Anders Örtenblad, Professor of Working Life Science in the Business school of University of Agder, and I have been developing a friendship over the past several months.

In a recent conversation he challenged me with his thoughts regarding the “Golden Rule” especially as it applies to leadership.

The Golden Rule is found in Matthew 7:

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 7:12 (ESV)

No matter your background, you have likely heard this maxim used. It is simple, to the point, and can be helpful in determining a course of action that is selfless.

However, his suggestion to me was whether it should actually be interpreted to mean “do unto others what they would want done to them.” It certainly piqued my interest.

He shared with me an article that had been written by business management researchers that argued this very thing.

After a bit of introduction, Alyson Van Hooser, wrote,

What I am finding is that many leaders do treat employees the way they themselves want to be treated…they communicate with them the way they themselves would want to be communicated with, they offer employee benefits that they themselves would want, they create products and services they want or would have wanted at their life stage, and so on.¹

She suggests that this is the wrong way to approach the Golden Rule. Leaders should be applying the Golden Rule rather to treat those under their leadership the way the employee wants to be treated. So, she writes,

Communicate with them the way they want to be communicated with. Offer them the benefits and perks that they want. Engage and empower them in the way that will inspire them to stay longer and perform better. 

Is it Biblical?

Is this a biblical way to look at the Golden Rule?

I am certainly uncomfortable with changing God’s Word to fit my ideas. So, we need to look at it from a biblical view.

First of all, the Golden Rule, though separated by paragraph and even heading in the ESV translation, is part of the paragraph before. It really should not be separated. This is what Jesus says right before giving the Golden Rule:

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:9-11 (ESV)

Jesus’ point here is to show that God knows exactly what we want and he uses a father (or mother) as an example. The normal parent would give “good gifts” to their child. So, imagine God, the ultimate good parent, giving bad gifts to His children. That is inconceivable. God can be counted on to always give the best gifts to His children.

Keeping that in mind then, the point of this entire passage is that—applying it to leadership—the leader should consider what is very best for his or her employees. That is not so much determined by what the leader would like as much as what will be most beneficial to the employee.

The Golden Rule is Jesus’ closing argument. It is making clear that since we generally look out for ourselves in this life, a simple solution to determining how to treat others is do to them what we naturally do for ourselves—and that is give good gifts.

That is Jesus’ point.

Applied

Ultimately, a leader should be encouraging the development and use of the employee or church member’s God-given gifts and talents. This is always beneficial to the organization or church, but ultimately it is biblically and morally required (Ephesians 4:11-12).

But note, the motive behind doing for others what you or they would want done is not to get the most out of them. This is where I struggled with the article.

Alyson noted that empathy is key to knowing what your subordinate really wants (needs) and this was a positive ideal. However, she also tended to focus on doing to them to get from them— “more engagement, improved morale, increased loyalty, fewer communication issues, better performance.”

As you give good gifts with the purpose of getting the recipient to do something for you, the disengenuity of it will create cynicism on the part of the subordinate. In the long run it will result in disloyalty, disengagement, and lower morale, the very things the leader is trying to overcome.

The subordinate will see through the leader’s act and recognize his or her selfishness and lack of real love.

Genuine Concern

Therefore, what the leader should really try to do is give good gifts to his subordinates because he desires to treat them the way God wants him to treat them and because he is genuinely concerned for their well-being.

This is the true and good use of empathy and true and good practice of the Golden Rule.

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NOTES:

1. ‘Why Leaders Should Rethink the Golden Rule – Van Hooser Leadership’, 2023 <https://vanhooser.com/why-leaders-should-rethink-the-golden-rule/> [accessed 4 March 2025]
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