Pope Francis: For Catholics, is he Leader or Soldier? Saint!

With the title of Pope to his adopted name, Pope Francis, and considering 1.2 billion Roman Catholics the world over, automatically you will consider Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio as leader of the world's Catholics and, just as easily, compare him with political leaders of the world and, with a little imagination, a business leader – because you think that there is so much unfinished business with the Catholics of the world. Well, there are good and bad leaders! And surprise, Pope Francis is not one of them.

In the eyes of American business author Jeffrey A Krames, Pope Francis has been a great source of lessons in leadership (Vicki Salemi, "How the first Jesuit Pope might teach managers how to lead," 21 September 2013, New York Post, nypost.com). In fact, from the Pope's life so far, Krames has derived 12 such lessons and written a book about them, says Vicki:

(1)     Lead with humility.

(2)     Run your organization like a field hospital.

(3)     Smell like your flock.

(4)     Make inclusion a top priority.

(5)     Pay attention to non-customers.

If you compare with the list below, you will notice that Vicki has selected and given only 5 lessons. She does not explain her abbreviated list, which is an unscholarly way to write a report or news story. It is not a copyright infringement to list those lessons and explain each a little bit. "How the first Jesuit Pope might teach managers how to lead" is not a good lead.

Thankfully, Dragan Sutevski gives all 12 (undated, entrepreneurshipinabox.com):

(1)     Lead with humility.

(2)     Smell like your flock.

(3)     Who am I to judge?

(4)     Don't change – reinvent.

(5)     Make inclusion a top priority.

(6)     Avoid insularity.

(7)     Choose pragmatism over ideology.

(8)     Employ the optics of decision making.

(9)     Run your organization like a field hospital.

(10) Live on the frontier.

(11) Confront adversity head-on.

(12) Pay attention to non-customers.

Krames own website says (leadwithhumility.com):

When Fortune announced its list of the World's Greatest Leaders, the top spot was awarded – not to a captain of industry – but to the new pontiff.

How did a man who spent his life laboring in slums far from the Vatican manage to breathe life into an aging institution, reinvigorate a global base, and create real hope for the future so quickly? The answer lies in his humility – and the simple principles that spring from it.

That is, Krames has derived those 12 lessons from only 1 lesson: humility.

Fortune Magazine also looks at Pope Francis as a great world leader (fortune.com):

In an era that feels starved for leadership, we've found men and women who will inspire you – some famous, others little known, all of them energizing their followers and making the world better.

Just over a year ago, a puff of white smoke announced the new spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world. In the brief time since, Francis has electrified the church and attracted legions of non-Catholic admirers by energetically setting a new direction. He has refused to occupy the palatial papal apartments, has washed the feet of a female Muslim prisoner, is driven around Rome in a Ford Focus, and famously asked, "Who am I to judge?" with regard to the church's view of gay members. He created a group of eight cardinals to advise him on reform (that) a church historian calls the "most important step in the history of the church for the past 10 centuries." Francis recently asked the world to stop the rock star treatment. He knows that while revolutionary, his actions so far have mostly reflected a new tone and intentions. His hardest work lies ahead. And yet signs of a "Francis Effect" abound. In a poll in March, one in four Catholics said they'd increased their charitable giving to the poor this year. Of those 77% said it was due in part to the Pope.

Taken together, those 12 lessons in leadership as seen by Krames and Pope Francis leading in "energetically setting a new direction" for Roman Catholics as seen by Fortune Magazine means that they consider the Pope already a success as far as leadership is concerned.

Forbes Magazine has its own list of what makes Pope Francis an outstanding leader (Rob Asqhar, 27 December 2013, forbes.com):

(1)     Actions and images can count more than words.

(2)     When you do use words, you can use them honestly – while still building bridges to those with whom you disagree.

(3)     Good management and nice management are two different things.

(4)     Power should amplify your good character, not dilute it.

Surprisingly, despite those experts' opinions, Pope Francis does not see himself as a leader. Instead, he seems just to be looking for God everywhere and in everyone. In response to a question by Fr Antonio Spadaro, SJ, "Your Holiness, how does one seek and find God in all things?" Pope Francis says (30 September 2013, "A Big Heart Open To God," America: The National Catholic Review, americamagazine.org):

There is a temptation to seek God in the past or in a possible future. God is certainly in the past because we can see the footprints. And God is also in the future as a promise. But the "concrete" God, so to speak, is today. For this reason, complaining never helps us find God. The complaints of today about how "barbaric" the world is – these complaints sometimes end up giving birth within the church to desires to establish order in the sense of pure conservation, as a defense. No: God is to be encountered in the world of today.

God manifests himself in historical revelation, in history. Time initiates processes, and space crystallizes them. God is in history, in the processes.

We must not focus on occupying the spaces where power is exercised, but rather on starting long-run historical processes. We must initiate processes rather than occupy spaces.

"We must not focus on occupying the spaces where power is exercised." Thereby, he is not speaking of himself alone. Pope Francis is a saint, and Roman Catholicism needs everyone to be a saint. Occupying spaces of power is leadership, and you cannot be a saint there. Pope Francis is not behaving like a leader; by saying we must focus "rather on starting long-run historical processes," Pope Francis is behaving like Christ, who did not come to lead the world to salvation but to show how it can save itself from damnation. That is not leadership; rather, that is showing the way to creativity. Peter Drucker was not thinking of a leader or manager when he famously said, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." God is known not for leadership but creativity.