{"id":13895,"date":"2017-09-07T22:46:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13895"},"modified":"2017-09-07T22:46:53","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:46:53","slug":"doomed-to-be-just-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/doomed-to-be-just-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Doomed to be just “good?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you tell a recovering perfectionist that \u201cgood is the enemy of great,\u201d[1]<\/a> you tend to create an existential crisis for said person. In fact, it may take that person a few days to remind herself that great does not necessarily mean perfect\u2026or so I hear.<\/p>\n

Anyway, most times I read Jim Collins\u2019 book, Good to Great<\/em>, I find myself excited all over again about the ideas of being part of the process of leading a mediocre organization into an effective and excellent organization. And most times I read this book I am reminded that I so far to go to become what Collins and his team call a \u201cLevel 5 Leader.\u201d[2]<\/a> This time, however, I found myself wondering if I can even become<\/em> a Level 5 Leader. In this book, Collins describes the Level 5 leaders he has studies as, \u201cquiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated,\u201d etc.[3]<\/a> Quiet? Um, nope. Reserved? Not so much. Modest? What does that even mean? No. These are not the words people who work with me would use to describe me. So does that count me out? Am I forever destined to be stuck at Level 4 leadership? Did I mention I\u2019m a recovering perfectionist?<\/p>\n

Throughout Collins\u2019 book, I kept coming back to this idea that, not only may I not be able to be the leader Collins describes, but since I don\u2019t operate in the business world any longer I\u2019m not sure how to apply these ideas. As I read, I filled the margins of the book with questions and \u201cyeah, but\u201d statements, as well as huge orange highlighter question marks. My existential crisis grew exponentially with the chapters. When I first read this book, it had been as a person who worked in an easily quantifiable world. Now, not only do I not work in that world and do not fit the \u201cmodel\u201d Level 5 characteristics, my focus for the future is in the area of non-profits and higher education \u2013 the social sector.<\/p>\n

Well, lucky for me Dr. Clark assigned Collins\u2019 follow-up monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors.<\/em> Quickly Collins set aside my worries about my capability to join the ranks of Level 5 leaders. \u201cLevel 5 leaders differ from Level 4 leaders in that they are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the movement, the mission, the work \u2013 not themselves \u2013 <\/em>and they have the will to do whatever it takes (whatever<\/em> it takes) to make good on that ambition.\u201d[4]<\/a> Hey! I\u2019ve been accused of that! (One fellow faculty member may have even called me \u201cruthless\u201d in my ambition to better the critical thinking skills of our students, but I digress\u2026) It seems that quiet and mild-mannered are not necessarily critical characteristics, but a determination to stick with the cause definitely qualifies as critical. It\u2019s not the quietness, but the deflection of ego that matters.<\/p>\n

The rest of Collins\u2019 little monograph read like a happy love letter to me about the possibilities of leadership and organizational greatness in the social sector. Suddenly Good to Great<\/em> made sense again. So much so that I could trace the simplicity of Max DuPree\u2019s Leadership is an Art<\/em> throughout. Collins\u2019 book feels like the research project that backs up DuPree\u2019s theories and anecdotal evidence. Look at these comparison quotes: \u201cThe art of leadership (is) liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible,\u201d[5]<\/a> (\u201cFirst Who\u2026Then What\u2026they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats\u2026\u201d[6]<\/a>). \u201cLeaders should leave behind them assets and a legacy,\u201d[7]<\/a> (\u201cLevel 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success\u2026\u201d)[8]<\/a> The connections between these two books delight me. More than that, they allow me to see where I fit in the concept of leading a good organization to a place of greatness in the social sector. They also give me deep hope for the future leaders I want to be a part of developing. If I can see myself here, then young people filled with passion for their mission will see themselves in these two books as well. My hope is that pastors will be able to read these books and determine to lead great churches, that artists will determine to ruthlessly pursue the mission before them, and that teachers, social workers, police officers, and others can be encouraged to refocus on their mission and create what Collins calls, \u201cpockets of greatness\u201d in their organizations.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Jim Collins, Good to Great<\/em>, (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 1.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Collins, 21.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Collins, 27.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Jim Collins, Good to Great and the Social Sectors<\/em>, (Boulder, CO: Jim Collins, 2005), 11.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Max DuPree, The Art of Leadership<\/em>, (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1989), 1.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Collins, Good to Great<\/em>, 13.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> DuPree, 13.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Collins, Good to Great<\/em>, 38.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Collins, Good to Great and the Social Sectors<\/em>, 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you tell a recovering perfectionist that \u201cgood is the enemy of great,\u201d[1] you tend to create an existential crisis for said person. In fact, it may take that person a few days to remind herself that great does not necessarily mean perfect\u2026or so I hear. Anyway, most times I read Jim Collins\u2019 book, Good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"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":[267,629,668],"class_list":["post-13895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-collins","tag-dupree","tag-good-to-great","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13895","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\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13897,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13895\/revisions\/13897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}