{"id":33118,"date":"2023-10-11T17:16:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T00:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33118"},"modified":"2023-10-01T17:34:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T00:34:17","slug":"putin-a-case-study-of-isolated-fear-based-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/putin-a-case-study-of-isolated-fear-based-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin: A Case-Study of Isolated, Fear-Based Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not long after the invasion of Ukraine, Philip Bump of The Washington Post wrote about the isolation \u2013 both figurative and literal \u2013 of Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin. This article included pictures of Putin physically separated from people by an awkward distance that would make dialogue difficult and relational connection impossible.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What these pictures imply is what a majority of people believe to be true about Putin: he is a narcissist with great power and a great fear of people. He cannot get close to people. He fears people and is far more comfortable being in the center of his universe. In a choice between isolation and connection, Putin chooses isolation every time.<\/p>\n

Isolated Leadership in the Church <\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, leadership in isolation is all too common in our world today. From fearful, narcissistic dictators to detached CEOs, it is not hard to find leadership displayed as the fear-based wielding of power from a distance, over relationally leading through influence with trust.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I cannot write that churches do much better. An example (seemingly extreme, but I would argue not too far off) that has been center stage in the dialogue on unhealthy church leadership is The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast<\/em> by Mike Cosper. In episode 11, Cosper highlights that as issues at Mars Hill were going from bad to worse, Lead Pastor Mark Driscoll would become increasingly isolated and inaccessible to the Mars Hill staff by changing his office location and contact info. At one point, he told his leadership team at a retreat that he and his wife were playing a word association game. During this game, his wife, Grace, said the phrase \u201cpeople are\u201d to which Mark responded \u201cdangerous.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Driscoll is an example of a narcissistic pastor who led with fear \u2013 both fear of him by the people he led as well as his own fear of people \u2013 and wielded power from a distance. The unfortunate reality is that this leadership tactic works. Granted, it does not work forever, but it works in the short-term.<\/p>\n

RARE Leadership <\/strong><\/p>\n

In their book RARE Leadership<\/em>, Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder highlight that \u201cThe advantage of the fear-based systems is that they accelerate quickly (but I have to get mad and yell to get anyone to move), while the disadvantage is that under any tension at all they lose mutual mind and forget entirely about acting like themselves.\u201d[3]<\/a> Instead of a fear-based leadership style, Warner and Wilder advocate for a joy-based system, which \u201chas amazing resilience, focus, direction, and self-restoring capacity.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

How does one create such a joy-based system? This is the focus of their book. RARE Leadership<\/em> is about creating an environment based on a leadership style of connection, trust, and joy. When one leads with emotional intelligence and maturity, the results of the people one leads experience an \u201cincrease in trust, joy, and engagement,\u201d which yields greater results.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

RARE is an acronym for \u201cremain relational,\u201d \u201cact like yourself,\u201d \u201creturn to joy,\u201d and \u201cendure hardship.\u201d[6]<\/a> In essence, this book argues for the antithetical leadership ethos of narcissistic, fearful and fear-based leaders. Instead, Wilder and Warner advocate for the kind of leadership that is connected with the people one serves and leads.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay Connected <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Tod Bolsinger, author of Canoeing the Mountains<\/em>, is also a proponent of leadership that is relational and connected. Instead of choosing isolation, one must lean in and do the sometimes scary and difficult work of connection. Bolsinger writes that when it comes to leading people into unknown territory, one must \u201cstart with conviction, stay calm, stay connected and stay the course.\u201d[7]<\/a> Staying connected, according to Bolsinger, looks like this:<\/p>\n

Keep contact. Close the distance with word and touch. When someone writes me an angry email, I call them at home. When someone sends a formal letter of complaint, I invite them for coffee. When people start getting upset, I call a meeting and invite them to talk. The more heated the situation, the closer I want to get to it. Believe me, this is hard. I’m no different than anyone else.[8]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a call to us Christian leaders to lean into relationship. Lean into the people we lead. Courageously choose relationship over isolation. Isolation and fear may be effective short-term strategies. But at the end of the day, leading with influence, trust, and relationship is more sustainable, lasting, and healthy for the soul of the people and the leader.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Please forgive the small, low-resolution pictures. To find where the picture came from, see Philip Bump, \u201cAnalysis | The Bizarre, Literal Isolation of Vladimir Putin,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, February 28, 2022, https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/28\/putin-bizarre-isolation\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Mike Cosper, \u201cThe Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Episode 11: Tempest,\u201d ChristianityToday.com, November 12, 2021, https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/ct\/podcasts\/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill\/tempest-mars-hill-driscoll.html.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Marcus Warner and E. James Wilder, Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead<\/em> (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016), 120.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid. 14.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid. 14-16.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory<\/em> (InterVarsity Press, 2018), 15.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid. 168.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not long after the invasion of Ukraine, Philip Bump of The Washington Post wrote about the isolation \u2013 both figurative and literal \u2013 of Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin. This article included pictures of Putin physically separated from people by an awkward distance that would make dialogue difficult and relational connection impossible.[1]   What these pictures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"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":[2603,2386,2007,2840,2839],"class_list":["post-33118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-wilderandwarner","tag-bolsinger","tag-dlgp","tag-mark-driscoll","tag-putin","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33118","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\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33122,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33118\/revisions\/33122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}