David Miscavige: A Remarkable Leader

Then I saw who it was: David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. He was smiling broadly. “It was on a commercial during a Lakers game! It was hilarious! I laughed my head off!”

Here David Miscavige was, a person I’d never had a conversation with, had only seen from a distance of 35 rows, give or take, from audience to stage, whose 24/7 job is protecting, preserving and expanding a religious movement involving millions of parishioners and 11,000 Churches, Missions and groups spanning some 170 countries, taking the time to tell me he’d seen my kid in a 15-second commercial on television and how much he liked it.

“Thank you,” I said, and took his offered hand.

“You guys must be pumped!” he grinned, shaking my hand. And then—with a wave and a salute—he was off.

“How does he do that?” I wondered. Yet he did. He recognized me, knew who I was, knew who my kid was. He must have looked up the young man and found that he was from a Scientologist family and made a point of stopping me in the hall and letting me know what a great thing it all was. Then, during our brief interchange, he made me feel like I was the only person in the world and that it was the high point of his day to stop and congratulate me on my kid’s acting performance in a television commercial.

David Miscavige: Remarkable Leader

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “When one is lucky enough to get to meet and talk to the men and women who are at the top of their professions, one is struck by an observation often made that they are just about the nicest people you ever met. That is one of the reasons they are at the top: they try, most of them, to treat others well.”

I’ve long been familiar with that quote. It’s from The Way to Happiness, a nonreligious moral code based on common sense that swiftly inspired an international movement reaching millions on how to live a rich and ethical life. And though I know that passage by heart, rarely, if ever, have I seen it in action.

In a world too often immersed in self-importance and intolerance of others, it’s comforting to know there is a David Miscavige among us, driven only by a purpose to help others and focused on the greatest good—a remarkable leader who routinely makes decisions that affect continents, yet who cares enough to share the joys of one proud father like me.