The Beatitudes can teach leaders

In his book Blessings for Leaders, Dan R Ebener reflects on the wisdom of the beatitudes for leaders. Leadership has always intrigued me, and much of my younger days and adult life has been spent on wondering what it would be like to be a great leader.

It is still astonishing to think that in a world of more than 7 billion people, there are only a few leaders who stand out in our time, such as Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi or Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Although all of these people, and many others like them, are great leaders in their own right, we can be totally mistaken by believing that one first has to reach this level of fame before you can be acknowledged as a true leader.

Leadership is for everyone, not just for a few, whether we are under 23 or over 83, because we have all been asked to go, teach and lead. But before we are able to do that we first come, learn and follow. And throughout our lives we lead and follow, follow and lead, interchangeably, all the time.

The beatitudes are wisdom for leaders-in-training and teach us how to come, learn and follow.

Let’s look at the first beatitude and understand what this means for leaders: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3).

Leadership begins with poverty of spirit. What does it mean to be poor in spirit and why must leaders be poor in spirit?

When we are materially poor — that is, without food, shelter or clothing — there is a material need created in us which results in an urgency for us to get these things to satisfy our material need. It is the same when we are poor in spirit.

When we are poor in spirit, there is a spiritual need, a spiritual vacuum that needs to be filled. And this can be filled only by a close proximity to God. By seeking God’s presence, his grace and his blessings, the poor in spirit build inner strength.

As we become spiritually poor, we develop strength of character. Strength of conviction. Strength of community with others. Strength of a commitment to a mission. Strength of a close relationship with God. This internal strength enables us to face the external challenges of leadership.

Interestingly, it is through times of crisis that we are offered the opportunity to grow spiritually and become poorer in spirit.

Consider the years during the apartheid era, especially during the 1980s, when we saw the worst political violence. People mourned and prayed together. Leaders spoke with great conviction. The people felt a sense of unity and mission. Churches filled up. The world responded with compassion. We understood our own human weakness, our frailty as a human family and our incapacity to solve problems of this magnitude by ourselves. We turned to God and to each other. We grew in poverty of spirit.

When we face illness or death in our families, we turn to friends, neighbours and family and ask for prayers. We realise, again, that by ourselves we are not able to do anything. These are opportunities to grow spiritually and become poorer in spirit.

It is only when leaders are spiritually poor, hunger for closeness with God, and make that inner journey to fulfil their spiritual need that they are able to make an outward journey and influence others.

This is our leadership mission: to lovingly, intrinsically motivate others to follow. We cannot command and control people to follow us.

When we rely on command, control and coercion, we are more likely to instil fear than love among those being led. It is more difficult to build trust and to encourage kindness in a culture of fear.

Poverty of spirit reminds us of the need for God and others in order to accomplish our mission as leaders.

I enjoyed reading the book by Dan Ebener, a Catholic, which was published in 2012. Next month we will look at the second beatitude — ”Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” — and what this means for leaders.