{"id":29401,"date":"2022-11-05T17:52:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T00:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29401"},"modified":"2022-11-06T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T20:45:17","slug":"a-call-to-lay-down-our-armor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-call-to-lay-down-our-armor\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call to Lay Down Our Armor"},"content":{"rendered":"

What could our world look like if leaders removed their defensive armor and led from a posture of service instead of power? <\/span><\/i>That\u2019s the question I found myself pondering as I read <\/span>Leading out of Who You Are <\/span><\/i>by Simon P. Walker. In this leadership book, Walker describes the difference between a defended leader (prioritizing power, ego and achievement) and an undefended leader (prioritizing trust, service, and self-sacrifice). Through an exploration of case studies and years of working with leaders, Walker theorizes that undefended leadership is the key to meeting the challenges of leadership in some of the most difficult areas of life such as politics, business and ministry. [1]<\/a>\u00a0 The problem? Undefended leaders are few and far between.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So much of this book resonated with me, particularly the emphasis on trust and how it impacts the ego. Walker discusses four \u2018shapes\u2019 of ego that develop from childhood environments and then describes how each impacts leadership style: 1) shaping ego 2) defining ego 3) adapting ego 4) defending ego. [2]<\/a> Each of the four \u2018shapes\u2019 is based on whether a person has trust in herself and trust in others. Since I identified completely with the defining leadership ego, here is what I learned about that particular \u2018shape\u2019 and how it has manifested in my own life as I’ve been learning to live more undefended.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trust in myself. Lack of trust in others.<\/b><\/p>\n

I distinctly recall a situation in my childhood that shaped my ego into thinking I could only trust myself and not anyone else – the hallmark of a defining ego. [3]<\/a> My grandparents divorced when I was young. My grandfather was a life-long pastor and one of my heroes. I was very close to both of my grandparents and spent a great deal of time with them. I never saw the divorce coming. One day I was spending the night with them and having fun and the next day my grandfather wrote a letter that he was leaving my grandmother and disappeared from our lives for over a decade. Until that point, I lived a \u201cPollyannaish\u201d life. After that, I began to doubt others and trust only in myself – a burden I eventually discovered was impossible to bear.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there was a poster child for the defining leadership ego based on Walker\u2019s description, it would definitely be me. Right down to the fear of failure, control, lack of delegation, development of an anxiety disorder and extreme burnout and breakdown. It\u2019s all there in the history of my life and the bones of my being. Thankfully, I have also experienced the redemption and restoration that is possible by learning how to become more undefended. My story is proof that undefended leadership is possible by shedding the layers of self and mining the true gift of what lies underneath.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom from self.<\/b><\/p>\n

One of my therapists told me that from the time we are children, we add protective layers (or armor) to ourselves to shield and protect us from wounds we experience. In adulthood, those layers that once protected us, often become the very things that hold us back from experiencing true freedom and living as our true self – a child of God. I\u2019m glad that Walker identified trust in the Divine as a necessity for an undefended leader. It is only through the security of God\u2019s love and trustworthiness that anyone can begin the frightening, yet freeing, process of removing our armor layer by layer, day by day, to live and lead as Jesus did – completely undefended. When I began to share my vulnerability, temptations, trials and pain instead of hiding them away “backstage” as Walker describes, a curious, \u00a0wonderful and unexpected thing happened. Instead of trusting me less, people trusted me more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Guide to others.<\/b><\/p>\n

When a leader does the hard work of becoming undefended by facing failure, claiming true identity, letting go of outcomes, being still, nurturing potential in others, and serving rather than striving, she becomes so much more than a leader. She becomes a guide for others to find the same freedom she has.\u00a0 Living undefended is not easy. I mess it up all the time and have to remind myself that I am learning. It\u2019s a process, not a formula. It is hard, but oh so worth it. It is, indeed, the heroine’s journey of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what could the world look like if leaders removed their defensive armor?\u00a0I believe it could look a bit like heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Simon Walker, <\/span>Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/span><\/i> (Carlisle: Piquant, 2007).<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Originally developed by Kim Bartholomew and Leonard M. Horowitz.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Walker, 70.<\/span><\/p>\n



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What could our world look like if leaders removed their defensive armor and led from a posture of service instead of power? That\u2019s the question I found myself pondering as I read Leading out of Who You Are by Simon P. Walker. In this leadership book, Walker describes the difference between a defended leader (prioritizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"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":[2347,1718],"class_list":["post-29401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-walker","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401","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\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29401"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29422,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401\/revisions\/29422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}