By: Michael O'Neill on October 13, 2022
To say “reading A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman was inspiring” would be an understatement and borderline insulting to my psyche. I’ve read several books on leadership but none like this. Most self-help books serve as temporary motivation for me and commonly become short-lived with minimal action. I can usually manipulate my way…
By: David Beavis on October 13, 2022
If Dr. Murray Bowen’s theory of family systems highlights the need for the self-differentiation of the most mature, non-anxious member of a family system,[1] Dr. Edwin Friedman’s Failure of Nerve applies this theory to organizations while illustrating how it works in cellular biology. The essence of Friedman’s exhortation for leaders – in his words, “from…
By: Roy Gruber on October 13, 2022
As I reflect on my preparation for ministry as a pastor, I am thankful for what I received. I learned from many teachers who sought to instill a process for learning how to learn rather than just content retention. I learned sound principles of study, communication, and counseling. I gained an understanding of specific pastoral…
By: Andy Hale on October 13, 2022
Atychiphobia is the fear of failure. Heresyphobia is the fear of challenges. And tropophobia is the fear of change. Do leaders have the emotional intelligence to recognize their proclivity towards these phobias? If not, can they step back to measure if they avoid activities, opportunities, and people that might create an unsuccessful outcome or their…
By: Kristy Newport on October 12, 2022
My NPO is coming to life as I am reading A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman. My NPO centers around the questions that Jesus asked and considering what we might learn from them. In becoming a well differentiated leader, considering the questions Jesus asks provides a pathway to walk in discovering differentiation. Friedman…
By: Henry Gwani on October 12, 2022
What time is it? Paul and others would argue that these are the last days, characterized by great change as seen in the decline in Christian convictions and practice, globalization, commodification, pandemics, bias, hybrid work and education, technological innovations. One popular word used to describe these days is disruptive! Yet it is not all bleak.…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on October 12, 2022
Endurance. To suffer patiently. While it is a theme throughout this weeks’ reading, it also happens to be the word I chose for this year towards the end of 2021. Being just over halfway through a doctoral program, having a 1.5-year-old that weeks’ prior was in the PICU for respiratory failure, being pregnant with a…
By: Eric Basye on October 12, 2022
Tod Bolsinger is a professor of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary with a focus on congregational and leadership formation. Relying heavily on the teachings of Friedman and Heifetz, Tempered Resilience is a leadership book that primarily targets Christian leaders undergoing organizational change. He writes, They had become so focused on the aches and pains in…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on October 12, 2022
Currently in the United States it can appear that empathy and even forgiveness is in short supply. So often the news is full of stories about who’s fault it is that something happened or we are constantly looking for who is to blame so that we can make sense of it all. IF we only…
By: Michael Simmons on October 11, 2022
I love the openness of Bolsinger’s leadership definition: “[…] the transformation and growth of a people — starting with the leader — is to develop the resilience and adaptive capacity to wisely cut through resistance and accomplish the mission of the group.”[1] Though mission is a laden term, I do find transformation and growth to…
By: Greg McMullen on October 10, 2022
In Friedman’s book A Failure of Nerve, I just can’t get over the fact of being present.[1] In all the anxiety, confusion, problems we face as leaders and just being human, I cannot seem to get passed the idea of being present. Even growing up in school during roll call, the teacher would call out…
By: Shonell Dillon on October 9, 2022
I have been watching HGTV for some years and even obtained contractors license during the pandemic. During the time when we were all stuck inside, I was remodeling and playing “Fixer Upper” with my dad. So when hearing the word threshold, that little piece of something in the doorway comes to mind. The thing that…
By: Denise Johnson on October 9, 2022
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s prophetic voice from May 1983 both depicts the very vivid situation of the USSR of the day and bluntly challenges today’s Christian to evaluate their role in society.[1] His clear and honest description of where humankind has lost sight of personal morality and the effect on the overall decay of society. I am…
By: Laura Fleetwood on October 8, 2022
The ancient phrase crossing the threshold originates from a tradition in Roman mythology when grooms carried their bride across the threshold of a room after their wedding ceremony. Now we use this phrase to describe many kinds of transitions that occur in life. In 2003, J. Meyer and R. Land published an article called “Overcoming…
By: Chad McSwain on October 7, 2022
“You have to embrace your authority as a pastor.” That was a common theme in my conversations as I prepared for ordination. I would meet with my mentor pastor and she would consistently tell me to embrace my authority, or more accurately, the identity of being a pastor. It was a threshold that I needed…
By: Nicole Richardson on October 7, 2022
Jason challenged us at the beginning of the Advance, to be open to the strange and stranger; to lean into that which is out of our control or comfort zone. I do not know about anyone else, but my mind is still grappling with the experience in Cape Town. So much to unpack, but I…
By: Kristy Newport on October 7, 2022
The Mona Lisa has been credited as the most famous piece of art. How can this be accepted carte blanche? One must stop and consider this assertion. How has this one portrait been given this kind of notoriety? If a piece of art has been set apart by so many over a span of 519…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on October 6, 2022
According to the research and concluding theories of Jan Meyer and Ray Land, students can experience quite a range of success or lack of success, based on their ability to grasp and digest certain key concepts in the curriculum. Some students progress through the learning process easily and successfully, while others struggle to grasp these crucial…
By: Michael O'Neill on October 6, 2022
The carpenter in me sees the word “threshold” and immediately a transition strip or door trim of some kind comes to mind. The Kinesiologist in me sees “threshold” as a maximum output or delineation of a new system in the body activating. The student in me sees something completely unique in regard to learning and…
By: Daron George on October 6, 2022
Giving words to the moment is the thought that comes to mind when I consider this week’s readings from Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land’s works Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practicing within the disciplines, and Threshold concepts in practice. For the past…
