and produce our effectiveness ... or ineffectiveness” (Covey, 1989:46). What follows is
a brief summary of Covey’s seven habits. The first of the seven habits is to be proactive or to
become response-able. Covey teaches that, between a stimulus and the response we make, there is a
space for the freedom to choose. To demonstrate this, he recounts the story of Viktor Frankl, a
Freudian psychiatrist who was imprisoned in the death camps of Nazi Germany.
His parents, his brother, and his wife died in the camps […] FrankI himself suffered
torture and innumerable indignities, never, knowing from one moment to the next if
his path would lead to the ovens or if he would be among the ‘saved’ who would
remove the bodies or shovel out the ashes of those so fated. One day, naked and
alone in a small room, he began to become aware of what he later called the last of
the human freedoms the freedom his Nazi captors could not take away. They could
control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but
FrankI himself was a self-aware being who could look as an observer at his very
involvement. His basic identity was intact. He could decide within himself how all of
this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him, or the stimulus, and his
response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response. In the midst of his
experiences, Frankl would project himself into different circumstances, such as
lecturing to his students after his release from the death camps. He would describe
himself in the classroom, in his mind's eye, and give his students the lessons he was
learning during his very torture. Through a series of such disciplines-mental,
emotional, and moral, principally using memory and imagination-he exercised his
small, embryonic freedom until it grew larger and larger, until he had more freedom
than his Nazi captors. They had more liberty, more options to choose from in their
environment; but he had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options.
He became an inspiration to those around him, even to some of the guards. He helped
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others find meaning in their suffering and dignity in their prison existence. In the
midst of the most degrading circumstances imaginable, FrankI used the human
endowment of self-awareness to discover a fundamental principle about the nature
of man: Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose
(Covey,1989:69-70).
The second habit is to begin with the end in mind. The idea is to start everything – be it a meeting, a
business project or our own life – with a mental image of the way we want it to turn out. If we begin
anything without a clear vision of what we want, we will inevitably, according to Covey, make the
wrong choices. To help us begin with the end in mind, Covey guides us through a simple exercise.
In your mind's eye, see yourself going to the funeral of a loved one. Picture yourself
driving to the funeral parlor or chapel, parking the car, and getting out. As you walk
inside the building, you notice the flowers, the soft organ music. You see the faces of
friends and family you pass along the way. You feel the shared sorrow of losing, the
joy of having known, that radiates from the hearts of the people there. As you walk
down to the front of the room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to
face with yourself. This is your funeral, three years from today. All these people have
come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life. As you
take a seat and wait for the services to begin, you look at the program in your hand.
There are to be four speakers. The first is from your family, immediate and also
extended-children, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and
grandparents who have come from all over the country to attend. The second
speaker is one of your friends, someone who can give a sense of what you were as a
person. The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from
your church or some community organization where you've been involved in service.
Now think deeply. What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and
your life? (Covey, 1989:96-97).
The third habit is to put first things first, or in other words to have the discipline to put off today's
pleasures for tomorrow’s happiness. To illustrate this, Covey uses many stories, examples and
exercises, including this short but striking anecdote:
I know one father who was leaving with his children for a promised trip to the circus
when a phone call came for him to come to work instead. He declined. When his wife
suggested that perhaps he should have gone to work, he responded, ‘The work will
come again, but childhood won't.’ For, the rest of their lives his children remembered
this little act of priority setting, not only as an object lesson in their minds but as an
expression of love in their hearts (Covey, 1989:113-114).
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Think win/win is the fourth habit, “a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit
in all human interactions” (Covey, 1989:207). Since there is plenty for everyone, to think win/win is
to look for “agreements or solutions [which] are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying” (Covey,
1989:207), which is not an easy task as we have learned throughout our lives, at home, at school
and at work to compete, rather than to cooperate. In this case, Covey not only tells stories taken
from family life, but also from the business world.
Some time after learning the concept of Win/Win or No Deal, the president of a small
computer software company shared with me the following experience. We had
developed new software which we sold on a five-year contract to a particular bank.
The bank president was excited about it, but his people weren't really behind the
decision. About a month later, that bank changed presidents. The new president
came to me and said, 'I am uncomfortable with these software conversions. I have a
mess on my hands. My people are all saying that they can't go through this and I
really feel I just can't push it at this point in time.' My own company was in deep
financial trouble. I knew I had every legal right to enforce the contract. But I had
become convinced of the value of the principle of Win/Win. So I told him 'We have a
contract. Your bank has secured our products and our services to convert you to this
program. But we understand that you're not happy about it. So what we'd like to do
is give you back the contract, give you back your deposit, and if you are ever looking
for a software solution in the future, come back and see us.' I literally walked away
from an $84,000 contract. It was close to financial suicide. But I felt that, in the long
run, if the principle were true, it would come back and pay dividends. Three months
later, the new president called me. ‘We are now going to make changes in my data
processing,' he said, 'and I want to do business with you.' He signed a contract for
$240,000. Anything less than Win/Win in an interdependent reality is a poor second
best that will have impact in the long-term relationship (Covey, 1989:214).
Habit five is to seek first to understand, then to be understood. We have spent years learning how
to speak, read and write, but how much time have we spent learning how to listen? What type of
training, what kind of courses did we take to learn how to listen to others? To illustrate his points,
Covey sometimes uses humor.
Suppose you’ve been having trouble with your eyes and you decide to go to an
optometrist for help. After briefly listening to your complaint, he takes off his glasses
and hands them to you.
‘Put these on,’ he says. ‘I've worn this pair of glasses for ten years now and they've
really helped me. I have an extra pair at home; you can wear these.’
So you put them on, but it only makes the problem worse.
‘This is terrible!’ you exclaim. ‘I can't see a thing!’
‘Well, what’s wrong?’ he asks. ‘They work great for me. Try harder.’
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‘I am trying,’ you insist. ‘Everything is a blur.’
‘Well, what's the matter with you? Think positively.’
‘Okay. I positively can't see a thing.’
‘Boy, are you ungrateful!’ he chides. ‘And after all I've done to help you!’
What are the chances you'd go back to that optometrist the next time you needed
help? Not very good, I would imagine. You don't have much confidence in someone
who doesn't diagnose before he or she prescribes (Covey, 1989:236-237).
The sixth habit is to synergize. “If you plant two plants close together, the roots improve the quality
of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of
wood together, they will hold much more than the total of the weight held by each separately. The
whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one equals three or more” (Covey, 1989:263).
This principle can be applied in all aspects of daily life. As already demonstrated, Covey uses
parables and real life examples to teach and stimulate emotions. He also quotes other writers, as in
the case for this habit.
The importance of valuing the difference is captured in an often quoted fable called
‘The Animal School’, written by educator Dr. R. H. Reeves: Once upon a time, the
animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a ‘New
World’, so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of
running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer, all animals
took all the subjects. The duck was excellent in swimming, better in fact than his
instructor, and made excellent grades in flying, but he was very poor in running.
Since he was low in running he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to
practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn and he was
only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried
about that except the duck. The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but
had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup in swimming. The squirrel
was excellent in climbing until he developed frustrations in the flying class where his
teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree-top down. He
also developed charley horses from over-exertion and he got a C in climbing and a D
in running. The eagle was a problem child and had to be disciplined severely. In
climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his
own way of getting there. At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim
exceedingly well and also could run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and
was valedictorian. The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy
because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum.
They apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and
gophers to start a successful private school (Covey, 1989:278-279).
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And finally habit number seven: to sharpen the saw. The name of this habit comes from another of
Covey’s parables.
Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw
down a tree.
‘What are you doing?’ you ask.
‘Can't you see?’ comes the impatient reply. ‘I'm sawing down this tree.’
‘You look exhausted!’ you exclaim. ‘How long have you been at it?’
‘Over five hours’ he returns, ‘and I'm beat! This is hard work.’
‘Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?’ you
inquire. ‘I'm sure it would go a lot faster.’
‘I don't have time to sharpen the saw,’ the man says emphatically. ‘I'm too busy
sawing!’ (Covey, 1989:287).
Then, Covey goes on to explain that to perform we need to renew ourselves constantly in the four
dimensions of our nature: physically, spiritually, mentally, and socially / emotionally.
All of Covey’s other books are either stepping stones towards T7H or extensions from it. For
example, the forthcoming Living the 7 Habits: Stories of Courage and Inspiration, is a compilation of
testimonies written by people who have read and applied T7H. In short, when reading all his works,
the essence of Covey’s teachings can be summarized in a few key statements:

