Issue No. 271 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests you take a week off from book-reading guilt and enjoy a very relevant and entertaining video, We Have a Pope. Plus, this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
The Reluctant Leader: Plan A or Plan B?
Recently, I coached my 10-year-old granddaughter, Emelia, on the value of doing a pro and con list when making decisions. I gave her a template with two columns: five reasons for Plan A and five reasons for Plan B. After a few minutes of fourth grade discernment, she presented her work:
• Plan A had five excellent reasons in favor.
• Plan B had just five words: None, None, None, None, None!
I chuckled and thought, “Memo to Self: Read another book on coaching!”
So with Plan A and Plan B fresh in my mind, I treated myself this weekend to a second viewing of a wonderful film, We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam). Joanne and I first enjoyed it at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2011 (Italian, with English sub-titles). It’s now available on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, plus in DVD format for U.S. viewers.
If you view it this week, you get a twofer: 1) an entertaining film (1 hour and 45 minutes) with a tongue-in-check, inside-the-Sistine-Chapel look at the selection of a pope, and 2) comparisons to the real life conclave in Vatican City this week.
No spoiler alert is needed because I’ll just set the stage for you. The papal conclave is in session—and balloting has begun. The thunderous murmuring from dozens of cardinals needs no sub-titles:
“Not me, Lord!
Not me!”
No one wants the job.
Finally, a pope is selected—and that’s when the fun and the soul-searching begin. The reluctant leader is not sure he wants to be pope. (Plan A or Plan B?) He is unprepared, he thinks, for this one-in-a-billion leadership challenge—and the cardinals (still locked in the Vatican, without cell phones) are not much help to their new leader. Yet he had their votes. Hmmm. Plan A or Plan B?
It’s a humorous, but eye-opening study in leadership trauma. It’s the perfect video to watch this week—as we watch Rome. Enjoy!
P.S. Click here if you missed my last review (Issue No. 270) of The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II's Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, by Andreas Widmer. It includes a memorable, heart-warming true story—perfect for your next staff meeting.
To watch the movie trailer and/or order this DVD (or the Amazon Instant Video) from Amazon, click on the graphic below for We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam), directed by Nanni Moretti. (Note: While it has a “NR” rating, I found only one objectionable word in the English subtitles.)
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Have you ever met a reluctant leader: a CEO or a department head—that truth be told—was uncomfortable in that role? Have you ever been a “reluctant leader” and, if so, what was the outcome?
2) Play along with me here. You’re on the “search committee” to interview papal candidates. What are the Top-10 qualities and characteristics in your Opportunity Profile?
Social Style Tip of the Day - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in Chapter 7, The People Bucket, in my book, Mastering the Management Buckets, is to know your social style comfort zone—and relate appropriately to all four people styles: Driver, Analytical, Amiable and Expressive. (What style will the next pope be?)
For more help, visit the Tracom Corp website to view their “Social Style Tip of the Day. For example, the tip for today, March 11, 2013, is “How to Compliment an Analytical Style.” Their counsel, “keep it simple and professional.” (Far different than what an Expressive would want from you!)
P.S. For insight to pass along to your board members, read my blog,"The Meeting Before the Meeting," at the ECFA Governance blog.
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