Thoughts on Leadership

What three books do you recommend on the subject of leadership development and why?

A new Slant33 read here

Comments

[tim beck]

Tribes - Seth Godin
Starfish and the Spider - Brafman & Beckstrom
Cracking the Code - P. Azinger (a book about golf - but it says alot about how a leader assembles a productive team/builds a team, etc.)

[Mike]

Thanks for the suggestions Tim. I really like Tribes also.

[Mike]

Here is some of the dialogue going on at Slant33 concerning these posts...

FROM Erik Leafblad commented on 08-Dec-2010 10:12 AM
I can resonate with Scot's rants. For me, though, talking merely about being followers lacks a certain sense of realism. Of course for a leader - in particular in the church - to know they are a follower first will completely alter their sense of leadership, yet each of these disciples, in many ways, went on to lead. Paul talks about churches following him as he follows Christ, evidencing an acute awareness that he had significant leadership and willing to name it. So, while I agree, I still think talk about leadership is necessary. So, what I would propose instead is a theology of leadership. Far too many leadership books - at least Christian ones - traverse in the kind of proof-texting Scot rants about. They reveal a certain lack of theological depth, and so they are easily digestible and don't challenge us to think differently about leadership (which I think is what Scot is getting at). So, to offer a different book that I think does get this right (and Mike I can't believe you didn't mention this one), look at Tim Keel's Intuitive Leadership. He, I think, does exactly what is needed for a fresh, theological contribution to the saturated genre of leadership books.

FROM Lars Rood commented on 08-Dec-2010 11:48 AM
Mike- I'm throwing my all time favorite leadership book into your column and I'm lending you my copy if you haven't read it. "Let my people go surfing" by Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia is probably the best book on how to lead I've every read. Plus the title is just great. So many leadership books and conferences now are aimed at people becoming the leader who holds the vision and direction. I wrestle with that because in the paradigm I'm most comfortable with I see the leader as being the one who "releases" instead of "controls". In Chouinards book he teaches how to both have conviction but to give space. Scott I appreciate a good rant and think you did a credible job of perpetuating the church myth that you are probably going to be right 85% of the time if you answer any question within the church with "Jesus" as the answer. I don't disagree with you at all but I think that perhaps the follow up column would need to expose us to some thinkers/leaders who are trying to do what you are promoting and how it is practically worked out in their day to day experiences. I'd probably add much of the work of Nouwen to your list as he did exactly what you're advocating and wrote about the difficulties and the successes of trying to do it well. Danny- I think it's got to be a huge struggle to constantly be wrestling with the books you mention to figure out what people actually mean when they say "Leader." I'd argue that the words "leader" and "manager" while very different have been combined much more closely in our society and many wrestle with differentiating what is unique about each. The tough aprt as I see it is that most organizations say they want a leader but really are more comfortable with a manger. Churches too. We want you to lead us but we don't want you to change anything. Even many of the New Paradigm churches fight through this problem when they get "comfortable" My thoughts. Some good. Clearly some need more thought. Lars

FROM Paul Sheneman commented on 08-Dec-2010 02:15 PM
In continuation of Erik's comment, I want to suggest that James Thompson's "Pastoral Ministry according to Paul: A Biblical Vision" is a good resource in the biblical theology category for assisting our imagination in developing a theology of leadership.

FROM Brian Hull commented on 08-Dec-2010 03:26 PM
I appreciate the diversity in all of these answers. I recently asked 10 people that are in ministry leadership to send me their top leadership books (secular or ministry focused) and of the responses I only received 1 book that was the same!!! It was J. Oswald Sanders "Spiritual Leadership". I think this diversity tells us quite a bit about the differing definitions of leadership (and perhaps we should acknowledge that a lot of leadership books say similar things in different ways). I appreciate Lars' comments about seeing leadership as "releasing" more than "controlling". For me I think I see leadership as creating space for people to live into their God given gifts, dreams and calling.

[Mike King]

Forgive me, for I have sinned in not mentioning Tim's book Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor and Chaos. I think I resisted even thinking about "Christian" Books on Leadership initially for the reasons mentioned in Scot's rant, for much the same reason that I wouldn't think about "Christian" Music if I were asked to list my favorite music. Tim Keel's book on leadership focuses on Intuitive Leadership and is undergirded by theological reflection. He understands that Leadership is an art. This is what I was trying to get at by the mix of the three books I mentioned. Peace.