Dream Awakener

The nature of a proactive report is that you go into the book with a few questions that you hope to answer.  It starts with an overview of the book, then a set of questions and finishes with a summary and synthesis.  So here is my thoughts on the Leadership Challenge, a book that has sold over a million copies.

Overview
Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge call ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things by seeing challenging circumstances in our world today as opportunities to practice leadership. Leadership involves gathering others together and calling out the best of them in order to meet specific challenges. The authors bottom line is that good leadership is understandable and a universal process (xxxv). So through research, surveys and case studies they articulate five practices of exemplary leadership that they discovered and the ten fundamental commitments for applying these leadership practices in a given context.

Proactive Questions

1. What are Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership that the authors identify and the corresponding ten commitments?

1. Model the Way by finding your voice and setting the example.
2. Inspire a Shared Vision by envisioning the future and enlisting others.
3. Challenging the Process by searching for opportunities and experimenting and taking risks.
4. Enabling Others to Act by fostering collaboration and strengthening others.
5. Encourage the Heart by recognizing contributions and celebrating the values and victories.

2. What proverbial wisdom in the first three chapters would be helpful to keep in mind when it comes to cultivating leaders? (Focusing on first three by way of example, interest and space)

Like the proverbs we find in scripture, they are not promises or rigid rules about life, but the best proverbs simply tell us how life works most of the time. Proverbs are bites of knowledge that when chewed and digested help people live more wisely. Here are some from these chapters: “You can’t pay people to care” (7), 360-degree feedback is valuable (11), leadership is about practice (13), leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue (15), leaders breath life into the dreams of others (16), leaders create climates of celebration (19), top qualities of admired leaders – honest, forward-looking, competent and inspiring (25).

Consistency between word and deed is how people judge someone to be honest (28), people are more likely to believe a message when the messenger is credible (33), make a statement with your life that is true to your heart (54), “Finding your voice is about engaging in the world” (55), “Words matter, there as much a form of expression for leaders as they are for poets, singers and writers” (57), three phases of self-expression for artist and us – exterior landscapes, interior landscapes and then painting ourselves (58), authentic leadership is lived from the inside out (62), engage in spiritual practices to find your voice, the song in your heart (65), record lessons from leaders you admire (67,68), write and asses your personal creed (69,70), collect stories that teach values (70), and “audits are only as effective as the questions you ask” (72).

3. How would I re-orient (through re-naming) some of the practices and commitments for People of the Way in church planting?

1. Model The Way through discovering your calling by surrendering to Gods dream for the world and living out your calling honestly in the context of community.
2. Cultivate Spirit-transforming Communities by living God’s future in the present and discerning the Spirit’s direction through the body.
3. Challenge the Status Quo by exegeting the culture and practicing crucified and resurrection living.
4. Equipping others to Live God’s Calling by cultivating interdependence as well as cultivating a learning, healing, welcoming, challenging and practicing environment.
5. Encourage the Heart by honoring the least, remembering God uses weak people and cultivating a culture of truth and celebration.

Summary and Synthesis

All truth is God’s truth and Kouzner and Posner give us much proverbial wisdom in how to live the leadership challenge.  I plan to list out the helpful proverbial wisdom from other chapters too.  Yet the danger when reading any books on leadership is forgetting to “challenge the status quo” by questioning the foundational presuppositions of the authors.  Jesus turned the concept of leadership on its head.   We must remember that we serve the God of the cross, the God of new creation and the God who uses foolish, weak and powerless people.