Life has a meaning

To every problem or difficulty in life, there is a solution

The solution is found between a stimulus and its response

It is there that we find our free agency

This ability to decide is what differentiates human beings from animals

To do it, we must know who we are, and what our values are

If we learn to listen to our inner voice, it will guide us

As human beings, we are not alienated, but intricately linked one to another

Consequently whatever we do to others has a consequence for ourselves – and vice versa

Having all this in mind, we can shape a better world

To do it, change starts with ourselves, with an inside-out approach
In one sentence, Covey teaches that “to do well you must do good, and to do good you must first be
good” (Smith, 1994:117).
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7.2. The portrait of a prophet
Yet, what about the person? Stephen R. Covey was born in 1932, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Stephen
Glenn Covey and Louise Richards. At the age of sixteen, he entered the University of Utah and
received a business degree four years later. In 1952, Covey left his family and his country to serve
for several years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), in
Nottingham, England. Not long after his return, he married Sandra Merrill with whom he has had
nine children. In 1957, Covey received his MBA from the Harvard Business School. In 1970, he
accepted the position of adjunct professor of organizational behavior and business management at
Brigham Young University, Utah. Six years later Covey received a Ph.D. in organizational behavior
from the same university. His thesis focused on the evolution of success literature in the United
States since 1776, highlighting an American shift which occurred in this period from character ethic
to personality ethic. At that time, using the results of his findings, Covey began teaching classes
which grew rapidly from 600 students to 1,000 or more (Smith, 1994). This success encouraged
him to go into consulting. As a result Covey left the academic world in 1984 to create the Covey
Leadership Center. Five years later, in 1989, he published T7H, the results of his doctoral research
and of his work with IBM. The book stayed on The New York Times best-seller list for over five
years, and overall has sold more than fifteen million copies, in thirty-eight languages, and continued
to sell 50,000 to 100,000 a month (USA Today, August 11, 2004). In 2002, Forbes named T7H one of
the top ten most influential management books ever. A survey by Chief Executive Magazine
recognized T7H as one of the two most influential business books of the 20th century.
Covey is also the recipient of numerous honors and awards among which are the International
Entrepreneur of the Year (1994), Time Magazine's 25 most influential Americans (1996), the Sikh's
International Man of Peace (1998) and the Speaker of the Year (1999) awards. However, Covey
often states that the award he is the most proud of is the Fatherhood Award which he received from
the National Fatherhood Initiative in 2003. Covey has also received the Thomas More College
Medallion for continuing service to humanity and the Corporate Core Values Award from California
University of Pennsylvania. Covey has received nine honorary doctoral degrees.
In 1994, after only ten years of business, the Covey Leadership Center had grown from 2 to 750
employees, generating annual revenues of $90 million, being, in 1994, the 404 th fastest growing
company in the Inc. 500 list (Jackson, 1999). In 1997, the Covey Leadership Centre merged with the
Franklin Quest Company and became the FranklinCovey Company. Operating in 129 countries with
more than 2,000 associates worldwide, FranklinCovey provides consultancy in 38 languages and
trains several hundred thousand people each year in effectiveness, leadership and productivity
programs. By 2001, Covey’s new company had generated $500 million on spin-offs from his books,
audio and video tapes, day-planners, and software, on top of the more than $500 million Covey
made from T7H. FranklinCovey sells more than 1.5 million books a year and its Planning System is
used by more than 15 million people around the world. Sales in 2005 reached $300 million not
including public performances which also generate significant income:
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The guru’s public performances are critical to their popularity and success, and
generate a significant proportion of their income. Indeed, their appearance fees can
dwarf their book royalties. A top management guru can earn several million pounds
a year from their speaking engagements. For example, Tom Peters is estimated to
earn around $6 million a year from his speaking activities (Greatbatch & Clark
2005:16).
More than 90% of the Fortune 100, more than 75% of the Fortune 500, thousands of small and
medium sized businesses, as well as schools, armies, governmental bodies, educational institutions,
and even Bible study groups have been trained in Covey’s teachings (Fenwick & Parsons, 1995).
The U.S. Postal Service has attended Covey’s lectures, and entire communities such as Columbus,
Indiana, with a population of 36,000, have adopted his management ideas. This is without counting
the numerous individuals who have also read and tried to apply his principles in their personal
lives. What can explain such an exceptional success? In light of this thesis, I would like to suggest
three interrelated reasons: the hybridization of religion, self-help and management; an
exceptionally broad audience; and personal development financed by companies. Each of these will
be considered in turn.
For hybridization, as suggested by Wooldridge and Kennedy, Covey is one of the very few to have
been successful in “mixing three great American themes – religion, self-help and management. The
implication is that if you subscribe to his ideas, you get the whole American dream in one go”
(Wooldridge & Kennedy, 1996:56). The results of this study fully support Wooldridge and
Kennedy’s standpoint. As demonstrated throughout the thesis, a business prophet indeed covers
these three themes: religion, self-help and management. However, when concentrating on the first
theme, religion, the message is not conveyed in the way one might expect. When discussing religion,
people often focus more on substance than on style. However, when analyzing a business prophet
such as Covey, it is striking to observe that the substance of religion is almost non-existent. It is the
style that makes the book distinct. In other words, it is the prophet-hood of the writer which makes
the difference. It is not the preaching as such which gives to the book a religious flavor, but the
writer’s strong belief in God. Indeed the same text, conveying the same messages, but written by a
business guru instead of a business prophet, would give a psychological rather than a spiritual feel
to the book. Condition thirteen – having received a personal call – supports this idea. This specific
condition, for example, cannot be passed in words to the reader, but the belief that writers have of
their calling clearly offers a new dimension to their lives, jobs, and teachings, both in substance, of
course, but even more importantly, in style and authority. For example, in response to a question on
the evaluation of one of Covey’s seminars regarding what the audience preferred, the following
