From the schoolyard to the Apprentice boardroom, everyone wants the secret of picking and leading effective teams. New primers on leadership written by well-known executives crowd the shelves at Borders and Barnes & Noble, offering mostly similar prescriptions. Finding a truly useful volume among these pop-culture approximations of a mature management system is a daunting task. But why bother with these gurus-come-lately, when you can reap lessons from a tried-and-true system that has performed well for 1,500 years?

The Benedictine Rule of Leadership: Classic Management Secrets You Can Use Today examines the fifth century management system of Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the modern monastic organization. This "Rule" is largely responsible for the astounding longevity of the institutions in which it remains a prominent, and relevant, guide.

Co-authors Craig Galbraith and Oliver Galbraith analyze and review Benedict's system for the modern reader. They isolate the basic, universal elements of the system from its religious terminology, and demonstrate their relevance to today's secular organizations. What remains is a remarkable, and quite modern, set of guiding principles.

Benedict was born into a wealthy, noble family in the corrupt final years of the fading Roman Empire. He was exposed to the empire's greatest achievements, as well as its failures. He studied leaders, systems of organization and the writings of early monastic leaders, and was groomed for a job in the Roman bureaucracy. However, he eventually chose to leave his world of privilege for an ascetic life of spiritual contemplation. Persuaded to become abbot of a neighboring monastery, Benedict then founded a series of semi-autonomous collectives. In time, as he managed these groups, he developed his own system of leadership and organization. He called it the Rule of Benedict.

The Rule of Benedict is presented in three main elements, with individual chapters devoted to each aspect of each element. At the end of each chapter is a bullet-point summary, very helpful for processing and remembering the general concepts. The book is a pleasure to read. It is fully comprehensive, yet at fewer than 200 pages it's also quite manageable.

Chapters include:

• The Rule of Managerial Improvisation
• The Rule of Careful Counsel
• The Rule of Merit and Seniority
• The Rule of Innovation
• The Rule of Leading by Example

Among Benedict's lessons:

• Superior organizations are always formed as elite fraternities, with a clearly stated common purpose. Mission statements must be explicit declarations of the common purpose, as well as promises of organizational behavior.
• Organizations are only as good as their people; superior organizations should not be easy to join, and the primary motivator for selection and formation is the promise of fraternity and stability. There must be no preferential treatment of members.
• The Rule of Merit and Seniority explains how to deal with job-assignment issues. Age should not be considered a relevant measure of talent, and, while seniority must be honored because it creates continuity and a reference point for experience, merit should always be the determinant for rewards or positions of authority.
• Benedict believed organizations should remain lean, self-sufficient and focused on a common objective. He warned against too many levels of management or bureaucracy, and of the dangers of centralization and hierarchy. He believed that subsidiary or offshoot groups should be economically autonomous, maintaining only cultural and philosophical bonds.
• Benedict recognized that paradigms would be challenged and periodically upset. He believed innovation within the existing paradigm would come from the lower levels of the membership, while innovation that challenged the paradigm would come from senior members. Innovations that break the paradigm had to come from outside the organization.
• The Rule of Ethics states that ethics is a fundamental, structural part of the organization and its management system; ethics cannot be forced, so the leader must create an environment in which members naturally make the proper ethical decisions.
• The Rule of Stability provides for continuity in leadership succession, ideals, culture and job security. The Galbreaths provide examples of successful organizations that quickly disintegrated upon the loss or death of a charismatic leader. Benedictine communities, in contrast, have existed for 1,500 years and have influenced the longevity and success of countless other organizations. This rule is crucial to long-term survival.
• Benedict held that leaders should see discipline as a lesson plan, not as punishment. Benedict believed that cohesive organizations gave second and third chances. He stated that there should be no favoritism in matters of discipline, and that the ultimate penalty of discharge from the community, while sometimes necessary for the health of the group, was as traumatic as an amputation and had to be very carefully considered.
• Benedict's idea was that executive appointments should be democratic; any member of the organization could become a leader, regardless of seniority, as decisions had to be based on merit alone.
• Benedict discouraged complaining, but recognized that grumbling was a major indicator of the health of his organization. He declared that the source of grumbling ought to be found and any problems fixed.
• The Rule of Leader Example explains that actions speak louder than words. Leaders were to teach by example, and were to keep track of, and study, their own failures and successes.
• Benedict believed the basic leadership virtue was humility. Leaders had to demonstrate competence and ambition, but their passion was to derive from a desire to improve and contribute to the health of the organization, not from individual ego. He believed that true humility was a skill one had to learn and practic

The elements of Benedict's rule would fit easily into the curricula of any modern management course. His organizational systems can claim credit for the initial formation of such modern institutions as hospitals and hotels.

The Benedictine communities, because of their stability and competence (a result of the Rule) have made major, historically significant contributions to the world in the fields of agriculture, medicine, literature, education, hospitality, banking and document preservation. They prospered despite harsh environments and relentless persecution. They safeguarded the treasures of culture and learning through the dark ages.

All this, and the fact that they have survived for over 1,500 years, is a testament to the brilliance of the Benedictine Rule.

The Benedictine Rule of Leadership: Classic Management Secrets You Can Use Today
Authors: Craig S. Galbraith, Ph.D., and Oliver Galbraith III, Ph.D.
Publisher: Adams Media Corporation
ISBN: 1593370059