Introduction: Where Excellent Leadership Truly Begins
In conversations about leadership, it is common to begin with strategy, execution, or vision. Those matter. But in my experience, excellent leadership does not begin there.
It begins deeper—with desiring excellence and seeking wisdom.
That is why I was grateful for the opportunity to sit down with Jonathan J. Sanford, President of the University of Dallas, as part of the Seeking Excellent Leaders podcast. What emerged from our conversation was a thoughtful and grounded reflection on leadership rooted not in technique, but in virtue—particularly curiosity, humility, magnanimity, and the daily practice of wisdom.
Leaders Begin With Wonder
When I asked President Sanford about the essential characteristics of an excellent leader, he did not immediately list competencies or outcomes. Instead, he spoke about curiosity and wonder.
An excellent leader, he explained, is someone who genuinely wants to understand—how things work, how they can be improved, how form and beauty relate to purpose. This posture of wonder reflects an openness to reality as it is, rather than a desire to control it prematurely.
What struck me most was how closely Sanford tied wonder to humility. Not humility understood as weakness or self-erasure, but humility as honest recognition: recognition of one’s gifts, recognition of one’s limitations, and recognition that those gifts come from a giver.
In this sense, humility is not opposed to excellence. It is its foundation.
Magnanimity: Aspiring to Great Things for the Right End
From humility, President Sanford moved naturally to magnanimity.
Magnanimity, as he described it, is greatness of soul oriented toward a worthy end. It is the willingness to aspire to great—and even glorious—things, not for personal acclaim, but in gratitude for the gifts one has received.
For Sanford, magnanimity is inseparable from purpose. Gifts are not given merely to be preserved; they are given to be exercised in service of something greater. Leadership, therefore, calls a person to aim high, but always with clarity about the ultimate end toward which those efforts are ordered.
Magnanimity, rightly understood, does not inflate the ego. It disciplines it.
Wisdom as Understanding First Causes and Principles
As our conversation deepened, President Sanford turned to wisdom—particularly the kind of wisdom that precedes action.
He spoke about prudence not merely as practical judgment, but as something grounded in understanding. Before leaders can act well, they must understand what they are acting for. That requires reflection on first causes and principles.
This is not an abstract exercise. Sanford pointed out that organizations, institutions, and even specific initiatives all have first causes and purposes. An excellent leader is curious about those underlying principles—about what something is, why it exists, and what it is meant to achieve.
Wisdom, then, is not simply knowing what works.
It is knowing why something ought to work in the first place.
A Living Example: Saint John Paul II
When I asked President Sanford to name someone who exemplified excellent leadership, he spoke without hesitation about Saint John Paul II.
What Sanford admired was not simply John Paul II’s historical influence, but the integration of humility and magnanimity throughout his life. John Paul II aspired to great things—most notably the salvation of souls—while remaining deeply aware of his identity as a son of the Father and a servant of others.
Sanford also noted how John Paul II built networks of friendship rooted in a shared pursuit of holiness, integrity, and solidarity. Leadership, in this view, was not solitary or transactional. It was relational, formative, and deeply human.
For Sanford, John Paul II remains a compelling example of excellence grounded in wisdom and ordered toward the common good.
Formation Through Personal Witness: A Father’s Example
Our conversation then turned from public exemplars to personal formation.
President Sanford shared that his first and most influential model of leadership was his father. His father’s life—marked by abandonment and hardship in childhood—was nevertheless shaped by perseverance, faith, and courage. Through the influence of a priest and later mentors, Sanford’s father overcame significant wounds and built a life characterized by integrity and resilience.
What stood out was not triumphalism, but fidelity—doing what was right even when it was difficult, resisting injustice, and persevering in vocation and responsibility.
Leadership, Sanford reminded me, is often formed quietly, long before it is exercised publicly.
The Daily Practice of Excellence
Perhaps the most practical portion of our conversation came when I asked President Sanford how he personally approaches leadership formation.
He described a daily rhythm that begins and ends with reflection. At the start of the day, he prays and anticipates the situations he expects to face—whether joyful or tense—asking for the grace to act virtuously and respond well in each circumstance.
At the end of the day, he conducts an examination of conscience—not only to assess moral shortcomings, but to reflect on leadership itself. Did he act in accordance with the aspirations he had set that morning? Did he rise to the standard of excellence he desired?
This practice, Sanford explained, has become a leadership framework—one that keeps excellence from becoming abstract and instead makes it a daily pursuit.
Wisdom Tested in Community
President Sanford also emphasized the importance of being tested by others.
He spoke about his appreciation for biographies of leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, particularly Lincoln’s willingness to surround himself with people who disagreed with him. Disagreement, when approached with humility, sharpens judgment. It forces leaders to refine their thinking, confront weaknesses, and deepen understanding.
Leadership excellence, in this sense, is never formed in isolation.
It is shaped in community—through dialogue, challenge, and mutual sharpening.
Excellence as a Lifelong Ascent
As our conversation drew to a close, one theme became unmistakably clear: excellence is never complete.
President Sanford spoke candidly about leadership formation as an ongoing process. One does not arrive at excellence once and for all. One approaches it, revisits it, and recommits to it daily.
That posture—rooted in wonder, humility, magnanimity, and wisdom—is what makes leadership sustainable over time.
Excellent leadership is not about arrival.
It is about faithful ascent.
And it is wisdom—patiently sought and practiced—that makes that ascent possible.