comments were found: “To hear from Covey in the flesh”, “Having Stephen Covey here, bigger than
life”, “All Stephen Covey himself” (Jackson, 2001:100). This reaction can be compared with the
reaction that some biblical prophets provoked. In the case of Jesus, for example, it seems that
people were more intrigued by the authority they perceived in him than by his words or actions
(Matthew 21:24-27).
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The second reason which might explain the exceptional success of Covey is his exceptionally broad
audience. If the book was strictly a management book, the style and illustrations used would focus
only on the corporate world for its examples and on its population for its messages. Yet, because of
Covey’s writing style (story telling and sharing many personal experiences), the topics he covers
(professional, social, spiritual, and psychological), and the numerous examples he draws from
different worlds (work, politics, family, and education), Covey reaches a broad range of potential
readers: male and female, young and old, singles, couples and families, managers and team
members. In short: everyone. Is it surprising? Not really. Coming back to his major leitmotiv: “to do
well you must do good, and to do good you must first be good”, Covey teaches that by improving
ourselves, as people, we improve ourselves in our different life roles: parent, spouse, worker,
manager, etc.
The third reason for this success is the topic itself. Personal development which aims at enhancing
self-knowledge, developing talents, improving the quality of life, and the relationship with others, is
a very lucrative market for those who write books or provide motivational conferences, workshops,
training sessions, and coaching, but a very expensive one for those who use it. According to
Marketdata the total self-improvement market was estimated only for the US market to be worth
$9.59 billion in 2005, and to reach in 2010 a value of $13.9 billion (PRWeb, September 21, 2006).
Consequently, Covey’s success can also be explained because workshop participants and the
readers of his self-help books have the “opportunity to pursue on the company’s time and money,
one of America’s fastest growing leisure pursuits, that is the exploration of self and identity”
(Jackson, 2001:106).
Such success, however, raises a fundamental question. Is it possible for anyone who becomes as
rich and famous as Covey not to get trapped in an ivory tower, becoming increasingly disconnected
from reality? And if a person – in this case a prophet – is disconnected from reality, can he or she
still give credible answers to the everyday questions of life? I was surprised by the difficulty, and, in
some cases, the impossibility, of contacting top management gurus, and by the distance that some
of them put between themselves and their readers. Moses and Jesus seemed to have faced the same
dilemma. Moses was overwhelmed by his responsibilities as judge and governor over the people of
Israel. When his father-in-law noticed this, he said to Moses:
The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and
this people that is with thee […] Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel
[…] thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth,
hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers
of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all
seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every
small matter they shall judge […] Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law,
and did all that he had said (Exodus 18:17-24).
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The reaction of Jesus to a similar situation was however different. After a long journey in Galilee
and in Judea, teaching and healing large crowds of followers, facing the constant attacks of the
Pharisees, “little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for
them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, Let the little children come to
me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:1315). Jesus blessed the little children and only then, left the crowd.
Two prophets, two reactions. Moses accepted his father-in-law’s counsel and placed distance
between himself and the people; Jesus rejected his disciples’ counsel and protection, and remained
in contact even with children54. What then are the consequences for business prophets when they
no longer have access to the people they teach? If they no longer have contact with the real world –
the masses – is their advice still valid? And if their advice is no longer valid, do they still deserve the
title of prophet? A similar question was debated some years ago in France when, in front of tens of
thousands of TV viewers, several ministers and deputies were unable to tell journalists the price of
the famous French baguette or of a subway ticket. Their position as representatives of the people
became at the time very controversial.
7.3. A controversial prophet
Would Covey be surprised to be called a prophet? As a member of the Church of Jesus-Christ of
Latter Day Saints (Mormons) Covey not only believes and refers to biblical prophets, but also to
modern day ones. The online Encyclopedia of Mormonism, for example, states that “Latter-day
Saints recognize the biblical and Book of Mormon prophets, as well as latter-day prophets, as
servants of Jesus Christ” and that “Joseph Smith and all subsequent presidents of the Church were
and are prophets and representatives of Jesus Christ” (http://www.lib.byu.edu/Macmillan/). This
certainly is one of the reasons why Covey quotes in his business writings not only Bible prophets,
but also modern days Mormon prophets: David O. McKay and Ezra Taft Benson in T7H, David O.
McKay and Gordon B. Hinckley in The Eighth Habit (2004), and Ezra Taft Benson again in First
Things First (Covey, Merrill & Merrill, 1996). The Encyclopedia also explains that for the Mormons
“the gift of prophecy is not restricted to those whose words have been recorded in the scripture. By
scriptural definition, a prophet is anyone who has a testimony of Jesus Christ and is moved by the
Holy Ghost (Rev. 19:10; cf. TPJS, pp. 119, 160)”. According to this definition, therefore, Covey, being
active in his faith, and practicing prayer and meditation on a regular basis in order to receive
inspiration, should not be surprised to be called a prophet.
This vision, however, is not shared by everyone. The New Testament recommends us to “Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”
(Matthew 7:15). Interestingly, many scholars and journalists seem to endorse this warning when
they discuss the question of management gurus (Shapiro, 1995; Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 1997;
Even if Jesus withdrew from the crowd on several occasions to reenergize, he always maintained contact with people:
sinners, lepers, taxpayers, etc.
54
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O'Shea & Madigan, 1997; Burnes, 1998; Pinault, 2000). The complete title of James Hoopes’ latest
book – False Prophets: The Gurus Who Created Modern Management and Why Their Ideas Are Bad
for Business Today (2003) – reveals such suspicions very clearly. And while some exponents of the
guru theory believe that they add value, others consider that gurus and management fads do not
help companies at all, but rather harm them by creating unrealistic expectations followed by
