Je Suis Francis (The Pope): Reflections on “What The Pope Knows: The Power Of An Apology”

The Pope’s apology has been analyzed and defended and criticized recently. In this article, the reporter suggests that the apology was powerful as a tool and an opportunity, and in so doing, suggests new ways that diplomacy and negotiations work between countries, even for organizations like the Church.

For me, it reopens the centuries-old question about authority and representation, but from a business standpoint. Instead of asking Who is the Nation? We can now ask, Who is the corporation? Authority and how authority is given, maintained, and wielded, seems to have gotten more complicated. Despite the fact that a Board has elected you or hired you, it appears that responsibilities have shifted from 100% Board satisfaction to include the need to satisfy stakeholders, especially your employees. If you are a leader, these questions can inform your leadership style and the recognition of where your authority comes from. This may also describe the limits of what you can do.

Dogma

In the movie Dogma, “Cardinal Glick (Carlin) announces that he is rededicating his cathedral in Red Bank, New Jersey in the image of the “Buddy Christ:” “Buddy Christ is a parody religious icon in the film Dogma. In the film, he is part of a campaign (“CatholicismWow!”) to renew the image of (and interest in) the Catholic Church. Viewing the crucifix image as “wholly depressing”, the Church, led by Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) decides to retire it, and creates Buddy Christ as a more uplifting image of Jesus Christ.[1] The icon consists of a statue of Jesus, smiling and winking while pointing at onlookers with one hand and giving thethumbs-up sign with the other hand. The Buddy Christ was later produced as an action figure and a bobblehead.[2]” (See above.)

Pope Francis, CEO

The Pole seems to be doing the same thing, but more seriously. He is rebranding the Catholic Church, even though he is The Pope, and BECAUSE he is The Pope. It is important to remember the Pope’s status and authority: “The Pope … is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church.[3] The primacy of the Roman bishop is largely derived from his role as the traditional successor to Saint Peter, to whom Jesus gave the keys of Heaven and the powers of “binding and loosing”, naming him as the “rock” upon which the church would be built.”. The Pope, in many ways, speaks with Authority: “Over the centuries, papal claims of spiritual authority have been ever more firmly expressed, culminating in 1870 with the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility for rare occasions when the pope speaks ex cathedra—literally “from the chair (of Saint Peter)”—to issue a formal definition of faith or morals.[9]”

How is the Pope chosen though? Is he elected? If so, who elects him. The answer to this question is very interesting and similar to how a CEO is chosen: “For 900 years, electing a pope has been the prerogative of the College of Cardinals meeting in conclave. The cardinals meet in Rome 15 to 20 days after the death of a pope and pick a successor from among themselves in secret balloting. Pope John Paul II wrote the rules for electing his successor.” So, yes, there is an election process, but elections were not opened up to Catholics, in general, it is not a democratic process.

Strangely enough, there is a broader, secular point.

When should “the few” represent “the many”?

The question of authority impacts who you speak for and what actions you can promise will be done or what products will be delivered. It’s clear from many responses to apologies and compromises, that people without experience as negotiators, this is a needlessly complex question. To the contrary, it is an important question that people without experience should learn to ask.

One way to broaden understanding is to start reflecting on our experiences a bit deeper. We need to consider the pressures of negotiating for something that will impact your household where a spouse is not present. Or consider negotiating for services and assistance for an elderly parent, while siblings are present or even when they are not present. We always have responsibilities to represent others. The older we get, the more we recognize these responsibilities to our families and also to the communities we belong to. This is contrary to what we are taught to recognize earlier in life, despite our religious beliefs. That is because our ignorance results from rarely addressing the complicated nature of negotiations as part of our education. Our ignorance is also fostered by our American upbringing–and by extension–all of Western Civilization.

The Westerlies

Western cultures promote individuality, individuals, and individual accountability, and the United States takes this self-promotion to a high level. We have our confirming myths and legends, our oft-told stories that promote the rugged, bold successful individual.  In addition to the Horatio Alger myth, we have our other success stories about the triumphs of Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Nicolas Tesla, and more recently, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey. There are many others but they promote a common story. One story depicts how the individual succeeds in battling others in order to express passionate values and revolutionary ideas. Many of the tales suggest that individual success is achieved in direct proportion to how many of your values and ideas can be expressed without the dilution of hangers on and stakeholders. Research suggests this is not strictly the case though. These are distortions of history. In fact, many groundbreakers and innovators had help.

Nassim Taleb has a name for these lies, these distortion of history. He calls it the narrative fallacy.

Despite a general awareness of the narrative fallacy, this label for one of our many cognitive biases and fallacies, we still promote the lies and tall tales as historical truth. Researchers recognize these narratives as an important part of culture building. Stories, commonly referred to by leadership experts as narratives, do a lot of work. The stories link us together. They unite us into a shared identity. They lead to the development of shared values, shared attitudes, and shared beliefs. These stories tell what we hope to do, what we strive towards, but also, they tell what we should not do.

