What's Love got to do with Leadership?

The leadership of Pope Francis, Gregory Boyle, SJ and Klaus Mertes, SJ invite reflection on love as a foundation for leadership. Ignatian spirituality from the Christian tradition informs their leadership. These cases challenge definitions of spirituality and religion that identify the terms in opposition to each other. They also invite reflection on the contribution of Ignatian spirituality to reflection on love as a foundation for leadership. Often absent from the management literature is the place of love in leadership. This is not true of Chris Lowney's book Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World. In this book, Lowney, a former senior executive at J.P. Morgan, brings his knowledge of Jesuit spirituality into conversation with his experience of leadership in the business world. He does this to promote a style of leadership characterized by love. His avoidance of religious language in his presentation of Jesuit spirituality invites examination of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and Ignatian spirituality. Not only has Lowney recognized the significance of love for business leadership but so too has Benedict XVI. Reflecting on integral human development after the financial crisis of 2008, Benedict XVI called for further reflection on the role of love (caritas) and the logic of gift in business. Interdisciplinary seminars resulted in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace's Vocation of the Business Leader in 2012. Addressed to people of good will and at times particularly to Christians, this reflection highlights both a human call to promote the common good through one's leadership in business and a Christian call to discipleship that should not be separated from the Christian business leader's work. This paper analyzes the contributions of these three sources to reflection on the virtue of love in business leadership.