Issue No. 270 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a poignant, yet powerful business book about Pope John II, suggested by my friend, Jim Canning (how’s that for great timing?). Plus, this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
The Pope & The CEO
According to Andreas Widmer, business leader and author of The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II's Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, “No cardinal wants to be pope. They know too well what goes into it, what the office demands. The work is endless, the responsibilities bone-crushing. There is no end to it, save death.”
Well…until recently! Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope, stepped down Feb. 28, 2013, after eight years as the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics—and the world now watches as the cardinals gather in their conclave to discern God’s choice for the next pope.
So with that backdrop, I just finished Widmer’s poignant book for CEOs, leaders and managers. As a young Swiss Guard to the pope, the author observed the back office leadership of Pope John Paul II. Yet later, Widmer failed in business and had to re-learn the simple, but God-honoring papal principles of leadership. It’s a page-turner because the stories are so powerful and practical.
There are nine chapters in this spiritual/business portrait of the Pope who asked Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Emeritus Pope) to join the Vatican team: Know Who You Are, Know God, Know Where You Are and Where You Are Going, Know the Team and five more very contemporary topics.
Until today, this review was pre-written in my mind with killer quotes, arresting lead sentences, and humorous eye-opening stories. My wife, Joanne, genuinely appreciated my “let-me-read-you-another-story” marathon over several evenings.
But…I’m skipping all of that (and might return another issue with a full review)…to share this memorable account from his last chapter, “Live Detachment: Intentional Humility and Poverty.”
Widmer writes, “Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of great stories about John Paul II from friends at the Vatican and others who knew him personally. One of my favorites is this one from Scott Hahn [from his address to the Boston Catholic Men’s conference, March 4, 2006]. I repeat it here, because I can think of no greater testimony to the detachment we’re all called to possess.”
[Note: the following story is verbatim from The Pope & The CEO, pages 136-138.]
During the later years of John Paul II’s papacy, an American priest attended a conference in Rome. On the last day of the conference, he went to a church at midday to pray. As he walked in, he saw the ever-present beggars in front. He stopped, thought he recognized one of them, but dismissed the thought and walked inside. Still, he couldn’t help thinking about that beggar, so on his way out, he approached the man.
“Excuse me,” he said. “Do I know you?”
The man looked away, but answered, “Yes, we went to seminary together and were ordained together in Rome.”
The beggar priest then told the American about how horrific life choices and bad mistakes had poisoned and destroyed his vocation. The priest was devastated, but didn’t know what to say and hurried back to the Vatican.
That afternoon, there was an audience with the pope for all the attendees of the conference. The priest could not resist the temptation. As he approached John Paul, he said, “Holy Father, you have to pray for this priest I just saw.” And he told him the story.
After the audience, the American went back to that parish looking for the homeless priest. When he found him, he said, “The pope is praying for you.”
The beggar just stared at him with a look that said, “Well that’s great…whatever good that’ll do.”
But the priest continued. “That’s not all. The pope and his secretary, Bishop Dziwisz, invited the two of us for dinner tonight.”
The man protested. He was dirty. He had no decent clothes. But the priest persuaded him with an offer of a shower and the loan of one of his own suits. So they went.
The Swiss Guard on duty let them in, and they were ushered up to the apartment where Bishop Dziwisz greeted them. He then led them into the dining room where the pope was already at table. Everyone exchanged greetings and the first course was served. Then the second course. At the end of the main course, the pope began moving his hand in a motion to Bishop Dziwisz. The American priest didn’t understand what the gesture meant, but the bishop did. He got up and said to him: “Please come with me for a moment.”
The two left and waited outside. One minute passed, then two, then five, then ten. Finally the bishop seemed to know it was time to go back in. They sat down just in time for dessert.
At the end of the evening, farewells and blessings were exchanged and the two priests walked back down the marble stairs to St. Peter’s Square. The American priest, however, was dying of curiosity, so as soon as they came out into the open he turned and asked, “What went on in there?”
The beggar said,
“You wouldn’t believe it,
even if I told you.”
“You have to tell me. Try me!” was the American’s response.
“Well, as soon as you left the room, John Paul turned to me and said ‘Father, would you please hear my confession?’ I said, ‘Holy Father, I’m not a priest, I’m a beggar.’ And the pope responded ‘So am I, I am just a beggar. You are a priest. Once a priest, always a priest.’
“‘But Holy Father,’ I told him, ‘I’m not in right standing with the Church!’
“‘As the bishop of Rome, I can reinstate you here and now,’ was his reply. ‘All you have to do is give me consent.’
“How could I withhold consent from the bishop of Rome?” the beggar concluded.
After hearing the story, the American priest said “But we were out there for more than ten minutes. It couldn’t have taken that long for him to confess his sins?”
“No,” the beggar agreed. “It was over in a couple of minutes. That’s when I dropped to my knees and begged him to hear my confession. And he did. Right before you came back in, he asked me where you found me, and upon my telling him, he asked me to report to the pastor there tomorrow. I’ll be assigned to that church, and my mission will be reaching out to all of our fellow beggars in the neighborhood. Because that’s what all of us are.”
To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II's Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, by Andreas Widmer.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) The beggar story touched me because it embodied a rare CEO quality: humility. Other accounts in this book may touch you differently. What did you learn about John Paul from this story?
2) In the chapter on living a balanced life, the author noted the pope’s zest for the outdoors and sports. When some questioned the cost of installing a swimming pool at the papal summer residence, the pope famously replied, “It’s cheaper than another conclave.” What did he mean by that?
Give People Choices - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in Chapter 6, The Program Bucket, in my book, Mastering the Management Buckets, is to give people choices. I call it the “One Cookie or Two Cookies?” principle. The cardinals have over a billion choices in the days ahead!
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