Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis

How did a relatively unknown priest from Argentina rise so quickly from obscurity to one of the top leaders of the twenty-first century? The answer lies in his humility, as well as the simple principles that have sprung from it.

In the years since his election to the highest position in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has breathed life into an aging institution, reinvigorated a global base, and created real hope for the future. His early accomplishments have been so remarkable that in 2014, Fortune magazine awarded the top spot of their coveted World’s Greatest Leaders list not to a captain of industry or political leader but to the new pontiff.

Lead with Humility explores 12 of these principles and shows how other leaders and managers across a broad spectrum can adapt them for the workplace with just as impressive results as our great pope has. These invaluable principles include:

• Don’t stand over your employees--sit down with them
• Don’t judge--assess
• Take care of people, not lobbies
• Go where you are needed
• Temper ideology with pragmatism
• Don’t change--reinvent!

Even just a few years in, it is clear to all that Pope Francis’s ability to inspire the world is unprecedented in modern times. Lead with Humility reveals the power of his methods, and helps anyone lead with the humility, grace, and authenticity that has elevated the pope to where he is today and had a direct impact in inspiring everyone and everything around him.

JEFFREY A. KRAMES is the bestselling author of The Rumsfeld Way, The Welch Way, Jack Welch and The 4 E’s of Leadership, and other popular business books. He has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times and been interviewed by Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, A&E’s Biography, the BBC, and other major media outlets.