What we think is the right road
A good leader knows what he or she is about; a good leader organizes, trains, motivates, supervises and ensures success. A good leader does all these things – while pointing to the latest management guidebook – effectively. A good leader writes vision statements, talks the newest "quality management" lingo, always conforms to "best practices," and gets results.
But it's the wrong road
Many hundreds of books purport to explain how to lead and manage. There are great leadership lessons to be learned, we hear, from the world of business, the military, even sports. These lessons normally consist of listings of "principles" and "traits" or the recitation of stories. There are certain adages or apothegms we are supposed to learn and there are personal characteristics that we should try to master. Although there is mild merit in these things, the fact is that much of what passes for instruction in leadership is little more than a parade of clichés, which, under scrutiny, may prove to be more deranged than directive. That is because proper leadership is not about good results; it is about results for good.
"Do anything it takes to win!" "No pain, no gain!" "Better sweat now than blood later!" Here is the problem with leadership by slogan: When we try to reduce the chemistry of leadership to a single element, we misrepresent the moral, political and human complexity of what it means "to show the way to others." These six words are the essence of what leadership means, minus one critically important adjective.
For example: Catholics must never do anything it takes to win, on a baseball diamond, on a battlefield, in a courtroom, or on the campaign trail. If, at any time in their education, Catholic students are told that winning is all that matters, their moral vision is jeopardized and may become warped. The missing adjective is right. Our task is to show the right way to others. That is what good leadership means.
It was Warren Bennis, the organizational consultant, who said, "Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing." But how do leaders discover the "right thing"?
To know and to do what is right requires an education in what is good and in what virtue means. If we are "technically and tactically proficient," but use our talents in the service of what is wrong, then we betray our common humanity. An "education" not grounded in the loam of commitment to moral worthiness is counterfeit. Among the great teachings of the history of salvation is the repeated lesson that faithfulness to God brings success, while disobedience brings personal, even national, disaster.
The "good counselor" Professor Germain Grisez talks about enduring "Modes of Responsibility" which can serve as preliminary guidance. I take great liberty here in dramatically condensing them, but here are some of the key elements of Christian leadership:
1. Develop our talents and employ them with gratitude, devotion and unswerving loyalty to the One who bestowed our talents originally (see Luke 12:48).
2. Build community (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 2045).
3. Act reasonably, never merely to satisfy appetites and urges.
4. Do what we ought to do, even when the task is disagreeable.
5. Never discriminate unreasonably. Also: Be justly merciful and mercifully just.
6. Act in the light of moral truth, not just to keep up appearances. Prefer the light, even the glare, of what is true to the emotional shade of what is comfortable.
7. Be patient and long-suffering whenever possible.
8. Do what is fruitful, but do not try to get the best results at any price. Also: Know the value of things, not only their cost.
So that's it: leadership in eight "easy" maxims!
But it ain't so. Those maxims are useful, and so is the key ingredient of the natural law: Do good and avoid evil (1 Thes 5:21-22). Similarly, St. Paul's declaration that "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" is also important and comforting. But these are not self-explanatory adages. They require interpretation; they require grace.
We must always pray for the grace to know what is the right and good and true course to pursue; to realize that having the strength to do all things comes from Him, for Him; and that "the Law of God entrusted to the Church is taught to the faithful as the way of truth and life" (CCC 2037).
The essence of good leadership, then, lies always in our being faithful followers. The first, best and inviolable "maxim of leadership" is Our Lord's command: "Follow me" (Mt 16:24).
Deacon James H. Toner serves at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro.