Dare Great Things

We all know that leaders are responsible for getting things done, leading their organizations to be productive, but sometimes we forget that leadership also sometimes has a softer side and that a leader is just as responsible for the moral climate of his organization as he is for its efficiency.  In St. Paul’s letter to Titus, Chapter 2, St. Paul outlines his vision for the leader as the guardian of excellence.  And what he wrote Titus then still holds true for us today.

One of the most intriguing figures in the New Testament is St. Paul.  Most commentators spend their lives speaking of Paul’s theology and his relationship with Christ.  But Paul was also a leader who left a legacy of leadership to his followers and one of his closest disciples was Titus.  In Paul’s letter to Titus we find the heart of a leader speaking to his leader about the task he has appointed him,  In Paul’s own words a leader is God’s steward.

There are a lot of things in common between business leaders and mountain climbers.  In the same way that mountain climbers dare heights by precipitous paths, so the business leader needs to walk a fine line.  So many things need to be balanced at the moral level and inside of themselves in order to do what they do and do it at the service of Christ.  But there are principles to guide them.  One of these principles is that everything we do we do for others.  Our success means the success of everyone involved in the process. 

In our work with the Catholic leader, one of the most sensitive subjects is whether or not they should make money.  For some reason making a profit in our business has been associated with guilt and corruption.  But is this association always accurate?  Is it okay for a Catholic business leader to actually make a profit?  And if they do make a profit what are they supposed to do with it?  How does Christ qualify our success and how does a profitable Christian business look different from those of the world?

All of us engaged in business know the scenario:  the people at the top have the answers, the people at the bottom have the wherewithal, the people at the top become frustrated that the people at the bottom don’t execute, and the people at the bottom become frustrated because the people at the top don’t listen.  How do we reverse this paradigm?  In 2011 the Catholic Church issued a document called, “The Vocation Of The Catholic Business Leader.”  It issued six principles to govern leadership in this environment.  The fourth principle, that of subsidiarity, tackles just this question.

The non-Christian world can paint a vision of capitalism wherein the owner or the boss rules over the workers – exacting from them the maximum of energies in the most efficient way possible for the maximum profit.  Is this the vision that God has for our work?  In its landmark document from 2011, the Catholic Church lays out six principles to guide business leaders.  Its third principle holds that business ought to be for the benefit of the employees as well as the customer.  Here’s how this can be done.

All of us are aware of the cliché that says that business somehow causes poverty or that capitalism and charity are opposed.  This however is challenged by the document that the Vatican released in 2011 called “The Vocation Of The Catholic Business Leader.”  This document issues six principles that are to guide every business leader in their vocation and its second principle says that businesses are there to help the poor.  How can this be done? 

In 2011 the Vatican issued a guide for Catholic business leaders called The Vocation Of The Business Leader.  This is an amazing document, because in 33 pages it summarizes the whole teaching of the Catholic Church about business but does so in a way that is helpful to the Catholic business leader to read in a short time.  I want to go through that document and study it’s six practical principles for business, because in a short form it gives us a real guide for our real lives. 

There are many ways to define the secrets of success but Christians have their own definition.  St. Paul lays it out clearly for us in his second letter to Timothy, chapter 4, where he speaks about the crown that is laid up for him in the Lord.  Through all of his life and his many ups and downs, St. Paul witnesses that Jesus is faithful and has carried him through all his adversities.  His words of hope help inspire us in our own journeys as leaders.

St. Paul is surely one of the most famous leaders listed in the entire Bible.  His life reads like a passionate saga and is full of lessons for those of us, who being Christians, want to follow in his footsteps leading in our world.  That’s why his second letter to Timothy is so important.  It actually chronicles St. Paul’s final letter in the New Testament to one of his closest disciples.  Chapter 3 of this letter offers us wonderful insight into faith’s capacity to bring us endurance. 

The second letter to St. Timothy is one of St. Paul’s most important letters.  Written at the end of his life, St. Paul leaves a legacy in the heart of Timothy for how he sees good leadership.  It remains for us an amazing example of God’s teaching for us on the power and truth of our own leadership and gives us valuable insights on what it means to please Christ by being a good soldier for Him.

Without a doubt the life of St. Paul is one of the best places to study leadership in The New Testament.  Not only is his life an example of leadership, but in his first and second letters to Timothy St. Paul exposes his heart.  He writes to his beloved son, Timothy, whom he has formed in the faith, a letter of encouragement to go all the way to the end to mee the demands of leading God’s people.  His letter gives us many wonderful insights, especially in how to rekindle the fire.  

Let’s face it, leading other people is always hard.  If we say the wrong thing in the wrong way, we can actually discourage the people we are supposed to encourage.  On the other hand if we just tell them the truth like it is, we can leave them without any motivation.  Speaking the word of truth correctly is the art and essence of good communication and leadership.  But how do we do this?  Pope St. Gregory the Great offers us some amazing insights in his book, “On The Rule of Shepherds – Book 3.”  

The Bible has a lot to say about talking.  The Letter of St. James, for example, says the tongue is the key to all virtue.  The Lord Himself says that every idle word we’ll have to account for on the day of judgement.  And all of us who manage people know the power of words to edify and destroy.  But what is the value of silence?  Is it possible to talk too much?  How do we know when to speak and what to say?  Pope St. Gregory The Great has some valuable insights.

As anyone who has ever had to manage people can tell you, jealousy is one of the most dangerous passions to rule in the workplace.  Where people are jealous division will ensue and teamwork will corrode.  We who are in charge of our teams needs to watch for jealousy and ward against it.  Pope St. Gregory The Great in his “Rule Of Shepherds” Book 3 gives us some valuable insights we can apply as we try to lead our workplace with Christ. 

Anyone who has had to manage any kind of organization – from a business to a family – know that patience is called for.  But how do we build it up?  How do we grow in our patience?  How do we know when impatience actually could be a good thing?  Pope St. Gregory The Great gives us wonderful insights in his tenth admonition in his third book “On The Rule Of Shepherds” written for pastors of the Church but applicable for business leaders and family leaders alike.

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.