Leveling Up
This Sunday, we are finishing our series “Tales From the Scrypt…ures”. Get it? It’s a play off the old television series “Tales from the Crypt.” It’s spooky season, so we are diving into Bible stories that are a bit eerie and usually avoided on a Sunday morning. The one I’ll be unpacking this Sunday is about the Levite’s concubine in Judges 19-21, and, believe it or not, Edgar and Peter Schein’s Humble Leadership has been helpful while wading through this horrific story all week in my preparation. It helps balance out all the heaviness and tragedy of this narrative.
This is the story of a Levite who cuts his concubine into 12 pieces. He then sends them to the tribes of Israel to showcase the moral depravity in Gibeah after she is abused all night and left for dead. The problem is the Levite, and all of Israel for that matter, is just as morally depraved as the people of Gibeah. As you read through these three chapters, it’s extremely disturbing. Reading it again turned my stomach a few times. People at this time were indifferent, prideful, undiscerning, cruel, selfish, deceptive, violent, impulsive, and tribal to a fault.
Judges 21:25, the last verse in the book, states:
“In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”
According to Edgar and Peter Schein’s levels model, Israel would have been a level -10 in relationships. As I stated before, the nation had declined into a cold, inhospitable, prideful, undiscerning, and selfish place.
Leadership matters. Through leaders, God brings change to a nation in major moral decay. God’s Spirit begins moving in Samual to raise up kings as an answer to wicked problems in Israel. The kings were not perfect either, but it was a significant level-up for the nation, at least for a while.
Humble Leadership is about a new regime and leadership style for the 21st century, and I believe it, too, is desperately needed. Schein’s humble leadership model is about moving away from hierarchical structures and fear-based motivations, using employees as a means to an end, and viewing people as a role rather than a human. Humble leadership is about moving toward teams built on closer relationships, trust, vulnerability, collaboration, and openness. Schein paves the way for leaders to graduate from level 1, which is very transactional and “professional,” to level 2, 2.5, and even 3 in some cases. It is about moving to 
greater intimacy. Of course, they caveat this with appropriateness within the organization, but “personization”,[i] as they call it, is necessary for transformational leadership, which is in step with much of what Anabel Beerel presents in “Rethinking Leadership”. [ii]
Change is NOT easy. Although “leveling up” sounds nice in theory, it always comes with difficulties. Even though Schein is addressing larger organizations, I think what he says here is true in so many situations, “Humble Leadership in the large and mature organizations is clearly the most challenging because what is new and better will inevitably be compared with the technical and social conventions that made the organization successful in the first place. Long-time members of the organization especially might be hesitant to work for change when existing systems had always been considered ‘good enough’.” [iii]. Sometimes an organization, family, or nation, like Israel in the final chapters of Judges, is so busted that people are desperate for change. However, it’s easy to have the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality. The struggle with this attitude is that it does work for some (usually the higher-ups), but it’s broke and not working for others, which is why Humble Leadership is important but challenging. It gives more people influence, credit, and input, which can hit others’ egos. We also don’t know if these “new innovative ideas” will work, so there is a legitimate fear of failure, loss, and being wrong.
Fear seems to be the root problem in the first place. According to the Humble Leadership model, prioritizing performance, numbers, and the bottom line may be what is feeding transactional relationships. Of course, these things are important since businesses, churches, and organizations have real employees with actual salaries, benefits, and families, but that can’t be the ultimate motivating factor. Leading from fear and anxiety, whether that is fear of loss, fear of failure, anxiety of rejection, etc., never usually works out well in the long run and creates a cold, tense, and shallow work environment. I love that we are discovering that organizations that lead with compassion, empathy, relationships, openness, warmth, and vulnerability can still hit their KPIs and succeed in even more meaningful areas.
I have to end with a great quote from The Humble Church by Dr. Martyn Percy,
“Humility is often grounded in knowing that you cannot know everything, and so are prepared to receive from and be taught by others. Instead of hoping you have all the answers, the humble person knows they are incomplete and is unafraid of learning and responding authentically to new questions. The Word made flesh shows the way. Christ, in being all-loving and loving-to-all, is able to live within the constraints of humanity because love itself is receptive. It is dialogue, not just monologue; it is reception, not just projection; it listens, learns, and changes and does not presume to hide behind the power of propaganda. Truth and love, when embodied, will find a home in humility, but not in hubris.”[iv]
[i] Schein, Edgar H., and Peter A. Schein, Humble Leadership, Second Edition: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust, Second Edition. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2023,
[ii] Beerel, Annabel C. Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories. 1 Edition. New York: Routledge, 2021.
