Forbes and the Pope(s)

I enjoy reading Forbes for a number of reasons, several of which I will leave unsaid.  Their stock recommendations are pretty good.  The 4/15/13 issue recommends Apple (AAPL) at 460 because of Wall Street’s hyper-critical view.  I think it’s trading  around 402 today.  You know, losing Steve Jobs was bad, but Tim Cook is talented, quiet and good visionary.  If you’ve read the Jobs biography (a bit long and poorly edited but really good if you have any geek tendencies) you’ll appreciate Tim Cook even more as CEO.  I’ve been in and out of AAPL a number of times.  It’s tempting again.

The feature article on Carl Icaan is good, too.  His regular quote brings a chuckle:  “If you want a friend, get a dog.”

Here are the two other quick thefts of verbiage from the same issue, all in context of organizational stewardship, skills and talent, and good management:

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of good will: Let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and the environment.  Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world.  –Pope Francis

“John Paul II was elected to the throne of St. Peter in 1978, at the age of 58.  Not since the election of Pope Pius IX in 1846 had the Sacred College of Cardinals chosen one of their number so young.  As a priest in his native Poland, Karol Wojtyla had quickly caught the eye of the hierarchy.  Named a bishop at the age of 38, he became cardinal of Cracow at 47.  Pope John Paul I, his predecessor, died after only 33 days in the office.  Thus, John Paul brought to the papacy not only vigor and uncommon gifts for communication ( a former actor, he speaks more than a dozen languages) but also the skills of a seasoned administrator.  …American management expert Peter Drucker, as witty aside in a study a  dozen years ago, ranked the Roman Catholic Church as one of the three most efficiently administered organizations in world history.  (‘The other two were General Motors and the Prussian army general staff.)  What impressed Drucker was the Church’s capacity for survival and its impressive information flow at the top.”  Forbes, January 14, 1985.