LEADERSHIP: THE LUSTIGER LEGACY

Published: 2010-04-15   please add a comment below

We all have something to learn from Cardinal Lustiger: above all, his courage. Courage to do what he believed in; and, to do it in a way he thought useful to the world. And, I’m not talking about action in some back corner or on insignificant issues. He was born a Jew and never rejected this. He converted to Catholicism as act of faith, but also as a continuation of his Jewish beliefs. Not everyone agreed. But, he set an example for us all as leaders.

His name (after conversion) reflects his hybrid identity: Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger. He died a cardinal and his funeral was celebrated at Notre Dame in Paris. But with Jewish rites first outside the doors of the cathedral, and then Catholic panoply within.

It is easy to pass over the achievements of his career and see him as someone on a different plane to the rest of us. In part, it’s true. But, his actions show he was all about bridging to others and being effective in the world – even if that required tough decisions. Early on, as chaplain to the Paris universities, he rode a motorcycle and dressed in black corduroys. However, in everything he did, he wanted outcomes. For example, later as archbishop of Paris, as the Economist reports: he “gingered up all his 106 parishes … and … summarily shifted clergy who failed to perform, and founded his own seminary.”

Think about your own leadership role and responsibilities! If you had to sit down with Aaron Lustiger, would you be able to say “I always do what I believe is right; I fight for outcomes; and, take the necessary heat to get them?” Would he be proud of you?

We can learn something from any great leader. But, it’s not so much the “what” they did, or the “how” they did it. That’s what we get fed in the management journals – much like the reportage on Hollywood stars. The lesson is in the essence of their leadership: the commitment to rightness, passion, expectations, decisions, action and innovation.

So, what can you or I do to lift our leadership performance? A starting point is developing a plan. And, that’s what my online Leadership Action Planning tool helps you do. In less than an hour, you can have a printable plan of personal leadership action commitments. Something to get on with immediately – with passion – and be proud of.

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®