disappointment and a loss of motivation, by being divisive, creating winners and losers, or by
pushing companies to copy others instead of keeping their basic source of distinction (Rigby, 1993).
Is Covey one of these false prophets? While his supporters applaud him for promoting wise
teachings aligned with natural principles, favoring a change of paradigms over a quick fix approach,
his critics reproach him for exactly the opposite. Professor of Political Science and Director of the
Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, Alan Wolfe accuses Covey of
‘white magic’, the art "...to persuade people that things which are perfectly obvious, even
completely known to them, can nonetheless be revealed to them" (Wolfe, 1998:26-34).
Organizational thinker, Chris Argyris, accuses Covey of using too many abstract claims,
inconsistencies, and logical gaps to be useful as a concrete basis for concrete actions in concrete
settings, claiming that even when Covey’s recommendations are implemented correctly, the result
is often failure (Argyris, 2000). The harshest criticisms, however, often come from evangelical
groups who accuse Covey of having a hidden agenda, in the sense that, according to them, his books
promote a secularized version of Mormon beliefs. Evangelical rhetoric usually is given as follows:
(1) Those who have read T7H are familiar with Covey’s use of the term map for a paradigm of life,
(2) Covey identifies both correct and incorrect maps. He claims that the true map is the Mormon
Church and that evangelical Christianity is a false map, (3) Covey’s religious beliefs are Mormon,
not Christian, (4) Churches and religious organizations should seriously reconsider whether it is
appropriate to use a personal growth program developed by someone who believes and openly
promotes these false doctrines (Gordon, 1996).
To answer these recurrent accusations, Tara Fenwick and Jim Parsons, Professors in the
department of Education at the University of Alberta, rephrase what Covey has always said, namely
that
…he [Covey] does claim that the principles he espouses are part of deep rhythms and
patterns that have driven all of life since the beginning of time; that they are part of
all successful world religions and philosophies; and that they are sound because they
derive from the natural laws that have their source in God. Because God is also the
source of human conscience, we naturally gravitate towards His laws (Fenwick &
Parsons, 1995).
This is indeed what Covey states in each of his books, as well as in interviews, like the one
published on Global Dharma’s website, a non sectarian organization, promoting spirituality:
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I make a real conscientious effort in my leadership, writing, and speaking not to refer
to any one particular religion, but only to deal with that which is universal. Although
I am an active member of the Mormon Church, I don’t get any Mormon theology
snuck into it in some secret way. I have no hidden agenda. I am often asked the
question, ‘How much has your Mormonism influenced your view’, and I say, ‘It has
influenced me tremendously, but all that we are dealing with here are principles that
are universal and timeless’ (Global Dharma Center, 2006:5).
Yet, how can true prophets be distinguished from false ones? First, maybe, “by their fruits”
(Matthew 7:16). Fenwick and Parsons report:
Throughout the course of writing this paper, we talked a lot about Covey and his
work. One of the comments we made was that Covey, unlike many of our favorite
writers – like Thomas Merton – put his money where his mouth was. We realized
that it is easy to theorize about loving people, and we noted unfairly Thomas
Merton’s story about driving in a car in Louisville, Kentucky, looking at the people,
and loving them. One thing we admire about Covey is that he doesn’t stay in the car.
It is easier to love people from the car than on the street, we noted, suggesting that
theory differs from practice even in the act of loving. We might not agree with
Covey’s ways of acting, but we do appreciate the fact that he does act (Fenwick &
Parsons, 1995).
Fenwick and Parsons then conclude their paper by classifying Covey as a ‘spiritual guru’ as his work
helps people integrate Christ’s teachings into their lives.
A second sign differentiating true prophets from false ones also is the soundness of their advice and
consequently their positive impact on a company’s savings, incomes, and market share. “Acumen
magazine reported in December 1994, that half of Conoco's 19,000 employees had been trained in
Covey's program, and the director of personnel development estimates that Covey’s business
principles have saved the company $12 million dollars” (Fenwick & Parsons, 1995). And Conoco is
not the only one. Proctor and Gamble, GM, Fedex, and Shell claim similar savings.
7.4. Prophets or profits?
The idea of profits leads to the only characteristic which was listed by Weber in The Sociology of
Religion but not retained in the building of the ideal type of a prophet: that is money. According to
Weber, “what distinguishes the prophet, in the sociological sense of the term, from the magician, is
economic, that is, prophecy is free of charge” (Weber, [1922] 1964:47). “The apostle, prophet, or
teacher of ancient Christianity must not make living by his religious proclamations” insists Weber,
but “make living by the labor of his own hands” (Weber, [1922] 1964:48). The Bible also refers
several times to this ambiguous relationship between money and religion, without, however,
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completely rejecting the former. This is expressed for example by Jesus when, a coin in his hand, he
responded to the Pharisees who were asking him if it was lawful to give tribute unto Caesar:
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
God's” (Matthew 22:21), or when visiting Capernaum “they that received tribute money came to
Peter, and said, doth not your master pay tribute? […] Jesus saith unto him, […] lest we should
offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and
when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them
for me and thee” (Matthew 17:24-27). In the Acts of the Apostles, however, a story relating the
encounter between Peter and Simon the magician specifically states that the gifts of God should not
be mixed with money: “when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy
Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay
hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee, because
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:18-20). Thus, what is
the case of business prophets? What is their relationship with money?
If a criterion such as free of charge had been taken into account in the building of the ideal type, not
one single business guru would have successfully passed the fourteen conditions. Today, precisely
the opposite relationship to money exists in the business world. Gurus are selected by the captains
of industry not only by their reputation, but also by the level of their fee. For if the fee is too low, so
also will be the perception of their added value, many being convinced that the $65,000 paid to
listen to Covey, the $70,000 for Porter or even the $100,000 fee requested by Peters (Greengard,
2004) is a very small amount compared to the millions that a company can make or save by
listening to a guru’s advice. However, if nothing else is found in the guru’s teachings than a
