UNLEASHING POTENTIAL IN STORYCENTRIC COMMUNITIES

The Leader’s Disproportionate Leverage

Leaders possess disproportionate leverage to advance a positive agenda or to impede progress in their corporations, communities, churches, and nations. For Good or for Bad President Bashar al-Assad, an egomaniacal leader with access to chemical weapons – wields far more power than a volunteer group that works tirelessly to lift up oppressed Syrian women. Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s reckless chairman who inherited his father’s unbridled power, holds nations in anxious limbo while a faith-based team in Pyongyang seeks peace without much notice. Nelson Mandela’s singular influence released a nation from oppression. And Steve Jobs’ foresight. changed the way the whole world listens to music. Histories of human societies chronicle consistent narratives of a few leaders whose disproportionate leverage brought either harm or healing to the masses. Today billions of people’s lives and futures are in peril because of a few tyrants. And billions of others have hope because of a few influential visionaries.

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The Leader’s Illusion

Instinct, a 2014 film about the interactions of a young, ambitious psychiatrist (played by Cuba Gooding) with a convicted killer (brilliantly enacted by Anthony Hopkins), highlights many leaders’ common illusion.1

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Ordinary Leaders – Extraordinary Leadership

Leadership Practices Inventory Assessment One of the requirements for my post-grad program in organizational leadership was to take an inventory to evaluate my own leadership practices. The results were predictable for an ordinary leader; I scored pretty well in some areas and not as well in others. But in one category my scores tanked! What do I do? I’ll try harder, but odds are not so high that I’ll ever excel in this area when leading others. Is there any hope for those who are led by ordinary leaders to experience extraordinary leadership?

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Challenge Your Tribe

Over the past forty years Americans have increasingly sorted themselves into communities of closely like-minded people: churches, volunteer groups, clubs, lobbies, and political parties. The result is a polarization that has transformed our historic preference for civil discourse into a vast echo chamber of hostile assault. We desperately need leaders who are persuadable, and can help challenge others in their own tribe. As far back as we know, people have belonged to tribes. This is how the human race survived; our tribes protect us, provide stability and predictability within community, and help us interpret reality.  It’s why we tend to be a part of tribes today.

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Church Leaders: Leading Change in the Church

Pragmatism in Practice “It doesn’t matter if it’s right; it only matters if it works.” This motto for leading change dominates 21st century corporations. It’s pragmatism in practice. Pick up any popular book on leading change. The odds are that you’ll find several underlying themes:

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Shipwreck Leadership

Recently I was reading the New Testament book of Acts. I wondered, Why would Luke the author devote such a long chapter of his book (27) to describe a voyage and shipwreck? Surely he could have spared us all the detail! But skilled as a writer and inspired by God, Luke presented important facts about Paul the courageous leader in a time of great crisis. Paul was prisoner aboard a ship bound for Rome. The ship had already encountered adverse winds, and November storms were looming. Speaking from experience – he had already been through three other shipwrecks – Paul warned the crew of impending danger. But as men in charge often do, they ignored him.

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The Dark Side of Literacy

Literacy is an extraordinary gift to people and societies. In 1439, Johann Gutenberg was tinkering around with an old winepress and adapted it to become the first movable-type printing press. His invention lit the fuse on a reading revolution. The wide distribution of ideas became possible for the first time in human history, and the mass production of books made it harder to suppress the flow of thought among common people. Printing led to a higher degree of accuracy and standardization of texts. The decrease in the cost of books made it possible for people to learn outside the traditional educational system. In short, reading and writing came within the reach of the masses, thus fueling unprecedented intellectual development, distributing political influence beyond the privileged elite, an improving overall economic security. Literacy is an extraordinary gift to people and societies.

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Prudent Leadership

Prudence has been an essential leadership virtue historically, but the word has largely fallen out of use. Prudence was considered one of the greatest of virtues two thousand years ago. A hundred years ago it was part of moral philosophy, and today it is the punchline of a joke. For people of a certain generation it will forever conjure up the memory of Dana Carvey impersonating George H. W. Bush saying, “Wouldn’t be wise; wouldn’t be prudent.”

