White smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday afternoon as Pope Leo XIV, formerly the American cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected as the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Leo, a 69-year-old Chicago native, is the church's first-ever pope born in the United States. He became a priest in 1982, splitting time between the U.S. and Peru over the ensuing three decades. He most recently honed his leadership skills during eight years as Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, and two years as a cardinal and Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Vatican City.

He has rarely spoken with the press and largely eschewed the limelight. Some people who have worked with him describe an even-keeled, pragmatic listener who may stay quiet until he's made up his mind.

"The cardinal has the courtesy to ask for an opinion, even if it's from the simplest or most humble person," Jesus Leon Angeles, a coordinator of a Catholic group in Chiclayo who has known the pope for seven years, told Reuters on Thursday. "He knows how to listen to everyone."

Boisterous speakers are often seen as great communicators, but active listeners are actually more likely to be highly influential, leadership expert Scott Mautz wrote for CNBC Make It on April 16.

"Their attentiveness means you're probably much more inclined to believe they have your best interests at heart, to seek and take their advice, to take their input into account, and to want to help them out with anything they might need," wrote Mautz.

Asking thoughtful questions can help make people listen to you, communication expert Matt Abrahams told CNBC Make It on September 18: "It demonstrates you care, it demonstrates empathy, it demonstrates you're willing to learn and, in some cases, admit you don't know everything. Those are all valuable tools and assets to have when you're trying to grow your career or deepen relationships."

In Chiclayo, Leo was known for following the same routine regardless of external circumstances, the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for the pope's former diocese, told the Associated Press in an email.

"No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy," wrote Purisaca.

In terms of church policy, Leo represents a "dignified middle of the road," Rev. Michele Falcone, a president in the Peruvian Order of St. Augustine, told The New York Times on May 2. He's expected to share predecessor Pope Francis' passion for social justice, particularly as it relates to impoverished people and immigrants. As a prefect, he added three women to an important voting bloc for bishop nominations.

In contrast to Francis, Leo has expressed relatively unwelcoming views to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church, saying the "homosexual lifestyle" was "at odds with the gospel" in a 2012 speech to bishops, according to the Times. In Peru, he also opposed a government plan for more progressive gender education in schools, the publication noted.

His tenure as a cardinal wasn't without controversy: He had been criticized for allegedly mishandling an investigation into two priests accused of sexual abuse, while working as a bishop in Chiclayo.

When asked about leadership qualities all bishops should have in a 2023 interview with Vatican News, then-Cardinal Prevost cited a lesson he learned from Francis: "We must not hide behind an idea of authority that no longer makes sense today. The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers."

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