Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Self Confidence
Leadership Functions
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Refers to a general assurance in one’s own 2. Production orientation
judgments, decision making, ideas and capabilities
Blake & Mouton Managerial Grid (1955)
Honesty
Integrity
Drive
Skill Theory
1. Autocratic
2. Democratic
3. Laissez-Faire
1. Employee orientation
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Self Awareness Emotion
Understanding one’s strengths, weaknesses, values Real time feedback signals that come on quickly and
and worldview dissipate just as rapidly
Appreciating one’s giftedness; awareness of one’s
self as loved Moods
Developing the ability to reflect on one’s
weaknesses, compulsions & other personal baggages Are feelings that last a long time, often occur for
that hinder the realization of one’s potential unknown reasons, and can be part of our body
Cultivating a sense of mindfulness and interiority chemistry
St. Ignatius of Loyola 2. We can try to ignore our emotions , but it doesn’t
work
The spiritual exercises have as their purpose the
conquest of self and the regulation of one’s life in Emotional Reappraisal
such a way that no decision is made under the
influence of any inordinate attachments Involves looking at the issues but attempting to
reframe them in a more constructive and adaptive
The Examen is a technique way; situation as a challenge to be appraised; a lesson
to be learned
Become aware of God’s presence
Review the day with gratitude 3. We can try to hide emotions, but we are not as
Pay attention to your emotions good at it as we think
Choose one feature of the day and pray from it
Emotional Labor
Look toward tomorrow
The process of managing feelings and expressions to
Five (5) Emotional Intelligence –Daniel Goleman, 1998
fulfill the emotional requirements of a job
Components
Surface Acting
Self Awareness –the ability to recognize and
When you feel one way but don’t show the true
understand your moods, emotions and drives, as well
underlying feeling
as their effects to others.
Self Regulation –think before acting
Deep Acting
Motivation –a passion to work for reasons that go
beyond money and status, a propensity to pursue Trying to change current feelings
goals with energy and persistence
Empathy –the ability to understand the emotional 4. Decisions must incorporate emotion to be
makeup of other people; skill in treating people effective
according to their emotional reactions
Social Skill –proficiency in managing relationships Different moods influence our thinking in different ways
and building networks; an ability to find common
ground and build rapport Positive emotions
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Provide a clearer purpose Travel back in time to Rome to a person called
Allow details to be examined more efficiently Marcus Aurelius (one of predominant figures of stoic school
Motivate a more efficient search for errors of philosophy). He has a side job of being the emperor of
Rome, and the historian called him the true beacon of
5. Emotions follow logical patterns leadership. He was supposed to be one of the last of the five
6. Emotional universals exist, but so do specifics (5) good kings of Rome.
Emotional Display Rules The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your
thoughts.
Our society and culture teach us when it’s okay to
show how we feel and when it’s not So act virtuous, use your time well, and be cheerful. Then,
when you drop from life’s tree, you will drop like a ripe fruit.
Seven (7) Basic Emotions
–Marcus Aurelius
Surprise
Disgust Focus on Self Leadership
Contempt
Leading one’s self first before going out and leading
Happiness
others
Sadness
Anger If you want to lead, invest at least 40% of your time in leading
Fear yourself. –Dee Hock (Founder of VISA)
Unlike the basic emotions of anger, fear and joy, 1. Self Awareness
these secondary emotions have a strong social or Tool: Character traits check
cultural component to them 2. Self Reflection
Tool: 5 minute reflection
Emotional Blueprint –Mayer & Salovey, 1997 3. Self Regulation
Tool: Reframing -gauge the importance of the issue
and act accordingly
5. Physical Qualities
Blending Gentleness with Effectiveness
The fifth quality has reference to the body in regard to health,
appearance and age.
