{"id":30867,"date":"2023-02-08T11:54:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T19:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30867"},"modified":"2023-02-06T19:56:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T03:56:49","slug":"its-a-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/its-a-process\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s a Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead<\/em> is a leadership book that incorporates elements of neuroscience and psychology. Written by Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner, the combined duo provide a breadth of experience to speak to the spiritual, mental, and social elements of leadership. Dr. Wilder has a PhD in clinical psychology and an MA in Theology. He is a well-known author and counselor and serves as the chief neurotheologian at Life Model Works, a nonprofit focusing on the intersection of the brain and science. Dr. Warner has served as a pastor, professor, author, and serves as the President of Deeper Walk International.<\/p>\n<p>Written as a two-part book, Section 1 provides a baseline of understanding for the book&#8217;s thesis, while Section 2 serves as a \u2018how to\u2019 for applying the principles. According to Dr. Finzel, the book&#8217;s thesis is RARE leadership \u201cis the fruit of four uncommon habits related to emotional intelligence.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> It is the authors\u2019 hope that the book will provide an understanding of the <em>fast-track<\/em> brain and use gained skills to help train effective leaders using these four habits.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> The habits are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>R \u2013 Remain Relational. <\/strong>Far too often leaders tend to be problem-focused instead of people-focused.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A \u2013 Act Like Yourself. <\/strong>\u201cRare leaders have a consistency of character anchored in a positive core identity that lets people know that whatever emotions I may face, I still know how to act like myself.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>R \u2013 Return to Joy. <\/strong>The authors emphasize the importance of a leader\u2019s ability \u201cto return to joy from a variety of negative emotions.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>E \u2013 Endure Hardship. <\/strong>Leaders embrace and do not avoid suffering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For healthy leaders who demonstrate RARE, they model a sense of <em>belonging<\/em> (Remain Relational), have a healthy sense of <em>identity <\/em>(Act Like Yourself), model <em>being glad to be together <\/em>(Return to Joy), and <em>see difficult times as opportunities to grow closer<\/em> (Endure Hardship).<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The authors argue that the fast track must be used to process relational leadership skills instead of the slow track. Thinking of Kahnman\u2019s <em>Thinking, Fast and Slow, <\/em>I am reminded of the two systems he proposes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cSystem 1 <\/em>operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effect and no sense of voluntary control.<\/li>\n<li><em>System 2<\/em> allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations.&#8221;<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As I was reading, it was my impression that Warner and Wilder place too great an emphasis on the fast track, or using Kahneman\u2019s terminology, System 1. While I agree that we need fast track leading, it seems to me that there should be a greater balance between the two. Now, it is worth noting that as a hard charging 8 in the Enneagram, I am all about System 1, but I also see the unintentional consequences when I don\u2019t take the time to s l o w\u00a0\u00a0 d o w n.<\/p>\n<p>There were some interesting concepts in the book, such as the emphasis on <strong>identity.<\/strong> In my research on leadership development, I concur that self-awareness and a clear sense of identity are crucial for a leader&#8217;s life. If this is lacking in a leader, then not only will they fail in developing others to mobilize the team toward the goal, but there is also a greater chance of burnout among the leader, staff, and creating a culture of toxicity. The authors speak to the need to emphasize relationships and that leaders don\u2019t need \u201caccountability groups\u201d as that only furthers the performance metric and a false sense of identity. Instead, leaders (or anyone for that matter) should participate in what they call Identity Groups to help remind and affirm \u201cwho we are in Christ.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also found the \u201clevels of the brain\u201d fascinating to understanding who we are, our role as leaders, and our call to help people align more closely with their Imago Dei. The four levels are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Level One: The Attachment Center<\/strong>. It is all about relationships!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Level Two: The Assessment Center.<\/strong> Fight or flight!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Level Three: The Attunement Center.<\/strong> This is the part of the brain that reads people and identifies with their feelings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Level 4: The Identity Center.<\/strong> This is the highest level of brain function.<a href=\"#_ftn8\" name=\"_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to the authors, we all experience Levels 1 and 2, but Level 3 is not fully complete pre-development and Level 4 is yet to be built.<a href=\"#_ftn9\" name=\"_ftnref9\">[9]<\/a> This is a fascinating observation regarding the interplay of neurological growth and the development of the Self. While I cannot speak to the neurological accuracy of this concept, in thinking about the pathway of leadership development and sanctification, I can certainly conceptualize this theory and believe it demonstrates the importance of healthy leaders <em>and<\/em> leaders who are investing in others to become their best version in Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I will quickly observe that I was particularly struck by the section titled \u201cSigns You Have Shut Down Relationally.\u201d The authors \u00a0list six questions on page 129 that gave me pause as I reflected on times I have felt burnt out, even as of late. I see in myself a tendency to isolate from \u201crelationships\u201d and endure difficult realities on my own. This is a theme I have become acutely aware of in the past year of my marriage. It is my hope to address this head-on and, Lord willing, by His grace, and combat the temptation to rely on myself as I recall my true identify and lean heavily into the God-given community He has entrusted to me.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Marcus Warner and E. James Wilder, <em>Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead<\/em> (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016), 8.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Ibid., 19.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Ibid., 25.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Ibid., 26.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Ibid., 46.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, <em>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, 1st pbk. ed. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), 20\u201321.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> Warner and Wilder, <em>Rare Leadership<\/em>, 53.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" name=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a> Ibid., 66\u201368.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref9\" name=\"_ftn9\">[9]<\/a> Ibid., 69.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead is a leadership book that incorporates elements of neuroscience and psychology. Written by Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner, the combined duo provide a breadth of experience to speak to the spiritual, mental, and social elements of leadership. Dr. Wilder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"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":[2594,2595],"class_list":["post-30867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-warner","tag-wilder","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867","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\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30868,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867\/revisions\/30868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}