Lead in the Light
My Dad used to paraphrase Proverbs 3:5-6 as I was growing up. He would say, “Son, I’m proud of you, trust God with all your heart and He will always show you the path to follow.” Regarding leadership my Dad said, “Always do your best, don’t follow the crowd, and keep a few close friends you can trust.” He was not a top author, leader, or seminarian; but my Dad knew the Biblical model of leadership and always encouraged me follow Christ and lead where He guides. Did I have weaknesses? Of course. Did I have a “dark side”? Yes, from my Adamic sin nature that I inherited at birth, without my permission, that is a real force of evil that attempts to divide, disrupt, and destroy the good leadership works that Christ created for me before the beginning of time.
If that was the end of my story, it would be frustrating to lead, or even live. But thanks be to God, Christ reins and my belief and faith in Him saved me from the consequences of original sin! Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima’s Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become and Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures is a negatively biased leadership book that shows leaders how to identify their dark side, target insights, and apply personal fixes to prevent future leadership failures. I expect this book to be filled with connections to my dissertation research on the North American church leader’s problem with spiritual warfare.
The “dark side” according to McIntosh and Rima refers to our “inner urges, compulsions, motivations, and dysfunctions that drive us.”[1] Unfortunately, I found myself disagreeing with the authors right away, when they said, “The dark side is a normal development.”[2] Using Elder’s Mini-Guide on critical questions I thought, did these guys read Genesis 3?[3] Hey, we were not supposed to have a “dark side” according to God’s original plan for His creation, it is not normal. Or are the authors possibly looking at the world in crisis, and accounting for time and theological evolution to say it is now the “new normal” to have a dark side in our lives? As I read, non-read further I found a chapter with a feel-good adage that we can “cast either shadow or light” in our own power and we must take an “inward journey” to fix ourselves or we will fail in leadership![4] So far I am not too impressed with the deductive reasoning by our authors.
Ok, so the authors are a little slow getting to their point for me, but finally in Chapter 4 they laid out how and why we have a dark side rooted after the fall of Adam, and now linked to “pride, selfishness, self-deception, and wrong motives.”[5] Can you see how I apply the Bayard technique of non-reading from the periphery of their focus while making notes and writing at the same time for maximum efficiency during my critical review? Sadly, two chapters latter, the authors have fallen back into their softer approach instead of addressing the real problem, how to resist Satan.
“Spiritual composting” is the author’s idea of how the Holy Spirit recycles our dark side into a God honoring leadership approach.[6] While I get their idea of composting, I disagree with how they use the metaphor in context to God’s view of sin. While I may not agree with spiritual composting, I do see merit in their idea of practicing the spiritual discipline of “self-knowledge.”[7] Doing a leadership 360 assessment is not only Biblical, it is a practical way to find your leadership blind spots, obtain feedback from peers and followers, and fulfill the idea of self-examination (2 Cor. 13:5).[8] Maxwell writes from the positive bias, while our authors McIntosh and Rima write from a negative bias towards leadership.
Since I could not find any scholarly reviews or journal articles I decided to take the author’s dark-side test to see if their leadership test and find out if I could find value or insights that could help improve my leadership praxis. First, I was saddened by the wholly negative approach to evaluating leadership. Everything I have always seen and learned in my lived leadership theology has been to focus on your positive attributes, positive strengths, and find ways to manage your lesser talented areas with friends, co-workers, spouse, or accountability partners.
So how did I do? According to dark-side test I have some Passive Aggressive tendencies because I answered that I might use the “silent treatment” and I occasionally make others feel “nervous.” I scored 20 on the Passive Aggressive scale and below 20 on all the others. So LGP8 please forgive if I give you the silent treatment or make you feel uncomfortable. I will work on that! In reflection, I must still have the residual effects of 27 years in public safety. For me, it is a switch that I can turn on and off. I think most good leaders have switches they can manage for increased leadership effectiveness.
Finally, I used my word search technique to see where these authors landed (I’m a pilot don’t you know) in relation to spiritual warfare doctrines. Surprisingly, they have some solid Biblical merit when quoting other authors like Anderson’s Victory over the Darkness who says that believers should not be taken advantage of by Satan’s schemes, and that “unforgiveness” is the number one tool Satan uses to mount a spiritual warfare campaign against the believer.[9]
McIntosh and Rima finally hit their target (Oh, and I was in public safety too) when they discuss the impact of spiritual warfare and demonic activity in comparison to leadership failures. I commend them for how they acknowledge the source of the real influence by affirming a real devil who is the “menacing enemy who actively opposes God’s people and work.”[10] The authors also challenge the believing reader-leader to take some responsibility and not try to blame all their failures on “the devil made me do it.” I agree, we are stewards of this earth-suit and spiritual temple where Christ lives in us. God expects us to do our part within the context of faith, obedience, and submission to the Holy Spirit. Yes, we do need to take responsibility for our leadership actions. To do this, as the authors and my Dad suggest, we must trust God and follow His path.
In conclusion, I have a positive position on a very negative book. I can successfully link their message to my dissertation and encourage all Christian leaders to do their part by helping to prepare, train, and equip their congregants on how to resist Satan and defend against the evil day, by putting on the whole armor of God. Finally, the authors agree with me, “Our dark side can be redeemed with supernatural assistance.”[11]
Lead in the Light.
