A report in the Church Times - the organ of the Church of England - has been drawn to my attention. It says:
A RADICAL overhaul of the Church of England's leadership is under way.
The Church Times has seen the report, Talent Management for Future Leaders and Leadership Development for Bishops and Deans: A new approach, prepared by a steering group chaired by Prebendary the Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, the former HSBC chairman. It speaks of a "culture change for the leadership of the Church".
I do seriously doubt the wisdom of the Church of England on this issue. Stephen Green is a CoE minister, former UK trade minister but more importantly, was the chair of HSBC at the time that it undertook acts relating to tax evasion in Switzerland (where he was chair of its private bank, so cannot avoid responsibility) for which it has been fined billions of pounds and now faces prosecution in a number of countries. As a result he hardly seems like the man to advise the Church on anything but the need for deep penitence, a withdrawal from public life and the necessity of acts of redemption.
I am aware that many doubt the wisdom of his report in the context of the Church's work. I hope their voices are heard.
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In the words of the soothsayer in “Up Pompeii” – “Oh woe, woe and double woe!”
Yet ANOTHER example of “corporate capture” (as happened long ago in academia), where the “management masters of the universe”, who “guided” the economy and society at large into its current impasse, presume to “advise and educate (!!??)” non-business organizations in the arcane mysteries of “management”, a great deal of which is little more than activated prejudices (called “hunches”), founded on the well-known scientific method of licking one’s finger to test which way the wind is blowing.In other words, the business equivalent of “psycho babble”.
Seems to me “management” could do with learning a bit of Christian (and Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist etc.) humility, but I fear the above report and underlying tendency and implications means we may not be far off the C of E issuing its IPO, and being listed in the FTSE 100.
A touch of Frankie Howard never harms a Saturday morning
“Thrice woe” not “double woe”. Like the “Holy Trinity”, but in the real world.
“Grown men don’t need leaders”
Edward Abbey
Seriously, it bothers me how the concept of “leadership” is so frequently trotted out these days. Particularly when you look at the people presented as “leaders” and the actions said to demonstrate that quality. Blind adherence to neoliberal tenets seems to be the essence of it; together with a macho approach to imposing crazy ideas in face of reasoned opposition from those who work in whatever field it may be. It goes along with increasing centralisation everywhere you look
From Mr Abbey, again, with my own slight modification
“One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain’t nothin’ can beat “groupthink””
But why would people pay so much for an MBA from a business school, unless it was understood that, once they had it, people would follow their lead, even if obviously stupid?
In a way, of course, it is the C21st answer to the Roman Catholic nepotism that got Luther so het up. Only a tiny handful of people can afford an MBA & they come from the wealthiest families. Once you have an MBA you can take control & demand subservience, even from those that plainly know more than you do. So one of the many ways that the 1% are wresting back the privileges they lost in the 1950s to poorer but brighter grammar school children.
Isn’t it odd that officers in the army don’t take MBAs? They are, after all, in control of hundreds of men & massively expensive assets (a tank is many £ millions), If MBAs made people better managers why wouldn’t the army invest in them?
At a less serious (i.e. not life & death) level- why don’t huge corporations like Real Madrid & Man Utd expect their managers to go out & get an MBA? – I strongly suspect the business schools would turn them away because its fantastically easy to disguise failure in a bank or a retailer, or blame it on anything from hostile regulators to insufficient Government action, but when your team keep trudging off 0-4, 0-3, 0-6 …nowhere to turn!
MBA
‘Morally Bankrupt Approach’ (Revans) or ‘Maybe Best Avoided’ (Mintzberg).
Here we go again. The neo-libs are about to infiltrate yet another of the moderating forces of extreme capitalism – our religious institutions. No doubt the new man will be selling the benefits of getting the rich involved with religion and in the long term the Church may just go quiet. There’s no doubt that as one of the biggest land owners in the land with lots of property to maintain, the temptation to put up and shut up about these issues is high since the potential for money to roll in (like it does over the pond) maybe too much.
They’re clever aren’t they these neo-libs?
Indeed
The Anglican community would do a lot better if it went back to Dr. Jeremy Taylor for the inspiration it discarded in the late 20th Century.
Former chairman of money launderers HSBC – says it all.
I really would love Stephen Green to approach Pope Francis & suggest he needs to adopt a more robustly managerial results-based leadership structure with a view to really going forward proactively & decisively into the wider faith space in the 21st century.
Amused!
Off the point at hand, the number of “dislikes” without any negative comments, on other posts as well as this one, might suggest that someone is being paid to take advantage of what appears to be the case, that one person can click as many times as they like on “like” or “dislike” – I’ve done it myself, on “like” of course, albeit inadvertently. It might be a good idea to ask your website designer to look into this.
I have to admit I am not sure the feature that useful, overall
I hardly ever look at it
Not quite sure what I think of the Archbishop of Canterbury having been in the oil industry, either.
The central sacrament of this new approach is a monetary communion with management consultants.
🙂
I see contributors here, all without sin, casting their stones.
Some here miss the point about Christianity, it is especially for sinners.
We know where he comes from, we are not stupid, we don’t prejudge a person.
But some repentance is need to avoid a recurrence of the sin