He should know how to mingle rectitude and necessary
severity with kindness and gentleness to such an extent
6. External Gifts
that he neither allows himself to swerve from what he
The sixth quality pertains to extrinsic endowments. Among
judges to be more pleasing to God our Lord nor ceases to
these, preference ought to be given to those which help more
have proper sympathy for his sons.
toward edification and the service of god in such a charge.
Examples are generally found in reputation, high esteem and
Magnanimity, fortitude, constancy
whatever else aids toward prestige with those within and
without.
Magnanimity and fortitude of soul are likewise highly
necessary for him to bear the weaknesses of many, to
Practical Norm
initiate great undertaking in the service of god our lord,
and to persevere in them with constancy when it is called
[The General] ought to be one of those who are most
for, without losing courage in the face of contradictions...
outstanding in every virtue, most deserving in the society, and
he should be superior to all eventualities, without letting
known as such for a considerable time.
himself be exalted by those which succeed or depressed
by those who go poorly. If any of the aforementioned qualities should be wanting, there
should be at least no lack of great probity and of love for the
3. Intellectual Qualities
Society, nor of good judgment accompanied by sound
He ought to be endowed with great understanding and
learning.
judgment, in order that his talent may not fail him either in the
speculative or the practical matters which may arise.
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Reading: What Makes a Leader by Daniel Goleman No one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone
else.
IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional People trust you when you are genuine and authentic,
intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership. not a replica of someone else.
The EI skills are the following: Authentic leaders demonstrate a passion for their
purpose, practice their values consistently, and lead
EI Component Definition Hallmarks with their hearts as well as their heads.
Knowing one's Leadership emerged from life’s stories.
emotions, strengths, Self confidence, realistic
Self-awareness weaknesses, drives, self-assessment, self-
values and goals -and depreciating sense of
their impact on others humor, thirst for
constructive criticism
Controlling or
Self-regulation redirecting disruptive Trustworthiness, integrity,
emotions and impulses comfort with ambiguity and
change
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experiences enabled them to understand the deeper them in times of difficulty, and celebrate with them
purpose of their leadership. in times of success.
Authentic leaders find that their support teams
Knowing your Authentic Self provide affirmation, advice, perspective, and calls for
course corrections when needed.
When the 75 members of Stanford Graduate School
Leaders must give as much as their supporters as they
of Business’ Advisory Council were asked to
get from so that mutually beneficial relationships can
recommend the most important capability for leaders
develop.
to develop, their answer was nearly unanimous: self
Many leaders have had a mentor who changed their
awareness.
lives. The best mentoring interactions spark mutual
Knowing one’s authentic self requires the courage
learning, exploration of similar values, and shared
and honesty to open up and examine their
enjoyment.
experiences. As they do so, leaders become more
humane and willing to be vulnerable. Integrating your Life by Staying Grounded
Denial can be the greatest hurdle that leaders face in
becoming self-aware. To lead a balanced life, you need to bring together all
Authentic leaders realize that they have to be willing of its constituent elements –work, family,
to listen to feedback –especially the kind they don’t community, and friends –so that you can be the same
want to hear. person in each environment.
Balancing your Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations Authentic leaders recognize that leadership is not
about their success or about getting loyal
Two types of Motivation subordinates to follow them. They know the key to a
successful organization is having empowered leaders
1. Extrinsic –are propelled to achieve by measuring at all levels, including those who have no direct
their success against the outside world’s parameters reports.
2. Intrinsic –are derived from their sense of the No individual achievement can equal the pleasure of
meaning of their life. They are congruent with your leading a group of people to achieve a worthy goal.
values and are more fulfilling than extrinsic When you cross the finish line together, all the pain
motivations. and suffering you may have experienced quickly
vanishes. It is replaced by a deep inner satisfaction
that you have empowered others and thus made the
world a better place.
Building your Support Team Reading: Leadership Begins with an Inner Journey
Authentic leaders build extraordinary support teams Everything you will ever do as a leader is based on
to help them stay on course. Those teams counsel one audacious assumption –you matter. Before you
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can lead others you have to lead yourself and believe They needed to know something about who you are
that you can have a positive impact. as a person –your hopes, dreams, talents,
Leadership begins with you. expectations and loves.
