On Leading Well

Year: 2014

  • Your Two Biggest Enemies

    As a spiritual leader you have two formidable enemies. Each picks at you daily, constantly, relentlessly.

    If left unchallenged each will undermine your ability to lead people onto God’s agenda.

    What are these two enemies? It’s not your culture. Or whatever -ism is in vogue this year. Or problems in your organization. Or other well-intentioned leaders vying for power or control (of course they would never say it quite that way).

    Henri Nouwen, in The Way of the Heart, a classic work on authentic spirituality that mines the insights of 4th and 5th century desert fathers and mothers of our common faith, suggests that the two main enemies of the spiritual life are anger and greed.

    Anger and greed are by-products of my compulsive self — my false self, or old nature — that craves affirmation from constant activity and others’ approval. Nouwen writes:

    Whether I am a pianist, a businessman or a minister, what matters is how I am perceived by my world. If being busy is a good thing, then I must be busy. If having money is a real sign of freedom, then I must claim my money. If knowing many people proves my importance, I will have to make the necessary contacts. The compulsion manifests itself in the lurking fear of failing and the steady urge to prevent this by gathering more of the same — more work, more money, more friends.

    [These compulsions] are the inner side of a secular life, the sour fruits of our worldly dependencies. What else is anger than the impulsive response to the experience of being deprived? When my sense of self depends on what others say of me, anger is a quite natural reaction to a critical word. And when my sense of self depends on what I can acquire, greed flares up when my desires are frustrated. Thus greed and anger are the brother and sister of a false self fabricated by the social compulsions of an unredeemed world.

    I’m taking some time this week to reflect on the impact anger and greed have on my leadership. A mentor once told me, “Ken, people can’t follow anger.” James tells us that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

    How do you fight against these two enemies of your leadership? 

     

  • The One Thing Leaders Want

    Leaders want dialog.

    You want the ability to discuss, debate, shape and influence a decision before it is made.

    The people you lead — or your teenage daughter, or the committee members at church, or the division heads of your organization — want the same thing with you.

    Honest, open dialog facilitates shared leadership. Leaders want to share leadership.

    This fascinated me, as when our organization restructured recently, one of the five principles guiding our efforts was “shared leadership.” Many leaders initially resisted this, claiming that the essence of leadership—at least in their culture—was having someone in charge to make the final decisions. Yet people don’t want to be led that way. They want to voice their opinions. They want to help shape overall direction. They long for the dynamic interaction among leader-followers that characterizes high performance teams. They want to be engaged in issues and decisions that they will ultimately own. They long to share leadership.

    Leaders want dialog.

    Read more on this topic in my book CLOSE: Leading Well Across Distance and Cultures.

     

  • Seek Rhythm, Not Balance

    The longer I live and the more places I visit, the more I appreciate changes in season. This week the weather in Orlando, Florida, where I live, shifted from dark-soggy-winter-chill to warm-bright-spring. The change naturally invites me to be outdoors more, leave work a bit early, and enjoy some long bike rides.

    My motivation wasn’t forced. It felt like a natural rhythm of grace.

    As a leader, the longer you lead, the more you have to pay attention to the natural seasons of leadership. Introducing another new change initiative when your team has been pushing hard to meet deadlines or deliver a fantastic event can feel like you’re pushing a huge boulder up a mountain. That boulder may be a combination of physical fatigue, emotional resistance, or simply too much at too fast a pace for too long.

    For years I fell under the false assumption that I could live a balanced life. Time management books promised me it was possible. Balance assumes I can keep all the plates spinning. I’m learning that seasonal rhythms – allowing some plates to fall and just remain on the ground – is actually the way God designed people and nature to work. When managed well, it feels more natural.

    For the past two months I lacked motivation to post on my blog. I would begin a new post and stare at the screen but nothing would come. I’d pray and feel guilty, but the well was dry. I reflected on my lack of motivation and realized that I had just come off a heavy season of writing, editing, and publishing my book CLOSE, an intense season of travel and meetings, and 10 days of fun holiday vacation with my family. Like an athlete, I simply needed some off-season time to allow my writing muscles to fully recover. Now I’m back.

    The wise teacher of Ecclesiastes 3 instructs us that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… a time to plant and a time to pluck…a time to break down, and time to build up… a time to weep and a time to laugh….”

    A wise leader knows what time it is. What season are you in?