What CEOs can learn about legacy from the Pope

I'M NOT CATHOLIC, but when I think about the church’s almost 2,000 years of continuity, I feel awe bordering on the religious. Measured by length or impact, the papacy stands alone. But however unique it might be, it is still a leadership position. We can use what we've learned about leadership in other domains to illuminate what Leo XIV might mean for the church and the world. At the same time, the papal transition offers its own lessons for leaders — especially those looking to secure their legacies for the long-term.

- By Gautam Mukunda

Although most analyses of the new pope predict that he will be a figure of continuity who is less likely to make changes than his predecessor, leadership theories disagree, suggesting that he will likely leave a major individual imprint on the church.

In my books Indispensable and Picking Presidents, I tried to answer a question that has engaged scholars going back to Plato: Do leaders matter? The Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle once proclaimed that “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” Even setting aside the sexism, it’s easy to dismiss this simplistic view of the world. From Karl Marx to modern social scientists, there are plenty of people who argue that history is the product of large forces, not individual choices.

My research reveals that both beliefs offer insights. Most large and powerful organizations — including the Catholic Church — select leaders by evaluating a pool of candidates over a period of years, or even decades. This process filters out unsuitable contenders, leaving the finalists highly competent, but often fungible, so that the individual impact of whoever finally gets the job is low. Think of virtually any Goldman Sachs CEO or McKinsey managing partner; I don’t need to name names because the institutions are more important than the individuals who lead them. I call these highly filtered leaders — they generally perform well but are rarely exceptional.