Just before Christmas, I wrote about how I don't offer up the traditional memo any longer. I have great respect for the memo that Warren Buffett offered up to managers within Berkshire Hathaway, which proved that there is still a place in business for a well written memo from the top.
Hours after writing that post, I heard about another great memo for business leaders that was offered up over the past few days. It came from a much different source that business icon Buffett, but is quite possibly more relevant. It was the annual Christmas address from Pope Francis to the leaders of the Roman Catholic church, and what he called 15 ailments that are plaguing the Curia.
As I listened to a debate rage on Fox News about the thoughts of the Pope, I was struck that his concerns with the leadership at the Vatican were concerns most people would have about their own workplace. Once I got home, I did an online search and found an article written by Inc. Magazine's Graham Winfrey (twitter @GrahamWinfrey) that took a similar look at the business applications to the concerns expressed by the Pope.
Pope Francis touch on the following areas of concerns, which are most likely applicable to your operations on some level:
False indispensability
Workaholism
Corporate disillusionment
Perfectionism
Poor communication
Forgotten mission statement
Excessive competition
Institutionalization
Office gossip
Brownnosing
Isolationalism
Disgruntled-employee syndrome
Materialism
Office cliques
Power-hungry employees
Often I have said that churches need to think and act a little more like a business. That statement will not always sit well with some, and I don't suggest that a church must act like a business all the time. Acts of faith and spiritual callings do not fit into a business concept every time. But the list provided by Pope Francis is very translatable to the business world, and leaders (from the church and businesses) would do well to give consideration to the pitfalls laid out in his message.
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