Bishop Robert Barron discussed the keys to good leadership in a recent YouTube video.
Key Details
- In the most recent episode of The Word on Fire Show, Bishop Barron was asked the question, “What Makes Great Leaders Great?”
- Barron says the secret to great leadership is “vision,” saying the leader’s job is to provide a vision for whatever organization they work with.
- “Your basic job is to make sure there are people in place who share your vision and have practical skills to implement it. It’s not the micromanagement of the process but the establishment and communication of the vision,” he says.
Why It’s Important
Bishop Barron is one of the most popular theologians and important religious leaders in the world, running the highly successful Word on Fire ministry, having served as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame, and currently being the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota. His YouTube channel has more than 661,000 subscribers, and his social media presence is massive.
Many commentators have the 64-year-old theologian, the inheritor of the legacy of the great 20th-century theologian Fulton Sheen, becoming one of the public faces of the Catholic faith in America in the 21st century and helping thousands of people learn more about their faith or convert. He was also recently chosen as a representative for Pope Francis’s Synod on Synodality this fall.
Backing Up A Bit
Bishop Barron draws upon the leadership of others in his most recent video, describing Jesus of Nazareth, President Abraham Lincoln, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., and Pope John Paul II as great leaders of history whose leadership qualities should be followed. He also tells leaders not to compromise their missions for the sake of numbers, to have courage, to be decisive to maintain the mission, and why it is essential to be a good communicator.
He also warns that every great leader in history ultimately comes to be widely disliked due to the cost of making controversial choices and taking controversial stances, necessitating the importance of courage. “If you say you’re a leader, and your number one priority is to be popular, you will be the worst leader ever. Trust me. That is one of the worst signs you’ll be a lousy leader,” he says.