The quest for leadership is first an inner quest to
discover who you are and what you care about, and
it’s through this process of self-examination that you
find the awareness needed to lead.
The mastery of the art of leadership comes with the
mastery of the self, and so developing leadership is a
process of developing the self.
You can demonstrate leadership at any age. It is not
about some position. When to say Yes and when to say No
A Process of Internal Self Discovery Before you listen to those voices, you have to listen
to that voice inside that tells you what’s truly
Leadership is everywhere, it takes place every day, important. Only then will you know when to say yes
and leadership can come from anyone. and when to say no –and mean it.
Becoming a leader is a process on internal self- Developing leadership is about leading out of what
discovery. It’s important that one should first define is already in your soul. It’s about liberating the
self values and principle. leader within you. It’s about setting yourself
Becoming a leader begins when you come to free. It’s about putting your ear to your heart and
understand who you are, what you care about, and just listening.
why you do what you do. Developing yourself as a
Starting with the inner journey gives you the
leader begins with knowing your own key
confidence to take the right turns, to make the
convictions; it begins with your value system.
tough decisions, to act with determination, and
to take charge of your life.
Management
When leaders are clear about what they believe in, Defined as more complex and deals with other
they can take strong stands and are much likely to be variables such as influence, motivation, change and
swayed by every fad or opinion poll. not just meeting the organizational objectives
The clearer you are, the easier it is to stay on the path Information Processing Roles
you’ve chosen.
Disseminator
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Monitor 1. Listening
Spokesperson 2. Empathy
3. Healing
Interpersonal Roles 4. Awareness
5. Persuasion
Figurehead 6. Conceptualization
Leader 7. Foresight
Liaison 8. Stewardship
9. Commitment to the growth of people
Decision-Making Roles 10. Community building
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Technical Skills Leaders should be able to think objectively. The use of logic
to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of different
Technical skill is the in-depth understanding of and approaches to work is critical for success as a leader
the proficiency in a specific type of activity,
particularly one involving methods, processes, 2. Idea Generation Skills
procedures or techniques.
The ability to generate new ideas and question assumptions is
It includes competencies in a specialized area as well
a vital skill for effective leadership. Leaders especially based
as analytical ability. This skill includes factual
on entrepreneurial leadership literature should be innovative
knowledge about the organization and its products
and skilled in generating new ideas. These leaders have to be
and services. Such knowledge is usually obtained by
creative and develop new and useful ideas in terms of
a combination of training, formal education and job
entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, resource utilization
experience.
and problem-solving
Human Skills
3. Problem-Solving Skills
Human skills involve the knowledge and ability to
Effective leaders are able to solve problems. They do this by
work with people. These include knowledge about
adopting analytical and logical approaches, despite their
human behavior and group processes; the ability to
limited resources. They persist until they find a solution to the
understand other people’s feelings, attitudes and
problem. This problem-solving orientated mindset concurs
motives; and the ability to communicate
with prior research in mainstream leadership literature
unambiguously and persuasively.
Include skills required for coordination of actions of 4. Envisioning Skills
oneself and others, negotiation skills for reconciling
differences among employee perspectives and Envisioning is a core conceptual skill that leaders should
establishing mutually satisfying relationships and, possess. Vision involves ‘…creating a picture of what the
persuasion skills to influence others to more future state will be like’. Leaders need to be able to create a
vivid picture of the future for the organization to create added
effectively accomplish organizational objectives.
value. When the vision is known and shared, it generates
enthusiasm and motivation, and builds the confidence of
Conceptual Skills people in the organization.
