{"id":600,"date":"2013-10-24T20:46:21","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T20:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=600"},"modified":"2014-08-13T21:55:16","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:55:16","slug":"leadership-development-starts-with-leadership-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/leadership-development-starts-with-leadership-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership development starts with leadership selection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Leadership Mystique by Manfred Kets De Vries is one of the best practical books on leadership that I have read.\u00a0 In the book he covers the full range of leadership aspects, from the \u2018inner life\u2019 of a leader, to dealing with change, understanding failure, characteristics of effective leadership, to global leadership profile, and leadership development.\u00a0 The theme of his book is summed up by his statement, \u201cMy main objective in studying leadership is to bring the person back into the organization\u2026 . Far too many organizational specialists give structures and systems precedence over people.\u201d (xix).\u00a0 The purpose of his book is to be \u201c<em>a workbook<\/em>, a volume that uses practical exercises to actively engage practicing executives who what to learn more about leadership and its vicissitudes &#8211; individuals who want to increase their leadership effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My review will focus on one chapter that is of particular interest, chapter 12 Leadership Development.\u00a0 Many good quotes before and after that chapter caught my attention.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The most effective leaders are those who can reframe complex situations. \u00a0By changing how they perceive a problem, they alter what they <em>see<\/em>.\u201d (9).\u00a0 I actually used this tactic one day after reading it.\u00a0 I was meeting with a pastor that I am mentoring and we were discussing an issue when it dawned on me that I was approaching it in the same analytical and customary way (for me) and that I was coming up with similar solutions which had failed before!\u00a0 I suggested to the pastor that we look at the issue through a \u2018different window\u2018 and try to see solutions rather than fixes.\u00a0 Within minutes we hit upon a really good alternative approach which we will implement immediately.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThere are three kinds of leaders: rule takers, makers, and breakers. \u00a0The breakers are those that reframe problems and get extraordinary results.\u201d\u00a0 (pg. 9)\u00a0 This is what we call \u201cout of the box\u201d thinking.\u00a0 Related to the above quote, this is certainly not a new idea.\u00a0 However, we need someone who will remind us how much we are \u2018in the box\u2019 and when we need to get out!<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe higher up a person is in an organization, the more important emotional intelligence becomes (and the less important technical skills become).\u201d\u00a0 (pg. 32).\u00a0 This is obvious but nonetheless critically important.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Organizations dominated by control, complacence, and compartmentalization (the three C\u2019s) are being outpaced by orbs that focus on ideas, information, and interaction (three I\u2019s).&#8221; (pg. 52)\u00a0 This quote, to me, exudes an ethos of creativity, energy, and offense whereas the former C\u2019s elicit the opposite emotions in me.<\/li>\n<li>One of the most meaningful descriptions of a good leader was found in the context of describing resiliency.\u00a0 De Vries writes, \u201cIn general, resilient people deal with emotionally difficult problems proactively, reframe experiences in a positive way, have a great capacity to fantasize a more optimistic picture of the future, give themselves time for self-reflection, and work hard at maintaining a network of supportive relationships.\u201d\u00a0 (pg 89).\u00a0 Work for and with such a person would be a joy!<\/li>\n<li>\u201cgetting the pocess of change into motion requires a strong inducement in the form of pain or distress &#8211; discomfort that outweighs the pleasure of \u2018secondary gains\u2019\u201d (pg 140).\u00a0 I have long postulated that change, personal or organizational, is not generally embraced until there is sufficient pain.<\/li>\n<li>I found his remarks on pages 182-183 very interesting.\u00a0 I feel like we in the United States are moving from the charismatic model to a managed democracy, albeit in the early stages.<\/li>\n<li>I totally agree with the writer\u2019s thesis that \u201caspects of charisma can be \u2018learned\u2019 (if there exists a sufficient foundation within the individual) (pg. 204).\u00a0 In my limited mentoring experiences, some mentees have exercised the discipline to become knowledgeable about charismatic roles and then act in accordance with that knowledge and they have become rather successful.\u00a0 Their early formative years have usually played a foundational role in their success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Leadership development is a major focus of my ministry.\u00a0 Most of the people I engage for this purpose are interested in how they may assist others to develop their leadership.\u00a0 However, they are usually more attentive for how they can grow in their own leadership.\u00a0 I appreciated that De Vries sees both nurture and nature at work in leadership development and particularly affirm his statement, \u201cWhat matters is the selection process itself.\u201d\u00a0 (pg. 229).\u00a0 It is my experience that far too many ministry leaders are in positions of leadership for the wrong reasons.\u00a0 Many have experience God work in their lives in transformational ways, completely changing their life attitude, to say nothing about their relationship to God.\u00a0 Having such a life changing experience leads many to embrace full time ministry, confusing their experience with a \u201ccalling\u201d of sorts.\u00a0 The selection process should help people to move in another direction if their only justification is their new life and passion.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciated the author\u2019s emphasis on past track record as being the \u201cbest indicator or leadership ability\u201d (pg. 231).\u00a0 Undergrads and graduate students studying for ministry will do much to test their leadership capacity by engaging significant ministry.\u00a0 Many academic institutions do encourage and require ministry experience, but real leadership experience is often different and too often not tested.<\/p>\n<p>The author identifies those \u2018developmental tasks\u2019 that are important and unpacks them a bit.\u00a0 I particularly appreciated that one of the tasks is to have \u201cpositive mentoring from an effective leader\u201d (pg 234).\u00a0 Most would not argue with the importance of such mentoring but few really engage the dynamic as mentors or mentees!\u00a0 Too often informal or occasional mentoring takes place instead of mentoring that intentionally assists the mentee to grow in specific areas.\u00a0 Yes, even occasional mentoring is good, how much more benefit would result if intentional and focused!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEthnocentricity has no role anywhere in this world\u201d (pg. 239).\u00a0 Great comment and certainly true in the context in which it is made, that being the digital and global age we live in.\u00a0 So much more so for the Kingdom leader!\u00a0 I found so much value in the writer\u2019s comments and perspectives and though he was offering insights for global leadership, many are truly Kingdom oriented.\u00a0 Except for the one position, high and lifted up, Kingdom leadership will be rather flat!<\/p>\n<p>This was a good read!\u00a0 It prompts some questions.\u00a0 Jesus offered a leadership style that was explicitly dissimilar to the world\u2019s.\u00a0 Note his comment in Mark 10:42-43, \u201cYou know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. <strong>But it is not this way among you<\/strong>, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant\u201d (NASB).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is leadership in the local church too much like that of this world?<\/li>\n<li>How is leadership in the local church \u201cnot this way among you?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>How do church leaders claim to be servant leaders without actually serving?<\/li>\n<li>How can the church better prepare possible candidates for full time ministry?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Leadership Mystique by Manfred Kets De Vries is one of the best practical books on leadership that I have read.\u00a0 In the book he covers the full range of leadership aspects, from the \u2018inner life\u2019 of a leader, to dealing with change, understanding failure, characteristics of effective leadership, to global leadership profile, and leadership [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"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":[2,246],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-ketsdevries","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1936,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/1936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}