It is impressive how Simon Walter brings out the trilogy of the Undefended leader. His definition of these types of leadership brings out the right kind of leadership we experience in our lives. Leading out of who you are, with nothing to lose and with everything to give, is a Christian concept of self-denial for the sake of the gospel. When the rich man visited Jesus and asked him what he could to inherit the kingdom of God after he had kept the commandments of God faithfully. Jesus looked at him and loved him. \u201cOne thing you lack,\u201d he said. \u201cGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.\u201d This message connects with what Walter is describing here in the trilogy of the undefended leader. It is also these undefended leaders who are associated with the greatest revolutions, in which the lower forms of power overthrown, and a bright light shines upon the most authentic nature of humanity. It is in undefended leaders that we glimpse our true potential and in undefended structures of power that people are set most genuinely free. This reminds me of the early establishment of the Quaker church by a British businessperson who leads the church out of who he was with values that many people subscribed to for humanity. He stressed the importance of peace with humanity and the environment, integrity in leading the people and creating honesty communities in the world, equality of all humankind irrespective of gender or race, but all made in the image of God and a simplistic life. That is living while caring about others and not extravagantly while others are in need. He promoted non-violent negotiation for peace and conscience objectors to war. George Fox had a goal that he articulated very well through his vision, and his followers trusted him and followed this theology in the 17th century.
\nWalter explains that the leader\u2019s ability to articulate the goal is Vision, but the relationship between the followers and the goal is the movement. In other words, the followers must move towards the goal envisioned by the leader. As much as this concept is real, some of the Quaker church followers do not subscribe to this model of power as far as leadership is a concern. This is the reason my dissertation is based on the conflict between the trained clergy and laity leadership. Quakers fear power coming in their line of leadership. It is a complex management model within the organization.
\nOn the other hand, the Quakers operate on the platform of the backstage leadership and less of the frontstage leadership under the trilogy of the undefended leader but would not wish to say they are using power. Walker describes the backstage leadership as a platform that provides the basis for successful delivery on the front stage. But the backstage part they played in the second world war through Friends Ambulance Unity by saving lives of the wounded soldiers and providing humanitarian support to families affected by the war, saw the church awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 after the war. Their backstage operations came to the frontstage through the results of their excellent work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is impressive how Simon Walter brings out the trilogy of the Undefended leader. His definition of these types of leadership brings out the right kind of leadership we experience in our lives. Leading out of who you are, with nothing to lose and with everything to give, is a Christian concept of self-denial for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"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":[],"class_list":["post-24928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24928","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\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24929,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24928\/revisions\/24929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}