The Leadership Roundtable begins a series of “Profiles in Excellence,” wherein we spotlight people who are committed to best practices for the betterment of the Church’s temporal affairs. We hope that these Profiles in Excellence will inspire hope for and confidence in the best that the Church has to offer. There is no better way to begin the Profiles than with Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jim Dubik, the chairman of our board of directors and a stalwart champion of the mission of the Leadership Roundtable, who shares why he thinks the mission matters.
Jim Dubik spent over 37 years in a “deferential hierarchy called the United States Army,” and now finds himself committed to serving a similarly structured institution: the American Catholic Church. In his “past life,” Jim commanded anywhere from 20 to 46,000 soldiers, in scenarios he describes as “creating an Army of excellence” and “the Army learning its way into the future.” From Vietnam to the wars of the Middle East, Dubik was part of processes of transformation for the Army, with the end goal of excellence as a model for others. “There is a lot to learn from that experience regarding the Church, especially what we do at the Roundtable,” Dubik said. As the Roundtable manifests its mission of transforming the temporal affairs of the Church, Dubik often applies his military acumen “through a Church filter,” because of his (and the Roundtable’s) belief that the secular and spiritual plains should learn from one other. In the context of the military and the Church, Dubik has been known to say that leadership is defined as “taking an organization from where it is to where it ought to be,” and has made it a mission of his own to see the excellence he brought to the Army manifest in its own right in the Catholic Church in America. As a former infantryman who had stripes sown to the back of his general’s stars to remember his roots, Dubik knows well the value of all levels of hierarchy working together
toward a common goal. Part of the Leadership Roundtable’s guiding principles is the foundational understanding that clerical and ecclesiastical leadership of Church is inherently done well, and should be supported through excellence in other areas; therefore, Dubik asserts, “our transformative effort in respect to temporal management affairs is both a direct and indirect effort by, with, and through the leaders of the Church.” Dubik’s understanding of hierarchical respect is fueled by the communal nature of the institution – again, a parallel between the military and the Church. That sense of community between ordained and lay is what fuels the Roundtable’s purpose. According to Dubik, the mission of the Roundtable matters because “we feel the pull of our baptismal responsibility: it’s more than sitting in the pew and giving money – we have a responsibility to expand the mission of the Church.” Dubik urges that those with professional experience and expertise know that “managerial excellence is directly tied to mission; an organization cannot accomplish the mission when management is substandard and leadership is not proficient.” The laity need to contribute their wealth of expertise, in a “positive-critical way,” in order to affirm the importance of the Church’s mission and help it to maximize its leadership and management capacities. Dubik described with palpable hope the next phase of the Roundtable, which he identified as “to accelerate momentum of change by broadening and deepening use of our services in creating excellence in management and leadership.” The Roundtable’s programs and services, he explains, “take the best of the public and private sector, adapt them to be consistent with Canon Law and Church culture, and then promulgate best practices.” Like a true general displaying his units on parade, Dubik described with pride programs such as the Catholic Standards for Excellence, Catholic Leadership 360, the Pastor’s Toolbox, and executive leadership coaching, which demonstrate and teach best practices of management and leadership. When asked about further goals for the latest chapter of the Roundtable’s work, Dubik laughed when he said that ultimately, the Roundtable may work itself out of a job altogether. The retired three-star general painted a picture of success that is, not surprisingly, similar to that of a military operation: “When the U.S. Church institutionalizes leadership and managerial formation as part of formation of priests, bishops, and lay leaders – and establishes a standardbased program for management as a matter of Church policy – we may be able to declare success and leave!” And so, hope remains for the day that we can claim, “Mission accomplished!”