{"id":24897,"date":"2019-11-14T13:36:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=24897"},"modified":"2019-11-14T13:36:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:36:07","slug":"too-free-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/too-free-to-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Free To Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest fault to Simon Walker\u2019s character that I can find is that he didn\u2019t make time to hang out with us while we were all visiting Oxford.\u00a0 Walker, an ordained Anglican cleric and leading scholar in the world of culture and cognition is perhaps most widely known for his writing in the field of leadership.\u00a0 \u201cHis central notion is summarised in the idea of being ‘undefended’ as a leader. This idea can be defined most simply as ‘being free enough as a leader to be fully available for the situation in hand, without being compromised by fears, doubts and the need for self preservation.’\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 What a glorious place to find oneself indeed!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for so many leaders, they do not find themselves in a position where self-preservation isn\u2019t a large part of the decision-making equation.\u00a0 Whether employment, prestige, or compensation, it is hard to reach that \u201cundefended place.\u201d\u00a0 However, the rewards for humanity, and dare I say all of creation, are unfathomable if one can attain this position according to Walker.\u00a0 \u201cLeadership is an activity that leads other people into full humanity: which enables them to take hold of, and take responsibility for, the life that they, as a unique, particular person within the created human race, have been given to live.\u201d[2]<\/a> \u00a0To this researcher, the leadership style Walker describes appears to be one of the most life giving and affirming that we have studied . . . and all snark aside, I would hope the leadership style lifted up by the Anglican priest would be.<\/p>\n

I also found this book to be such a great read at the end of our semester, when we have discussed a myriad of issues and are all chin deep in our own individual research.\u00a0 Issues like bullying, which have not only sparked passionate discussions in our Zoom chats but have even boiled over into our Facebook (FACEBOOK?) conversations, are touched upon by Walker.\u00a0 Issues that arise when someone\u2019s \u201cfront stage\u201d does not align with their \u201cback stage\u201d have certainly arisen during our conversations surrounding Beth Moore and John MacArthur (or maybe this issue is better addressed by MacArthur\u2019s poor personal defense strategy due in large part to the hostile world that he helped create?) I wonder how much unnecessary pain was caused to the Percy family because far too many people felt the need to be \u201cdefended leaders\u201d instead of \u201cundefended leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how are we to live more fulfilled lives as undefended leaders?\u00a0 \u201cA veil has been cast over our eyes to make us believe that the world is one of duty, fear and self-protection.\u00a0 We must choose to inhabit a world that is basically generous, and make a commitment to trust ourselves to it.\u00a0 That will change the kind of leaders we are.\u201d[3]<\/a> Committing ourselves to live together in a generous world won\u2019t only change the type of leaders we are, but the type of world we live in as well.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cLeadership,\u201d Simonpwalker.com, last accessed November 14, 2019, http:\/\/simonpwalker.com\/leadership\/4532701005<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Simon Walker, The Undefended Leader Trilogy, (Carlisle, CA: Piquant Books, 2010), 154.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cWalker,\u201d alisonmorgan.co.uk, last accessed, November 14, 2019, https:\/\/www.alisonmorgan.co.uk\/Books\/Walker%202007.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest fault to Simon Walker\u2019s character that I can find is that he didn\u2019t make time to hang out with us while we were all visiting Oxford.\u00a0 Walker, an ordained Anglican cleric and leading scholar in the world of culture and cognition is perhaps most widely known for his writing in the field of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"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":[1321,109,1718],"class_list":["post-24897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp9","tag-lgp","tag-walker","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24897","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\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24898,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24897\/revisions\/24898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}