Andrew Abela challenged Catholic professionals gathered at Westwood Country Club in Vienna April 28 to explore a question that reached beyond the workplace: how does virtue shape the way people work, lead and live?
The founding dean of The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business and author of the book “Super Habits” gave the Assembly of Catholic Professionals a framework for growing in character that could aid not only personal growth but also be “transformative” for society.
“It seems to me that in the professions, in the various businesses and companies we run, these are the places we can start reintroducing virtue into our society.”
Abela began by distinguishing that while some aspects of personality, like character, are “entirely changeable,” other parts, like temperament or how a person may score on a Myers-Briggs test, change only very slowly, if at all. The key is the “wisdom to know the difference,” he said, referencing the Serenity Prayer.
Abela advised attendees to “know the parts of your personality or temperament that are fixed and play to those (strengths). And in terms of the not fixed part, find the biggest weakness and fix those ASAP.”
This distinction was particularly striking for Carly McCrumb, who works for George Mason University Catholic Campus Ministry in Fairfax and attended the event.
“I’ve done some of the personality tests that he mentioned, but I never thought about the character or virtue aspect that he presented. I thought that was a different kind of lens on personal improvement,” she said.
Drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas, Abela presented the cardinal virtues — practical wisdom, justice, courage and self-discipline — as practical tools and habits for strengthening both individuals and teams at work.
“Decision-making, relationships, innovation, execution — these are all critical aspects of professional life,” Abela said. “The perfection of each of them is a (cardinal) virtue.”
The “Super Habits” author distinguished these virtues from mere skills. “The virtues are already in all of us. They’re like muscles that we have as humans from being human. But they’re muscles that in many cases weren’t used. They’ve atrophied.”
The analogy particularly resonated with Liam O’Toole, the founder of Tekton Analytics. “I really appreciated that as a reminder that when you are struggling to grow, if you are persistent and resilient in that, you will grow as a person,” he noted.
Abela also urged employers to give employees regular opportunities to practice virtue, pointing out that these same virtues could be helpful tools for identifying common workplace challenges rooted in a lack of virtue.
Giving the example of a company struggling with excessive upward delegation of decisions, he suggested the habit of daily goal setting could help develop the virtue of practical wisdom and the sub virtue of foresight needed for employees to make wise decisions confidently.
Mark DeMicoli, who works in real estate, said he particularly appreciated this advice. “I thought that was very insightful and that is something I am going to try and practice, try and figure out which employees need which help, which habits they need to grow in, and then sort of help them along,” he said.
The luncheon also offered attendees a chance to network with other Catholic professionals, which was part of what drew many attendees to the event.
“I thought it would just be a great opportunity to meet other Catholic working professionals, network a little bit, and meet others that are looking to build up the Catholic faith in the diocese,” said McCrumb.
Those in attendance received their own copy of the book “Super Habits” that they could have signed by Abela. Henry Asherbranner, a financial advisor at Cornerstone Advisor Group, was glad to receive the book as he planned to implement some of Abela’s ideas in his life.
“I am glad we got the book from him. It seems like there is a lot of really good knowledge in there,” he said. “I have a habit of trying to grow too many things all at the same time,” Asherbranner added, noting that he plans to pick just one virtue to develop.
DeMicoli also praised the event itself. “I think this is an excellent initiative. You know, there aren’t many opportunities for people to meet in different networking configurations. Usually, it is industry-specific, but faith-specific is really special.”
Pariseau is a freelancer in Falls Church.
