What the World Needs Most
An envelope arrived in my mailbox, sometime late last year. Above my name and address, this envelope encouraged me to "Give the World What It Needs Most..." The return address bore the emblem of my alma mater. Given that I attended a really big, state-funded university without religious affiliation, I was curious as to the claim about "what the world needs most." I was virtually certain that my answer and the university's answer would differ greatly.
The claim surprised me. My university wasn't trying to give the world more technology or more business professionals with higher degrees or more access to secularized "arts." My university wants to provide leaders to the world. With some slight adjustments of their understanding of leadership and the value that it provides to the world, I just might be able to get behind this project. If there were dollars in my family budget to give toward cultivating great leaders for the next generation, some of them just might flow to this program. Keep in mind that I refer to leadership rightly understood and not the God-less version presented by modern secular institutions.
While the subject is near, it is an appropriate time to identify exactly which type of leadership and leaders that the world currently needs. How will the next generation be better off by this generation's "gift"? What will we bequeath to our progeny as they begin to engage in the "arduous search for the right way to order human affairs" (Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 25)?
The habits and qualities of great leaders stand as the answers to such grave questions. Let us turn to them now. Be it known, however, that the following list is far from exhaustive, and even the ideas presented are abbreviated. Any discussion of great leadership could take up book-length manuscripts. Indeed, any number of those books have been written already. In the course of those books, one thing becomes clear: the habits and qualities of great leaders are none other than the Christian virtues (even if the leadership book is written from a secular perspective or by a non-Christian author).
At or near the top of any list of virtues that leaders exhibit is docility. Docility is the virtue that causes a person to be ready to receive direction from a higher authority; the virtue that makes a person ready to act when directed clearly. Leaders must receive their vision from somewhere. That "somewhere" is usually from time spent reflecting on the nature of things, the surrounding conditions, and the possible outcomes. In short, from a religious perspective, great leaders begin with prayer. Otherwise, they will never know when, where, or how to move, or why they are moving in the first place.
Once a leader has received his direction, via the virtue of docility, he must then set to thinking about the practical effects of moving toward the goal. Not only must he know what is right and true, but he must know and practice the right way of bringing others to the same understanding. Leaders must be prudent. Prudence is "right reason in action," as St. Thomas Aquinas says. Without prudence, the effort to move toward the revealed goal can potentially backfire and alienate those who are willing to walk with the leader.
Another of the cardinal virtue is essential for great leaders: courage. Without courage, a leader will cower from the dangers and hazards that she encounters during the journey toward the goal. Courage causes a leader to recall her first obligation, which is to the Divine Leader. In courage, she recognizes any attitude, word, or action that will cause separation between the Ultimate Guide and herself, and she eschews those attitudes, words, and actions. Courage allows her to choose God's perfect plan and purpose over the plans of men or the purposes of the enemy.
I would be completely remiss if I did not mention at least one of the theological virtues. Although each of the three theological virtues are essential habits for great leaders, hope seems to stand above the others. Hope is the virtue that allows the leader to keep his eyes oriented toward the goal revealed to him; and at the same time it causes him to work vigorously to bring about that goal. Hope keeps everything in its proper place: the final end that is sought, the people walking the journey, and the actions that must be taken to arrive there. Perhaps more than any other virtue, all leaders cultivate hope because, by it, all other virtues fall properly into the vision.
Judging only by my decade-plus of association with my university (as an undergraduate and graduate student and then as an instructor), I know that some of these principles are taught to the leaders of the next generation. Leaders of companies, non-profit charities, or consulting firms must know these most basic principles of guiding an organization. I am sure that my university does that, and I know some individuals who have been through this very program.
There is one vital thing missing, however, and it is the most important thing. The name of Jesus Christ must be included in leadership development because He is the Divine Leader with the ultimate vision of reality. Moreover, He is the perfect exemplar of the virtues listed above, as well as the other virtues that weren't listed but which are requisite for great leaders. Without the name of Christ and His purpose for mission, all leadership will cease to lead anywhere except in a miserable and unproductive circle. Without Jesus, neither our generation nor the next nor the one after, will make any progress toward the goal that we seek in the deepest recesses of our hearts. Until our eyes are opened and we cultivate habits in imitation of Christ, we will continue to find short-sighted and bankrupt solutions to the most pressing situations of our age.