repackaging of the wisdom found in the sacred texts, then it might be cheaper and more efficient for
companies to buy a Bible for each employee and to organize Bible classes with corporate chaplains
within their premises, openly transforming business structures and cultures into new cathedrals
and religions (Kahne & Chaloner, 2005).
Like any other guru, Covey makes a living by his proclamation. However, his relationship to money
is not always what one might expect from a guru. In The Speed of Trust, written by his son, Covey
acknowledges the fact that his business “really became profitable” only when he turned over the
management of his company to his son, Stephen, and a team of people with strengths that
compensated for his weaknesses (Covey, 2006:101) – “within three years of entrusting Stephen [his
son] with the role of CEO in my company, Covey Leadership Center, the company’s sales nearly
doubled and profit went up over 1,200 percent” (Covey, 2006:xxv). A second aspect of Covey’s
relationship to money is equally surprising. Apparently, Covey has given to his children what they
needed to succeed, but has cut them off from his heritage. His property and his remaining 1.1
million FranklinCovey shares belong solely to a charitable trust that he manages (Jones, 2004).
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7.5. Prophets or Gurus?
It is perhaps stretching Weber's original definition to use the terms 'prophet' and 'guru' to describe
modern management consultants. However, words evolve according to new circumstances and
needs. Weber could not use the terms to cover the management consultant phenomenon as it did
not yet exist at the time, but using it now does not mean that it falls outside of a reasonable
extension of his original specification. In any case, this thesis has demonstrated that despite the
evolution of the word to call all management theorists gurus is reductive and simplistic, and
Huczynski’s (1993) classification into three populations – academic gurus, consultant gurus, and
hero managers – is not sufficient. This research has also shown that at least one of the current
predominant business writers deserves a different title than that of guru, and consequently asks if
other categories are not needed to better define the different types of gurus that can be found on
today’s market. If Weber’s description of gurus and prophets can be applied to the business world,
maybe his definition of priests, magicians, and sorcerers could also be useful. Much more work can
be done on the categorization of business theorists.
7.6. Will there be other business prophets?
Following the arguments of this thesis, one of Weber’s new prophets has been found. Yet, is Covey
the only management guru who deserves this title? There is a good chance that other prophets can
be found in the initial list of 182 management gurus (Appendix 6). It is also very plausible that in
the coming years more prophets of this kind will appear. Why? Because the world is getting more
and more trapped in the mechanized petrification and convulsive self-importance described by
Weber, and because, at the same time, the demand for spirituality and religion as offered by Covey
is on the rise.
When T7H was published, corporate America was in crisis. Companies were looking for guidance in
terms of business, and people were looking for guidance in their lives. And in such moments of
despair, the preaching of a prophet “…is naturally irresistible to those of us feeling anxious and
afraid in a post-modern world, feeling our worlds to be fragmented, our families threatened by
hostility and tension, our workplaces torn by competition and scarcity, our lives increasingly
destabilized by urgency and stress, and our sense of competency and control undermined”
(Fenwick & Parsons, 1995). Today this state of instability and fragility has increased even more;
indeed it has spread to the whole world. After the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the spread
of SARS, the impact of the war in Iraq, and the skyrocketing price of the barrel of crude oil, the latest
shock affecting the whole world and provoking panic in both professional and private lives is the
global banking crisis. It follows that as long as there is doubt and uncertainty about the present
difficulties, associated with fear of future challenges – and no place to express these fears or find
reassurance – it is logical to believe that new business prophets will continue to appear.
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Where then will new prophets be found? In the paragraph preceding the quote on the potential
appearance of new prophets, Weber talks about the United States as if he was suggesting that they
would come from there. This perception is confirmed by Greatbatch and Clark who confirm that
“with a few notable exceptions, such as Edward de Bono, Charles Handy and Kenichi Ohmae, most
of the leading management gurus are American” (Greatbatch & Clark, 2005:5). Huczynski agrees,
adding that ”modern (post-war) management ideas in general, and guru theory in particular, are
American inventions. In terms of management textbooks, teaching materials and empirical research
on management topics, the United States holds an unassailable position” (Huczynski 1993a:71).
Jackson, finally, states that “one’s prospects of achieving full-blown guru status are overwhelmingly
advantageous if one happens to be a white, middle-aged American male with academic pedigree”
(Jackson, 2001:155). Additional business prophets are likely to be found in the United States – that
is clear. However, what about the rest of the world? It would be interesting to monitor nonAmerican business gurus against the ideal type developed in this study to see if the number of
characteristics they qualify for is not on the rise. My prediction is that it is the case.
7.7. An invisible religion
Maybe one of the major differences between management gurus and business prophets, is that
while the first group influences the corporate world in a secular way, the second does it in a
spiritual manner, pushing forward the deseculization of the world. If further research demonstrates
that the number of business prophets is increasing faster than the management gurus, then it will
support the idea that the world “[…] is as furiously religious as it ever was and in some places more
so than ever” (Berger, 1999:2). Consequently, if the exploration of the self is America’s fastest
growing leisure pursuit (Jackson, 2001), and if at the same time church attendance is on the
decrease, this may imply that today people prefer to learn about the meaning of life in secular
books rather than in religious ones and feel more comfortable debating about it in a training room
than in house of worship. If this is indeed the case, what are the reasons for this change in
behavior?
In Management Gurus and Management Fashions, Jackson declares that the guru phenomenon is
“not something […] confined to the field of management but […] symptomatic of much wider social,
cultural and political changes…” (2001:2-3). The guru phenomenon is indeed not only linked to
social, cultural, and political changes but also to spiritual and religious ones. In The Invisible
Religion, Luckmann (1967) explains that in a post-industrial society, people start to attend houses
of worship a ‘primary institution’, less often, thereby relegating religion to ‘secondary institutions’;
