Leading with Heart

Seeing others more with the heart than with the mind

Mark 2:13-17 Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Jesus. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

          Several years ago I read a book on leadership by Coach Mike Krzyzewski, or “Coach K” for short because no one can pronounce or spell his Polish name. The book is called Leading with the Heart and explains his leadership principles and philosophy. Here’s one memorable maxim Coach K shares: “When teaching, always remember this simple phrase: ‘You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand.” Great advice, and I’ve certainly seen that’s true in my own life: seeing and doing make lessons last longer.

          Another Coach K lesson leaped out at me as curiously counter-intuitive, but likewise has helped me. He said that sometimes when he meets an exceptionally able assistant coach, even though he doesn’t have an opening or room on his staff, he will hire them anyway, and build a new staff position around the new hire. Coach K is not just “filling holes” on his roster, rather, he wants to surround himself with talent. A leader is only as good as the team around him. I believe Coach K possess that rare talent to see talent in others, whether they are assistant coaches or players, and then he recruits them for his own team. That’s how his heart leads him. The heart often sees what the mind misses.

          In the gospel today, we see Jesus behaving a lot like a college basketball coach: looking for talented assistance coaches and players to surround himself with. First he spots Levi a tax-collector, and calls him to be an apostle (kind of an assistant coach). Levi (his Hebrew name) would become St. Matthew (his Roman or Latin name), one of the 12 apostles and writers of one of the four gospels. He was no slouch of a saint. Then Jesus dines at Levi’s home, sitting at a table surrounded by so-called sinners, who were like the players on his team. The scribes and Pharisees took great offense and turned up their noses at keeping such company. Yet Jesus defends his behavior, saying, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinner.” Sinners, mind you, who would become saints, thanks to Jesus’ healing grace. Like Coach K, Jesus “leads with his heart,” while the Pharisees we might say, “lead with their head.” And that was precisely their problem.  Why?  Because the heart often sees what the mind misses.

          Most of us are not college basketball coaches – for which we should be very grateful! – but we still look at other people, we judge their characters as good or bad, we size them up as friend or foe, we choose to draw near to them or recoil from them. So, let me ask you: what “organ” do you use to see other people: your heart or your head? Or, take it a step further, how do you see God himself: with your mind or with your heart? Pope Benedict XVI (who’s still the pope, by the way, even if emeritus!) wrote in his insightful book Jesus of Nazareth these surprising lines: “The organ for seeing God is the heart. The intellect alone is not enough.”  We see God better with the heart than with the head.

          Well, let me suggest to you that if we need the heart to see God, that’s also the best organ to see one another, because, after all, you and I are “created in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27). Like Coach K and Jesus, if you look at others with your heart you will see their heart. You will see beyond the clothes and the car and the credit cards, and see what matters, what your mind might miss. Heck, some people don’t like Coach K because he coaches a team called the “Blue Devils” - especially if you’re a North Carolina Tar Heels fan - but if you looked with your heart, you’d see that he’s also a devout Catholic.  When you look at other people, you may not see great coaches or three-point shooters, but you will see them as children of God; you will see what matters. And what “you see, you remember.”

          Praised be Jesus Christ!