Issue No. 483 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a Baptist shout-out to Catholic friends and colleagues with an entertaining film and two powerful books. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for the new book I wrote with my son, Jason, Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned. See Mistake #9 below.
Could J.P. Morgan learn leadership principles from a 450-year-old company that changed the world?
10 People With No Capital and No Business Plan!
C.S. Lewis wrote, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.”
So here are three reruns (not as old as St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas), but worth your time. And…since I’ve been preaching (and trying to model) reading outside my lane—here’s a born-again Baptist’s three-gun salute to my Catholic friends. Enjoy!
#1. VIDEO: WE HAVE A POPE (2012, English subtitles, 1 hour, 44 minutes)
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 subtitles: “Not me, Lord! Not me!” No one wants the job.
View the trailer for We Have a Pope.
Makes me wonder if, post COVID-19, there will be more or less applications for presidents, prime ministers, popes, governors, and mayors? Leaders needed. Yikes!
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?
Click here to read my review. To view the video on Amazon Prime, click on the title for We Have a Pope.
#2. BOOK: THE POPE & THE CEO (2011, 152 pages)
Andreas Widmer’s poignant book, The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II's Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, is highly relevant to all CEOs, leaders and managers. (Click here to read my review and the must-read story.)
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.
To order 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.
#3. BOOK: HEROIC LEADERSHIP (2003, 336 pages)
Chris Lowney, the author of Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World, writes: “What often passes for leadership today is a shallow substitution of technique for substance.” This is a book with substance—plus laugh-out-loud humor. Click here to read my full review.
Lowney turned in his Jesuit name badge on a Friday. On Monday, he clocked in at J.P. Morgan. Named a managing director of this huge investment banking firm while still in his 30s, he held senior positions with them in New York, Tokyo, Singapore, and London.
Bemused and amused by the proliferation of leadership lesson books (Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, to name just one), Lowney responded. “I was intrigued by what sixteenth-century priests might teach us twenty-first century sophisticates about leadership and about coping with complex, changing environments.”
I know. I know. I recommend a “must-read” book in every issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting. But, this one really is a five-star must-read. “Obedience issues in an uninterrupted life of heroic deeds and heroic virtues,” writes Lowney. When’s the last time you rubbed shoulders with a truly heroic leader?
The Company of Jesus (the Jesuits) was founded in 1540 by “ten men with no capital and no business plan.” Yet within a generation, they built the world’s most influential company of its kind. In 10 years, with no experience, they launched 30 colleges. “Instead of talking about leadership, they lived it.” Founder Ignatius of Loyola trained every recruit to lead. Jesuits believe that self-leadership emanates from four unique values: 1) self-awareness, 2) ingenuity, 3) love, and 4) heroism.
If you salivate at the chance to lead people through complexity, build global teams, control out-of-control growth, mediate turf battles, cultivate wealthy donors, and enforce rigorous hiring standards—you’ll feast on this gourmet book. (And to check your motives on why you want to lead, read Patrick Lencioni’s 2020 book, The Motive.)
Chris Lowney’s real world experience keeps it honest. His delicious and dry wit embarrassed me multiple times in 2008 while reading the book at 30,000 feet. The laugh-out-loud moments were frequent!
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Heroic Leadership: Best Practices From a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World, by Chris Lowney.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
1) The Jesuits coached Chris Lowney on how to spot leaders. He writes, “…looking for leaders while focusing on the wrong skills is a hit-or-miss proposition—like picking future opera stars by examining their golf swings.” How do we identify, coach, and mentor emerging leaders in our organization?
2) After serving as a Swiss guard to Pope John Paul II, Andreas Widmer jumped into the business world—but it didn’t go well at first. He confesses to numerous personnel disasters. “My most painful mistakes in business,” he wrote, involved prioritizing tasks over people. Thinking back to his Vatican days, Widmer observed how an effective leader must be “a synchronizer of talent.” How effective are we at identifying task/people mismatches—and then addressing them early?
3) To go deeper on Ignatius of Loyola, look over Father Darrin Merlino’s shoulder in his recent book, 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God. Discuss: Is it possible that the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius—if taken seriously—can help “10 men with no capital and no business plan?” Why or why not?
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Mistake #9 of 25:
Fibbing…to Fit My Fiction
Insights from Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned, by John Pearson with Jason Pearson
Clayton Christensen writes that telling the truth "100 percent of the time is easier than 98 percent of the time."
Every mistake in this new workbook by John and his son, Jason, is paired with a relevant book recommendation. Noting the time he “fibbed” a response to Francis Schaeffer, the eminent evangelical theologian, John wishes Clayton Christensen (1952-2020) had written his book years earlier!
How Will You Measure Your Life includes Christensen’s wisdom on always telling the truth and acting with integrity, “100 percent of the time is easier than 98 percent of the time.” John’s mistake:
“I was raised with the core value, ‘Honesty is the best policy.’ My heart has been to honor God with this practice every day. But regretfully that day—lying won and honesty lost.” Read Mistake #9 to see what John learned.
Click here to view the list of all 25 mistakes and read the introduction to Mastering Mistake Making. To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. When you view We Have a Pope, you experience again the power of film to tell a powerful story (even with subtitles). For ideas and insights on telling your powerful story, contact Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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