By: Jay Forseth on November 15, 2017
[1] When my family eats at Cracker Barrel, we play the triangular game where we try to jump and remove as many pegs as possible. If you are not very good at the game, the game describes you as an IGNORAMUS. (Christian comedian Timothy Hawkins does the funniest show on this game). I have to…
By: Mark Petersen on November 15, 2017
Anthony Elliott’s classic text Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction lavished me with a readable and stimulating exposure to social theory developments over the past century of thought. What it does so well is help provide an explanation for events and trends that incite so much fear and unsettledness in our culture today. Knowing why traditional…
By: Stu Cocanougher on November 11, 2017
“Leadership is about relationships, and because social technologies are changing relationships, leadership also needs to change” (Open Leadership Audiobook – Chapter 7). OPEN LEADERSHIP I have been listening to the audiobook “Open Leadership” by Charlene Li over the past few weeks. Li is a social media expert and consultant. I listened as the topic…
By: Dan Kreiss on November 11, 2017
Finally, a book about the Jesuit order that recognizes them to be better role models than Attila the Hun. Don’t get me wrong, Attila has a number of good leadership qualities. His name is incredibly masculine and gives him an aura of mystique. He was known to be ruthless, not prone to being pushed around. …
By: Jean Ollis on November 10, 2017
With much acclaim, Chris Lowney’s book, Heroic Leadership, is inspired by Lowney’s time and experience as a Jesuit priest. In a 2016 interview for America, The Jesuit Review, Lowney states “There are too many definitions of leadership! Every pundit who is trying to sell books makes one up. So I prefer to go right to…
By: Chip Stapleton on November 9, 2017
While we have read many (many, many, many – a lot, okay) of books thus far in our doctor of ministry educational journey. Many of them have been interesting and insightful, many have helped broaden my understanding of leadership, some have confirmed long held beliefs while others have challenged them. Some have been practically helpful,…
By: Trisha Welstad on November 9, 2017
Who needs another leadership book? Apparently everyone. Chris Lowney, in his book, Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World, asserts that all people are leaders, influencing others through belief and behavior.[1] Lowney’s seven years in a Jesuit seminary followed by a career in investment banking provide him with foundational tools…
By: Kyle Chalko on November 9, 2017
Heroic Leadership has placed itself on the top of my list of favorite leadership books. It’s a significant and unique read for leaders today because it writes about a people, the Jesuits, who lived a certain lifestyle that would not be considered leader-like by many standards today. Surely Chris Lowney, who pokes fun at the…
By: Mike on November 9, 2017
Chris Lowney’s, Heroic Leadership is a values-based leadership model that originated in 1540 from a Catholic priest and now boasts over 21 thousand business professionals in the world’s largest religious order, the Jesuits.[1] The books main themes are “forging seamless multinational teams, motivating performance, being open to change, and staying adaptable.”[2] This book “focuses on…
By: Kristin Hamilton on November 9, 2017
Each week when my cohort meets to discuss our reading for the week, our lead mentor, Dr. Jason Clark, asks us to give a brief “elevator speech” account of the book. I love this exercise and sometimes write down a particularly good summary given by one of my colleagues. This week I decided to write…
By: Jason Turbeville on November 9, 2017
I was intrigued when I ordered this book. How can a book on leadership be heroic and what is it about. Turns out the author, Chris Lowney, is a former Jesuit who decided to go into the world of finances for J. P. Morgan and found that the leadership track for that company was woefully…
By: Lynda Gittens on November 9, 2017
Manfred Kets DeVries asked a few questions for the reader to consider before reading this book – The Leadership Mystique: Leading Behavior in the Human Enterprise. They were: “Do you set your own goals when possible? Can you present complex issues to others in a clear and simplified way? Do you have a ‘Helicopter View’-that…
By: Stu Cocanougher on November 9, 2017
Sunday morning, July 3, 2016. During the worship service, the executive pastor at NewSpring Church, a fast-growing, multi-site megachurch in South Carolina walks up to the microphone and begins to read the following statement: “Through much prayer and with a heavy heart, we have important information to share with you regarding our pastor, Perry Noble.…
By: Dave Watermulder on November 9, 2017
I am glad that I didn’t just read the title or description for this book. I am glad that I didn’t stop reading after the introduction section, or even the first chapter. Because my first impression of “Heroic Leadership”, a guide to “best practices” for the business world based on the Society of Jesus (the…
By: Mark Petersen on November 9, 2017
When I received the DMin reading list this past summer and saw that Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney was included, I smiled. It was the same book I had encountered over a decade ago. I had found it so remarkable that I bought a box and mailed them out as Christmas gifts for Canadian parachurch…
By: Shawn Hart on November 9, 2017
In this week’s reading, Heroic Leadership, Chris Lowney uses his history as a Jesuit priest and a managing director with J.P. Morgan to evaluate the leadership tactics used by the Jesuits for over 450 years; a fascinating historical look at the religious practices interwoven with fundamental leadership skills of the long-lasting Jesuit order. Upon reading…
By: Katy Drage Lines on November 9, 2017
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed,…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on November 9, 2017
The mystique surrounding leadership is demystified when one recognizes the characteristics and traits of a healthy leader, and the symbiotic relationship a leader has with its organization. A disordered, unhealthy leader fosters a chaotic, fragmented, or rigid culture that cultivates a dysfunctional system. Similarly, a workplace is successful when it fosters a healthy environment for…
By: Chris Pritchett on November 9, 2017
Chris Lowney’s book, Heroic Leadership, is a unique examination of the relevance of the values and practices of leadership among the sixteenth century Jesuit movement, for our time. Leadership books for both corporate and church leaders are legion in our information age, but most of them merely scratch the surface of the practice of leadership,…
By: Greg on November 9, 2017
“My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.”1 Is leadership simply pretending to do what others expect us to do? How often do we as christian leaders fake it, pretend to know what we are doing. The line between inspiring the greatness in others and hypocrisy, can be very narrow. The…
