A few thoughts from a confirmed atheist:
Williams was that rare bird: a public intellectual. A real bonus at a time of influential though vacuous celebrities and capable though impotent academics. We were lucky to have him.
He disregarded the conventional wisdom from the management textbooks i.e. ensure that you keep stating your uncompromising vision, and that you insist that all your employees share it. To me, this has always been a disastrous outlook in most walks of life, particularly in organisations staffed by intelligent people. If you really push the vision, you might just find out that others don't share it, and then what do you do? If you are brutal or manipulative enough, they might just pretend to agree with you, but what good does that do? Williams was more subtle, working in the grey area between competing visions and factions. For those of us who have to work in this zone, he is a shining example of what can be achieved. His detractors will say that he didn't move things forward, but there are other goals in management. What about avoiding disaster?
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