List of points

Decisions of governance taken lightly or by someone on his own are always, or nearly always, influenced by a one-sided view of the problems.

—However good your training or talents might be, you must listen to those who share with you that task of direction.

Try to be properly objective in your work of governance. Avoid the inclination common to those who tend to see rather — and sometimes only — what is not going well, the mistakes.

—Be filled with joy and be assured that the Lord has granted to all the capacity to become holy precisely by fighting against their own defects.

People have to be taught how to work, but their training need not be overdone, for actually doing things is a way of learning too. They should accept in advance their unavoidable shortcomings: the best is the enemy of the good.

Never put your trust in organisation alone.

Governing often consists in knowing how to draw good out of people, with patience and affection.

Good governance knows how to be flexible when necessary, without falling into the mistake of not asking enough of people.

Mediocre men, mediocre in mind and in Christian spirit, surround themselves by foolish people when they are in power. They are falsely persuaded by their vanity that in this way they will never lose control.

Sensible men, however, surround themselves with learned people who live a clean life as well as possessing knowledge, and become, through their help, men who can really govern. They are not in this matter deceived by their humility, for in making others great they themselves are made great.

If you occupy a position of responsibility you should remember as you do your job that personal achievement perishes with the person who made himself indispensable.

A fundamental rule for good management is to give responsibility to others without this becoming for you a way of seeking anonymity or comfort. I repeat, delegate responsibility and ask each person to give an account of how his job is going, so that you can “render an account” to God; and to souls, if necessary.