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Looking to the Saints for Business Advice
The saints as CEO? Picture this: Saint Francis of Assisi advising financial officers, or Catherine of Siena offering conflict resolution inservices. About 15 years ago author Laurie Beth Jones came out with Jesus, CEO (Hyperion, 1996) followed six years later by Jesus, Entrepreneur (Crown Business, 2002) and a smattering of other applications of Jesus to the business world and everyday life.
Now, we’ve got the saints weighing in! I just read a review by Philip Delves Broughton for the Los Angeles Times about the new book Mother Teresa, CEO: Unexpected Principles for Practical Leadership by authors Ruma Bose and Lou Faust.
Broughton says that the authors lay out eight principles based on the life and work of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:
- dream it simple, say it strong
- to get to the angels, deal with the devil
- wait, then pick your moment
- embrace the power of doubt
- discover the joy of discipline
- communicate in a language people understand
- pay attention to the janitor
- use the power of silence
These are definitely worth pondering, though beyond these thoughts, Broughton’s values the brevity of the book. In the end he writes:
“[T]o get a real sense of the joys and travails of Mother Teresa as CEO, I recommend her private writings, which show how lonely it was at the top.”
While I don’t know what it’s like at the top, I concur 100% that the writings of Mother Teresa and the saints themselves is what will really help us in not only our business life but also everyday life as well. My saint of choice (which probably comes as no surprise) is Saint Teresa of Avila. Reading her writings as well as those of other saints like Mother Teresa give us a sense of the person and her interior life from the inside out — rather than from the outside in which often happens when we read about a saint rather than reading the saint herself which, I might add, also means walking with that saint and praying with her.
What have you learned from walking with Mother Teresa or another saint? How does that help you in your professional life or personal life?
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Very interesting! these are great, universal principles. I teach an online course called, “Managing a Technical Publications Department,” and I used YouTube interviews with Mother Teresa and General Colin Powell as part of the required discussion materials. They were remarkably similar in their principles, which I think surprised some of the students.
In my mind, nobody does it better than Saint Benedict. Famously, he cautions the monks to listen to everyone — especially the youngest because they often have good ideas. Benedict has a nice balance of leadership taking responsibility for its decisions and the need to consult in order to make the wisest choices. No extravagance, but everyone must have whatever they legitimately need to pursue their work. There is also a call for quality workmanship at more than fair prices.
I love the way Mother Teresa always said do small things with great love. It is through that love that the small things become great things and that is how we can touch many lives. Love is key. She is one whom I rely on greatly.
St. Jane Chantal, founder (with St. Francis de Sales) of the Visitation of Holy Mary monasteries was an admirable CEO. She married young; her husband was a young nobleman whose estate was in deplorable condition because of bad management by his father and himself. While her dashing young husband was off at war and at court, she raised the children and put the estate back in the black. Widowed while very young, she was forced by her father-in-law to move with her children to his estate – also in deplorable condition. In spite of being treated rudely and unkindly by the father-in-law and his housekeeper/mistress, she brought their financial affairs into good order. Later, she was the superior of the Visitation order and was an admirable manager who founded numerous monasteries and established sensible policies for governance which were based in the gentle Salesian spirituality, but also financially and spiritually/psychologically sound in contrast to many other orders which were less so. She had the skills of a modern CEO in the 17th Century.