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Are Good Leaders Born or Made?

Nineteen years ago “Marcell” was living in Thailand when he started an international ministry to rescue young girls and boys caught in human trafficking. For nearly two decades he has travelled the globe with tireless passion. He has built a respected ministry with a combination of hard work and charisma. As the ministry has grown, his staff has come to expect his presence and personal involvement in nearly every new initiative. But Marcell is getting older, and is visibly worn with the grind. He worries about the future of the ministry. But when asked about his plans for leadership succession, he comments, “That’s God’s job, not mine. Just as God anointed me, so He will raise up another to take my place.”

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Measuring Leadership Effectiveness

Leaders craft the cultures of their organizations – consciously or not – by what they consistently measure.  If leaders want something to become important – or remain important – in the minds and hearts of organizational stakeholders, they must figure out a way to measure it.  On the other hand, if leaders do not highlight a particular value or provide a means to measure it, that stated value will not likely be an actual value in the organization – especially in times of stress and pressure.

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How to use Technology in Leadership

Technology can be used for great evil or for great good. Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister for the Third Reich in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest associates. Goebbels shared Hitler’s virulent anti-Semitism, and avidly supported the extermination of Jews. Perhaps Goebbels was best known for his stirring propaganda speeches that were broadcast via radio throughout Europe.  He once stated, “It would not have been possible for us to take power or to use it in the ways we have without the radio.”  His influence through the use of available technology led millions to tolerate mass genocide. But the technology Goebbels intended for evil would be used by another leader for great good.

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Keep “Healthy” Before “Growth”

“Healthy growth” is an arresting notion. If “growth” is preceded by “healthy,” then people, communities, and organizations flourish.

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The Toxic Leader’s Seductive Promises

Most of us claim to be repulsed by toxic leaders, those who engage in destructive behaviors that result in serious and enduring harm to their followers. But the troubling reality is that people often follow them, and remain under their spell even when we clearly know their corruption and cruelty.

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Emotional Intelligence and Communism

I was teaching Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to a group of Christian executives. The attendees were gathered from various locations throughout Europe. I took my usual approach to present the topic, explaining that leaders who adjust their behavior to the needs of those they lead – self-regulation – are better at motivating others. I demonstrated through research and several true stories that this leadership behavior often generates a greater level of worker satisfaction that results in a higher level of productivity for the organization. As I labored on, Branko, who grew up under the communist regime in Serbia, became visibly agitated. He knows well the communist philosophy, tactics, and terminology of motivation. Finally, when he could no longer endure my presentation, he raised his hand and blurted out, “Your approach to Christian leadership is severely flawed. Your teaching implies that our ultimate motivation for practicing self-regulation is to get more productivity out of people so that the leaders and their organizations can be more successful.” “Yes,” I said “that’s correct.”  Do you have a problem with that?” “Yes,” Branko said, “I have a big problem with that. The kind of leadership you are proposing is virtually the same as the ‘carrot and stick’ approach that our communist dictators have used for decades to oppress the masses.”

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The “Matt Foley” Flaw and Genuine Motivation

Leaders are mistaken to think that people are not motivated.  Rather, people are simply longing for needs they cannot name. Twenty years ago, the late Chris Farley performed a comedy routine on Saturday Night Live. The sketch depicted a family with two delinquent teenagers. Dad hires a speaker, “Matt Foley,” to motivate his kids into better behavior. In addition to his disheveled and overweight appearance, Matt shouts insults at the teenagers, frequently loses his temper, and wallows in self-pity. Foley’s trademark line is warning the teenagers that they could end up like himself, being “35 years old, eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river!” The routine concludes when his speech has impacted the teenagers, but only because they don’t want to be like him.