[iii] Schein, Humble Leadership, 71.
[iv] Percy, Martyn, The Humble Church: Becoming the Body of Christ, London: Hymns Ancient & Modern, 2021, 14.
About the Author
Adam Harris
I am currently the Associate Pastor at a church called Godwhy in Hendersonville, TN near Nashville. We love questions and love people even more. Our faith community embraces God and education wholeheartedly. I graduated from Oral Roberts University for undergrad and Vanderbilt for my masters. I teach historical critical Biblical studies at my church to help our community through their questions and ultimately deepen their faith. I love research, writing, learning, and teaching. I oversee our staff and leadership development. Before being at Godwhy I worked as a regional sales coach and director for Anytime Fitness. I've been married for over 13 years to my best friend and we have two amazing boys that keep us busy.8 responses to “Leveling Up”
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Nice post and nice tie-in to Martyn Percy’s book. I’m coming off a team retreat where all our organization’s workers across France get together, so I’m especially struck by what you said: “Humble leadership is about moving toward teams built on closer relationships, trust, vulnerability, collaboration, and openness.” In my context there was a lot of conversation about this over the past week, particularly about how we build relationships and collaboration even when we don’t work side-by-side every day. But there are still valuable ways to be a “team” even if we’re working on different projects in different regions of the country. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks for the response Kim, I’m still working on the “degree” part with these characteristics. How much to share, how vulnerable to be, and how close to get with our teams so we are more relational. I’ve seen some teams get so close that confrontation and accountability become an issue because they don’t want to lose that friendship or change the dynamic. I’ve also seen the closeness of teammates actually help and encourage confrontation to happen because enough emotional currency has been built, and trust was established.
Were you all able to talk through any of that?
Hi Adam,
I never had the courage for Tales of Crypt. Susceptible to nightmares as a kid (okay even now),
More collaborative leadership!
However.
Level Minus 1: Total impersonal domination and coercion IS STILL WORKING….
China – Xi Jinping
Russia – Vladimir Putin
North Korea – Kim Jong Un
Iran – Ali Hosseini Khamenei
USA – Former President Donald Trump
These Level minus 1 leaders may take us into WWIII, or not, but Level Minus 1 leaders, the autocrats, are a force that we will have to contend with on the global stage.
The global collaborative agency, the United Nations, has become ineffective. Time for a new one?
My point.
In the U.S., the societal shift does warrant a double take at humble team leadership in order to be more effective. Go collaboration!
But it is a first world freedom ONLY.
Big Sigh.
Shalom
Agreed, Russell, these type of dynamics are still very much in play. I am looking forward to The Dominion book by Tom Holland and the conversations that will ensue. The type of humble leadership we are pursuing is very much a first-world freedom very rooted in Western Judeo-Christian philosophies. We are in desperate need of Christ-like leaders.
I appreciate your Martyn Percy quote Adam.
I am curious who comes up with your pop culture references for your sermons. They are so creative!
Thanks Jana, actually I came up with that one, but we have a planning team that meets twice a week to brainstorm ideas. When I say it on stage I always say Tales from the Scrypt(pause)….tures. Every time. lol One of our young adults designed our logo which was so cool.
Adam,
You wrote, “Humble Leadership is about a new regime and leadership style for the 21st century, and I believe it, too, is desperately needed.” What would be some key characteristics that you would identify as crucial for a 21st century leader?
Thanks for the response! As far as what I think needs to change / trying to change is what we measure when defining success in organizations. Is it numbers or character development (both are great), but one seems to ultimately matter. Are we measuring talent or EQ?
In churches, I think a shift needs to happen from dogma, ideas, and doctrine driving the vehicle while compassion, virtues, unity, and values ride in the backseat. I think we need to reverse this dynamic for a post-modern world that’s realizing how much we don’t know and can’t actually prove.