Authority from the heart…

My friend and brother Dom Joseph Gabriel, OSB gave me a book about efficient management and I’m done reading it. It was a very good and informative book.
According to the book, there are different reasons why people fail in management. The first reason is their failure to delegate. When somebody does not know what and how to delegate, that person is not a good manager. A good manager is actually a good delegator.

Another mistake of managers is that they fail to organize people well. People under the charge of these managers end up fighting each other and become disunited and disbanded. Managers who cannot get people organized eventually fail in their task.

Another reason why managers fail is because they cannot organize their time. There is so much to do. They cannot start an activity and project at the right time at the right moment. Time management is not the name of their game.

There are three reasons why people in authority fail: They do not like to delegate, they cannot organize people and they cannot organize their time.

But if I were the author of the book, I would propose one important reason why people in authority fail. And that reason is only one word: arrogance!

People fail in authority because of their arrogance. To be arrogant is to be haughty and overbearing over those under us.

Jesus had authority in Heaven and on earth but He was not arrogant. Jesus had the fullness of authority but He was not authoritarian.

How I really wish, dear brothers and sisters, that much of our authority will come from our heart and not from the head. We enter into conflicts and our authority is questioned because there is too much head in our exercise of authority.

If we could only put more heart, meekness, kindness, gentleness and compassion in our exercise of authority, we would surely be like Jesus and we would have our brothers and sisters and the people under us spellbound.

All of us have authorities. Some people have more authority than others but we certainly have authority at least over one person.

Let us ask the Lord for the grace and compassion to put more heart into our exercise of authority.

Peace and blessings to us all!