{"id":36669,"date":"2024-03-14T21:35:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T04:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36669"},"modified":"2024-03-14T21:35:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T04:35:47","slug":"man-behind-the-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/man-behind-the-curtain\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Behind The Curtain"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is only one answer to the question, “How is your church doing?”\u00a0 It’s one word long: “Great!”\u00a0 In the last week, various people have asked me that question.\u00a0 One was a fellow pastor in my area, another was a mentor<\/span>, and another was a congregation member.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>To say anything else, to be completely honest, is risky and potentially messy. \u00a0The temptation for anyone in leadership to create a facade is very real.\u00a0 Maintaining an outward appearance that conceals a less pleasant or credible reality is not only real but exhausting.\u00a0 Like the man in The Wizard of OZ who is trying to maintain the appearance of the Great and Powerful Wizard only to be caught turning knobs and pulling levers, crying out, \u201cPay no attention to the man behind the curtain.\u201d While the temptation is real, it is also very common.\u00a0 It is this challenge that Simon Walker addresses in part one of his book <\/span>The Undefended Leader.<\/span><\/i>[1]<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>In this post, I will examine two concepts Walker explores that are relevant to healthy leadership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Defended vs. Differentiated<\/b><\/p>\n

First, in part one, \u201cLeading Out of Who You Are,\u201d Walker maps the world of a leader, including factors that create the environment in which leadership takes place: idealization, idealism, and unmet emotional needs. Walker characterizes the environment created by these three factors as \u201can Isolated and rarified one.\u201d[2]<\/span> He likens it to climbing a mountain with thinning air as you ascend with surroundings that grow harsher, protection decreases, and sustenance is scarce.\u00a0 The world of a leader can be unpredictable and risky.\u00a0 It\u2019s natural to seek safety and establish defenses.\u00a0 A defended leader does not feel safe, so they set up protective measures. Walker identifies a primary defense strategy used by many leaders is developing a two-stage life.\u00a0 A front stage that represents what is visible to the world and a backstage that is concealed.\u00a0 As Walker states, \u201cWhat lies behind the creation of a front stage and a backstage is the sense that we can\u2019t entirely trust our audience, and so we need to manage what they see of us.\u201d[3]<\/span>\u00a0 Creating the backstage is an attempt to defend and protect ourselves. Leaders are tempted to play the hero on the front stage, while there may be chaos and fear behind the curtain.\u00a0 According to Walker, a leader must be undefended to become healthy and successful. Walker’s work helps leaders to identify this situation in themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

A self-awareness that can lead to what Edwin Frieman calls \u201cDifferentiation.\u201d\u00a0 According to Friedman, differentiation is \u201cThe lifelong process of striving to keep one\u2019s being in balance through a reciprocal external and internal process of self-definition and self-regulation.\u201d[4]<\/span>\u00a0 According to Friedman, the presence of a well-differentiated leader is the single most important factor for the health of a family, team, community, or nation.\u00a0 The defended leader maintaining a front and backstage is an undifferentiated leader.\u00a0 Similar to differentiation, being undefended is a life-long process, not necessarily a destination at which one arrives.[5]<\/span>\u00a0 So how does a leader become undefended? This leads to the second concept I will explore in this post.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vulnerability<\/b><\/p>\n

What is the root cause of becoming a defended leader?\u00a0 Walker argues that it relates to how someone experienced the trustworthiness of others in their childhood.[6]<\/span>\u00a0 Becoming an undefended leader means learning to override the fear of letting people see the backstage of our lives.\u00a0 It means finding freedom in vulnerability.\u00a0 Walker continues with what seems to be a consistent theme in leadership theory: To be a healthy, successful leader; one must be vulnerable.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Andy Crouch, a partner for theology and culture at Praxis, expanded my understanding of this dynamic in leadership in his book <\/span>Strong and Weak.<\/span><\/i>[7]<\/span> Like Walker, Crouch contends that for people to flourish under the influence of a leader, there needs to be vulnerability.\u00a0 As the autho<\/span>rity\/power of a leader increases, so must vulnerability (see Figure 1.1).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Figure 1.1<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Similar to the concept of a front and backstage, Crouch identifies a dichotomy in the life of a leader as perception vs. reality.[8]\u00a0 There is a level of vulnerability that is real vs. what is perceived.\u00a0 Leaders must bring people to the full reality of their hidden vulnerabilities to cultivate flourishing in those they lead.\u00a0 As Walker puts it, they must \u201cGive Away Trust.\u201d[9]<\/span> Consider Jesus, who embodies flourishing leadership with full authority and maximum vulnerability.\u00a0 While there was a difference between the perception and reality of his authority and vulnerability, he brought in a few, Peter, James, and John, at key times to know more fully what was happening.\u00a0 They had access to both the front and backstage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Takeaways\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

First, I must acknowledge the temptation to defend and identify opportunities to give away trust. This leads to a second: finding people I am willing to let backstage. Having these people know what\u2019s going on behind the scenes will help me sustain an undefended life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If space allowed, I would explore the tendencies of leaders Walker categorizes as Shapers, Difiners, Adapters, and Defenders in more depth<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> giving even more texture to the conversation of being an undefended leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

[1] Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>(Piquant Editions, 2010)<\/span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

[2] Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>23.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>36.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Edwin Friedman, <\/span>A Failure of Nerve, <\/span><\/i>(New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2017) 194.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>121.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>60.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0Andy Crouch, <\/span>Strong and Weak<\/span><\/i>, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016).<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]\u00a0Andy Crouch, <\/span>Strong and Weak<\/span><\/i>, 119.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Simon Walker, <\/span>The Undefended Leader, <\/span><\/i>120.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is only one answer to the question, “How is your church doing?”\u00a0 It’s one word long: “Great!”\u00a0 In the last week, various people have asked me that question.\u00a0 One was a fellow pastor in my area, another was a mentor, and another was a congregation member.\u00a0 To say anything else, to be completely honest, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"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":[3119],"class_list":["post-36669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03-leadership-walker-undefended-leadership","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36669","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\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36669"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36713,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36669\/revisions\/36713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}