{"id":2856,"date":"2014-10-25T15:38:42","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2014-10-25T15:38:42","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:38:42","slug":"the-leadership-mystique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-leadership-mystique\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leadership Mystique"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries is a world known expert in the area of leadership development and organizational change. He has worked with organizations in many countries, so brings great wisdom when looking at leadership from a global perspective. In his book, The Leadership Mystique: Leading Behavior in the Human Enterprise, <\/em>he looks at a person\u2019s ability to influence and drive organizational effectiveness. Although many have published books on the subject of leadership, Kets de Vries book stands out. He provides a picture of effective leadership based on consistent traits that successful leaders have demonstrated across global industries. I don\u2019t believe that a person can pick up a book and learn leadership. I find that people need to see and experience what successful leadership looks like so that they can learn and gain wisdom from the model that others provide. The perception of what makes a good leader is often based on an individual\u2019s definition of success, in the specific context that they have worked. This book helps to broaden an individual\u2019s perspective, allowing them to see what good leadership and effectiveness looks like in a broader global context. This being said, Kets de Vries takes leadership thought one step farther. Beyond being a global leader, he addresses the need for leaders to adapt their style to the needs of the specific organization. The leadership factor involves being agile, adaptable, motivating and creative in any context. It is an art form practiced with \u201cmystique \u201c within the complexity of organized effort and diversity.<\/p>\n

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Kets de Vries offers insight that is especially helpful to many Americans, since we are known to have a unique \u201cAmerican\u201d way of approaching work and leadership when compared to other parts of the world. Engagement with culture is one of the most effective means to spread moral values and to make positive change. Yet, many American\u2019s struggle in the area of cultural intelligence & cross-cultural leadership. We have an image of success that works in the typical \u201cAmerican\u201d context, but we fail to connect in an increasingly global context. The impact of this to Christianity is profound. We are failing in our efforts to effectively engage the diverse cultures in which we minister, in the U.S. and globally. First and foremost, our calling is to love one another and to share Christ with them. If people don\u2019t learn to connect with diverse groups of people, our mission will fail.<\/p>\n

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Throughout our history, we have been taught that, \u201cAmerican\u2019s are powerful leaders of industry\u201d. It is this underlying philosophy that drives our approach toward leadership. We are likely to view the responsibility for success at the individual level, and leadership growth in terms of becoming more powerful as an individual. High performance is equated with actions such as working overtime, getting the job done, or doing more work than others. The image of a good leader is one who works faster, while getting the task done with high quality. American\u2019s are typically very direct, want to \u201cget to the point\u201d, and are quick to call out issues or problems. \u00a0Unfortunately, this way of doing things isn\u2019t the most accepted or effective in the global context. The \u201cAmerican\u201d leadership practices don\u2019t work everywhere. Specifically, they don\u2019t work within the church context.<\/p>\n

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Western church leaders have good intentions for sharing Christ with others, yet there seems to be a divide between their intention and ability. They aren\u2019t engaging people and motivating them forward. In a study by the Barna group, 61% of pastors struggle with personal relationships, yet nine in ten reports they are effective teachers and leaders who are driven by a clear vision and eight out of ten pastors claim they are effective disciple makers. David Kinnaman, the director of the study, \u201cchallenged the objectivity of pastors\u2019 perceptions by pointing out discrepancies between their self-views and other research conducted by the firm. Most pastors say they are driven by a clear vision, but very few pastors are able to articulate the vision statement for their church. Many pastors talk about their church\u2019s deep engagement in the community, but most church programs are focused on the congregation, not people outside the walls of the church. The vast majority of pastors describe their church as theologically conservative and effective at disciple-making, but a minority of churchgoers has developed a biblical worldview.\u201d[1]<\/a> By studying the work of experts, such as Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, we can identify gaps in leadership needed across the Christian community. He writes, \u201corganizations are like automobiles. They don’t run themselves, except downhill.\u201d Is the American church rolling downhill? Are current leadership structures failing the church? I\u2019d urge each person in ministry to think carefully about leaders within your direct context, and to identify if they are contributing positively or negatively. Based on insight gained from reading this book, what are issues you see with leadership in your ministry context? As I\u2019ve engaged with this week\u2019s reading, I\u2019ve found areas where my own leadership needs improvement so that I can be effective in ministry (i.e. I could use a leadership attitude adjustment!)\u2026<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> David Kinnaman, \u201cPastors Feel Confident in Ministry, But Many Struggle in their Interaction with Others,\u201d Barna Group, Ltd., July 10, 2006, accessed October 22, 2014, https:\/\/www.barna.org\/barna-update\/leadership\/150-pastors-feel-confident-in-ministry-but-many-struggle-in-their-interaction-with-others#.VEp8mUtTpqd<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries is a world known expert in the area of leadership development and organizational change. He has worked with organizations in many countries, so brings great wisdom when looking at leadership from a global perspective. In his book, The Leadership Mystique: Leading Behavior in the Human Enterprise, he looks at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"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":[246],"class_list":["post-2856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ketsdevries","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856","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\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2857,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions\/2857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}