{"id":4709,"date":"2015-04-23T08:51:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T15:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4709"},"modified":"2015-04-23T08:51:25","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T15:51:25","slug":"creating-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/creating-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s refreshing to read a leadership book where the author doesn\u2019t claim to know it all. I appreciated DePree starting off with, \u201cLeadership is an art, something to be learned over time, not simply by reading books. Leadership is more tribal than scientific, more a weaving of relationships than an amassing of information, and, in that sense, I don\u2019t know how to pin it down in every detail[1]<\/a>.\u201d I\u2019m writing my essay this semester on leadership and I wish I had read Max DePree\u2019s Leadership Is An Art<\/em> at the beginning of the semester.<\/p>\n

Much of current leadership theory focuses on the question of \u201cwhat do we do to accomplish the outcome we desire?\u201d For the most part, in the American context, this results in measuring sales, acquisition, and stock prices. Thus, the definition of leadership has often become linked to measurable growth. When researchers integrate such definitions into a Christian theology of leadership, it is quite possible that financial growth, numeric growth, or a combination of both become indicators of success[2]<\/a>. The definition of leadership might never ask significant questions about the people you are working with, questions like whether spiritual growth or growing closer to Jesus has been accomplished.<\/p>\n

I recently read a blog from Paul Young and he said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re involved with another person, you\u2019ve involved with a mystery. We are eternal people with eternally untapped mysteries. That\u2019s because God has a high view of humanity, not a low one.[3]<\/a>\u201d\u00a0It is this view that I believe Max DePree captured well. DePree is helping redefine leadership and has a high view of humanity. DePree believes leadership starts with ones view of people, \u201cIn our effort to understand the capitalist system and its future, what should we keep in mind? We should begin with a concept of persons.[4]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

DePree does well to explain how a leader isn\u2019t just focused on measurements but instead sees others giftings and helps others reach their full potential. I believe this is what we see happening in the Scriptures between our Heavenly Father and biblical leaders. Through reading the Scripture we see biblical leaders engage their particular context according to the gifting that God had provided them and based on a partnership with what God was accomplishing[5]<\/a>. In other words, it\u2019s not about a specific set of \u201cleadership traits,\u201d the leaders of Scripture seem rather content to be \u201cthemselves\u201d and make themselves available for God to work through them to accomplish His will. So, any approach to leadership that seeks to identify or build upon a specific list of traits will probably fall short, not because of a wrong combination of traits, but an insufficient listing of traits. Any such listing of traits would combine traits from different leaders in various situations and such a combined list would simply be impossible for any one person to obtain[6]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is often fascinating and encouraging to me in Scripture is that God is quite willing to work with the traits available within imperfect individuals and this partnership with God creates a sense of ownership for the individual. This thought echoes DePree when he says, \u201cThe capitalist system cannot avoid being better off by having more employees who act as if they own the place[7]<\/a>.\u201d No doubt the Church needs more owners and I agree with Depree that this seems like, \u201cmore a weaving of relationships than an amassing of information, and, in that sense, I don\u2019t know how to pin it down in every detail[8]<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Max De Pree,\u00a0Leadership Is an Art<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Crown Business, 2004), 3.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Thomas Edward Frank, \u201cLeadership and Administration: An Emerging Field in Practical Theology,\u201dInternational Journal of Practical Theology<\/em>\u00a010, no. 1 (July 2006): 118.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Paul Young, \u201cThe Key to Loving People Well,\u201d, accessed April 23, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/wmpaulyoung.com\/the-key-to-loving-people-well\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Max De Pree,\u00a0Leadership Is an Art<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Crown Business, 2004), 63.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> James Bartz, \u201cLeadership from the Inside Out,\u201d\u00a0The Anglican Theological Review<\/em>\u00a091, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 3.<\/p>\n

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

[7]<\/a> Max De Pree,\u00a0Leadership Is an Art<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Crown Business, 2004), 100.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Max De Pree,\u00a0Leadership Is an Art<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Crown Business, 2004), 3.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s refreshing to read a leadership book where the author doesn\u2019t claim to know it all. I appreciated DePree starting off with, \u201cLeadership is an art, something to be learned over time, not simply by reading books. Leadership is more tribal than scientific, more a weaving of relationships than an amassing of information, and, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"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":[630,629],"class_list":["post-4709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-depree","tag-dupree","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4710,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions\/4710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}