Join me in committing to cultivate virtuous leadership. Learn the art of living well, and pass that on to others. That is what the world needs most.
The claim surprised me. My university wasn't trying to give the world more technology or more business professionals with higher degrees or more access to secularized "arts." My university wants to provide leaders to the world. With some slight adjustments of their understanding of leadership and the value that it provides to the world, I just might be able to get behind this project. If there were dollars in my family budget to give toward cultivating great leaders for the next generation, some of them just might flow to this program. Keep in mind that I refer to leadership rightly understood and not the God-less version presented by modern secular institutions.
While the subject is near, it is an appropriate time to identify exactly which type of leadership and leaders that the world currently needs. How will the next generation be better off by this generation's "gift"? What will we bequeath to our progeny as they begin to engage in the "arduous search for the right way to order human affairs" (Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 25)?
The habits and qualities of great leaders stand as the answers to such grave questions. Let us turn to them now. Be it known, however, that the following list is far from exhaustive, and even the ideas presented are abbreviated. Any discussion of great leadership could take up book-length manuscripts. Indeed, any number of those books have been written already. In the course of those books, one thing becomes clear: the habits and qualities of great leaders are none other than the Christian virtues (even if the leadership book is written from a secular perspective or by a non-Christian author).
At or near the top of any list of virtues that leaders exhibit is docility. Docility is the virtue that causes a person to be ready to receive direction from a higher authority; the virtue that makes a person ready to act when directed clearly. Leaders must receive their vision from somewhere. That "somewhere" is usually from time spent reflecting on the nature of things, the surrounding conditions, and the possible outcomes. In short, from a religious perspective, great leaders begin with prayer. Otherwise, they will never know when, where, or how to move, or why they are moving in the first place.
Once a leader has received his direction, via the virtue of docility, he must then set to thinking about the practical effects of moving toward the goal. Not only must he know what is right and true, but he must know and practice the right way of bringing others to the same understanding. Leaders must be prudent. Prudence is "right reason in action," as St. Thomas Aquinas says. Without prudence, the effort to move toward the revealed goal can potentially backfire and alienate those who are willing to walk with the leader.
Another of the cardinal virtue is essential for great leaders: courage. Without courage, a leader will cower from the dangers and hazards that she encounters during the journey toward the goal. Courage causes a leader to recall her first obligation, which is to the Divine Leader. In courage, she recognizes any attitude, word, or action that will cause separation between the Ultimate Guide and herself, and she eschews those attitudes, words, and actions. Courage allows her to choose God's perfect plan and purpose over the plans of men or the purposes of the enemy.
I would be completely remiss if I did not mention at least one of the theological virtues. Although each of the three theological virtues are essential habits for great leaders, hope seems to stand above the others. Hope is the virtue that allows the leader to keep his eyes oriented toward the goal revealed to him; and at the same time it causes him to work vigorously to bring about that goal. Hope keeps everything in its proper place: the final end that is sought, the people walking the journey, and the actions that must be taken to arrive there. Perhaps more than any other virtue, all leaders cultivate hope because, by it, all other virtues fall properly into the vision.
Judging only by my decade-plus of association with my university (as an undergraduate and graduate student and then as an instructor), I know that some of these principles are taught to the leaders of the next generation. Leaders of companies, non-profit charities, or consulting firms must know these most basic principles of guiding an organization. I am sure that my university does that, and I know some individuals who have been through this very program.
There is one vital thing missing, however, and it is the most important thing. The name of Jesus Christ must be included in leadership development because He is the Divine Leader with the ultimate vision of reality. Moreover, He is the perfect exemplar of the virtues listed above, as well as the other virtues that weren't listed but which are requisite for great leaders. Without the name of Christ and His purpose for mission, all leadership will cease to lead anywhere except in a miserable and unproductive circle. Without Jesus, neither our generation nor the next nor the one after, will make any progress toward the goal that we seek in the deepest recesses of our hearts. Until our eyes are opened and we cultivate habits in imitation of Christ, we will continue to find short-sighted and bankrupt solutions to the most pressing situations of our age.
Join me in committing to cultivate virtuous leadership. Learn the art of living well, and pass that on to others. That is what the world needs most.