in other words religion becomes a private affair. It is true that church attendance is on the decrease
in some, if not all, parts of the world. It is not necessarily the case, however, that the shift has been
in the direction that Luckmann suggests – i.e. from church life to private life with people tending to
express their religious faith or spirituality more individually or in isolation. From the results
obtained in this research, my perception is that there has indeed been a mutation in religiosity, but
not as a shift from a primary to a secondary institution. The shift has been from one primary
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institution to another one: from the church to the corporate office, as suggested by Jackson, when,
using the words of Luckmann, he declares that at least one management guru, Covey, has created an
‘invisible religion’ (Jackson, 2001:115). Nevertheless, a religion, be it invisible or not, still requires
contact and exchange with others. In the case of Covey’s invisible religion there is no question that
his teachings are more debated in offices and training centers than in people’s homes. People need
people. People need to commune with one another. As described by André Gorz, French
philosopher and journalist:
In a disintegrating society, in which the quest for identity and the pursuit of social
integration are continually being frustrated, the corporate culture and the corporate
loyalty inculcated by the firm offer the young workers a substitute for membership
of the wider society, a refuge from the sense of insecurity. The firm offers them the
kind of security [which] monastic orders, sects and work communities provide. It
asks them to give up everything – to give up any other form of allegiance, personal
interests and even their personal lives – in order to give themselves body and soul to
the company, which in exchange will provide them with an identity, a place, a
personality and a job they can be proud of (Gorz, 1999).
Our humanity indeed pushes us towards the group both to teach and be taught, to exchange
experiences, to confess our past failures and build hope for the future, to learn and grow, both
giving support to and receiving it from others. And if, for different reasons, people no longer find
fulfillment through church going, they will find substitutes. After five years of research I am
convinced that for many workers, whether consciously or not, church walls have been supplanted
by corporate ones; sacred texts have been replaced by self help books; meanwhile conference
centers have become the new cathedrals; and training rooms the new churches. As part of the same
mutation, some management gurus have turned into prophets, with consultants and trainers cast in
the role of their priests and missionaries. The Sunday school class has been replaced by selfawareness and personal development courses; the church mouse has become a workaholic; top
management gurus’ speeches are compared to the sermons of televangelists; Organizational
Development is seen as a religious movement (Harvey, 1974), as is Just-in-Time (Oliver, 1990);
workers are going through a conversion process (Greatbatch & Clark 2005:17); management gurus
quote sacred texts (see page …), and others write bibles (Parkinson, 1984; Woolfe, 2002). Here is
the evidence that supports the idea that companies have indeed turned into places of worship
where people search for a Holy Grail, a promised land, a place of personal sanctification.
7.8. Possible further research
This thesis has opened several new doors for further research:
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7.8.1. Fluctuation analysis
One of the doors that has been opened is the need to monitor more closely the fluctuations which
occur within the population of management gurus and business prophets. Are the number of
characteristics increasing or decreasing for each of the nineteen management gurus who were
analyzed? And what about all the gurus who were not selected? Do they correspond more to the
first or to the second population? And finally, which population is currently increasing the most
rapidly: gurus or prophets?
7.8.2. Prophets, gurus, leaders and managers
When comparing in a chart the differences that Weber makes between prophets and gurus, one
cannot avoid thinking about the differences that Zaleznik and Bennis made between leaders and
managers (please compare Table 27 with description made on p. 22 and Appendix 2). Thirty years
ago management gurus divided the corporate world into two groups: leaders vs. managers. Is it
possible that the same applies to the gurus themselves under the titles: prophets vs. gurus? If it is
the case each guru should be screened on every single condition in order to see which gurus score
more or less than 50% of the conditions, making them more prophets/leaders in the first case, or
gurus/managers in the second case.
Table 27: Differences between gurus and prophets according to Weber
Gurus
Prophets
On the established order
Implement
Explicitly oppose
Influence others by
Knowledge, qualifications
Personal gifts, charisma
Legitimate authority through
Office, position, hierarchy
Personal call
Their knowledge has been
Acquired
Revealed
Their authority has been
Received from others
Comes from self
Relationship with time
Analyze the past
Create the future
Reputation, cult
During life
Increases after death
7.8.3. Clustering and new categories
Another potential area of research is the need to map gurus one against the other. Can some
management gurus be clustered around specific characteristics: sedentary gurus vs. nomad ones,
devout gurus vs. agnostics, etc.? This means that, as seen previously, more categories should be
defined to categorize business writers. Are they gurus, priests, magicians, sorcerers or prophets?
And if they are prophets, are they exemplary prophets or ethical ones? Aisymnete or mystagogues
(Weber [1922] 1964:29-59)?
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7.8.4. Additional populations
This research has focused solely on the corporate world, its managers and its gurus, but leadership
is not limited to the corporate world. Other populations should be taken into account. How would
politicians such as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and more recently Barack
Obama rate against the ideal type of a prophet? What about the economist Muhammad Yunus, the
Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, the scientific Albert Einstein, or the pop star Madonna? How
would famous athletes, criminals, explorers, inventors, top models, musicians, painters,
philosophers, poets, politicians, scientifics and singers rate on the fourteen criteria? And how would
non celebrities like you and me rate?
7.8.5. Religious lexical DNA
A final area of research which is encouraged by this thesis is the need to find out why the religious
imprint in the guru’s lexical DNA is so high. It has been demonstrated in this research that
management gurus use religious wording above the norm but the causes and the level of
consciousness of it have not yet been analyzed.
7.9. Reflections on the operationalisation of the criteria
What, in retrospect, can be said about the choices and decisions that were made on the
operationalisation of the criteria to analyze which management gurus deserve the prophet status?
For each condition, I had the difficult task of deciding on an artificial line dividing every single time
the nineteen gurus into two groups: those who would pass and those who would fail. For the first
