When St. Benedict Talks About Leadership Smart Guys Listen!
St. Benedict had a lot to say about leadership. When St. Benedict talks, we would do well to listen. Managers, executives, team leaders, perk up!
Now, he didn't actually call it "leadership." But it's how folks today would lump his comments about what makes a good Abbot. "Leadership" is a term that's thrown around in business, in sports, in school - really any time you're involved with groups of people working or cooperating with each other. As a general rule, there are leaders and followers.
In the business world, there's no shortage of studies in the form of books, articles, aphorisms, all purporting to tell us what a good leader does, even how they walk and talk. Not saying all that stuff is totally useless (well, maybe most of it!). If you can find a nugget or two here and there that helps you, by all means pick it up and and digest it. Here, though, we'll focus our attention on the great Patron Saint of Europe by looking at what he wrote about leadership in his Rule, as founder of Western monasticism. Frankly, St. Benedict's Rule provides so many more tasty, meaty morsels to chew on, most especially when compared to some of the blather offered by HR training sessions, seminars, so-called business "coaches," etc.
We recently focused our posts on the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict. As we noted then, the Rule can be used as a ready resource to help us work for the glory of God. Further, it's been studied in a strictly "secular" light as a magnificent outline of how businesses should be run, how organizations should be structured, how people who work for a company (executives, managers, workers) can most productively interact with each other.
You don't have to function in a leadership position at work to benefit from what our great saint has to say about leadership. If you happen to be a manager, business owner, team leader - any position where others look to you for direction in some way shape or form - pay especially close attention. Take notes. You'll be better at what you do after reading, thinking about, and making your own the wise words we'll consider in our next few blog posts.
Before we begin, some ground rules:
St. Benedict's primary purpose is writing the Rule wasn't to provide a course in "leadership." He wasn't writing a merely practical "manual" on how to run a monastery. The Rule tries to show monks how to grow closer to God. That's presumed to be the reason they decided to become monks. The monks he's addressing are those living in community in a monastery, known as Cenotbites, as opposed to those who go off by themselves to seek holiness, to be closer to God - Anchorites.
Thus, all the rules and admonitions we find in the Rule are intended to help the monks' grow closer to God. Of necessity, though, these entail specific and practical recommendations about how to go about the daily activities of the monastery. St. Benedict, among his many virtues, had a keen practical mind. Based on his experience with founding, developing and being the leader (Abbot) of a monastery, he decided to offer a Rule to guide both those who lead and those whom they lead in their daily activities, what we might call the "business" of the monastery. What is that business? - prayer and work; in Latin, ora et labora.
Monks pray throughout the day. They also work. Their labor traditionally included working with their hands: growing food to eat, making libations to drink (wine, beer, etc.). For centuries, some worked on manuscripts that preserved Sacred Scripture and ancient texts. Whatever their particular work, it was always secondary to what the Rule calls "the work of God" - the communal recitation of the Divine Office, as many as seven times throughout the day and night.
Is this so different that we who work in the world? Shouldn't we have a similar primary focus? Shouldn't our work include prayer throughout the day? Of course, we're likely not going to gather in communal prayer. And it may not be possible to recite the Divine Office during a busy work day. But let's not split hairs here. The principle should be the same.
And one more important point here: The two - prayer and work - are by no means separate endeavors. We don't pray on the one hand and work on the other. Both are joined by our desire to pray and work for God's greater glory. Both serve to help us grow closer to God. It's especially important that we who work in the world, who spend most of our waking hours at work - whatever that job may be - not drive a wedge between our spiritual lives and our work lives. They must be of one cloth. What good is a job well done, and the success that may follow, unless our efforts primarily serve God? It's really as simple as that.
Okay. A lot of introduction today. But it's important to provide the proper context to really get the most out of St. Benedicts teaching here. Next time we'll dive into the details.
Now, he didn't actually call it "leadership." But it's how folks today would lump his comments about what makes a good Abbot. "Leadership" is a term that's thrown around in business, in sports, in school - really any time you're involved with groups of people working or cooperating with each other. As a general rule, there are leaders and followers.
In the business world, there's no shortage of studies in the form of books, articles, aphorisms, all purporting to tell us what a good leader does, even how they walk and talk. Not saying all that stuff is totally useless (well, maybe most of it!). If you can find a nugget or two here and there that helps you, by all means pick it up and and digest it. Here, though, we'll focus our attention on the great Patron Saint of Europe by looking at what he wrote about leadership in his Rule, as founder of Western monasticism. Frankly, St. Benedict's Rule provides so many more tasty, meaty morsels to chew on, most especially when compared to some of the blather offered by HR training sessions, seminars, so-called business "coaches," etc.
We recently focused our posts on the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict. As we noted then, the Rule can be used as a ready resource to help us work for the glory of God. Further, it's been studied in a strictly "secular" light as a magnificent outline of how businesses should be run, how organizations should be structured, how people who work for a company (executives, managers, workers) can most productively interact with each other.
You don't have to function in a leadership position at work to benefit from what our great saint has to say about leadership. If you happen to be a manager, business owner, team leader - any position where others look to you for direction in some way shape or form - pay especially close attention. Take notes. You'll be better at what you do after reading, thinking about, and making your own the wise words we'll consider in our next few blog posts.
Before we begin, some ground rules:
St. Benedict's primary purpose is writing the Rule wasn't to provide a course in "leadership." He wasn't writing a merely practical "manual" on how to run a monastery. The Rule tries to show monks how to grow closer to God. That's presumed to be the reason they decided to become monks. The monks he's addressing are those living in community in a monastery, known as Cenotbites, as opposed to those who go off by themselves to seek holiness, to be closer to God - Anchorites.
Thus, all the rules and admonitions we find in the Rule are intended to help the monks' grow closer to God. Of necessity, though, these entail specific and practical recommendations about how to go about the daily activities of the monastery. St. Benedict, among his many virtues, had a keen practical mind. Based on his experience with founding, developing and being the leader (Abbot) of a monastery, he decided to offer a Rule to guide both those who lead and those whom they lead in their daily activities, what we might call the "business" of the monastery. What is that business? - prayer and work; in Latin, ora et labora.
Monks pray throughout the day. They also work. Their labor traditionally included working with their hands: growing food to eat, making libations to drink (wine, beer, etc.). For centuries, some worked on manuscripts that preserved Sacred Scripture and ancient texts. Whatever their particular work, it was always secondary to what the Rule calls "the work of God" - the communal recitation of the Divine Office, as many as seven times throughout the day and night.
Is this so different that we who work in the world? Shouldn't we have a similar primary focus? Shouldn't our work include prayer throughout the day? Of course, we're likely not going to gather in communal prayer. And it may not be possible to recite the Divine Office during a busy work day. But let's not split hairs here. The principle should be the same.
And one more important point here: The two - prayer and work - are by no means separate endeavors. We don't pray on the one hand and work on the other. Both are joined by our desire to pray and work for God's greater glory. Both serve to help us grow closer to God. It's especially important that we who work in the world, who spend most of our waking hours at work - whatever that job may be - not drive a wedge between our spiritual lives and our work lives. They must be of one cloth. What good is a job well done, and the success that may follow, unless our efforts primarily serve God? It's really as simple as that.
Okay. A lot of introduction today. But it's important to provide the proper context to really get the most out of St. Benedicts teaching here. Next time we'll dive into the details.
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