What a momentous day yesterday for Attollo. The pilot launch occurred within the walls of the Augustine Institute, here in Colorado. The leaders of A.I. were gracious enough to provide the meeting room space for us, on the Feast Day of St. Augustine. Ten business owners spent a full day, very precious time, testing out this brand new Catholic business leadership organization I named Attollo which means “I lift”.
These ten business leaders got the call (my phone call actually) and they responded. They day went blazingly fast from 8 to 4:30. They quickly built camaraderie and community. Toward the end of the day, they felt more empowered than ever before to make a real difference in the world. They were amazed at the horsepower in the room and at the transparency, honesty, depth and quality of the conversations around issues and struggles of their business, faith and family and the need to live authentic lives. This was just a pilot! We also celebrated mid-day Mass. A great gift!
Every pope since Leo XIII through Pope Francis have placed their faith in business leaders to help lift the poor from poverty. This is a side of Catholic social teaching you don’t really hear about much if at all… the use of the free economy and the initiative of business leaders to build strong vibrant companies which in turn create strong vibrant and peaceful communities through employment. Attollo members are going after the cause of poverty, not simply treating the symptoms.
We discussed balancing their natural virtue of magnanimity (the desire to build great organizations) with the virtue of humility (building great organizations in service of Christ) and in the end, that we are all just dust and to dust we will return! They each got a jar of dirt for their desks at work to help them remember what’s really important in life!
At the end of the day, these leaders all agreed that Attollo has lots of potential and will meet the huge untapped need of business owners who feel alone at the top of their organizations and often feel alone in their faith. Attollo piloted this concept, the first of many Attollo advisory boards around the world, to help each other, to encourage and to hold each other accountable to achieve great, thriving businesses that are, in the end, created in the service of Christ.
It was a great day. A day very well spent.
A day like no other. …at least until the second of three pilot meeting days scheduled for Sept 25!
