{"id":26322,"date":"2020-03-10T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T19:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=26322"},"modified":"2020-03-10T12:55:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T19:55:26","slug":"metanoia-the-formational-undercurrent-of-an-innovative-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/metanoia-the-formational-undercurrent-of-an-innovative-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Metanoia: The Formational Undercurrent of an Innovative Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

To imagine \u201cthat which could be\u201d requires a new way of thinking – new wineskins. The status quo is a direct result of the current modus operandi, or to quote the oft used leadership adage, \u201c<\/span>Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.\u201d It\u2019s helpful to employ a Greek concept here: that of metanoia. Peter Senge\u2019s pinnacle work on leadership in the 1990s, <\/span>The Fifth Discipline,<\/span><\/i> brought this word to the popular stage as he urged organizations to be \u201clearning organizations.\u201d True learning, not simply fact gathering or information consuming, is predicated by genuine metanoia. This shift of mind in learning is so important and foundational.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Learning] gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we recreate ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do…Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. (Senge, 13-14)<\/span><\/p>\n

Leadership, and innovative leadership all the more, demands – or perhaps invites – <\/span>metanoia<\/span><\/i>. This word is translated in the New Testament simply as <\/span>repent. <\/span><\/i>The innovative leader must\u00a0 have metanoia as the continual formational undercurrent of shift in mindset and repentance – particularly of the <\/span>stale<\/b>, the <\/span>ego<\/b>, and <\/span>power.<\/b><\/p>\n

Humans have a propensity to reductionism: ideas, thinking, God, theology and imagination. This is how I would describe <\/span>stale <\/b>thinking. One does not need to move to neophilia – the over infatuation with the new – but must head Jesus\u2019 words: \u201c<\/span>Metanoia, <\/span><\/i>for the Kingdom of God is at hand\u201d (Matthew 4:17). Jesus wasn\u2019t calling for mental ascent, but for an entirely new category of thinking (and thus living).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the biggest obstacles to a leadership embodiment categorized by <\/span>metanoia<\/span><\/i> is the <\/span>ego.<\/b> The story of the Tower of Babel stands (pun intended) as a pointed reminder of\u00a0 an innovative leadership revolving around the ego. \u201c<\/span>Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves\u201d (Genesis 11:4).<\/span> The text reminds us of our need to repent and fulfill the full range of what <\/span>metanoia <\/span><\/i>means in a changing of mind – a confession of a propensity to use the gifts of God for our own name, but also the calcifying of our imaginations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Power <\/b>becomes important to innovation theory because innovation is largely about solving problems, but whose problems, who decides which problems to address, and who might have access to these solutions? These are all issues of power. Andy Crouch helps us make the connection between creativity and power with his concise definition: \u201cPower is the ability to make something of the world\u201d (Crouch, <\/span>17<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the preceding to be a lengthy introduction of a leadership theorist, practitioner, and consultant, Simon Walker of Oxford University. Striking some of the same notes, his work is best captured in <\/span>The Undefended Leader Trilogy.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>He proposes a comprehensive image of an undefended leader which can be described most simply as \u201cbeing 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\u00a0 (Walker, <\/span>Leadership<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We all carry<\/span> stale <\/b>\u201csteering cognition biases\u201d that often result in \u201cdefended leadership\u201d which degenerates (think opposite of \u201cgenerative\u201d) into innovation killers: devotion to stale strategies, grasping for control, and eliminating risk (Walker, <\/span>Leading out of Who\u00a0 You Are<\/span><\/i>, 120). Walker calls leaders to \u201cmake different choices, embrace different aspirations and develop a different political vision\u201d (11). Though he doesn\u2019t use the word <\/span>metanoia<\/span><\/i> he certainly describes that shift in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Walker, our lack of freedom stems in part to the<\/span> ego <\/b>which is a part of our sinful <\/span>nature<\/span><\/i>, but also <\/span>nurtured<\/span><\/i> throughout our childhood (61). He explores the pathologies of over-confidence and paternalism, drivenness and ambition, anxiety and over-responsibility, and suspicion and over-sensitivity (61-111). The ego, he argues, remains as the largest obstacle for undefended leadership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his second book of the trilogy, Walker offers a fresh take on<\/span> power<\/b> through weakness. Calling for <\/span>metanoia, <\/span><\/i>he urges for a \u201cwhole new way of thinking about power\u201d (<\/span>Leading with Nothing to Lose<\/span><\/i>, 5). A free leader is able to embody weakness and deploy the most appropriate of Walker\u2019s eight distinct kinds of power. He will go on to describe these kinds of power through the lens of a corresponding historic and famous leaders. His third book will look at societal factors that play both into the ego and power dynamics. He will explore greed, hunger for \u201ccheap\u201d money, celebrity, and the growing poverty gap as failures of Western Capitalism (<\/span>Leading with Everything to Give<\/span><\/i>, 19-69).<\/span><\/p>\n

Personally, I am wrestling with the concept of the undefended leader in light of finishing a scholarly history of Cru and its founder, Bill Bright. While Bright inspired thousands and thousands, created one of the largest Christian nonprofits in a single lifetime, and spawned dozens of ministries, I would not categorize Bright as an undefended leader. His control and authoritarianism were recognized widely. <\/span>Many staff under Bill Bright agreed about the rigidity, regimentation, blindness of other\u2019s input and ideas and one lamented, \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a lot of room for creativity.\u201d Cru\u2019s history is pockmarked with resignations and firings of dissenting voices. An argument could be made that the new ministries founded under the umbrella of Campus Crusade for Christ were the brain children of Bill Bright and not due to an innovative culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pray for me (seriously). I am trusting God for a personal life marked by <\/span>metanoia, <\/span><\/i>but also seeking to lead in an organization that needs a fresh posture of <\/span>metanoia.<\/span><\/i> We are stuck in many ways in the <\/span>stale<\/b>, have an inflated organizational <\/span>ego<\/b>, and have a <\/span>power<\/b> imbalance. I remain hopeful (to a point) also based on Cru\u2019s history. The renewed growth in the 1990s can be attributed to a refocus on the core vision of Cru (\u201cEvery student\u201d), a rediscovery of their essential emphasis on the Spirit, and an openness to move on from past approaches and embracing new ideas and philosophies.<\/span><\/p>\n

___<\/span><\/p>\n

Andy Crouch, <\/span>Playing God: Redeeming the Gifts of Power <\/span><\/i>(Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter M. Senge, <\/span>The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.<\/span><\/i> (New York: Doubleday, 1990).<\/span><\/p>\n

John G. Turner, <\/span>Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America <\/span><\/i>(Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2008).<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon P. Walker, <\/span>Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Carlise, UK: Piquant, 2007).<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon P. Walker, <\/span>Leading with Nothing to Lose: Training in the Exercise of Power\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>(Carlise, UK: Piquant, 2007).<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon P. Walker, <\/span>Leading with Everything to Give: Lessons from the Success and Failure of Western Capitalism<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Carlise, UK: Piquant, 2007).<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon P. Walker, \u201cLeadership\u201d website, (accessed March 10. 2020) <\/span>http:\/\/simonpwalker.com\/leadership\/4532701005.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To imagine \u201cthat which could be\u201d requires a new way of thinking – new wineskins. The status quo is a direct result of the current modus operandi, or to quote the oft used leadership adage, \u201cEvery system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.\u201d It\u2019s helpful to employ a Greek concept here: that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"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":[1579,1718],"class_list":["post-26322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-innovation","tag-walker","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26322","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26323,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26322\/revisions\/26323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}