For example, Westerners, at the individual level, are taught NOT to take responsibility for someone else’s actions. You cannot control the actions of others. You might not even know who this imagined “other” is.

So, we value authenticity and sincerity, after all. We value straight-shooters and no-nonsense, honorable individuals who always speak their minds. And we are faced with a paradox: How can you be sincere about being apologetic, especially for the actions of others? As a result, to the question “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, the answer is, emphatically, “I am not.” The times are changing, changing from “I am not” to “Yes, I am.”

Leaders are responsible. Leaders are accountable. Increasingly, communities expect leadership to support the communities that bear them. In “Whom Do Public Companies Now Serve?”, Donald Delves writes: “As companies adopt more non-financial and corporate citizenship goals, metrics for them will make their way into incentive compensation plans for employees and executives. This will motivate executive leadership not just regarding the interests of shareholders, but also those of stakeholders and communities.” So, although the community did not elect the CEO of the local corporation, the community expects the CEO to direct resources towards sustaining the community, its infrastructure and education, its recreational needs, its environmental concerns, and many social responsibilities.

This is why “buy-in” or “engagement” is so valuable. Authority, still has many informal aspects, even when it appears to be formal the way power can be formal. Those with authority have many stakeholders, in addition to their followers, and are increasingly being held accountable by all.

Science vs. Religion

At this site, one of the participants asked a question about religion in science fiction.

This is part of my response…

Faith cannot be trumped by science. If anything, religions survive the times by adapting to the sciences as well as the social needs of the believers. Christianity has undergone incredible changes from when it was merely a cult borrowing ideas from Judaism and stoicism and a few more emerging philosophies of the times. Apparently, Christianity also served business purposes in terms of traveling. Believers who indicate their belief and belonging to the group were considered an extended family ( according to The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique–Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman). The religion, as do some other religions, provided various services: they instruct people in the areas of ethical reasoning, they instruct regarding social and emotional intelligence and skills, they encourage resilience behaviors through congregating, supporting the needy of their communities, as well as a means to network socially as well as in terms of business. Another interesting thing about religion–especially those that involve deities–is the providing of a role model. So there is the macro-approach of having the deity/role model to emulate and follow, but you also have the micro-approach where sermons and lectures and discussion groups explore ethical behavior as well as ways to manage impulses, anger management, compassion, and the appreciation of the world and others (grace). The “faith” component is also there as part of the instruction. The stories reinforce the belief that somehow, in someway, help is coming. In other ways, the stories encourage persistence in that messages regularly remind people that prayer and/or meditation will help you see a problem for what it is or to reframe the problem in a manageable way.

Schiffman proposed that religion’s evolution with the times is developing away from miracles and god interventions and more towards social-emotional supports, role modeling, and instruction.

On the other hand, Christianity and similar Judeo-Christian religions aren’t the only sects though and they aren’t all “progressive”. Some are very conservative and depend on certain levels of insulation against the “World”, the secular. These religions might survive though by rejecting certain highly-supported heavily-evidenced theories while other conservative religions by encourage a complete, reservation style of living. Like with any other society or culture (subculture), there are subgenres, reformations, and variations.

Take a lookee at this Emo Philips joke found here–http://splitframeofreference.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-greatest-religious-joke-of-all-time.html:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump.

I said, “Don’t do it!”
He said, “Nobody loves me.”
I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.”
I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?”
He said, “Protestant.”
I said, “Me, too! What franchise?”
He said, “Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

And that’s kind of the human condition. Whether its about materialism expressed in Apple products over Android/PC products or if it’s about music preferences or over comic books–silver age vs golden age. It could be about what we eat with our veggies–there are so many different kinds of vegetarians all of whom greatly dislike bacon enthusiasts. We swear by paleolithic diets and antitoxic shakes. We argue over our water preferences–bottled or tap, lemon or lime wedges?

And don’t forget about the great fantasy wars among the sci fi crew–fandom has its most beloved genres–military, hard, soft, magical, steampunk, etc.

And science fiction genre choices may be a great indicator as to how religion may work in the future (or at least, in sci fi). Because, among us, there are believers that the quantum mechanics is the key to understanding godliness or that quantum mechanics will explain psychic/telekinetic abilities of Jesus or that aliens from other planets were actually the angels and demons in the Bible and still others believe that the pyramids were levitated using radioactive graviton emitters…and whatnot. We humans are still quite wacky and imaginative and highly creative. We can’t help but dim the lights and tell our tall tales and urban legends and pseudo-scientific origin tales as though they were witnessed by a friend of a cousin of a best-friend’s aunt. Because if you ask that friend of a cousin of a best-friend’s aunt you’ll know it’s all true.