{"id":29704,"date":"2022-11-29T21:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29704"},"modified":"2022-11-29T21:00:17","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T05:00:17","slug":"everyones-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/everyones-a-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone’s a Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

The author of \u201cSpeaking Truth to Power\u201d, James O’Toole, received his Doctorate in Social Anthropology from Oxford University and spent much of his career teaching, researching, and writing in the areas of leadership, ethics, and corporate culture. While he wrote many books, in 1965, his book Vanguard Management<\/em> was named \u201cone of the best business and economic books\u201d by Business Week.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

O’Toole introduces the concept of speaking truth to power and the challenges it creates by recounting Sophocles’ fourth-century play Antigone. <\/em>In it, King Creon believed it was a sign of great weakness to listen to the opinions of those he led and saw it as a threat to power. However, the son Haemon challenged his thinking. He said, \u201cA man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more\u2026 if I may give advice, I\u2019d say it would be best if men were born perfect in wisdom, but failing this (which often fails) it can be no dishonor to learn from others when they speak good sense.\u201d Haemon equated asking questions to a form of learning, but also a practice of wise and influential leadership. O’Toole used this example to demonstrate that it is a leader\u2019s job to both listen to those they lead and create a culture in which there can be open, candid communication among leaders and followers. [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

I found the article to be an insightful read to cast vision that effective leaders are those who readily listen and seek the opinion and feedback of those they lead. During the spring of 2022, I facilitated a leadership curriculum prototype with individuals from my low-income community. One of the participants, I will call him Ryan, came to our organization several years back as he was moving from Billings to rebuild his life as he and his baby mama were trying to leave behind a life of addiction. Securing a place to rent through our organization, our property manager was then able to help Ryan secure a job with a local restoration company owned by a sincere Christ-follower who was a felon for murder in gang-related violence while he was a teen. Sparing many details, Ryan\u2019s life is no longer the same. The opportunity to secure quality, affordable housing (despite his criminal background) provided Ryan an excellent job with upward mobility and the capacity to build a healthy community. I invited Ryan to participate in my four-week leadership course as I was convinced he was a leader with much untapped potential. After a class on \u201cidentity,\u201d Ryan acted on the suggested homework to read and evaluate what Genesis 1-3 had to say about identity and leadership. I will never forget his email to me as he said, \u201cEric, I am relatively new to the Bible and what it means to follow Jesus, but I have read these chapters several times this week and I am convinced more than ever that as people made in God\u2019s image, we are all leaders.<\/strong>\u201d I was blown away by this response as I will confess that my definition of leadership was far too narrow! Ryan taught me an important theological and leadership principle that day: we are all leaders within our scope of influence.<\/u><\/p>\n

Why am I sharing about Ryan regarding O’Toole’s article? I think this article carries great weight, not just for CEOs, Executive Directors, and Pastors, but all people,<\/em> for we are all leaders! For many years I have had the privilege of mentoring a group of guys bi-weekly. For our meeting this week, I asked them to read this article to discuss the principles it has for us as leaders. It is important to add that my working definition of leadership is that \u201cleaders leverage their influence for the common good of followers and future generations.\u201d So, in conjunction with Ryan\u2019s epiphany that we are all leaders, we all exercise influence in various spheres, such as our home, community, work, and church. I was encouraged by the insights these brothers gleaned. Allow me to share a few:<\/p>\n