On Leading Well

Author: Ken

  • The Leadership Edge: Initiating

    She left Ireland to serve Christ in Japan at 26 years old. After 15 months she sailed for Sri Lanka, ultimately ending up in India. While there, Amy became deeply burdened by what she saw.

    It was 1901 and Amy had just returned from a year of ministry to the villages when she was greeted by a sweet, seven-year-old girl, Preena (or “Pearl Eyes”). She had escaped from the temple and looked to Amy for help. Displeased temple people came screaming and yelling–but slowly their anger subsided and the crowd dispersed. Amy was left with Preena. And so began the work of what would later be known as Dohnavur Fellowship.

    When asked by one of her young women, “Amma, what does it mean to be a leader?” Amy Carmichael was heard to reply: “Be the first wherever there is a sacrifice to be made, a self-denial to be practiced, or an impetus to be given.”

    OK, call me old-fashioned, but that smells like Christ-centered change-the-world servant leadership to me. The funny thing is, I can’t name many missions organizations or churches that would knowingly allow someone to be sent halfway around the world, to a dangerous place, to start a ministry or a movement, by themselves, today. Can you? Did I mention that Amy remained in India for 55 years, until her death at 83, without a single furlough? The work at Dohnavur continues to this day, over a century later. Check their site.

    Have we lost the leadership edge?

    What is the edge? INITIATION. Change leadership is all about being the first wherever there is a sacrifice to be made, a self-denial to be practiced, or an impetus to be given.

    Question for change agents: Do I see any place to initiate?

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  • Blogference 2008: Lead Change by Bridging The Gap

    Yes, you’re at the right place. Welcome to the Blogference on Leading Change.

    Each day several of us will be posting entries on some aspect of leading change. You’re invited to read, reflect, and respond. I hope this will serve as a great exposure to other thinkers and their ideas about living well and leading well.

    On this blog we’ll explore this idea: Lead Change by Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap.

    What is the Knowing-Doing Gap? It’s a very dangerous place. If left unexplored it can grow into a black hole of fear, pride, and traditionalism. Worst of all – nothing grows there. Jesus described the gap this way:

    Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. (Matthew 23:1-7, ESV)

    What does this have to do with leading change in an organization? Well, everything. An organization is simply a group of people who work together toward a common end. It can be as small as a family or as large as a sprawling multinational corporation. As members of an organization, it’s easy for us to wait for someone else to change first. We say things like “If only the leadership – they – would do this or change that, then I could….” This type of thinking creates passivity. Desirable change occurs each time a person in that organization chooses to act in accordance with what they know is right.

    Leadership is initiative. Leadership is character in action.

    This concept is captured well in some recent ads by Liberty Mutual.

    The first requirement for leading change is to model the Way. Jesus, without question the greatest organizational change agent who ever lived, knew that. So it comes as no surprise that James Kouzes and Barry Posner, co-authors of The Leadership Challenge, list Modeling The Way as the starting point for exemplary leadership. (BTW: If you don’t have that book on your shelf, you’re missing out on one of the best books published in the last 1,000 years on leadership.)

    Lesson for change agents: Start here. Lead change by modeling the way.

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  • Know Your People

    Last night I witnessed some excellent old-fashioned leadership at Timber Creek High School’s Awards Night. Following the opening fanfare, principal John Wright rose to introduce the “Leaders of the Pack.” Out of a graduating senior class of 1,000 and a high shool with an enrollment of 4,500, these 16 or so Timber Creek Wolves were selected from among the top 70 recommended by faculty as leaders among their peers.

    Travis and I both gawked in amazement. Mr. Wright introduced each student by name, then added personal remarks such as “Tim Gooldy, dual-sport athlete in soccer and lacrosse, also a member of such and such clubs and the National Honor Society, and….” Why were we amazed? Because the man had no notes in front of him. He knew these students.

    People today long to be known. Whether Wolves or sheep or people, servant leaders know well the state of their flock. Way to go, John Wright!

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