A Pope in image of his followers by Tony Green

Image of a Catholic Church

The unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict will require the voting cardinals from around the world to assemble at a conclave to vote on who the next leader of the Catholic Church will be.  I describe myself as a Christian, and while I have never even attended a mass or made confession with a priest, I could not help to ponder the question of whether the Pope should reflect the face of his worshippers?”

The last two pontiffs chosen to be pope were of European descent, the recently retired Benedict XVI is from Germany and Pope John Paul II was from Italy.

This is stark contrast with the composition of the Catholic Church globally. According to the CIA Factbook, as of 2009, there were over 1.1 billion Catholics worldwide (over 17% of the world’s population) and 75% of these reside in countries outside of Europe.  

These countries include the Americas (North central and South), Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. What is the possibility of the new Pope being selected from one of these locations? Is the election determined by tradition? Perhaps it is the Will of God?

As the conclave gets underway in a few weeks to elect a new Pope although I have no direct proof other then my intuition who wants to bet the cardinal which will be voted as the 266^th pope elected since 32 A.D. will be of the same ethnicity of Benedict XVI and John Paul II?

Upon further review the United States is 12% African-American according to the latest census and Barack Obama was recently re-elected as its president for a second time so who are Americans and me in particular to judge what the face of any organizations chosen leader should look like?

The value of an MBA, why are we still discussing this after 10 years? By Tony

Image of a MBA graduate holding his diploma

I read an article from Smart Money magazine from 2003 about whether an M.B.A. is worth the time and money. At the time, I was in the process of deciding if I wanted to go back to school since getting a graduate degree had always been a long time goal of mine and my recent layoff gave me the opportunity to seriously think about enrolling. The article spoke with about some people who forged ahead and completed their M.B.A. degrees yet found themselves no further along their career paths. In short, no guarantees existed of a rapid rise up the corporate ladder in income and status which was associated with earning the degree in the 70’s and 80’s.

This does not necessarily mean getting an M.B.A. degree does not have its value. The article stressed the importance of having a strategy for applying what you learn in the classroom.

I decided to enroll and finished my coursework in 2005 by attending classes for 22 months. I learned a lot from my classmates and instructors but I am unsure if I fared better professionally even though my goal transitioning into sales and marketing from my engineering background was accomplished.

You would think in the ten years since the writing of the article the argument would have been settled one way or the other. Where will this all be in another 10 years when current holders of bachelor degrees will ponder whether to make the leap?

Will prospective M.B.A. students be asking the same question in 2023? Will the answer be different than the answer is today or 10 years ago?