Conceptual skills involve dealing with concepts and
5. Strategic Planning Skills
ideas. People who possess such skills are comfortable
with hypothetical notions and abstractions. Strategic planning skills form another important conceptual
Conceptual skills include good judgment, foresight, skill for any leader, which is paramount to their success.
intuition, creativity and the ability to understand Leaders ought to develop strategies for their organizations.
ambiguous and uncertain events. They are usually strategically oriented and can formulate
strategy based on available resources.
6. Decision-making Skills
Other Leadership Skills
Decision-making is a conceptual skill that leaders possess.
Business Skills
Leaders are decisive.
Business skills are critical leadership skills for any Interpersonal Skills
organization. This position is also supported by
literature in the domain of entrepreneurial leadership. 1. Empathy
The business skills can be developed by training and
development programs. Empathy is a core interpersonal skill that effective leaders
possess. Effective leaders understand the feelings, motives and
Conceptual Skills emotions of others. They should be sensitive to the emotions
of others
Six Forms of Conceptual Skills for Effective Leadership
2. Communication/Listening Skills
1. Analytical Skills
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Communication and listening skills are necessary for building found in the literature that entrepreneurial leaders are able to
interpersonal relationships. These help to inspire an exploit opportunities.
understanding of the actions of employees, customers and
vendors. It is the ‘…process of making sense to the world and 3. Risk Management Skills
sharing that sense with others by co-creating meaning through
Leaders especially business related should have the ability to
the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols’.
manage risks they encounter in their business. They should be
3. Motivating Skills able to identify, evaluate and assess risks. Leaders should
ruminate on ways to mitigate risks and estimate their impact
The ability to motivate and inspire confidence in followers is a on the financial position of their companies.
vital interpersonal skill for effective leadership. These
perceptions concur with prior research in mainstream Leadership Skills Development
leadership literature that interpersonal skills are essential for
1. Mentoring
influencing people. However, effective leaders are not only
proficient in motivating their followers but also should have Mentoring could be formal or informal. Formal mentoring is a
the ability to motivate themselves. structured program where a more experienced manager is put
in place to support and develop a less experienced individual.
4. Team-building Skills
The program could be very beneficial if properly structured. It
The ability to build teams and promote team work is a vital can improve learning, facilitate adjustment and most
interpersonal skill for effective leadership. Able to move from importantly develop the leadership skills in the mentee that the
‘me to we’. mentor may already possess. The mentor serves as a role
model. They become exemplars of the behavior and culture of
5. People Management and Development Skills the organization from the lens of the mentee.
The ability to manage and develop people forms an important 2. Leadership Training Programmes
interpersonal skill in effective leadership. To demand respect
and trust from your followers, it is important to lead by Leadership training programmes are widely used to develop
example. leadership skills in organizations. Almost every organization
whether small or large has a leadership programme in place to
6. Self-Management Skills develop their staff. These programmes may take different
forms ranging from short leadership workshops in few
The ability of leaders to manage themselves is an essential hours/days to structured university programmes in form of
interpersonal skill. This is evidenced in their planning and MBAs or DBAs.
organizing, in their handling of difficult situations and in their
critical reflection on their strengths and weaknesses. Effective 3. Personal Growth Activities
leaders have the ability to handle pressure and exhibit self-
control in difficult situations, and this is pivotal to their Leadership development is also a personal journey, and
success. They are not flustered and are able to control their individuals need to commit to developing their own skills.
emotions. Personal growth activities include reading leadership
development books as well as listening and watching
Entrepreneurial Skills programmes on leadership. Individuals need to be aware of
their strengths and weaknesses. As regards their weaknesses,
1. Opportunity Identification Skills personal growth activities should be in place to address them.
This can only be possible through emotional self-awareness,
The ability to identify opportunities is an important skill
accurate self-assessment and conscientiousness. Only through
required for successful leadership.
understanding yourself in form of your feelings and cognitive
2. Opportunity Exploitation Skills processes, you will be able to develop the leadership
competences required for success.
Effective leaders are able to exploit recognized opportunities.
