There are many people who speak about the need for cultural leadership.  The issues and values of our society today are constantly under discussion.  But most of this discussion seems to be from the outside.  A competition of competing visions and views that clash and sometimes divide.  Is there another way to have this discussion?  How would Jesus Christ have his followers lead the battle to shape a culture in His image?  In this first of our series we look at what culture is and try to understand the Christians role in shaping it.

We’ve journeyed together through the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas about making decisions.  We’ve learned about discernment, about counsel, about timing and about so much else.  And now is the time to act.  In this final segment on our series on making winning decisions with St. Thomas Aquinas, I want to look with you on the theology of the imperium or the command that our mind tells our will to make - getting over the hurdle of constantly wondering whether or not we should something and crossing the threshold of success.

Anyone who wants to be successful in leadership needs to be really good at working with people.  The more a leader understands human behavior the more effectively they’ll deal with it and reach the goals of their organization and their mission.  This is where St. Thomas Aquinas gives us a distinct advantage.  He represents a wealth of knowledge coming from the Catholic tradition about how we work, how our hearts work, how we make decisions.  And in this fifth part of our series we look at how he solves the problems of when people just don’t want to work.

Some do it more from a personal charisma than from a studied approach, but all leaders have to bring people with them towards the vision that they’re casting.  And so that begs the question: “How can we who have to make decisions everyday make them in a way that other people will find attractive?”  Well, reaching back into our Catholic theology we find this subject matter already treated by St. Thomas Aquinas.  And in this fourth part of our series we explore it today.

All great leaders are capable of casting a vision.  But casting a vision is not easy to do.  To have a vision towards a goal means you want to have that goal.  And sometimes are hearts are just afraid to stretch out into the unknown and into the unforeseen.  The grace of God can help us to heal and to have the daring we need to want the things we don’t yet have.  And when we do we become leaders of the heart.  St. Thomas Aquinas helps us understand this process and how we can actualize it in our own lives as leaders today.

 For many people, making decisions is one of the hardest things about leadership.  And yet it is something that every leader has to do all the time.  Loving and serving our God doesn’t take away our responsibility to make good choices and to engage them with all the energy that we have.  But if it’s so important then why do we have such a hard time doing it?  St. Thomas Aquinas offers keen insight into how decisions are made and how love can turn a decision into a choice.

Amongst the great minds of western civilization, St. Thomas Aquinas holds a very special place.  As a Catholic priest he united the depths of our faith with the real practical situations that people face every day.  He does this in an amazing way when it comes to making decisions.  And for all of us in the working world, we know how important this skill set is.  In this first of a series, I try to open the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas to help us learn an essential skill for our leadership. How to ask for advice?  

We all know that leadership is about vision and passion but sometimes we forget that if no one is following us we’re not leading anyone.  In truth the test of a good leader includes their ability to engender their spirit in their followers.  And few people were better at this than St. Paul.  In many of his writings, especially his letters to Titus and Timothy, we have a valuable lesson of how a Christian passes their inner fire to their followers.  A lesson our Christian leaders can use today.

By all accounts St. Paul checks all the boxes when it comes to being an effective leader.  But of all of his many wonderful qualities, the strength that dominates his personality without a doubt is his perseverance in the face of adversity.  St. Paul is someone who finishes what he starts.  But many of us struggle to do the same.  Burn out is a real thing and persevering in the face of adversity sometimes just isn’t worth it.  What’s the secret to Paul’s outstanding sense of grit and how can we imitate him today?

If anyone were to survey the general American public, two things would stand out.  First we would all be convinced that things need to be done, actions need to take place, decisions need to be enacted.  And secondly, most of us would agree that it is really hard to do what we know we need to do.  Even if we know what needs to be done it can be a very difficult task to start what we know we need to do.  It was no different for St. Paul.  Yet he gives us the secret of allowing Christ to help us start  doing what we know needs to be done.