“I believe, then, that the call to be Marianist is itself a call to leadership.”[1]
-- George Lisjak
What makes Marianist Leadership both good leadership and also authentically Marianist? This question is at the heart of Stances of Marianist Leadership: The essential really is the interior, a new book written by George Lisjak, the director of the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS).
Lisjak, who has more than 40 years of leadership experience in Marianist institutions and holds a doctorate in educational leadership, contends that Marianist leadership can be practiced not only within Marianist organizations but also within other organizations, including those not specifically Marianist.
The distinguishing feature of a Marianist approach is found in the book’s subheading.
According to Lisjak, “Marianist Leadership is a response to a call from God. The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of leadership may cause it to appear to be Marianist, but it is the ‘why,’ an internal ‘yes,’ to the call that makes it so. The essential really is the interior.”[2]
While “characteristics” or “pillars” are often used to define qualities that are Marianist, Lisjak, a lover of professional baseball, views Marianist Leadership as stances, similar to a batter's stance at the plate. While externally observable, a batter’s adjustments—for example, the position of the hands on the bat—have been internally discerned for greatest success versus a pitcher. So, too, does Marianist Leadership flow from an internal process.
But just what are the Purposeful, Developmental, Collegial, Responsive, and Transformational Stances of Marianist Leadership, and how do they interconnect with the principles of mission and vision found within organizational leadership practices? Read Stances of Marianist Leadership to find out.
[1] George J. Lisjak, Stances of Marianist Leadership: The essential really is the interior (Dayton, OH: NACMS, 2025), 9.
[2] Lisjak, Stances of Marianist Leadership, 11.
