I was driving in my car this week when a country song came on the radio. It\u2019s a song called \u201cMost People Are Good\u201d by Luke Bryan, and I have to admit, it\u2019s pretty catchy. Some of the lyrics say:<\/p>\n
I believe most people are good and most Mama\u2019s oughta qualify for sainthood.<\/em><\/p>\n I believe most Friday nights look better under neon or stadium lights<\/em><\/p>\n I believe you love who you love, ain\u2019t nothing you should ever be ashamed of<\/em><\/p>\n I believe this world ain\u2019t half as bad as it looks<\/em><\/p>\n I believe most people are good<\/em><\/p>\n In a lot of ways, this is a song that celebrates the \u201cbetter angels\u201d of our nature, and the hope that, left to our own devices (and away from our technological devices), we would all probably revert to a better version of ourselves.<\/p>\n In their book Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction<\/em>, Gary L McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima, Sr. make a different argument. They write that, \u201cevery leader suffers from some degree of personal dysfunction\u2026 many leaders are not aware of the dark side of their personalities\u2026 the personal characteristics that drive individuals to succeed and lead often have a shadow side that can cripple them once they become leaders\u2026\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Unlike the sunnier side of basic human goodness as attested to in that country song, these authors are lifting up what they call \u201cthe dark side\u201d of the good that people seek to do and be. The presence of this dark side of our lives, according to the book \u201cis actually a natural result of human development. It is the inner urges, compulsions, and dysfunctions of our personality that often go unexamined or remain unknown to us until we experience an emotional explosion.\u201d[2]<\/a> This dark side is something that the authors claim is \u201cparticularly common among religious leaders\u201d[3]<\/a> although it is present in some form in everybody.<\/p>\n In a theological sense, this book is not making a new claim. This sounds familiar to anyone who has read the Bible closely. It seems similar to \u201cthe old self\u201d or the \u201cflesh\u201d that is referenced in Ephesians 4:22, Romans 6:6, and Colossians 3:9. Indeed, the call to confession that is given in churches each week around the world will often say, \u201cIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n But the paradox that this book is trying to explore, is not that people in general, or even Christians in particular, would struggle with the reality of sin in their lives. This is a book that focuses on the specific reality that it is leaders, especially religious or spiritual leaders<\/em>, who not only have a dark side to their leadership, but often do not know it. And so, because of this \u201cunexamined life\u201d, the effects of the \u201cdark side\u201d are more powerful and more destructive when they finally come out.<\/p>\n There is a famous quote that is often attributed to the educational reformer John Dewey, which says, \u201cWe do not learn from experience\u2026 we learn from reflecting on experience.\u201d[5]<\/a> It is this idea of reflecting on experience, or examining our lives, or coming to know ourselves more truly, that the authors are advocating in this book.<\/p>\n Although they spend much of the book sharing well-known examples of the high profile falls from grace, along with numerous biblical examples, this isn\u2019t the strength of the book. Frankly, this material comes across as fairly dated (which makes sense since the book was published over 20 years ago). My own reaction to the basic trajectory of the book is that it is disappointing. The book takes a powerful and important idea, the \u201cdark side of leadership\u201d, and merely skims the surface in how it analyzes this reality.<\/p>\n The best takeaway from the book is not the mere fact of a \u201cdark side\u201d that is inside of us, nor the observation that spiritual leaders, in particular, seem to have one too. The most helpful part of the book is the renewed call to leaders (and everybody) to spend time in critical reflection on their own lives, background and struggles. While most religious leaders have an understanding of the reality of sin in the world and within people, without an intentional practice within oneself, it can be easy to externalize that, and miss the signs of trouble.<\/p>\n This is reminiscent of the 4th<\/sup> Step in 12 Step recovery programs, which has to do with making \u201ca searching and fearless moral inventory\u201d[6]<\/a>, and this is the kind of reflection that the authors of this book have in mind. They even include \u201cdiagnostic\u201d tests within the book as a tool toward self-awareness.<\/p>\n For many leaders, these kinds of questions or self-evaluation are not \u201cnew\u201d, but are actually old. For many, the \u201cfearless moral inventory\u201d is taken as part of a seminary education or during an ordination process. Especially at the outset of a ministry, leaders have a heightened awareness of who they are and what they are called to do and be. And yet, over time, this slips from the front of the mind into the recesses of memory.<\/p>\n In my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the trend toward pastoral burnout and the reality of unexamined \u201cdark sides\u201d led to the creation of a program called Credo. Credo is designed largely for mid-career ministry leaders, as a chance to be re-oriented in all aspects of life. In a sense of identity, of calling, of health, and also to examine the parts of oneself that would keep us from living fully. One of the outcomes of the Credo program is that people take time to become more self aware, especially of the \u201cdark side\u201d, and also they walk away with a set of practices to help guide them in a renewed season of ministry.<\/p>\n In the end, Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership<\/em> is not the most profound book to read, nor the most insightful into the challenge that it describes. However, it is the kind of book that makes you lean in as you read. There is something here that rings familiar and true. There is something here that calls to us and asks us to examine our lives.<\/p>\n While most of the time, we live as if \u201cmost people are good\u201d, and yet, if we are wise, we will also make time to get to know the dark side of ourselves. In doing so, we actually have the chance to return to the goodness that God intends.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima, Sr.,\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 12-13.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima, Sr.,\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 22.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima, Sr.,\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 23.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> 1 Jn 1:8 (NRSV).<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> \u201cGood Reads,\u201d,\u00a0https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/664197-we-do-not-learn-from-experience-we-learn-from-reflecting<\/a>\u00a0(accessed March 1, 2018).<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> \u201cAlcoholics Anonymous,\u201d,\u00a0https:\/\/www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk\/about-aa\/the-12-steps-of-aa<\/a>\u00a0(accessed March 1, 2018).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was driving in my car this week when a country song came on the radio. It\u2019s a song called \u201cMost People Are Good\u201d by Luke Bryan, and I have to admit, it\u2019s pretty catchy. Some of the lyrics say: I believe most people are good and most Mama\u2019s oughta qualify for sainthood. I believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"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":[1169,1170],"class_list":["post-16815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-side-of-leadership","tag-mcintosh-and-rima","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16815","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\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16816,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16815\/revisions\/16816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}