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The Rookie Advantage

Experience can be a curse. Being new and naive can be an asset. New studies show that constant learning is more valuable than mastery. Conventional wisdom suggests that mastering a discipline would provide the knowledge worker with a competitive advantage. But the opposite is actually true. We are often at our best when we do something for the first time. We often see it on the athletic field, but it also plays out in the workplace. Leadership expert Liz Wiseman and her team of researchers studied almost 400 organizational scenarios, comparing the performance of productive veterans versus productive rookies. They defined a rookie as “someone who had never done that type of work” and a veteran as “someone who had previous experience with that type of work.” Here’s what they found:

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Impact of Leadership Development Experiences in a Transnational Organization

Abstract This study evaluated the impact of five alternative types of leadership development practices on ratings of leaders within a transnational organization. Impact was assessed with 360-degree ratings of leadership behaviors.  Results showed that self and superior ratings of leadership behaviors were higher for leaders who had completed at least one form of leadership development while follower ratings were higher only for those leaders who had completed a developmental job assignment.  Practical and theoretical implications raise questions about the usefulness of leadership development programs.

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My Journey Toward Understanding Leadership Development

Ordering a search of “leadership development” from Google currently yields 29 million menu options. Both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations invest billions of dollars each year on strategies intended to develop leaders. The pervasive need for better leaders in all spheres of private and public life teases our appetite for solutions.

But has all our investment of time, energy, and money paid off? What is the “return on investment (ROI)” for developing leaders? Do our efforts to develop leaders really work?  And if so, what kind of leadership development works?

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Insights on Power, Character, and the Ministry

Colin Buckland The Lost Art of Integrity A few years ago some colleagues and I hosted a series of one-day conferences for Christian leaders at a well-known London conference centre. The first two were a great success. A list of well-known speakers and a topical subject seemed to be the winning formula. Around 1,500 leaders attended each conference. The third was at the same place with the same formula, except for one change – the subject. We had decided, as conference organisers, that one of the most pressing needs among leaders was the development of integrity. We set the topic and posted the invitations, but when the day came, only 150 delegates attended. When we went on to hold a fourth conference on another topical subject, however, there was a huge turn out. Integrity seems to be a thorny subject for leaders!

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A Story of Ultimate Demotion

Upward Mobility In recent times, many have become familiar with the phrase upward mobility. The term has found its way around the world into everyday corporate cultures. But don’t think for a minute that upward mobility is a new concept. Interest in personal advancement dates back to the garden days of Adam and Eve. Questioning the concept of upward mobility causes a kind of inner turmoil that most people do not handle well. The mere mention of words like demotion, decreasing, and losing set off alarm signals in their minds. “Not me! Please! Let’s change the subject.  Let’s talk about promotion, increasing, and winning. Then you’ll have my full support. Then you’ll get my vote.” If you take a deep look within, you may find – as I have – that upward mobility has a hold on you in ways you aren’t even aware of.

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What is Virtuous Leadership?

Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.                                                                                                -Thucydides

Dwayne (fictitious name) recently retired after twenty-five years as president of a U.S. company. During his tenure, the business had doubled its customer base and added four new buildings to its physical plant. His leadership was widely considered successful. When Dwayne announced his retirement, the board announced that they would name one of the newly-constructed buildings in his honor. Dwayne was well-known and respected in his network.  His forty-seven-year marriage to Sarah was exemplary. He demonstrated discipline and modesty in his personal finances. During the last ten years of his presidency, Dwayne had been invited to serve on several boards of other organizations; he was generally respected by other senior executives. In contrast, Dwayne’s employees observed a different kind of leader.

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A Leadership Model for the Suffering Church

Sebastian (fictitious name) met us soon after the border officials had checked all our necessary papers and approved us for entry. For several days, Sebastian led us on a whirlwind tour of the church in mainland China. He told us stories about untold suffering. Along the way, Sebastian recounted his own personal journey as a Christian leader. Born into a Christian family in 1928, Sebastian’s father served as pastor of several churches. Sebastian followed in his father’s footsteps and became a noted church leader in southern China. As his leadership role became more prominent over the years, Sebastian faced increasing scrutiny from the Mao system. Unwilling to compromise his commitment to lead an “unregistered” church, he was arrested and served hard labor for twenty-three years in a communist prison camp. He was finally released when he was sixty-seven years old.  Sebastian was faithful to his leadership calling.  With a sense of satisfaction, he said, “Although I permanently lost my position and my personal influence, the church in China today is flourishing.” Sebastian’s story exemplifies leadership in the suffering church that may call for biblical alternatives to popular western leadership models.

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