Friday afternoon, sitting under a tree, waiting for drumsound to be finished, I got a call from a journalist Helsingin Sanomat. It turned out that a US general Gregg F. Martin has published an academic paper titled "Jesus the Strategic Leader", where he argues that the example of Jesus Christ should be taken seriously as a model of strategic leadership. For instance, love should be assumed as one of the cornerstones of strategic leadership.

The reporter wanted to know how this sounded to me. The article came out yesterday (sunday, May 8th, 2006), where I was quoted saying that yes, Jesus can be an example of good leadership. It is also a very non-surprising proposition, as religious speech has for long been part of the official discourse of strategic mananagement. Think of Hamel and Prahalad arguing that organizational strategic intent should convey "a sense of destiny".

The point I was unable to make in the article, however, was that strategic management nowadays draws influences from many traditional discourses such as technology, warfare, sports and yes, religion. Each discourse has its uses and important limitations. Religious language is uften used to mystify organizational decisions, and legitimize them unquestioned.

At its worst, Martin's doctrine of love, for instance, can turn out like the "ministry of love" in Orwell's 1984, that is, a Stasi-like organization veiled to be built on a principle of caring for the public.