Thursday, February 23, 2006

Emergent Leadership

I've recently decided to do some reading on Leadership. Admittedly, this is not something I was intitally very excited about (personality flaw, I guess), and I really just can't get into John Maxwell type stuff (no disrespect intended toward Mr. Maxwell). However, I have been reading a book called Leadership Wisdom From Unlikely Voices by Dave Fleming. So far, I have really enjoyed this book. Here's a powerful quote I ran across this morning:

"The emergent leader is grounded in journey and can then inspire others to see the journey and enter it as well. As we shall soon see, it even goes beyond individual inspiration to include an inspiration that challenges the community to see the possibilities of the collective. It's inspiration that creates energy for the task. If all leaders do is monitor tasks, it creates deflation and an existential hopelessness that pervades far too many communities."

I really like this idea. We are on a Journey and inviting people to come with us. Fleming notes earlier in the chapter that everyone knows the tasks need to be accomplished. They are however more likely to actually involve themselves if they view them as a part of the journey or Way as opposed to simply things that have to be done.
AE

3 comments:

Mark said...

Other great leadership books:

1. "Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham"

2. "Courageous Leadership" by Bill Hybels

3. "Primal Leadership"

I am not into the Maxwell type leadership book either. But these all challenged me and helped me rethink leadership.

Gilbert said...

You should definitely make it to Tulsa one year. It is always a great experience. They have had Leonard Sweet the past couple of years. I'm a little dissapointed he won't be there this year. But there will be some great speakers this year as well.

I'm sure you will enjoy McLaren. I've never heard him speak. Actually, I have only read one of his books. I need to catch up on some reading.

Tony said...

I see a ripple effect in our current culture...this idea that we're all on a journey. You hear it in the voices of our favorite reality-TV stars (and don't ask me to defend reality-TV as being "real"). We are on a journey--that's nothing new. Just glad to hear people acknowledging it, and it's nice to be reminded that I am on a journey as well.