Such opportunities may vary from expansion into emerging Reading: Heroic Leadership, Lowney 2003
markets, to selling products with a short shelf life to maximize
profitability, etc. This resonates with the common perception What are the Jesuit leadership secrets? How did individual
Jesuits become leaders and why were their corporate efforts
successful?
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Four principles stand out. Jesuits became leaders by Self-awareness is never a finished product. Granted, some
guiding life values are usually adopted early on and thereafter
understanding their strengths, weaknesses, values, remain nonnegotiable. But our already complex world keeps
and worldview changing. Leaders must keep changing as well. Every early
confidently innovating and adapting to embrace a Jesuit dedicated an intensively focused week each year to
changing world revitalizing his core commitment and assessing his
engaging others with a positive, loving attitude performance during the previous year.
energizing themselves and others through heroic
ambitions Moreover, Jesuit self-awareness techniques accommodated
change by instilling in recruits the habit of continuous
These four principles don't come from a Jesuit rule book or learning, of daily reflection on activities. These techniques
leadership instruction manual. It's pretty certain that no early remain relevant today precisely because they were designed to
Jesuits — and no one else in the sixteenth century, for that allow busy people to "reflect on the run." Most religious prior
matter — ever used the word leadership as we understand it to the Jesuits counted on the cloister walls to help them remain
today. Nor did they speak explicitly of self-awareness, focused and recollected each day. But Loyola essentially tore
ingenuity, love, and heroism as four core principles driving down the monastery walls to immerse his Jesuits in the
their organization. maelstrom of daily life. Once those walls came down, Jesuits
had to employ techniques to remain recollected while all hell
Instead, their leadership principles emerge only as we sift was breaking loose around them-just as everyone else has to
through their words and actions to find those themes that today.
animated them at their most successful. In the early Jesuits'
case, one could do the sifting with a pitchfork: these four Centuries later, academic studies are finally catching up to
themes infused their work and achievements, leap from their Loyola's vision and are validating his emphasis on self-
writings, and dominated their carefully mapped training awareness. Though executives frequently rise through the
program. ranks on the strength of their technical expertise, raw
intelligence, and/or sheer ambition, these traits alone rarely
These four leadership principles guided individual Jesuits, and translate into successful long term leadership performance.
the same four formed the basis of Jesuit corporate culture. Research increasingly suggests that IQ and technical skills are
far less crucial to leadership success than is mature self-
awareness. In other words, the hard evidence points to the
critical soft skills that are encompassed by knowing oneself.
Self-awareness: "To order one's life"
Ingenuity: "The whole world will become our house"
Leaders thrive by understanding who they are and what they
value, by becoming aware of unhealthy blind spots or Leaders make themselves and others comfortable in a
weaknesses that can derail them, and by cultivating the habit changing world. They eagerly explore new ideas, approaches,
of continuous self-reflection and learning. and cultures rather than shrink defensively from what lurks
around life's next corner. Anchored by nonnegotiable
Only the person who knows what he or she wants can pursue
principles and values, they cultivate the "indifference" that
it energetically and inspire others to do so. Only those who
allows them to adapt confidently.
have pinpointed their weaknesses can conquer them. Obvious
principles, but rarely heeded in practice. Loyola described the ideal Jesuit as "living with one foot
raised" — always ready to respond to emerging opportunities.
The early Jesuits invented an array of tools and practices to
Self-awareness is key to successfully living with one foot
mold self-aware recruits. Cut off for a month from work,
raised. A leader must rid him- or herself of ingrained habits,
friends, news, and even casual conversation, Jesuit trainees
prejudices, cultural preferences, and the "we've always done it
dedicated all their energy to a searching self-assessment.
this way" attitude — the baggage that blocks rapid adaptive
Engaging in the Spiritual Exercises was the peak
responses. Of course, not everything is discardable baggage.
developmental moment of a training regimen that
Core beliefs and values are nonnegotiable, the centering
encompassed everything from scutwork to begging for food
anchor that allows for purposeful change as opposed to
and lodging on a solitary long-distance pilgrimage. Recruits
aimless drifting on shifting currents. The leader adapts
emerged from training knowing what they wanted in life, how
confidently by knowing what's negotiable and what isn't.
to get it, and what weaknesses could trip them up.
