By: Karen Rouggly on May 9, 2019
Diane Zemke is a wealth of knowledge. Zemke earned a PhD in Leadership studies from Gonzaga University, and has been working for many years in the academy. She has also been an active consultant for faith communities to process through change and transition to come out healthier on the other side. In her book,…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on May 8, 2019
It was great to be able to read a book by one of our very own advisors in the LGP program. Diane Zemke’s book, Being SMART about Congregational Change, was easy to read and very practical when it comes to congregations making changes, and boy do many congregations need to change. As you would expect,…
By: Harry Edwards on May 8, 2019
I‘ve been thinking about Diane Zemke’s work in Being SMART about Congregation Change when she pointed out that churches are either founded on the concept of common identity or common bond. She explained that churches founded on common identity tend to form around a shared vision of the founding members.1 Churches that start like this…
By: Chris Pritchett on May 8, 2019
Diane Zemke’s Being Smart About Congregational Change is a practical guidebook for congregational leaders who wish to lead change in their congregations. The book offers a curation of leadership and change theories and is packaged into a simple three-part structure. The first section describes the author’s understanding of how congregations function and imagine themselves as…
By: Mike on May 7, 2019
Diane Zemke’s Being SMART About Congregational Change is a book that provides wise tools and resources to help both the church and members deal with the stress of making change. Focused on doing church, in a healthy fashion, is Zemke’s passion. I see many connections between her insights into a churches culture, internal struggles, and…
By: Jennifer Williamson on May 5, 2019
In the book, Being Smart about Congregational Change, author Diane Zemke explains why strategies that work for leading change in a business context can miss the mark when it comes to volunteer organizations, such as local churches.[1] One key reason that Zemke gives is the difference in leadership structures. “…leadership, authority, and power in a…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on May 4, 2019
Zemke earned a PhD in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, with a focus on enacting congregational change.[1] She also serves as a Project Faculty member for Portland Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Leadership and Global Perspectives track. Of all our assigned readings, this is the first opportunity where I have met and interacted with the author.…
By: John Muhanji on April 14, 2019
Brene Brown has touched the core of failure in our leadership. In her book “Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversation, Whole Hearts,” she surprises many by encouraging them to learn how to fail and fall. She also introduces very well what breaks or build us strong is vulnerability. It is defined as the emotion…
By: Wallace Kamau on April 14, 2019
Nelson Mandela is famously quoted as saying that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over fear. I found the quote relevant to the Brene Brown’s book, Dare to Lead and her emphasis on courage as key to leading successfully. I believe courage is the one competence that distinguishes great achievers and…
By: Mary Mims on April 12, 2019
Vulnerability is a word I have always had trouble pronouncing and sometimes difficulty practicing. Growing up in an urban environment, vulnerability was associated with weakness and weakness will get you killed. It is not that I grew up in such a bad neighborhood, but it is just that vulnerability implies trust, and trust is not…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on April 12, 2019
Leadership holds a different meaning for me today than it did a few years ago when I was serving as Director of the American Red Cross, Director of the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, and finally Director of the Kalamazoo Prayer Center – all over a 20-year span. Back then, leadership to me meant “expert of everything,…
By: Kyle Chalko on April 12, 2019
I picked up the book Dare to Lead by Bene Brown last year when our Lead Mentor, Dr. Jason, recommended it on his personal Facebook page. I believe his comment was that this book was as good as A Failure of Nerve which was another book I was highly impacted by. After seeing his recommendation,…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on April 12, 2019
Brown’s Dare to Lead describes the four skills needed to become a courageous leader. The first skill is Rumbling with Vulnerability. Brown had assumed that the biggest barrier to courageous leadership would be fear, but her research indicated that fear is not a barrier. The real barrier is how people armor themselves to deal with fear. Curiosity…
By: Jason Turbeville on April 12, 2019
Picking up Brene Brown’s book Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. I was intrigued because of the excitement shown by my fellow members of the Elite 8. The first quote given to the reader from Teddy Roosevelt about willing to fail caught my attention in introducing the reader to what she calls “the…
By: Greg on April 12, 2019
As we approach the celebration of Palm Sunday, I find it ironic that we are reading and discussing the concepts of vulnerability and leadership. The humility of Jesus as he rode a donkey wasn’t just a publicity stunt to influence and shape the story that was being written. He wasn’t trying to appear to be…
By: Trisha Welstad on April 11, 2019
Brené Brown’s latest best seller, Dare to Lead is in part a compilation of her previous books, Daring Greatly and Rising Strong, while adding her newest research on what makes brave leaders. Brave leaders are not an easy sell as becoming a brave leader means embracing difficulty in a culture full of over-stuffed recliners and…
By: Digby Wilkinson on April 11, 2019
I can understand why Brené Brown is so popular. The women in my life have been harassing me for some time that I need to watch Brown speaking on vulnerability through her TED Talk.[1] That led me to scan through Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent,…
By: Karen Rouggly on April 11, 2019
Today, I was belittled on the phone. A man, whom I’ll call Ted, had a problem with his daughter going on the mission trip my office is organizing. More specifically, he had a problem with the money his daughter is raising to go on the mission trip my office is organizing. Ted felt that it…
By: Dan Kreiss on April 11, 2019
Leadership books are hard right now. After 15 years working at King University in an attempt to develop and maintain a viable ministry program, I received my notice of termination about a month ago. So, at the end of this semester I will officially be a dependent. I don’t share this information to gain sympathy…
By: Andrea Lathrop on April 11, 2019
Brené Brown is a shame and vulnerability research professor that I have been casually following for some years. Her Dare to Lead book is the recent offering of her research to the workplace. It seems slightly counter-cultural to bring these subjects to work and yet I think we are desperate for it. When it comes…
