{"id":31843,"date":"2023-03-15T12:07:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T19:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31843"},"modified":"2023-03-15T18:21:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T01:21:51","slug":"the-power-of-the-single-leadership-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-power-of-the-single-leadership-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of the Single Leadership Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAm I really what others say of me? Or am I only what I know of myself? \u00a0. . .Who Am I? <\/span><\/p>\n

This one or the other? Am I this one today and tomorrow another? <\/span><\/p>\n

Am I both at once? Before others a hypocrite and in my own eyes a pitiful, whimpering weakling? . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

Who am I? <\/span><\/p>\n

They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whoever I am, thou knowest me; O God, I am thine!\u201d[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most well-known and influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century when he penned these lines. \u00a0He led an underground seminary, training pastors to disciple people effectively in the tumult of the 1930s and 1940s. \u00a0He wrote the poem, Who Am I<\/span><\/em>? During the two years in a Nazi prison before being executed on April 9, 1945. Some argue he failed while others say his death was the beginning of a new era for the Church. \u00a0Either way, I feel the freedom in his struggle with vulnerability while still secure in God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you, too, think about leaders like Bonhoeffer while reading Simon Walker\u2019s book, The Undefended Leader: Leading out of Who You Are<\/em>?<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 <\/span>Walker acknowledges how\u00a0conventional wisdom insists that success in leadership comes from dismissing the very idea of failure. Yet, the heart of his work describes an undefensive leader who wants understanding in what drives his or her style. \u201cFreedom,\u201d writes Walker, \u201ccomes from knowing you are approved of. \u00a0Freedom to perform comes from the knowledge that there is someone rooting for you in the audience . . . in such a relationship, you become free.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

I sat with this statement for a long time. Is it realistic or even possible for a leader to experience such extravagant freedom? <\/span><\/p>\n

The drama of this book is the hidden vulnerability[4]<\/a><\/sup> of being a leader, which, if I\u2019m honest, doesn\u2019t sound like freedom to me. When I listen with a friend or colleague who is in a position of leadership, I hear the heartbreaking rhythms of their front and back stages competing for their integrity. \u00a0The stories they share of what was said publicly compared to what actually happened privately, keenly mirrors Walker\u2019s metaphor when he reveals, \u201cWhat lies behind the creation of a front and back stage is a sense that we cannot entirely trust our audience, and so we need to manage what they see of us.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, however, the hidden vulnerability is just too much to bear. \u00a0One leader I know who was second from the top of a large, charitable trust on the East Coast discovered the fall out of trusting those he worked with. \u00a0Planning to retire from the organization, he took a sabbatical knowing he\u2019d stay five more years. \u00a0A few months after his sabbatical, the board chair let him know his retirement would be announced within the year. He thought he was a valued, approved, accepted player on the team. This is a leader whose back stage is impeccable and enjoys an adoring private audience. And from what others know of him, he always joined in the up-and-running movement around his team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another leader I know stepped into a traditionally male role at a non-profit organization in Europe and within the year determined her colleagues could be trusted. \u00a0Only to find out that her entire team of direct reports went around her to her boss directly with severe complaints about her leadership. \u00a0She tells me she had no idea. \u00a0My guess is that her leadership will stay defended, withholding trust and eliminating risk from here on out. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the power of the single leadership story that takes me back to my question: Is it realistic or even possible for a leader to experience such extravagant freedom? <\/span><\/p>\n

Reading Simon Walker\u2019s book tells me the answer is \u201cYes.\u201d As long as you protect the hidden vulnerability. The gaps of the single leadership story filled in for me when I read that perhaps freedom is when a leader does all they can. Walker writes, \u201cThe undefended leader, on the other hand, does all she can to acknowledge her exercise of power, and the flow of power in her organization, and to make them both explicit and accountable.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 And then I remember Edwin Friedman\u2019s call to the one leader\u2019s capacity for self-differentiation, \u201cGet outside the emotional climate of the day, don\u2019t ignore the emotional process.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Or Daniel Kahneman\u2019s wisdom whispering in the leader\u2019s ear, \u201cDon\u2019t be overconfident, you are prone to an exaggerated sense of how you understand the world.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 These are all warning signs on our single leadership journeys so we can experience extravagant freedom. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Am I experiencing the freedom Walker describes? Give away trust, be aware of the critical decision of the moment, join in the up-and-running movement around you, take risks, be vulnerable, be free to receive or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will always ask myself Bonhoeffer\u2019s question in my hidden vulnerable moments. \u00a0\u201cWho Am I? This one or the other? Am I this one today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once?\u201d[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The challenge I take away from this book is that no matter how hard I work doing what God has called me to do, no matter how transparent and authentic I may be at any given time on my front stage, there must be a hidden vulnerability. \u00a0If there\u2019s not then I have failed in how Walker defines leadership: \u201cLeadership happens when a person takes responsibility for someone other than herself.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 When I am praying with one person, visiting with my 86-year-old father, speaking to a group, or serving a meal, my deepest calling is to help that person or the group bear their vulnerability. \u00a0Then I can stand with Bonhoeffer and say, \u201cWhoever I am, thou knowest me; O God, I am thine!\u201d[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Robertson, Edwin. <\/span>VOICES IN THE NIGHT THE PRISON POEMS OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER<\/span>. Zondervan Publishing House, 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Walker, Simon P. <\/span>Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/span>. Piquant Editions, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0IBID<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Crouch, Andy. <\/span>Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing<\/span>. Illustrated edition. IVP, 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

I highly recommend this book. Andy Crouch writes about true flourishing being both strong and weak. \u00a0See his chapter 6 with the title, Hidden Vulnerability. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0Walker, <\/span>Leading Out of Who You Are<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0Walker, <\/span>Leading Out of Who You Are<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Friedman, Edwin H. <\/span>A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/span>. New York: SEABURY BOOKS, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0Kahneman, Daniel. <\/span>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span>. 1st edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

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[9]<\/a>\u00a0Robertson, <\/span>VOICES IN THE NIGHT THE PRISON POEMS OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0Walker, <\/span>Leading Out of Who You Are<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0Robertson, <\/span>VOICES IN THE NIGHT THE PRISON POEMS OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAm I really what others say of me? Or am I only what I know of myself? \u00a0. . .Who Am I? This one or the other? Am I this one today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? Before others a hypocrite and in my own eyes a pitiful, whimpering weakling? . . […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"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":[2699,2489,2696,2698,2662,2049,2700,1943,2007,2,236,35,1521],"class_list":["post-31843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andycrouch","tag-dlgp02","tag-dlgp02walker","tag-failtureofnerve","tag-thinkingfastandslow","tag-undefendedleadership","tag-voices","tag-bonhoeffer","tag-dlgp","tag-dminlgp","tag-friedman","tag-leadership","tag-vulnerability","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31843","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\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31867,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31843\/revisions\/31867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}