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Our generation has been dizzied by seemingly unending How did the early Jesuits make themselves so immediately
change. Within the last fifty years, a handful of humans has and totally comfortable in a world that had probably
stood on the moon; the Earth-bound majority learned to e-mail changed as much in their lifetimes as it had over the
friends. The early Jesuits faced equally profound changes. previous thousand years? Jesuits prized personal and
Voyages of discovery had more than tripled the size of the corporate agility. They were quick, flexible, open to new
settled world then known to Europeans. Asia and the ideas. The same set of tools and practices that fostered self-
Americas had begun to appear on the world map — the awareness, Loyola's Spiritual Exercises, also instilled
European version of the world map, that is — first in sketchy "indifference," freedom from attachments to places and
outline but with increasing definition over the early decades of possessions, which could result in inappropriate resistance
the sixteenth century. In Europe, a Protestant reformation to movement or change. The "living with one foot raised"
sparked by Martin Luther had in one generation ended Roman message was reinforced constantly: Loyola's chief
Catholicism's monolithic domination of Christendom, winning lieutenant barnstormed Europe reminding Jesuits that for
broad support for new religious ideas and practices. The men open to new and ever changing missions, "the whole
reformers helped spur the world's first media revolution. It's world will become [their] house."8 He meant it literally,
been estimated that Martin Luther alone was responsible for urging them to speed, mobility, and rapid response. But he
composing one-quarter of all the titles published in Germany was also describing a mindset for each Jesuit to cultivate.
over a ten-year period. As Luther and others exploited the full
power of the printing press for the first time in its short Love: "With greater love than fear"
history, publishers inundated Europe with more books in a
Leaders face the world with a confident, healthy sense of
fifty-year period than had been published in the previous
themselves as endowed with talent, dignity, and the
millennium.
potential to lead. They find exactly these same attributes in
In those troubled times, the Vatican hierarchy vacillated others and passionately commit to honoring and unlocking
between deer-in-the-headlights paralysis and defensive the potential they find in themselves and in others. They
overreaction to the roiling environment.7 Distracted by create environments bound and energized by loyalty,
other priorities or wallowing in denial, church authorities affection, and mutual support.
first allowed Martin Luther's challenge to fester; then, by
Machiavelli counseled leaders that "to be feared is safer
summarily excommunicating the dissident monk, they
than to be loved." Unsurprising advice from a man
handed him a platform with which he could rally support.
convinced that humanity was "ungrateful, fickle, liars and
While Luther and others swamped Europe with books and
deceivers, fearful of danger and greedy for gain."
pamphlets outlining their reform message, Vatican
authorities got busy publishing their first index of banned Ignatius Loyola was his polar opposite, counseling Jesuit
books. managers to govern using "all the love and modesty and
charity possible" so that teams could thrive in
While the Vatican sputtered in its efforts to halt
environments of "greater love than fear."
unwelcome changes, Loyola's Jesuits plunged headlong
into this changing world. In Europe, Vatican officials were This starkly contrasting Jesuit approach stemmed from
condemning the vernacular Bibles and prayer books used their starkly contrasting worldview. Whereas Machiavelli
in Protestant worship; outside Europe, Jesuits were beheld a world peopled with fearful, ungrateful deceivers,
compiling groundbreaking translating dictionaries for Jesuits viewed the world through a very different lens: they
Tamil, Japanese, Vietnamese, and a host of other languages saw each person as uniquely endowed with talent and
so that they could present their message in local languages dignity. The Jesuits' behavior flowed from their vision, as
through local culture. While a lumbering institutional Machiavelli's advice did from his. Love-driven Jesuits
church squandered nearly a decade in preparations for the worked with passion and courage, whether teaching
Council of Trent teenagers or confronting colonialists who abused
indigenous peoples in Latin America.
