Written by: gfesadmin on October 18, 2012

As the title itself suggests, the book Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice edited by Nohria and Khurana is quite a comprehensive and thorough narrative of various facets of leadership.  I decided to delve deeper into Chapter 12 titled ‘power and leadership’ and chapter 13 ‘Leadership and Cultural context’ as they are closer inrelevance to my personal ministry and my research topic. 

Nohria and Khurana point out that leadership and power cannot be separated. One cannot claim to be a leader without having the power to exert influence and bring about the required changes. “If one thinks of power as including both the hard power of coercion and the soft power of attraction, leadership and power are inextricably intertwined”(Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana 2010).

“Power is the ability to alter the behaviour of others to get what you want. There are basically three ways to do that: coercion (sticks), payments (carrots), and attraction (soft power)” (Joseph S. Nye 2006). Everyone by nature and instinct know what is right.  But not all decide to do the right thing and make the right choices.  No doubt it is always a struggle as Christian leaders to have the kind of influence upon people that directs them to do what is right.  Hard power cannot achieve that end.

Joseph Nye brilliantly describes the advantage of soft power over hard power. Yet, practically speaking, “effective leadership requires a mixture of soft and hard power skills” Nye goes on to describe that combination as “smart power” (Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana 2010).  Essentially, effective and smart leadership is the ability to “combine these power resources and leadership styles in different contexts” (Page 327). Discussing present leadership challenges he says: “Successful leadership may rest more upon soft power than in the past, but the prize will go to those with the contextual intelligence to manage the combination of soft and hard power into smart power”(Joseph S. Nye 2006).

This discussion on soft and hard power led me first and foremost to reflect on the leadership of Jesus and the ‘smart power’ He exerted on the people of His time and continues to do so upon generations that followed till this very day. What magnificent portrayals of ‘smart’ leadership we see as He addresses his disciples while they are arguing over who is greatest among themselves,  as he washes the feet of his disciples, as he performs various miracles never drawing attention to Himself all the while, His expression of anger as He turns the tables in the Temple, the manner in which He addresses the hypocritical leaders of His time, the claims of leadership He made as he stood before Pilate, His declarations even through the pain and agony on the Cross and then as He gives the final Command to His disciples to ‘Go’ in His name.  

A few other people come to mind.  Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and right now one of my favourite leaders,  Ang San Suu Kyi stand out among some of the best examples of those who have advantageously wielded ‘smart’ power.  In a time and age when hard power is held high, and where hard power rules, there is always a great temptation for me to flow along with the tide and take the easy road.  It is not difficult to notice an increasing preference even among Christian leadership to lean toward and exert ‘hard power’.  It is definitely easier and closer to natural human instincts.  Whereas developing the characteristics and traits of ‘soft power’ takes more disciplined effort.  As a Christian Leader I have to remind myself that my allegiance is to Jesus and I must seek more than anything else to walk in His footsteps and to model His style of leadership.  As followers of Jesus, we have given our allegiance to the most powerful leader in the universe.  The power that Jesus exerted was fully demonstrated on the cross where he gave himself in total self sacrifice.   We as His disciples and followers having pledged our loyalty to him have the privilege of drawing on that power.  Through that we can accomplish all that God wills for us in our positions of leadership. (Stutzman 2012)

This reading also brings to surface another practical but very important lesson. It relates to Christian Missions.  A close look at a few of our methods and a review of the terminology that is often used will reveal the employment of hard power to achieve our goals.  We can detect signs of ‘hard power’ in the design of our traditional “missionary” programs.  I am led to ponder on how the Church and its mission are perceived by the world in which we live.  Honest reflection and a willingness to change will undoubtedly make our witness more relevant and effective.

Language is critical too and must be used with caution.  The unintentional use of expressions such as Crusades, Campaigns and the like, along with blitz type short term missions that are related to military tactics can be threatening to hearers.   In India, quite often Christian missionary organisations and Christian NGOs are accused of engaging in converting people by coercion.  To some degree those accusations are justified in that some of our methods and ways of approach lack sensitivity to social and cultural changes.

This reading leads me to believe that as a Christian leader, I must become more aware of the long term trends of globalization, the information revolution and democratization that are sweeping the world.  I must recognize and accept the fact that traditional contexts of political and organizational leadership are changing.  In these contexts only the kind of leadership that will be integrative and participatory will be effective and successful.  These are styles that are more akin to the soft power of attraction rather than the hard power of coercion and force.  This may have been considered and stereotyped previously as feminine leadership.  But according to Nye and the extensive research outlined by Nohria and Khurana, it is proven that this style of leadership is more effective regardless of gender. 

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Soft Power, Hard Power and Leadership. October 27, 2006. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/netgov/files/talks/docs/11_06_06_seminar_Nye_HP_SP_Leadership.pdf (accessed October 13, 2012).

Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana. Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice. 2010. Edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2010.

Stutzman, Ervin. Equipping. September 4, 2012. http://mennoniteusa.org/2012/09/04/hard-power-versus-soft-power/ (accessed October 13, 2012).

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