300 years of wisdom
Today’s leadership lesson is brought to you by not one, but two, very old books.
I enjoyed the challenge of this week’s assignment, perhaps a little too much. I went down a bit of a nerdy rabbit hole[1] and ended up skimming through four books before sitting down to write. I had to stop myself from picking up a fifth even though its title is quite intriguing: A General History of the Pyrates published in 1724.
In the end I chose to weave together two very different books because they speak to the same leadership lesson: consistency.
Let’s begin with a look at the Book of Common Prayer, originally published in 1549.[2] The work of creating a Protestant liturgy and then compiling the various elements of the BCP is credited to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. A British church leader during the Reformation, Cranmer’s concern was to make faith and faith practices accessible to normal people who had jobs and families and everyday concerns. Christian faith was no longer a realm to be managed and mediated by priests who could order their lives around seven fixed times of daily prayer. Prayer had to work for busy working people, so Cranmer instituted the observance of two prayer times: Morning Prayer and Evensong. Cranmer was also concerned that normal people had access and were encouraged to read through the entirety of scripture. Thus, he structured a Bible reading calendar such that nearly the whole Old Testament is read through once each year and the New Testament twice.[3]
We begin to see there is immense overlap between faith practice and leadership lessons. Luckily, I’m writing to a roomful of Christian leaders, so I can talk about both. If you’re like me, you learned early on in your Christian journey to spend regular time in prayer and Bible study. In my case, and I’m guessing yours as well, those practices have grown and morphed over the years. Perhaps, like me, you have even used the Book of Common Prayer in your personal or corporate times of worship. In some seasons these faith practices yield beautiful fruit; other seasons they feel dryer and it may become a struggle to maintain an intimate connection with God. But through it all, when we just keep showing up in prayer and in the Word, the consistency of meeting with God does something transformative in us.
What does all this have to do with leadership? I see the same principle at work. We’ve learned about being undefended, RARE, non-anxious leaders aware of our biases and working to untangle wicked problems. We’ve also all lived enough life to know that we’re not going to knock it out of the park every day, in every leadership decision we make. There are going to be fruitful periods and periods of struggle. But by consistently showing up and leading out of who we are we will make progress over time. We will lead our organizations, teams, and businesses forward. After all, slow and steady wins the race.
That brings me to my second book, like I promised in the beginning of this post. You’ll recognize the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, but I’m citing the French version by Jean de la Fontaine which was published in his sixth book of fables in 1668.[4] In leadership it is all too easy to become resentful or intimidated when another leader or organization sprints ahead like the hare in the well-known fable. It’s all too easy to question ourselves when our own journey looks different, perhaps more tortoise-like.
I am reminded of something that Eve Poole talks about on numerous platforms and that is the idea of templating. She advises leaders to identify areas of weakness and intentionally invest in growing in these areas.[5] This has become my personal tortoise-like approach to growing as a leader and reaching my goals in ministry. One area of growth at a time. Pick one thing and intentionally improve my skills. Move forward. Consistently.
Because sometimes the simplest lessons are the best.
[1] Here’s where the rabbit trail started, if you’re interested.
[2] The Book of Common Prayer. London, 1549.
[3] Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (London: Hodder and Stoughton Ldt. 2014) 241
[4] Jean de la Fontaine, Le livre VI des Fables de La Fontaine (1668)
[5] Eve Poole, Leadersmithing TedX.
About the Author
Kim Sanford
5 responses to “300 years of wisdom”
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Kim,
Your post is very encouraging at this stage in the doctoral program. “Move forward. Consistently.” One foot in front of the other, one day at a time. I need to remind myself that the tortoise was slow but consistent and reached the finish line. As I age, I see that those who live lives of spiritual consistency have much less regret on the other side of 50. They may not always have much acclaim, but they are content and have weathered life with a powerful sense of solidity.
Thank you again for your helpful post!
Kim- what a fun overlay of these two books! As I was reading your coverage of the Common Book of Prayer, I was struck with a mechanism used in the field of Process Improvement. It’s called “standard work,” and refers to the idea of setting up a formula of sorts for tasks at work so that there is less error and greater predictability and efficiency. The analogy breaks down eventually, but this is the first time I had thought of the Book of Prayer being like standard work for Christians!
That makes complete sense. That sounds a lot like what I often teach parents about creating systems in their homes and for their children. Identify something that’s not working (hmm, sounds a bit like an NPO actually) and create a system that addresses it. The BCP offered a system to help lay people connect with God.
Kim, I thik this was one of our most fun assignments!
I love how both you and Kalli used the Tortoise and the Hare. Fables and myths can be powerful tools for us to learn life lessons about anything….including leadership.
And I appreciated your tie from the Common book of prayer back to RARE Leadership and a non-anxious presence. That was a great, unexpected connection for me.
I love the common book of prayer. I am not consistent with this type of thing and always felt like I was a “bad Christian” because I didn’t do my daily devotions! Later I came to realize I spent time daily with God in other ways not so reading and writingish. I like having a book to go to though that has rhythym and has a communal aspect. What creative way to weave these books together and to focus on consistency for Leadership! Thanks!