My missionary career began as a 23-year-old new wife and mother with a fresh university degree in hand. My dream to minister overseas came sooner than imagined. While excited to be heading to Jakarta, Indonesia, I lacked confidence that I was prepared for the work ahead. Nothing magically changed on the 36-hour journey between Seattle and my arrival at Jakarta\u2019s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. I was still me encountering an uncertain future in an unfamiliar land. Those early years represented a wilderness experience filled with thresholds of faith, new learning, and understanding my call. Dealing with the unrealistic expectations of others, particularly those in leadership, and pressures to become something I was not, were my biggest challenges. It was the beginning of knowing myself and discovering the important role character plays in leadership.<\/p>\n
Leading out of Who You Are:<\/em> Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/em>, by Simon P. Walker, is a book I would have devoured had it been written in 1986. I learned by doing, making mistakes, and being present to God. Though painful, my character was and is still forming. There is no end date on character-building. Walker\u2019s words resonate, \u201cLeadership is about who you are, not what you know or what skills you have.\u201d[1]<\/a> My lack of confidence became fertile ground for God\u2019s faithfulness and trustworthiness to take root in my soul. Trusting God was not difficult. Learning to trust myself in an unfamiliar environment took time. Trusting those in leadership was a challenge. I came to believe that trust is earned. However, Simon Walker\u2019s concept of the front and backstage of a leader\u2019s life challenges me to consider how my lack of trust in others has contributed to protecting myself and hindered my leadership capabilities.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Walker writes, \u201cLeadership is about trust and it is about power.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Walker placing trust first is significant. Like grace before truth (John 1:17) and mercy over judgment (James 2:13). In scripture, great leaders went through significant wilderness experiences where faithfulness through hardship shaped their call to leadership later in life. Moses, Joseph, and John the Baptist come to mind. They learned to trust God and developed the character needed to lead well. In terms of leadership, I believe trust and character should come before the exercise of power. Power is something I choose to give to another because they have proven to be trustworthy. We all know the devastation of broken relationships. Trust is broken through abandonment, betrayal, lies, and secret behaviors. As a counselor, I know the only way to restore trust is a commitment to rigorous honesty, establishing safety and boundaries, and consistent changed behavior over time. When it comes to leadership and followership the same principles apply. It starts with me and my continued commitment to attend to my backstage, invite others in, and embrace safe authentic relationships in which trust can be restored.<\/p>\n I did not entirely disagree when Edwin Friedman wrote, \u201cThe focus on empathy rather than responsibility has contributed to a major misorientation in our society about the nature of what is toxic to life.\u201d[4]<\/a> Together empathy and responsibility make for good accountability in leadership. Friedman\u2019s statement and Walker\u2019s concept of the front and backstage of a leader\u2019s life present an invitation to consider the congruency of my life and how I lead. My backstage will either support or undermine my front stage. Walker states, \u201cThe front and backstage are always connected.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n Thinking back to my early days in Jakarta, my lack of confidence and quiet nature caused others to question my calling. I didn\u2019t have much of a \u201cfront stage\u201d presence. About a decade in, someone remarked that it must be tough \u201csitting on the shelf\u201d while others were busy with ministry. The comment was not ill-intended. I did not consider myself set aside. Character and skill were forming as I was faithful to God\u2019s call \u201cbackstage.\u201d I was encouraged by Eve Poole\u2019s insights when she questioned confidence as a main goal for leaders. She believes character is a better goal. \u201cCharacter protects your future ability to lead because it is the very thing that will save you when everything else is stripped away.\u201d[6]<\/a> I have found this personally to be true. Confidence in one\u2019s abilities and skills can give others a false perception of power. It is the character quality of being trustworthy that enhances the knowledge and skill one possesses, regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n Having my call questioned was character-building. I learned about myself and who God was calling me to be. A leadership mentor or a safe spiritual friend to help me encounter the new and overwhelming threshold spaces of ministry and family-life would have been welcomed. Walker identified a leader as, \u201c\u2026a guide between the known and the unknown.\u201d[7]<\/a> I am grateful for those who eventually came alongside me. The heart of my NPO is about addressing that need for others. Walker writes of good leaders, \u201cA leader leads people from where they are currently to another place, at first unknown to them and can only be imagined.\u201d[8]<\/a> Leaders are masters of threshold spaces.[9]<\/a> They lead others into the unknown with skill and awareness that the journey is hard yet filled with hope. Character is an essential threshold space. It is important to me that what I am presenting on the outside matches what is true on the inside. Who I am on the inside matters to God and those I lead. Character, trust, and letting others into my backstage are solid foundations for leadership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Simon P. Walker, Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/em>, (London, UK: Piquant Edition Ltd. 2007), 5.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Walker, Leading out of Who You Are<\/em>, 25.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid., 5.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Edwin Friedman, Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix.<\/em> (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 1999), 143.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Walker, Leading out of Who You Are<\/em>, 28.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/em>. (London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017), 47.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Walker, Leading out of Who You Are<\/em>, 6.<\/p>\n