Toxic Leadership in the Church

By Mitchell

Herb Ely's back with another though-provoking post, this time on the state of management in the Catholic Church. As we prepare for yet another wave of bad news about pedophile pristes, this time in Los Angeles, Herb asks the question: are some of our bishops toxic leaders? Herb quotes Sidney Finkelstein on why hard-working, intelligent leaders sometimes fail:

• A flawed mindset that distort a company’s perception of reality
• Delusional attitudes that keep this inaccurate reality in place
• Breakdown in communications systems developed to handle potentially urgent information
• Leadership qualities that keep a company’s executives from correcting their course

Adds Herb, "The Bishops conference knew in 1985 that priestly pedophilia would be a severe problem. Their collective behavior fits the Finkelstein model."

Read here for more of Herb's thoughts. As I remarked to Judie this afternoon, it looks like there's going to be a lot of competition to be Archbishop in the Diocese of Hell.