Stand firm,
M. Webb
[1] Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima. Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become and Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007) Kindle Edition: Location 403.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Linda Elder and Richard Paul. The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts & tools. (Foundation Critical Thinking, 2001) 34.
[4] McIntosh, Dark Side, 591.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., 2000.
[7] Ibid., 2630.
[8] John C. Maxwell. The 360 degree leader: Developing your influence from anywhere in the organization. Thomas Nelson. (Nashville, TN. 2011).
[9] McIntosh, Dark Side, 2168.
[10] Ibid., 2057.
[11] Ibid., 2064.
About the Author
Mike
9 responses to “Lead in the Light”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Mike it is good to recognize the positive influences in your life. I also had a dad that taught me many good things. I think you were trying to read your own answers into this book. I feel like I read a different book than you did. I thought what the authors were dealing with was our sin, temptations and “inner struggles” whether caused by original sin or personal demons. I think this book whole about spiritual issues and how we as church leaders need to not brush aside the warning signals that God sends our way as we journey to how we define success.
It could be just me but I read your blog as a rant with a “they finally agree with me” at the end. It Saturday afternoon and I could just as well be reading my own tiredness into your blog. I am glad you wrestled with this book and seemed to make peace in the end. Thanks for your thoughts.
Greg,
Thanks for the review and personal critique and comments. I saw all the areas you were describing too, I just did not like that they had to focus all those negative labels on us as leaders. I’ve been thru those rough areas, blind spots, and failures. I’ve lead in many different roles in the past 35 years, and I know that beating up a leader to have him or her focus on their negative characteristics is tenuous process at best. Does it need to be done, self-evaluation, Yes. I prefer to do it differently than the authors suggest.
I think it is ok if we see it differently, and even disagree with what the authors are saying. I had a challenging week, so if my personal bias and rant came out, then thanks for noticing, please forgive.
M. Webb
Hi Mike!
I should have read your blog before responding to you on mine! Clearly this text wasn’t your favorite but you were able to glean some merit from it. Since I understand law enforcement and the military I can connect to your response…it’s so interesting to me that on your assessment you were identified as passive aggressive. Was it/is it a defense mechanism or a management tool? Looping back to the AOG – which is an ideal way to resist evil – how do you help someone connect the ideal to the real challenges of daily life? The spiritual mechanism is often our last thought.
Jean,
Thanks for the review and comments. I think I was angry at the authors because I knew their material was going to cause pain for some of my friends, and I would rather see them focusing on their wonderful strengths and passions, and have a softer approach to addressing their lesser talented areas or blind spots.
My job in public safety sent me in and out of the dark-side for 27 years into a world where people, once were fairly normal, became consumed by those characteristics described by the authors. I have seen first hand the awful effects of compulsiveness, narcissism, paranoia, codependency, and aggression that leads to all types of crime, abuse, addiction, and violence. Comparing those attributes to leadership gave me flashbacks.
I put on the AOG daily so I can stand firm, see the threat, and help prepare, train, and equip others to survive their spiritual storms while advancing the Kingdom of God.
Stand firm,
M. Webb
Hi Mike,
Really appreciated your quote about “unforgiveness” being the number one tool of Satan against the believer. That has been my experience of the past 15 years in pastoring. Today, I would take it a step further. So many people easily take “offense” with their fellow believer (from a book called THE BAIT OF SATAN by Bevere). Seems like almost everyone is walking around offended. Your thoughts on this?
Hi Mike,
You made a pertinent observation with claiming you don’t like a negative approach to evaluating leadership as the authors have done with this book. That comment made me think of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) which is used in international development efforts by many faith-based (and non-faith-based) charities. The poverty and negativity of urban slums could be overwhelming; aid workers rather choose to uncover the positive qualities inherent in the community and build on those, rather than have a deficit-based approach. The same approach could be employed for individuals, so maybe you would more naturally lean into that. It’s a valid and empowering model.
I didn’t take the emphasis on dark side to be negative, but merely realistic. You’re right, this shouldn’t be considered “normal”, and it’s not ideal, but our interior shadows are an aspect we all must deal with in our ongoing journey of personal development as leaders. Facing and exposing these demons (both literal and metaphorical) will allow for greater effectiveness and personal integrity. Don’t you agree?
Mark,
Thanks for your review and comments. Yes, I have been around long enough to have studied and practiced many models of leadership, and the negative based ones, while very valid in content and scope, just leaves a lingering impression that I have seen decrease effectiveness and efficiency, and make leaders not so fun to be around.
I believe we should only expose and try to manage our personal demons and character flaws under the protection of wearing Christ; metaphorically and spiritually.
Stand firm,
M. Webb
Jay,
I read the intro to Bait of Satan and scanned a few chapters. Yes, he is spot on! Unforgivness is a scheme, wile, and trap of Satan. Christians who do not intentionally put on the whole armor of God, who try to go it alone, often fall prey to this subtle trap when they become “offended” about something.
When did Christ say life would be “fair”? I have not found that verse yet. And I just think many Christians have not been instructed how to “count the cost” to following Jesus.
Good comments Jay, thanks so much!
Stand firm,
M. Webb
Mike, I always found Genesis 8:21 reassuring…””I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”. As you discussed, we were not born evil…we learned how to behave in an evil manner. We learned how to focus on the wrong things, and in the same manner, we must learn to focus on the right things.
As for the silent treatment; I am sure there are a number in my congregation that wish I would practice that skill right about the noon-time mark. To their dismay, that is not my struggle…preaching too long is.