what is good leadership?

Homily

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

17 October 2021

AMDG +mj

What makes a good leader?  Wow, what a question!  There are countless answers in today's scriptures.  Let's begin with a brief litany.  A leader must be willing to suffer, to sympathize and to serve.  Anything less is a bad leader.  May I suggest something at the onset?  If you're going to be a bad leader, please don't be a leader at all.  Bad leadership hurts people, and we've seen enough of that.

Yet not leading isn't really an option for me, is it?  The prophetic dimension of my life, begun in baptism and hence confirmed by the full gifts of the Spirit, requires that I not shy away from leadership.  What I do affects others.  That's just how it is.  I run from this to my own peril.  Ask Jonah if running away works!  The gift of my life comes with a responsibility to serve.  Again, I avoid this to my own detriment.

I have to lead somehow.  So I may as well find a way to be a good leader.  Hence today's pivotal question.  What makes a good leader?

When I ask KU students how I can be a better father, the answer is utterly simple.  They want to see me more.  Father, just spend time with us.  Good leadership can be as simple as answering the bell.  My pivotal word for this year is 'here.'  I don't want to be a dad who is gone or busy, but one who is here.

My favorite author on leadership is Pat Lencioni.  He has done a series of fables on leadership, starting with the five dysfunctions of a team.  He has started a Catholic apostolate called the Amazing Parish.  He knows pastors are notoriously unprepared and unsupported as leaders, so he helps by coaching priests to lead through prayer and vulnerability.

Pat keeps it simple too.  Pray with people.  Stay in touch with them.  Be visible.  Let them see you sweat.  In a nutshell, Pat would say that if people trust you they will follow you to the ends of the earth.  

His latest books is called The Motive.  There is only one good reason to lead.   It's if you want to grow perfect in love, putting others before yourself.  That's the motive.  If your leadership is about you, you will hate it. The criticism will destroy you.  Leadership has to have as its deepest motive love for others.  

I have to lead. So do you.  It's in your bones.  It's your calling.  You affect people.  The gift of your life comes with a responsibility to make a difference.

May I be affected by Jesus' words on leadership at this turn of my life.  I lead to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.