— where they would galvanize strategic responses to the
Protestant threat — nimbler Jesuits pursued their strategic Jesuits remained committed to this vision because it
agenda with greater speed and urgency. Within a decade of worked. They were energized by working with and for
identifying higher education as a key priority in the 1540s, colleagues who valued, trusted, and supported them. Teams
they had opened more than thirty colleges around the were bound by loyalty and affection, not riddled with
world. backstabbing and second-guessing. The company's pioneer
in Asia, Francis Xavier, eloquently exemplified the depth
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and far-reaching power of these ties. Crisscrossing Asia, unrelentingly on ambitious goals. Jesuits were also driven
thousands of miles and some years removed from his by a restless energy, encapsulated in a simple company
cofounder colleagues, he drew energy from mere scraps of motto, magis, always something more, something greater.
paper he carried bearing each one's signature. Why? Their For Jesuit explorers all over the world, magis inspired them
signatures alone reminded him of "the great love which to make the first European forays into Tibet, to the
[colleagues] always showed and are still showing toward headwaters of the Blue Nile, and to the upper reaches of
me."10 It's hard to imagine today's corporate road warriors the Mississippi River. For Jesuit teachers in hundreds of
snapping open briefcases to draw similar energy from the colleges, magis focused them on providing what was
latest memo from headquarters. consistently the world's highest-quality secondary
education available-one student at a time, one day at a
Their egalitarian, world embracing vision enabled Jesuits time. Regardless of what they were doing, they were rooted
to create teams that seamlessly blended recruits from in the belief that above-and-beyond performance occurred
European nobility, the world's poorest families, and most when teams and individuals aimed high.
everything in between. Jesuits working in China included
nationals from half a dozen countries, all this centuries The Jesuits built their company on this conviction. They
before the term multinational teams entered the corporate looked to enlist total team effort in something that was larger
lexicon. than any one Jesuit. Yet team commitment followed individual
commitment. Each recruit first went through the process of
Everyone knows that organizations, armies, sports teams, personally shaping and owning the team's goals, of eliciting
and companies perform best when team members respect, his own "great desires" and motivating himself.
value, and trust one another and sacrifice narrow self-
interest to support team goals and their colleagues' success. How did the Jesuits build the most successful religious
Individuals perform best when they are respected, valued, company in history? And how do individuals become leaders
and trusted by someone who genuinely cares for their well- today? By knowing themselves. By innovating to embrace a
being. Loyola was unafraid to call this bundle of winning changing world. By loving self and others. By aiming high.
attitudes "love" and to tap its energizing, unifying power
for his Jesuit team. Effective leaders tap its power today as Self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism. Not four
well. techniques, but four principles forming one way of living, one
modo de proceder. No early Jesuit succeeded by adopting
Heroism: "Eliciting great desires" three and ignoring the fourth. To understand Jesuit leadership,
we must first dissect it to study its four core elements and then
Leaders imagine an inspiring future and strive to shape it conclude by reassembling them to bring Jesuit leadership to
rather than passively watching the future happen around life. For its real power lies not in the mere sum of its parts but
them. Heroes extract gold from the opportunities at hand in what results when these four principles reinforce one
rather than waiting for golden opportunities to be handed to another in an integrated life.
them.
Reading: The Jesuits by John W. O’Malley, SJ
Management consultants endlessly search for the elusive
surefire formula to elicit motivated, committed
performance from individuals and teams. As much as
managerial America would like to throw a switch or push a
button to ignite a corps of charged-up workers, it doesn't
work that way. There is no on switch for motivation. Or,
more accurately, there is a switch of sorts, but it is on the
inside. Ultimately, only each individual can motivate him-
or herself.