11.08.08
LeadershipNEXT
Eddie Gibbs little book, one of the best in the last few years on leadership, keeps popping up. Recently I dug back in looking for a quote and rediscovered the power of the second chapter, titled “Why Leadership Styles Must Change.” Eddie bases much of this chapter on the work of Harlan Cleveland. On page 65 he writes about the implications of the shift from the center to the margins (the end of Christendom really. See also this previous post.)
But there are two components to this location. The first is the end of Christendom. The second is the new location of postmodernity and discontinuous change. In this location we have to learn to swim in the waters of complexity and so we require leaders who are not stuck or insecure when it comes to change and adaptation (similarly see Roxburgh in The Sky is Falling). This is why many current leaders are lost; they are specialists, not generalists. They have learned to survive in a compartmentalized world. That is no longer possible. Cleveland lists eight attitudes that are indispensable to the management of complexity.
* a lively intellectual curiosity; an interest in everything — because everything really is related to everything else.
* a genuine interest in what other people think and why
* a feeling of responsibility for envisioning an alternate future
* a hunch that risks are not to be avoided
* a mindset that crises are normal, tensions can be promising and complexity is fun
* a realization that paranoia and self-pity are reserved for people who don’t want to lead
* a sense of responsibility for outcomes
* “unwarranted optimism” and a love for innovation –the conviction that there must be some more upbeat outcome than would be available by adding up all the expert advice
NextReformation » Borderland Churches said,
December 1, 2009 at 12:05 pm
[...] I appreciated that Gary closes this chapter with a challenge to theological reflection as well as courage to resist the calls to “go back to Egypt.” We want the story to be about us.. our comfort, our welfare. But this isn’t the story that God is writing — it is much, much larger. A consumer focused ministry is not about the Gospel, but about a distorted western reading shaped by the Enlightenment and a market culture. Gary quotes Eddie Gibbs in Leadership Next, and then we move to chapter two.. [...]
Resonate » Blog Archive » Borderland Churches I - A growing missional friendship of Canadians exploring the Gospel in Canadian culture. said,
December 16, 2009 at 3:02 pm
[...] I appreciated that Gary closes this chapter with a challenge to theological reflection as well as courage to resist the calls to “go back to Egypt.†We want the story to be about us.. our comfort, our welfare. But this isn’t the story that God is writing — it is much, much larger. A consumer focused ministry is not about the Gospel, but about a distorted western reading shaped by the Enlightenment and a market culture. Gary quotes Eddie Gibbs in Leadership Next, and then we move to chapter two.. [...]