The People’s Pope

 Pope Francis was Time Magazine’s person of the year in 2013. It started in a puff of smoke on March 13, 2013 when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope on the second day of the 2013 papal conclave. He took the papal name Francis.
Since that day, Pope Francis has often been referred to as “The People’s Pope” – committing himself to the poor.
But the unwritten story is that of the papal conclave that essentially acted like a board of directors in choosing a successor to retiring Pope Benedict.
I am writing to document that they got succession right. While choosing a Pope is a unique and divine process, please note that picking the right person for any succession is a tough job. In fact, it is the ultimate “crystal ball” assignment.
So, a board, or in this case - a papal conclave - must be able to look into the future and pick the right person for the time. Plus they are taking a chance – after all, the person being chosen has never held the position before.
Needless to say, every time there is a new head of an organization – there is a high risk that the person is being “Peter Principled” which is filling management roles with people competent in a current role who are incompetent at the intended role.
Plus in choosing a leader, boards and others responsible for hiring the next person in charge, must start from the future, not the present. Yet, more often than not, a board thinks that a successor must come from their industry.

This is often driven by a bias of thinking about the current requirements of the role, rather than the competencies needed for the future. If every board thought that way, Ford Motor Company would not have had the insight to hire Alan Mulally from Boeing. Or this year, Tim Cook would not have taken a chance and hired Burberry CEO, Angela Ahrendts to run Apple’s retail and online stores. And, IBM’s board would not have hired Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. from RJR Nabisco, Inc.
Our experience in board search shows that great succession planning is not an overnight process. An effective CEO succession plan begins with aligning the board around the business strategy.It’s no use identifying new CEOs to lead the company into the future if the future is not clear. Mapping out short-term, mid-range, and long-term goals for the business will help the board decide the right types of candidates to groom for succession.
In choosing a successor to Pope Benedict, while obviously not going outside the church, the papal conclave went outside the norm. Pope Francis is the first Pope from South America. He has shunned the papal apartment to live a more modest life.
But, more than anything, it seems that the Pope has struck a chord with the world in devoting himself to the people and the poor. It seems to be the right person at the right time. The reason? That chord has tangible results: visitations to the Vatican City increased from 2.3 million in 2012 to 6.6 million in 2013 as the world is feeling it has a Pope that truly listens.
I have written about great leaders and the twelve absolutes of leadership. One “absolute” is listening. When people know that they have been truly heard, they feel that there is compassion and caring. The Pope has communicated without talking, but by listening that he cares about all people.
And, through listening, the Pope is learning. As a case in point, Larry King, the famous talk show host once said, “I never learned anything while I was talking.”
There is a lot to that. And there is a lot to a quiet, humble Pope who is listening to the people. Listening is a key to perpetual learning, and we have found that learning agility is the key to great leadership.