condition I could have selected somebody other than Weber as the reference for the minimum
number of hits required on Google, or I could have made the selection not only based on the gurus’
popularity linked to leadership, but also on their general popularity. For the second condition, I
could have requested from them to have published more than one book. In fact, I could have
formulated every single condition differently, and clearly, it would have impacted the overall results of
the candidates to prophethood. However, for each condition, I have reflected much on how to define a
line which would be fair to all, close to Weber’s perception, supported by sociology, supported by
the Bible, and overall logical. Taken together, the fact that only one out of nineteen gurus survived
the screening process, that the gurus who market their spirituality most aggressively were among
the first to be eliminated, that each of the nineteen gurus corresponded to at least some of the
fourteen characteristics of the ideal type, and that two of them entered the final stage of selection
with Covey, meeting nine out of the fourteen conditions, demonstrates that the selection process
was demanding, but nonetheless possible. The data gathered, the methodology used and the results
obtained are valid, reliable and consistent. Anyone repeating the screening that I did with the same
nineteen gurus, using the same ideal type, the same characteristics and the same conditions would
obtain the same results.
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Of course, other tools and methods could have been used to conduct this research, but as I reach the
conclusion, I am confident that I made the right choices. The ideal type is a tool which fits naturally
into a Weberian context, and which, even if it was slightly adapted from its original use, worked
well in the screening process which I designed. That said, it is important to question the
assumptions that lay behind my reasoning. For example, were the characteristics chosen to define
the ideal type of a prophet the right ones and were the conditions attached to them correctly
formulated? It is clear that some difficult decisions were made. I could have used another author
rather than Max Weber as a reference for the Google search in condition number one or a different
definition for the word ‘ethics’ in condition number six. Different or additional characteristics could
also have been chosen to create the ideal type, but in that case, the characteristics would have been
alien either to Weber’s conception of a prophet or to the descriptions given in the Bible.
One event, however, could have transformed the way this thesis evolved. It concerns the timing of
my encounter with the body of theory on business gurus. As explained in the introduction, this
research started with the assumption that the theories of leadership and management could be a
repackaging of sacred texts and only subsequently moved on to search for Max Weber’s new
prophets using the methodology outlined above. It was only when I came towards the end of my
empirical work that I began to understand the significance of the guru theory in my work. My lack
of insight in this body of knowledge has, however, allowed me to conduct this research from
primary principles without being influenced by experts in this field. As a consequence, instead of
using this literature as a springboard at the beginning of the research, I have used it at the end to
reframe, compare and validate my findings. Consequently, if this research was not designed with
Huczynski’s, Jackson’s and Clark’s works in mind, my analysis does take their writings into account.
And as I have not been influenced by the scholars who have written on the guru theory, but have
nevertheless reached similar conclusions, it is for me an additional reason to believe that even if
complete objectivity is impossible, at least all the elements of neutrality were kept firmly in place.
Having now scrutinized the literature on the guru theory in some depth, it is clear that several
scholars have thought about the notion or concept of business prophets before me. Huczynski, for
example, calls Peter Drucker a “leading Old Testament prophet” (1993a:76) and asks the question
“who are the New Testament ones?” (1993a:77). The answer to this question might have been
given by Harvey (1974) some twenty years before, when he called Douglas McGregor and Rensis
Likert Old Testament prophets, and Robert Blake and Richard Beckhard New Testament ones.
Indeed, in the last 30 years, several writers have made the link between business gurus and
prophets, but, to my knowledge, none of them has ever studied this idea in depth, still less by using
an ideal type as a grid of analysis. In this respect, I am convinced that both methodologically and
substantively my research is unique.
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7.10. Recapitulation and conclusion
This thesis started with Max Weber. In 1904, Weber postulated in The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism that after a tremendous development, capitalism would either come to an end or
would enter a new era of expansion through the guidance of new prophets (Weber, [1904]
2003:182). This acceleration is remarkably illustrated by Robert Francoeur in the preface of The
Appearance of Man, written by the French philosopher and palaeontologist, Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin:
Let us propose a comparison of mankind's history with a calendar year in which one
“day” equals four thousand years of human history. In this scheme January first
would witness the appearance of our Homo habilis ancestors one and a half million
years ago. Speech, as we know it today, evolved very gradually during the first three
months of our “year.” Man evolutionary progress was at best tedious and halting:
fire, first for protection from the cold and wild animals and only much later for
cooking; tools chipped from stone; the skills of hunting; the slow concentration and
involutions of the cerebral cortex. Summer came and went without much change in
our ancestors, and autumn was two-thirds through its course when Neanderthal man
finally appeared around November first. The first indications of a religious belief can
be seen in the burial sites of the later Neanderthaloids, around December 17th in our
scheme. By December 24th of our hypothetical year, all the non-sapiens, or primitive
forms of man, had died out or been absorbed by the more progressive and modern
Cro-Magnon man. Agriculture began around December 28th and the whole of our
historical era, the brief six to ten thousand years for which we have records, is
nestled in the last two days of our “year.” Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were born
about 9 A.M. on December 31; Christ at noon and Columbus about 9.30 P.M. The final
hour of December 31 from 11 P.M. to midnight New Year's Eve, embraces all of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Teilhard de Chardin, 1965).
The price to pay for this extraordinarily rapid development appears to be the cage described by
Weber as a place deprived of heart and spirit with people trapped in mechanized petrification and
convulsive self-importance (Weber, [1904] 2003:182). One hundred years later, journalist
Madeleine Bunting (2004), writing about the UK in particular, seems to support Weber’s vision
with the following statistics:

