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Finding a culturally relevant, yet biblically sound new book on leadership is about as easy as Goldilocks happening upon the perfect pot of porridge. There are more seeds to spit out than meat to digest. What is worse is the thought that today's too hot pot of leadership and ethical porridge might cool down to be acceptable for the church leader tomorrow.
As a young pastor, a defining ministry book for me was a 1982 Gospel Light publication from Frank Tillapaugh titled The Church Unleashed. It was later remarketed as Unleashing the Church (1985). Tillapaugh's writings, with an emphasis upon the priesthood of the believer, promoted releasing the body to serve. Coming from churches that emphasized strong, top-down, pastoral leadership, it was like a refreshing breeze. It helped me become sensitive to the danger of strong leaders, even well-intentioned ones, from smothering cooperative followers.
In the past several decades of ministry, I have observed primarily two leadership styles within the church and parachurch organizations. One leader looks like the statue of the giant Atlas holding up the world. He seems to be pushing everyone around him higher and further. The other resembles royalty being lofted in a gestatorial chair. In the first scenario, leaders are a resource to followers, bringing out the best in them. In the other, followers are the props to exalt and promote the leader.
Like Goldilocks, I jumped at the opportunity to review the 2020 Harvard Business Review Press publication, Unleashed. With the familiar title, I imagined a Tillapaugh-esque, turn-your-followers-loose manifesto. At first, I was not disappointed.
Frances Frei, along with her partner, Anne Morriss, offers good insight into the necessity of trust for effective leadership. Drawing from Aristotle's three elements of persuasion, the authors substitute Logos, Ethos, and Pathos with Logic, Authenticity, and Empathy. Frei provides good illustrations of these principles from her days at Uber. The section on finding your wobble, the weak link that everyone possesses, is particularly insightful and offers the steps to identifying your personal opportunity for growth.
Frei and Morriss also offer good principles on clear communication. As opposed to the dramatic effect with its circuitous pathway, as many preachers are prone toward, they suggest the straight line of telling what you are going to say, saying it, and then telling what you just told. It seems a bit boring, but admittedly effective.
Not too far into the book, however, the indigestible seeds began to appear. In the name of diversity, the book becomes a little preachy and repetitive. Frei, a cross-dressing Harvard Prof, exposes her agenda for promoting wholesale approval of the LGBTQ community. The message of acceptance, however, appears a bit one-sided. It is reminiscent of the modern description of diversity as being Everyone looking different but thinking alike.
Like Goldilocks, with a bit of disappointment in my first choice, I was then drawn toward another Harvard Business Review Press publication, The Sponsor Effect (2019). This time it was the subtitle, How to be a Better Leader by Investing in Others, that caught my attention. Once again, I was thinking Servant-Leader but found another Self-Serving Leader approach.
The author, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, makes a strong case for formally taking on proteges in corporate settings and even provides a practical "Playbook for Success" in Part Two. The clear motivation, however, is the benefit of the sponsor.
Essentially, talented "sponsees" make the sponsor look good and if by chance they climb past the sponsor, they become valuable contacts. Once again, the benefit of the leader trumps those he serves.
In a seminary course on mentoring, the late Howard Hendricks stated, There is a danger when the mentor needs the mentee more than vice versa. Maybe that is the message that motivates people to buy mentoring books and to take on sponsors, but it is not what drives the biblical leader.
Like Goldilocks, if I found one book too hard, the other one was too soft. There are fewer third choices, however, for finding current leaders and authors who promote a biblical servant leadership. Until something changes, we keep reading, realizing that we can learn from just about anyone and everyone, but reading with discernment lest we move from leaders caring for the sheep to ones who feed off them.
 | Phil Wood (PhD, DMin) is pastor of Fellowship Church, licensed counselor with Meier Clinics, and candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois' 8th Congressional District. Learn More » |
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