{"id":16840,"date":"2018-03-01T20:24:56","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T04:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16840"},"modified":"2018-03-01T20:24:56","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T04:24:56","slug":"you-dont-know-the-power-of-the-dark-side-no-really-you-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/you-dont-know-the-power-of-the-dark-side-no-really-you-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"You Don’t Know the Power of the Dark Side…No Really You Don’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

In reading\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become an Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures<\/em> by Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima, I could not decide what scared me the most. The fact that I could see in myself all five of the unhealthy leadership patterns, or the examples given in each of those patterns and how easy it seemed they succumbed to those dark sides. As I read on, I was encouraged by the stories of triumph such as Abraham Lincoln. His dark side tendencies were driven from family issues that gave him a “sense of inferiority and lack of self worth”[1]. If a man can overcome those things to become a great man there is hope for all.<\/p>\n

Thus the move to my title, yes it is cheesy, yes I am a nerd\/dork\/geek, but who cares. If we are not careful, our dark side tendencies can overcome and eventually destroy anything good we may accomplish. The authors argue the dark side is not necessarily a harmful think if we are aware of it. In fact, like Lincoln, we can harness the energies derived from these things and focus them in a positive way. Lincoln recognized his dark side, he put measures into place that would ensure his dark side would not negatively impact his leadership.[2] Another example of overcoming the dark side was the example of Bill Hybels the founder of Willow Creek Community Church. His dark side consisted of working himself to the point of exhaustion 24\/7 365 was his calling card. Fortunately, for him he was able to confront his dark side and overcome his issues to become effective in his ministry.[3]<\/p>\n

Of course, for every story of overcoming, there are two who have fallen. Whether it is Jim Bakker and his shady dealing in both money and adultery, or Richard Nixon whose paranoia led to a disastrous downfall, our dark side can quickly take over and drive us into destruction. When reading the different traits listed of each trait, I felt as if a magnifying glass was on my inner being. Reading through some of the qualities of a obsessive leader, there I was, worrying if what I have done is good enough, hating the interruptions of my routine among others. [4]\u00a0 In the narcissistic leader I see someone who once thought he was bullet proof at his church, and even though it led to stepping down, he never flinched in his thoughts. In reading about the paranoid leader I see a man who is worried if someone wants to “discuss” something with him, it has to be bad. Looking at the co-dependent who would rather everyone be happy with each other rather than fixing a problem. Finally, the passive aggressive leader makes himself known with a ridiculously short fuse. In short, I am the perfect dark side leader, you might as well rename me Darth Idiot. Why on earth would anyone hire me into a leadership position?<\/p>\n

That question leads me into my favorite part of this book. In chapter four,\u00a0Shedding Divine Light on the Dark Side<\/em>, the McIntosh and Rima start off with an extremely wise statement. “If we are ever going to understand the sources and effects of our dark side well enough to overcome it and keep it from destroying our ability to lead for God’s glory, we must seriously consider God’s original design for us and the corruption of that design”.[5]\u00a0This is the chapter where the rubber meets the road for a church leader, or a secular leader who is a Christian. Through out the chapter the authors give examples of the dark side of leadership and the scriptural answer to said problem. In his review of this book John Engler highlights the fact that biblical character examples are used exhaustively. [6]<\/p>\n

To me, the dark side is one of two things in our lives. One, is the enemy, Satan,\u00a0 John 10:10 states “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. So, how do we fight this, well armor up. Ephesians 6 commands us to put on the full armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). This is not a fight we have to rely on ourselves to overcome. Through the word of God, his truth and righteousness we can stand against the attacks of Satan. The second is ourselves. I am not downplaying the influence Satan can bring against us, but I also do not want to give him to much credit. I feel that sometimes I have found it to easy to blame him for my short comings, when I was the one to blame. The authors quote Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives”.[7] Pastors can be our own worst enemy, this is the takeaway from this book for me. We have to watch the pitfalls of the dark side of being put in a position of authority. It is an a gift and we should treat it as such. Not lording it over others, not wearing out selves out worrying what others think, not thinking of ourselves in a haughty manner. But to accept the mantle of leadership and as Christ showed us, be a servant to thase we are called to lead.<\/p>\n

72<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0McIntosh, Gary, and Samuel D. Rima.\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become an Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures<\/em>. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007. P. 150.<\/p>\n

[2] Ibid. p 151.<\/p>\n

[3] Ibid. p. 53-55.<\/p>\n

[4] Ibid. p. 109<\/p>\n

[5] Ibid. p. 57.<\/p>\n

[6] Engler, John. “Review: Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership.” Review: Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership. 2002. Accessed March 01, 2018. http:\/\/www.barnabasministry.com\/review-darkside.html.<\/p>\n

[7] McIntosh, Gary, and Samuel D. Rima.\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become an Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures<\/em>. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007. P. 62.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In reading\u00a0Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: How to Become an Effective Leader by Confronting Potential Failures by Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima, I could not decide what scared me the most. The fact that I could see in myself all five of the unhealthy leadership patterns, or the examples given in each of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"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":[1180,35],"class_list":["post-16840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-darkside","tag-leadership","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16840","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\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16840"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16851,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16840\/revisions\/16851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}