46 % of men and 32 % of women in the UK work more hours than they are contracted for

Only 44 % of workers take all the holiday to which they are entitled

The average lunch 'hour' is now estimated to be 27 minutes long

Between 1992 and 2000, the number of men satisfied with their hours at work dropped from
35 % to 20 %, and the number of women from 51 % to 29 %

One in five British workers report that they are affected by stress
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
Work-related stress, depression and anxiety account for 13.4 million working days lost per
year, more than any other work-related illness in the UK

Almost 20 % of the British – five million workers – describe their work as very or extremely
stressful
The tremendous development foreseen by Weber has occurred and the cage is well and truly in
place; but what about the appearance of new prophets? I hypothesized in 2004 that Weber’s new
prophets had appeared or were on the verge of appearing and that some of the new spiritual trends
found in the corporate world were the results of the teachings of these new prophets. To validate or
invalidate this hypothesis, I first reviewed the bodies of knowledge found in the literature on the
secularization and desecularization of the world, on the evolution of leadership and management
theories, and on the gurus found at the crossroads between these two fields. This done, I
established a precise list of potential candidates who might deserve the title of prophet. To achieve
this task, I used twelve recognized sources of information on management gurus, looking at the
three populations defined by Huczynski: academic gurus, consultant gurus, and hero managers
(Huczynski, 1993a). I then developed an ideal type – a conceptual apparatus often associated with
Weber – with fourteen characteristics based on the description that he gave of the concept of
prophet in The Sociology of Religion (Weber, [1922] 1964) and on the 573 occurrences of the word
‘prophet’ in the Bible, a book familiar to Weber. The next stage was to develop a grid of analysis,
turning the fourteen characteristics into binary conditions adapted to today’s corporate world in
order to obtain unambiguous results for each potential candidate. I then organized a screening
process with selection gates, positioning the conditions in the most rational and effective order.
Once all these sequences were in place, I launched a sociological investigation, measuring and
analyzing the similarities and the deviations existing between the ideal type and the selected
management gurus and using a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods. At the
conclusion of the investigation, having screened the nineteen most famous management gurus, one
of them – Stephen Covey – met all fourteen characteristics of the ideal type. Covey therefore
deserves the title of prophet.
Finally, what are the possible consequences of having discovered one of Weber’s new prophets,
firstly, for social science and, secondly, for the business world? For social science, the results of this
research clearly support the idea of a desecularization of the modern world, in the sense that the
worlds of religion and business are without doubt converging once again. My findings
unquestionably highlight the growing spiritualization of the business world, a process that finds its
roots in North America but is spreading all over the world. As demonstrated throughout this thesis,
this new convergence can be observed in the literature on leadership and management, in the
mission statements of companies, in the theories put forward by management gurus, and in the
behavior of managers and employees.
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7.11. A final comment
As I reach the end of this research, I know that a considerable amount of work still remains to be
done. Only the surface of this new business prophet field has been scratched. Some valuable lessons
have been learned but many new areas of research have also arisen. New questions have emerged
such as: are people more attracted by management gurus or by business prophets? If they are
conscious of the difference, is this attraction still the same? Is the appearance of business prophets
simply a fad, or will it continue? Will business prophets appear outside the US? Will business
prophets appear in non-Christian cultures? If one hundred years ago religion stimulated business,
is business now stimulating religious and spiritual beliefs?
Each of these ideas deserves in-depth analysis – a task that lies beyond the scope of this thesis. I
would like, however, to conclude my own contribution with both a tribute and a warning. My
tribute goes to Max Weber. I have been deeply impressed by the precision and accuracy of the
descriptions Weber made of our society one hundred years before they actually occurred, and I am
convinced that more remains to be discovered in his writings. I also wish to caution those who
aspire to the title of business prophet and those who heed their advice. Be they spiritual gurus or
secular ones, true, false or fallen prophets, academics, consultants or CEOs, focusing on technical or
on behavioral improvement, whatever is their status: “no one who seeks worship, however
covertly, deserves respect” (Kaminer, 1997:60).
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