{"id":12522,"date":"2017-03-22T09:59:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T16:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=12522"},"modified":"2017-03-22T09:59:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T16:59:31","slug":"leadership-is-an-art-by-max-de-pree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/leadership-is-an-art-by-max-de-pree\/","title":{"rendered":"“Leadership is an Art” by Max De Pree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Max De Pree says that the art of leadership is \u201cliberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.\u201d The leader is the \u201c\u2018servant\u2019 of his followers in that he removes the obstacles that prevent them for doing their jobs. In short, the true leader enables his or her followers to realize their full potential.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The book is more about ideas than practices. Using interesting anecdotes and incorporating advice from his own mentors, Carl Frost, David Hubbard, and Peter Drucker, De Pree writes about the essentials of leadership. Three important themes run through most of the chapters of the book \u2013 Integrity, Nurturing Relationships, and Community Building.<\/p>\n

How do you tell if you\u2019ve done a good job in leadership? Max says, \u201cThe signs of outstanding leadership are found among the followers.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In our last chat we talked about the many problems with American Evangelicalism today. The theme for our semester seems to have been \u2018how did we get here and what can we do about it?\u2019 \u00a0Miller talks about commodification and would encourage Christians to work in their cultures bringing life and meaning back to all areas. Hunter advances the idea of \u2018faithful presence\u2019 as an ideal for how Christians are to engage the world in the 21st<\/sup> century. Putting together wisdom from Bevans, Garner, Anderson, and Cavanaugh we can be a tremendous influence as we are faithful in our practices. Garner pointed out that until Jesus comes again the Church should be actively involved in justice to the poor, the marginalized, the mourning, and the abused. Heath and Potter ask the conservatives and liberals to disentangle the concern over questions of social justice from the countercultural critique. Finally, Ross Douthat asks Christians to realize that much of Post Modern Christianity is \u2018heresy\u2019 and offers as his answer his own solutions for returning to a more orthodox religion as he sees it.<\/p>\n

One theme that seems to run through all of the authors\u2019 solutions to the problems is faithfulness<\/em>. Christian influence will be much greater when the world sees that Christians are people of integrity.<\/p>\n

We might think that Max De Pree\u2019s book is somewhat different from the others in that he is talking about leadership in a \u2018secular\u2019 place. But I wonder, should we make a dichotomy between secular and sacred? Doesn\u2019t God own the whole world? Isn\u2019t every place sacred then? Most people don\u2019t have jobs in a church so are they not required to take their Christianity with them wherever they go? In connecting this thought to our theme this semester I pondered the idea of the supposed \u2018sacred\/secular split\u2019. I can\u2019t speak for everyone else, but I know that in my church people definitely have the idea that only the pastor has to evangelize.<\/p>\n

So, will Max De Pree\u2019s principles work anywhere? How about church and family?<\/p>\n

In a departure from my usual method of posting I want to share something amazing that happened on the same day that I finished reading Max\u2019s book. While pondering the question of faithful practice wherever God leads us, I had three chances to reflect on the idea from three very different sources. This doesn\u2019t happen often!<\/p>\n

First of all, I was reading about leadership in another book by Gilbert Bilezikian.[3]<\/a> \u00a0I found\"\"<\/a> it very exciting when I came across this:<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is a servant ministry, based on spiritual gifts and always plural.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>De Pree says, \u201cTry to think about a leader, in the words of the gospel writer Luke, as \u2018one who serves.\u2019\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

De Pree<\/span> \u2013 \u201cUnderstand that relationships count more than structure.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bilezikian<\/span> \u2013 \u201cWhenever allowance was made for congregational participation in ministry, the leadership structure receded into the background.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

I could list dozens of other places where both talk about the gifts of the Spirit, training of new leaders to replace you, hierarchy, inclusiveness, justice, Rationality, Covenant, information sharing and much more. I looked up their backgrounds and both were at Wheaton but at different times. Both credit Drucker for ideas. Both have strong beliefs in mentoring. Both are honored as great leaders.<\/p>\n

The point is, if there are good ideas because they are God\u2019s ideas then they work no matter where we serve God. I don\u2019t know yet where God will have me serve, but in a \u2018religious\u2019 setting or not, I will strive to have a servant attitude and dignity.<\/p>\n

Next, I\u2019m thanking God for this confirmation when my thoughtful husband says, \u201cHoney I\u2019m listening to a podcast that I think you will enjoy. It\u2019s about all the things wrong with our culture. Sounds just like the \u201cRebel Sell\u201d book you told me about.\u201d The speaker on the podcast did criticize our consumerist culture. He also criticized what he called \u201ccorporate style\u2019 leadership in churches, you know like what you might find at Willow Creek Church. (Ok, so Bilezikian was one of the founders of Willow Creek. Is this a coincidence or a God thing?) I stiffened as I listened to the rest of the podcast. (Thank you, honey, that was interesting.) The speaker did not have an alternative for what he considered \u2018Christian leadership\u2019. In fact, I think he was exacerbating the problem. In my mind he had a presupposition of sacred\/secular thinking. He even mentioned Peter Drucker as a bad influence on Christians. This podcaster would probably forgive De Pree for having Peter Drucker as a mentor, after all, he\u2019s only running a business. But Gilbert Bilezikian is not allowed to learn something from a heathen I guess.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think this was right, but even more I sensed that there was something deeper that was wrong with this podcast. What could it be?<\/p>\n

Well, later that evening I watched a documentary about one of my favorite women mentors \u2013 Catherine Booth. (founder with her husband William of the Salvation Army.) When William was walking through the East End of London one night he received his call to work among the poor. Knowing how much poverty they would be living in, but sure of Catherine\u2019s willingness to trust God, he said, \u201cCatherine, these are our people<\/em>!\u201d (emphasis mine) Tears started streaming down my face. Yes, that\u2019s the answer. Those people that Jesus died for. That\u2019s the other thing missing from the podcaster\u2019s talk. He could have all of his theological ducks in a row but if he didn\u2019t have love he was just a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. He missed the most important part.<\/p>\n

De Pree, on the other hand, did not. Max De Pree goes beyond treating his regular workers with dignity and trust and respect. His company works at helping the disadvantaged. In his search for elegance of leadership he provides joy, space, equality of humanity, and even ownership of the company to his employees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have spent time discussing leadership this semester. How will we influence the culture? For myself, I hope to show faithfulness in whatever calling I have as I share the Gospel of peace, joy, and love in my corner of\u00a0the world.<\/p>\n

Have a great Spring Break, everybody!!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Max De Pree. Leadership is an Art<\/em> (Crown Business: New York), xxii.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid. xxiv<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Gilbert Bilezikian. Community 101: Reclaiming the Local Church as Community of Oneness<\/em> (Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, MI).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid. 130.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> De Pree. 12.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> De Pree. 28<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Bilezikian. 91.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max De Pree says that the art of leadership is \u201cliberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.\u201d The leader is the \u201c\u2018servant\u2019 of his followers in that he removes the obstacles that prevent them for doing their jobs. In short, the true leader enables his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[35,873,874],"class_list":["post-12522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-leadership","tag-leadership-as-art","tag-max-de-pree","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}