Our saint of the day wasn’t famous. He wasn’t the loudest apostle.
Yet when leadership was needed, he was ready.
What Saint Matthias teaches me as a leader of people—and of myself—is the importance of patience, faithfulness, and self- control. These are key virtues tied to loyalty, perseverance, and trust. Saint Matthias is a powerful example of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit described by Saint Paul in Galatians 5: 22–23.
When Jesus Christ selected the twelve apostles, Matthias was not on the original list. Yet he continued to serve quietly in the background. Then the unexpected happened: Judas Iscariot departed, and Matthias became the new number twelve.
In a culture obsessed with attention, influence, and self-promotion, Saint Matthias reminds us that patience, faithfulness, and self-control matter even when no one is watching.
Saint Matthias also prompts me to reflect on my own career and ask an uncomfortable question: Did I always demonstrate those virtues? The honest answer is a resounding no.
That reflection leads to an important leadership question: What does Saint Matthias teach us about employee turnover, trust, and retention?
Most of us recognize that workforce turnover varies significantly by age group. According to U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data (https://www. bls. gov/news. release/pdf/tenure. pdf), workers ages 25–34 have far shorter job tenure than older generations, often changing jobs every two to three years early in their careers.
Key data points include:
• Workers ages 25–34 had a median job tenure of 2. 2.7 years in 2024.
• Workers ages 55–64 had a median tenure of 9. 9.6 years.
• Overall median employee tenure across all workers was 3. 3.9 years in 2024.
Why the difference?
Younger workers entered a world shaped by layoffs, economic instability, disappearing pensions, rapid technological change, and cultures that reward mobility over long- term loyalty. Many prioritize growth, flexibility, purpose, and advancement opportunities over the traditional “stay with one company for life” mindset.
Employees often leave organizations in search of:
• Better compensation
• Stronger career growth opportunities
• Meaningful work
• Healthier workplace cultures
• Leadership they trust
• Greater long- term stability
Many become disengaged when advancement stalls, mentorship is lacking, communication weakens, or the workplace culture feels unhealthy or misaligned with their values.
But there is another issue many leaders underestimate: psychological safety and financial security. Experienced employees often begin developing private exit strategies long before leadership realizes there is a problem.
Why?
Many employees do not feel safe voicing concerns, frustrations, or disagreements without risking retaliation, marginalization, or instability. This is particularly true in privately held organizations, where compensation, promotion pathways, and leadership succession may feel uncertain.
Organizations that foster trust, transparent communication, reasonable severance structures, and clear growth pathways often retain key employees far longer.
The issue is not simply compensation. It is trust. Compensation is often the visible manifestation of trust.
I discussed this issue with an executive at a privately held engineering and manufacturing company that supports Department of Defense work. The company struggled to recruit and retain highly technical welders because developing those skills takes years. The same challenge exists across many technical professions.
The organization viewed compensation primarily through a short-term labor-cost lens.
My recommendation was simple: They needed to rethink how they viewed their technical workforce. Retention requires reward structures aligned with realistic career timelines and meaningful milestones. For example, a retirement incentive that matures at age 60+ does not work for most employees today, especially younger workers. Today, incentives need to be near term – two to three years. Employees need to believe that their sacrifice matters, that professional growth is achievable, that leadership values them, and that the organization intends to invest in them long term.
However, leaders must also recognize a practical reality: Employees ultimately weigh mission, culture, growth, and compensation against their responsibility to provide for their families. Many organizations mistakenly believe that the environment alone retains talent.
It does not.
An employee’s first allegiance is often to their family and long-term security.
Eventually, large compensation gaps create pressure points that push even highly committed employees to explore outside opportunities.
This becomes especially true for senior employees evaluating the security of their remaining working years.
The AIMS Framework
If organizations truly want to improve retention, career growth plans must become more intentional. Too often, employee development plans become watered-down administrative exercises that fail to achieve their purpose. Effective career pathways should include four key components:
AIMS
• Aspirational — Supports the employee’s personal goals and ambitions.
• In-View — Achievable within a realistic timeline of approximately two to three years.
• Measurable — Includes clear feedback mechanisms and progress indicators.
• Stretchable — Requires meaningful commitment and growth from both the employee and the organization.
A fifth factor can further strengthen retention: Family buy-in. If a spouse or family member believes in the career path and trusts the organization to honor its commitments, they often become a force multiplier for retention. That trust matters.
So what does this have to do with Saint Matthias?
Everything.
What Saint Matthias teaches us is patience, faithfulness, and self-control (a key source of loyalty). He is a poster boy for these virtues, which Saint Paul calls the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).
When Jesus Christ chose the twelve disciples, Matthias didn’t make the short list. Yet he continued to serve quietly in the background. When the moment came, he was ready. Judas Iscariot left, and Matthias became the new number twelve.
In a culture obsessed with attention and self-promotion, Saint Matthias reminds us that patience, faithfulness, and self-control matter even when nobody sees it.
He was not one of the “famous” apostles, but he remained loyal. And that loyalty eventually mattered enormously – changing the world forever!
Opportunity often comes after long, unseen preparation.
Organizations should remember the same lesson. Employees stay longer when trust, opportunity, compensation, and purpose align.
Follow the saints. They have something important to teach modern leaders.
Sources:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/tenure.pdf
Gallup Workplace Research: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231587/millennials-job-hopping-generation.aspx
