a leader's prayer

John O'Donahue was an Irish priest who died way too early (and suddenly) at the age of 52.  His writings have influenced those who lead both in the church and in the corporate sector.  Toward the end of his life he engaged deeply with business leaders, helping them to bring a sense of "soul and beauty into their leadership and their imagination about the people with whom they work" (O'Donahue, in an interview with Krista Tippet).  On this Good Friday his prayer "For A Leader" is copied below.  May this prayer guide and inspire those who lead with a sense of wonder, awe, mystery, and, having been called to leadership, that they may lead in a manner that gives glory to God and serves the neighbor.

May you have the grace and wisdom

To act kindly, learning
To distinguish between what is
Personal and what is not.

May you be hospitable to criticism.

May you never put yourself at the center of things.

May you act not from arrogance but out of service.

May you work on yourself,
Building up and refining the ways of your mind.

May those who work for you know
You see and respect them.

May you learn to cultivate the art of presence
In order to engage with those who meet you.

When someone fails or disappoints you,
May the graciousness with which you engage
Be their stairway to renewal and refinement.

May you treasure the gifts of the mind
Through reading and creative thinking
So that you continue as a servant of the frontier
Where the new will draw its enrichment from the old,
And may you never become a functionary.

May you know the wisdom of deep listening,
The healing of wholesome words,
The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,
The decorum of held dignity,
The springtime edge of the bleak question.

May you have a mind that loves frontiers
So that you can evoke the bright fields
That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

May you have good friends
To mirror your blind spots.

May leadership be for you
A true adventure of growth.