“Heroes are rebels with a cause. Rebels because they challenge the traditional ways of thinking and refuse to follow the herd. They have a cause, a vision, that’s larger than life.” – Sharif Khan, author of Psychology of the Hero Soul
From a small-town Polish boy born to a retired army officer to become Pope; from a hard life in Nazi occupied Poland, his mother dead of kidney and heart failure, an older brother dead from scarlet fever, to become quite possibly man of the century. How did such an unlikely candidate for the head of the Roman Catholic Church rise so quickly to such prominence? What leadership lessons can we learn from this global spiritual leader who so moved the world? Here is a brief timeline snap-shot of Karol Josef Wojtylas exemplary leadership:
Knowledge
1958: Pope Pius XII names Wojtyla auxiliary bishop of Krakow.
By this time, Wojtyla was a professor of ethics and had two doctorate degrees; he had studied theology in clandestine during the oppressive Nazi occupation of Poland.
Leadership lesson: leaders are readers. Specialized knowledge is key to leadership along with general studies. While Wojtyla...