Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius May 14, 2017 Spiritual Ponderings 15th Diseases of Leadership
Let us continue our look at Pope Francis’s “15 Diseases of Leadership”. Pope Francis’s diseases are in bold and my commentary in normal font.
4. THE DISEASE OF EXCESSIVE PLANNING AND OF FUNCTIONALISM. When a leader plans everything down to the last detail and believes that with perfect planning things will fall into place, he or she becomes an accountant or an office manager. Things need to be prepared well, but without ever falling into the temptation of trying to eliminate spontaneity and serendipity, which is always more flexible than any human planning. We contract this disease because it is easy and comfortable to settle in our own sedentary and unchanging ways.
The virtue is always in the middle of two vices. When we lead, we need to make sure that we plan enough that the event can take place but not too much that we get angry when something that we were not expecting happens. I can plan my day so that I can efficiently be a good steward of my time and at the same time I need to be open to people stopping by the rectory and wanting to stop or receiving a call asking me to come to the hospital. If I get mad when my plans must change then I know that I am suffering from this disease and I need to pray more.
5. THE DISEASE OF POOR COORDINATION. Once leaders lose a sense of community among themselves, the body loses its harmonious functioning and its equilibrium; it then becomes an orchestra that produces noise: its members do not work together and lose the spirit of camaraderie and teamwork. When the foot says to the arm: ‘I don’t need you,’ or the hand says to the head, ‘I’m in charge,’ they create discomfort and parochialism.
It is important that we do our best to cooperate with those that God wants us to work with as co-leaders. We know that this is not easy because we know that the Apostles argued many times over who was greatest. Remembering that you are all on the same team and want the same thing, can be the start of overcoming this disease. This disease can be identified in us when we feel that we have a NEED to have things done our way all the time.
6. THERE IS ALSO A SORT OF “LEADERSHIP ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE.” It consists in losing the memory of those who nurtured, mentored and supported us in our own journeys. We see this in those who have lost the memory of their encounters with the great leaders who inspired them; in those who are completely caught up in the present moment, in their passions, whims and obsessions; in those who build walls and routines around themselves, and thus become more and more the slaves of idols carved by their own hands.
“This is the way that we have always done things,” I have discovered in my opinion is the second worse reason to do something with the first reason being simply changing for the sake of change. We should always realize that change is hard but is also necessary. We also should realize that we are dealing with people who have attached positive and negative values to the ways of the past. It is important for people to talk about the past so that we can move forward bring the most number of people.
7. THE DISEASE OF RIVALRY AND VAINGLORY. When appearances, our perks, and our titles become the primary object in life, we forget our fundamental duty as leaders—to “do nothing from selfishness or conceit but in humility count others better than ourselves.” [As leaders, we must] look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Fr. Henri Nouwen in his book
Reaching Out: Three Movements in the Spiritual Life: “It really does not have to be so dramatic. Fear and hostility are not limited to our encounters with burglars, drug addicts or strangely behaving types. In a world so pervaded with competition, even those who are very close to each other, such as classmates, teammates, co-actors in a play, colleagues in work, can be infected by fear and hostility when they experience each other as a threat to their intellectual or professional safety. Many places that are created to bring people closer together and help them form a peaceful community have degenerated into mental battlefields.”
Fr. Nouwen and Pope Francis both warn us against turning everything into a competition and to avoid the sin of envy.