The book, A Passion For Excellence: The Leadership Difference, by Tom Peters and Nancy Austin, has had an honored place on my book shelves since 1985. Its’ pages sport a hint of gray, appropriate for the vast wisdom they offer to every leader, from the first grade teacher, to the neighborhood hardware store owner, to every Christian seeking to sign up for a life-time commitment in Christ’s service.

The philosophy behind those 425 pages can be summed up in the words of the late Senator George Aiken of Vermont, in 1974: ”Get into the community and find out what their problems are: That’s the best politics.”

Jesus did it, walked among his people, listened to them, set them at ease, inspired them to hope for better times because He was in their midst, knew them by name, the desires of their hearts, and the strength of their love.

As the pageantry of the Pope’s visit exited from the media, I felt the way it feels when a Very Important Person has come to visit, then departed without the opportunity for the hosts and hostesses to sit over coffee and brownies for an informal chat about what matters most to everyone.

Then, I got to thinking how such personal meetings could be arranged around Catholic kitchen tables across our land, just the Pope and us. Sounds pretty exclusive, you say? Well, yes, exclusive in the way of Jesus’ forming His first band of disciples with nets and fishes, morning breakfasts on Galilee’s shores, and common prayer, leading to common goals.

Of course, none of this would be possible today. The grand welcoming committees would absorb Pope Benedict’s time, striking brownies and coffee from the itinerary. But what if he had come by submarine, shrouded in absolute secrecy, disguised as a Journeyman for God, seeking disciples in labor union halls and among St. Vincent de Paul’s truck drivers, scheduling deliveries to the poorest of the poor?

And what if Pope Benedict had left with the same secrecy, carrying with him the memories of disciples, ready to give their lives for their sheep? One by one, he would have taught them the Christian way of leadership, quoted by Peters and Austin:

The number one managerial productivity problem in America is, quite simply, managers who are out of touch with their people and out of touch with their customers.

The solution to getting in touch is called “Managing By Wandering Around.” Among the vast number of examples of this theory is one I have never forgotten. It concerns Forest Mars, of the same family that recently went courting for the Wrigley Company.

A former Mars manager recounted this tale of Mr. Mars’ visiting a chocolate factory in mid-summer.

He went up to the third floor, where the biggest chocolate machines were placed. It was hotter than the hinges of hell. He asked the factory manager, “How come you don’t have air-conditioning up here?”

The factory manager replied that it wasn’t in his budget, and he darn well had to make budget. While Mr. Mars allowed as to how that was a fact, he nonetheless went over to a nearby phone and dialed the maintenance downstairs and asked them to come up immediately. He said, “While we stand here, would you please go downstairs and get all the factory manager’s furniture and other things from his office and bring them up here? Set them down next to the big chocolate machine up here, if you don’t mind.”

Said our Mars colleague: “The guy figured out that it was a pretty good idea to air-condition the factory sooner than later. Mr. Mars told him that once that had been completed, he could move back to his office anytime he wanted.

Let’s take that story and translate it to our imaginary pope’s visit, following the Managing By Walking Around theory. On his way from diocese to diocese, the Shepherd would have learned how saddened and deeply troubled are the laity with the situation in the Church today. Mostly, they feel betrayed that, while no attention had been made by Rome to allow the defrocking of priests guilty of abusing children, despite the pleas of countless requests by bishops, they had been simply transferred from one parish to another, spreading the spiritual cancer with them.

At the very last minute, rather than what should have been his very first, Pope Benedict XVI announced to the press that there will be changes in Canon Law that will address the pedophile scandal, and heal the deep wounds within the entire United States Church.

Jesus said, “I know mine, and mine know Me.” No one knew more about healing than the Good Shepherd, and so we pray:

Lord, we’ve been signed up as laborers in Your vineyard for a long time now, but we have yet to learn Your way of Managing by Walking Around among the little people. We ask you to give us the grace to do so, seeking the discouraged, those hungering for what would make sense of their lives -- personal relationships with You and Your friends. Amen.

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