{"id":33140,"date":"2023-11-02T07:28:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T14:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33140"},"modified":"2023-10-02T07:37:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T14:37:51","slug":"listening-the-active-non-action-of-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/listening-the-active-non-action-of-a-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening – The Active Non-Action of a Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Critical Decision<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the morning of Good Friday, 1963, there was a meeting in room 30 of the Gaston Motel. In this meeting were 24 key leaders of the Civil Rights movement. A protest was planned with the intention of the protesters being arrested. But this movement had bail money. But disaster struck. The bondsman was informed by the city that his funds were insufficient. A decision between a bad choice and another bad choice was before the group: go through with the protest and be unable to secure the funds for bail, or abort mission which threatened the entire movement. The group discussed. But one individual carried the burden of making the decision.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King Jr. recalls this moment.<\/p>\n

I sat in the midst of the deepest quiet I have ever felt, with two dozen others in the room. There comes a time in the atmosphere of leadership when a man surrounded by loyal friends and allies realizes he has come face-to-face with himself and with ruthless reality. I was alone in that crowded room.[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

King retreated from the crowd. Alone in another room, he listened. He thought about who they were doing this for: the millions of African-Americans longing \u201cto cross the Red Sea of injustice and find their way into the promised land of integration and freedom.\u201d[2]<\/a> The right decision became crystal clear. He emerged from solitude and declared he was going through with the protest fully aware of what this meant.<\/p>\n

Listening – The Active Non-Action of a Leader<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the primary action of leadership? When we pause and imagine what leadership in action looks like, what comes to mind? Unfortunately, if I were to ask people, I imagine most folks would describe someone talking in front of a group of people. The leader is the one talking. The leader is using words to motivate, set direction, and cast vision. Who is the leader in the room? The one who is talking.<\/p>\n

But what if this missed the true posture of leadership, which is listening? Jules Glanzer in his book The Sound of Leadership[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, would argue the affirmative.<\/p>\n

The Sound of Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n

Glanzer, pulling from years of leadership experience in both pastoral ministry and senior leadership at several educational institutions, reflects on the critical role listening plays in leadership. Glanzer writes, \u201cLeadership begins with listening, first to the voice of God and then to people.\u201d[4]<\/a> It is critical for leaders to see leadership not predominantly in terms of \u201ctalking\u201d but listening. Simon Walker pointed out that when it came to President Jimmy Carter, his \u201cinstinct was to listen rather than to command.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

As demonstrated by Martin Luther King Jr., Glanzer argues that leaders must listen to the concerns of the people, listen to the voice of God, and ultimately take action. Glanzer writes, \u201cYou have heard the people\u2019s concerns, received your marching orders from the Lord, observed the multitude of details, grasped how God sees the situation, and tuned the instruments to the Master Tuner. Now you need the courage to \u2018just do it.\u2019\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

When leaders do not listen, critical mistakes are made. People are hurt, disastrous decisions are followed through, and the leader, without listening to her own soul, burns out.<\/p>\n

The message of this book is simple: Leaders listen. In a world that has overly elevated the boisterous, egotistic leaders and seen many of their downfall, we need leaders who truly love their people and listen attentively.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Martin Luther King edited by Clayborne Carson, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr<\/em>, 1. trade ed (New York: IPM, Intellectual Properties Management in association with Grand Central Publ, 2001), 182.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid. 183.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Jules Glanzer, The Sound of Leadership: Kingdom Notes to Fine Tune Your Life and Influence<\/em>, 1st ed. (Plano, TX: Invite Press, 2023).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid. 25.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Simon P. Walker, Leading with Nothing to Lose: Training in the Exercise of Power<\/em> (Piquant Editions, 2013), Kindle Loc. 1246.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Glanzer, The Sound of Leadership<\/em>, 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Critical Decision On the morning of Good Friday, 1963, there was a meeting in room 30 of the Gaston Motel. In this meeting were 24 key leaders of the Civil Rights movement. A protest was planned with the intention of the protesters being arrested. But this movement had bail money. But disaster struck. The […]<\/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":[2347,2844],"class_list":["post-33140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-glanzer","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33140","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=33140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33142,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33140\/revisions\/33142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}