{"id":37631,"date":"2024-04-18T15:31:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T22:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37631"},"modified":"2024-04-18T15:31:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T22:31:20","slug":"the-horizon-is-filled-with-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-horizon-is-filled-with-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"The Horizon is Filled with Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annabel Beerel, in her book, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories<\/em>, examines popular and overlapping leadership theories and addresses the leadership gap highlighted and widened by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Writing in 2020, she said, \u201cAt this time of the global pandemic, the world is hungering for both morally good and professionally effective leadership. Alas, by and large, this is lacking.\u201d[1]<\/a> She goes on to point out that in our current global context of \u201cnew potentials and new tensions,\u201d new leaders and new leadership is required.[2]<\/a> Old practices will no longer work.<\/p>\n

She strongly believes that leadership must take an interdisciplinary approach, as effective leaders must understand what makes human beings behave and think the way they do in our complex world. She says, \u201cLeading people \u2013 which is what leadership is about \u2013 is a wholistic endeavor. It touches all aspects of what makes us human, our history, culture, psychology, emotional makeup, physical strength, belief systems, and intellectual capabilities.\u201d[3]<\/a> This is a task that can only be accomplished by leaders working collaboratively, complementing each other\u2019s strengths, and motivated by one goal. This goal, for Beerel is \u201cto advance global flourishing by embracing changing reality.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Where have all the leaders gone? Annabel Beerel\u2019s book is a challenge to all leaders to courageously develop the perspectives and skills needed to learn and adapt to complex change in the world, working together in a \u201cdog-eat-dog\u201d world to improve life for all individuals.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Similarities with Friedman<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was reading Beerel\u2019s book, I began to hear themes reminiscent of Ed Friedman. In his book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>, he writes that strong and effective leaders must understand human nature and they must understand the systems of the culture in which they live. Annabel Beerel reflected this same idea, noting that effective leaders must comprehend the whole human being and the connected and changing context in which they live.<\/p>\n

Friedman goes on to say that, \u201cLeadership in America is stuck in the rut of trying harder and harder without obtaining significantly new results.\u201d[6]<\/a> This rut runs deep, he goes on to say, and affects all institutions in our society, even affecting the very institutions that try to tackle the problem.[7]<\/a> According to Friedman, until we can see more clearly, we will continue to operate with an incomplete understanding of ourselves and an unawareness of the influence culture has on our worldview. This greatly hinders our leadership potential.<\/p>\n

Both Beerel and Friedman challenge leaders to delve deeply into our understanding of human nature and cultural structures, so that we might be better prepared to lead in new ways for a new and changing world.<\/p>\n

Leading Multigenerational Teams<\/strong><\/p>\n

In looking through Beerel\u2019s book, I found the chapter entitled \u201cLeading a Multigenerational Workforce\u201d especially interesting, as my current work team consists of thirteen members, ranging in age from twenty-one to seventy-one. Here are some interesting insights I gleaned from this chapter:<\/p>\n