Dare Great Things

Ask any organizational leader what the hardest part of their job is and they will all say the same thing: managing people.  You cannot win at business without your people but your people can often be the reason why you lose at business.  Becoming an excellent manager is an art and a skill as much as it is a natural talent.  In Chapter 3 of his work, On The Rule Of Shepherds, Pope St. Gregory The Great gives us insight that can help all of us with this difficult task.

The one who rules by fear will also fall by fear.  This saying was never so true as in the life of King Saul.  In this fourth and final episode of our commentary on Saul as an anti-leader, we see the end of his life.  He ends his life in the same way that he led it:  fearful, controlling, and inconsistent.  Saul’s life is a wonderful pattern for us to avoid.  He shows us that the temptation to control ends in folly.

While seeing how leaders fail is never pleasant, it can also be very instructive.  The rise and the fall of King Saul in the Bible presents us a good example of a life gone awry in authority.  His jealousy over David is the most well known symptom but the cause of his downfall is rooted in something much deepers.  Not only character flaws but a stubborn pride that keeps him from accepting God’s will.  Here’s part three on my series on King Saul.

Most of us remember the life of King David in the Old Testament but few of us have ever studied the life of King Saul.  Just as the life of King David is an example to us of great leadership, the life of King Saul can be seen as an example of what I call “Anti-Leadership.”  In 1 Samuel 18 and 19, this anti leadership is on full display.  Saul is not only afraid to fight Goliath but gets jealous of David.  And his fear and jealousy have a lot to teach us about our own leadership today.

When it comes to leadership, I think you can learn as much from bad leaders as from good ones.  It is certainly the case in the life of King Saul.  King Saul ruled over Israel for forty-two years, beginning when he was 30 years old and his life spanned in 1 Samuel 9 all the way to 1 Samuel 31.  During his remarkable rule his faults become more and more evident.  And by studying them we can learn to avoid them in our own lives.

Anyone who has ever successfully led a project to its completion can readily attest to the fact that leadership is as much of a challenge from the inside as it is from the outside.  Leaders not only have to adjust to changing circumstances and vicissitudes beyond their power, but leaders also have to play the mind game of being ready to pivot.  Being able to let go of the ideal that can sometimes keep us from success.  Our faith can help us here.  Not only by inspiring us but by keeping us realistic.

Every Advent Christians are treated to readings from the Gospel which remind them to stay awake.  In Luke chapter 21 Our Lord says, “Keep on the alert at all times.”  Obviously Our Lord here is referring here to a spiritual alertness but it’s also something that we can apply in the world of business.  To what degree does a leader need to stay awake at all times?  How can his faith help him to do so?  And how can his business help him to stay awake in his faith? 

There’s an old adage in Christianity that God writes straight with crooked lines.  The same can be said with many on their course to success.  A good leader needs to know how to bend and when to bend.  It’s like the old adage, “Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”  That ability to change course in the midst of a project we refer to as “pivoting.”  Beginning by our understanding of success and lived through our willingness to change , sometimes our ability to succeed depends upon our ability to pivot.    

We all know how important determination and effort is to succeed at what we do.  After all a large portion of success is determined by our effort to get there.  What can be overlooked in this process, however, is the nimbleness and agility of mind necessary in order to make the adaptations or even change course as needed on our pathway to success.  This flexibility is something that we can cultivate and grow and it is at the very root of the art of power. 

The second book of Pope St. Gregory The Great’s “Rule For Shepherds” comes to a close by tackling one of the thorniest problems in the heart of a leader.  Whom do we serve?  On the one hand if we serve only God we run the risk of losing the people that we are called to lead.  However, if we serve the people that we are called to lead we can sometimes run amuck of our relationship with God.  The proper balance can only be found in what I call the love of a servant.

Christian leaders have to face a constant dilemma.  Belonging to Jesus Christ and at His Service their hearts are focused on heaven, and yet having to care for the things of this world their time and their mental capacity are dominated by the things that pass.  How do we keep our souls alive and fresh in God when are time is spent with the anxieties and cares of life?  This constant problem for Christian leaders could be summed up by the expression “We need to live in the world, but not of the world.”

Christians who lead faith’s many paradoxes – we are supposed to be humble and yet we have authority.  We are supposed to be docile and yet we assert ourselves.  We are supposed to be virtuous and yet we place ourselves in positions that are often tempting.  Is it any wonder that so many people think Christians aren’t supposed to lead or so many Christians refuse to lead.  Pope St. Gregory the Great gives us a keen answer in chapter 6 of his second book, “On The Rule Of Shepherds.” 

When you’re in charge you don’t have a cookie cutter method for guaranteeing you are doing what is right.  You have to make decisions that are difficult and uncertain and you have to make them every day.  Pope St. Gregory the Great understood this because he had to do the same thing every day.  And in his book, “The Rule For Shepherds” he gives us insight on how to bridge the paradoxes and find a way to leading our people with a unified vision despite the variety of decisions that fill our day. 

Pope St. Gregory The Great has an enigmatic phrase at the beginning of Chapter 3 of his second book of his monumental work, “The Rule Of Shepherds.”  He says, “A leader must be first in all of his actions.”  Simply put this means a leader’s actions must be excellent, magnanimous, kingly.  There’s an indication and an expectation that those who lead live at a higher level of excellence.  But how does this call translate for a Christian today?

Let’s face it , leadership is hard!  As soon as we start to lead we encounter a whole host of sacrifices and challenges that we never had to face before.  And yet for everything daunting about it, leadership also presents a unique blessing for us.  By persevering through the challenges and continuing to do the mission Christ has given us, we grow in holiness and in charity.  This is the positive message that Pope Gregory The Great puts forth in his second book of his Rule For Shepherds, and his wisdom from more than a thousand years ago continues today.

Christian leaders have to do something difficult – we have to constantly balance asserting ourselves and using our talents and being humble before God.  Errors can happen in both ways either by not asserting ourselves or by losing sight of the service we render to Jesus.  St. Paul was not unaware of this challenge.  In First Timothy 5 and 6 he shows St. Timothy how to make this proper balance and exhorts him to lead while being friend to Christ.

For anyone who has tried it is obvious that leadership is not easy.  Besides skill and opportunity, a leader needs a tremendous amount of steadfastness and just plain grit.  In St. Paul’s First Letter to St. Timothy, we see St. Paul encouraging St. Timothy with the full realization that what he has commanded Timothy to do will be hard.  May the Word of God inspire us to persevere as well.

Does God expect us to lead out of our strengths or out of our weaknesses?  It seems like both are good options.  In the First Letter of St. Paul to St. Timothy chapter 3 we read St. Timothy give us a list of the qualifications that God wants to see from his bishops and his deacons.  Qualifications which could be applied to any of our positions of leadership.  Is this an indication that God wants us to be qualified for leadership?  If so, how do we get that qualification?

St. Paul the Apostle was an incredible leader in his own right.  Before dying he left his legacy in writing both to St. Timothy and to St. Titus.  In this second part of this series on his First Letter to St. Timothy we see Paul express the importance of leadership and the specific contribution to Christian leadership for everyone in the world.  As Paul encourage Timothy so also he encourages us today.

Sacred scripture is replete with references to leadership.  And the wisdom of the Saints such as St. Paul can have great impact for the leaders of today.  What does St. Paul leave behind him?  In this series on the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy I want to examine the lessons in leadership that Paul bequeaths to his young follower.  In chapter one we see Paul leaving a legacy of character based leadership that must both maintain the old and bring it to the new.