Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World

I first read this book about a year ago when participating in a class on understanding the Jesuit heritage of my place of work. I re-read it on the plane a couple of days ago returning from an overseas location where we recently established a program. The first time around I thought it was wonderful; re-reading it, I found it both wonderful and also profoundly relevant to our new enterprise.Lowney takes as his thesis the idea that the same precepts that have animated the success of the Jesuit order can likewise inspire personal and business accomplishment. I have to say he has me convinced. He boils down concepts - like Cura Personalis, Magis, and Ad majorem dei gloriam - that will be familiar to those who attended Jesuit schools to what he describes as the four integrated "pillars" of leadership: Self-awareness, Ingenuity, Love and Heroism. He then uses the history of the Jesuit order to demonstrate how, through application of the four pillars, the Society of Jesus grew from a motley band of 10 likeminded University students of different nationalities, with no agenda beyond doing work "to help souls," to become arguably the most successful and influential Catholic religious order.Lowney's work is not without controversy, especially his contention that the Jesuit's' leadership lessons can be replicated minus their overtly religious agenda. No doubt the order's founder, Inigo (Latinized to Ignatius) of Loyola - for whom doing it "for the glory of God" was all that mattered - would disapprove. However secular research would suggest that the 16th century Basque had some very profound insights that have application beyond turning back the tide of the Reformation and making converts worldwide. I have to say I find Ignatius to be an intensely attractive character, not least because he advocated active engagement in the world, not withdrawal from it. Here's a guy who for most his life just can't get it quite right - and who along the way experiences some incredible reverses - but who never stops trying to perfect his muddled thinking. He just keeps plugging away until it starts to become clear. And it turns out that it's his very lack of success that leads to his deepest insight: that an intensive regimen of active self-reflection will help him make better decisions.What resonated with me during my most recent reading was how the Jesuit order faced the daunting task of preserving their purpose in remote lands among peoples with unfamiliar traditions - the same challenge facing my organization. Lowney provides many examples of how the Jesuits succeeded at that task. The training that the novice Jesuit undergoes involves frank self-examination, the letting go of attachments (the concept of "indifference" or the freedom to choose any course of action unencumbered by ingrained habits and prejudices), while learning, through active and repeated self-reflection, to validate one's own instincts to action. This creates a confident, prepared and self-reliant individual, eager to embrace life's challenges. In addition, the Jesuits teach a methodology for self-reflection - the Spiritual Exercises and the Examen - that can be used (the Examen everyday) to reinforce their initial training. Their selection process is tough - they take only the best and most purposeful. Those who are selected are encouraged to innovate and shown how love adds passion and purpose to the pursuit of heroic ambitions. The result, says Lowney, is an organization that can adapt easily to radically different circumstances while preserving it's core values (the same "preserve the core, stimulate progress" that Built to Last author Jim Collins sees as the hallmark of companies of enduring greatness).At times during my visit to our new overseas location I found myself wondering if our task was just too daunting, the culture just too alien, to hope to transplant our unique brand. After reading how the Jesuits managed it, I feel more confident than ever that my organization can do likewise and should do likewise - not shrinking from full-out engagement - through the innovative application of our fundamental values to this new environment. Thanks Chris, and Inigo, for the reinvigorating lesson!

I often felt frustrated in my "Seven Habits" flavored time and business management courses because they never got deep enough for me on leadership. For instance, there was that "first thing's first" habit, or according to another author, that "organize your A's, B's and C's priorities." But none of these scratched this itch: How do I decide what's an A? What's the "first thing"? And how do I communicate those priorities to my folks as a leader?Heroic Leadership is sort of Pattonesque - don't tell your folks how do do things, just tell them what needs doing. But it goes that important step further about setting the bar high on building organizations. As I look around and see quality in some places and not in others, I can see how the heroic leadership piece is being played out.We also don't talk enough about the value of introspection. The worst people I've worked for had an enormous blind spot for their own pig-headed-ness. Rather than accept the fact that there might be ideas different from their own, they just shoveled crap from on high, and got on your case when you didn't accept it with a smile on your face. Leadership books talk about 360 evaluations, but none gets at the heart of the matter the way this book does.I'm buying/sharing copies with colleagues of mine who are developing leadership programs at a couple of our major military graduate institutions. Very good stuff, highly recommended.

There is more mature wisdom in Chis Lowney's little book than in all the hundreds of books on leadership for sale at Amazon.com.I loved the little gems sprinkled throughout the book. How does one discover and nurture a capacity for ingenuity, for heroism, for love and above all for a healthy self-awareness.If you have met a Jesuit you liked, this book will help you understand why he choose to be one in simple, understandable, everyday terms. No spiritual razzle-dazzle or mumbo jumbo. Just down to earth stuff about having the courage to look at yourself honestly and fully live your life. That takes courage, work, and persistence and it pays off on a daily basis in an attitude towards life that is rooted in realism yet animated by a spirit of freedom and choicefulness.The book is more about the Jesuits than about leadership per se, so if you are of the Sam Harris school of Atheist Fundamentalism you would probably prefer another book, say the Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun or Winnie the Pooh.If you have a more open mind on such matters, read this to find out why the personal and organizational insight of a 16th century Spanish soldier turned mystic has produced such remarkable results for the past 450 years.To my ears, most ring true today. Regardless of your faith or lack of faith.

In our world of instant communication and rapid technological change, this book brings a refreshing perspective. Today's challenges strikingly similar to those the Jesuits faced 450 years ago, and the solutions are as relevant today as they were then: self-awareness (who am I and what is my impact on others?), ingenuity (embrace change), love (positive social connections), and heroism (courage).My mother attended a convent boarding school in England, run by The Faithful Companion of Jesus, an order of Jesuit Nuns. I hadn't realized how deeply her Jesuitical education had influenced her parenting until I read this book and recognized the strong tenets of taking personal responsibility, striving to see another's perspective at all times, coping with whatever life threw at you, and "living with one foot raised".Beyond the leadership knowledge the book so clearly imparts, I was fascinated to read about the contributions the Jesuits made to modern organization such as the Gregorian Calendar. An altogether enjoyable read.

I liked it simply because the autor writes about how leaders are trained. It is not the regular consultant's leadership book that tell us what we should be doing and then gives hundreds of examples of sitiation that most people will never be involved in. The difficulty of self knowledge is a very useful part for most of us. I highly recommend the book to everyone, not only business people.

Excellent read. Sets out the fundamentals of successful leadership especially in relationships with people. Leadership must be human and the qualities are explored and identified.

A great and distinctive perspective but the writing style is somewhat repetitive, so the book is less satisfying than it should be

most interesting and useful for the understanding and the practice of leadership in modern times

Thoughtful and inspiring, able to derive from observation of historical aspects a good distilled core summary of a leadership formula.It has given me motivation and curiosity to further explore the subject and the history of Gesuits.