Today we are discussing various resources for developing our leadership potential and the leadership potential of those we influence. We started by discussing various conference options.
Conferences: Willow Creek Leadership Summit (Aug 6-7, $245 non-member price), Catalyst (Oct 7-9)and Catalyst West (Apr 22-24), CCDA (Oct 21-25, $99). Barbee brought up the Resurgence.
Books: We reviewed various books that discuss leadership both inside and outside the church. The bibliography we reviewed had over 50 books on it, and several were recommended. The must read on the list was A Work of Heart by Reggie McNeal. Get it, read it, be changed. Chris has been finishing The Ascent of a Leader by Thrall, McNicol, McElrath. Here is the basic recommendation: Don’t go out and buy it unless you are working hard at improving your individual skills and abilities, and perhaps need to consider character development first. There are many things said in this book about the best ways of leadership, but a few big ideas are fleshed out in addition to at least one excellent tool. The first big idea discussed is the “Capacity Ladder”. The capactiy ladder is common, but not ideal. It’s limitations and pitfalls explain the reasons so many of us experience the negative side of leadership is various situations. The capacity ladder has two siderails that hold the rails together. The left rail on this ladder is named “environments of mistrust and ungrace.” The right rail called “relationships of power and leverage.” The authors paint the rungs on the ladder of capacity as: 1. Discover what I can do, 2. Develop my capacities, 3. Acquire title or position, 4. Attain individual potential. This book delves into the problem of merely attaining indiviual potential. What is squandered is the potential available to those who are willing to see the potential of a group commited to the Character ladder. The Character ladder has rails called “environments of grace” and “relationships of grace” that hold rungs that follow. 1. Trust God and others, 2. Choose vulnerabilty, 3. Align with truth, 4. Pay the price, 5. Discover my destiny. The stages between these rungs are humility, submission, obedience, and suffering (also called maturity). The authors then marry the “bad” ladder with the “good” ladder to make a ladder that has for it’s rungs: 1. Trust God and others with me, 2. Discover what I can do with God and others, 3. Choose vulnerability, 4. develop my true capacities in team, 5. Align with truth, 6. Acquire positions that match who I am, 7. Pay the price, 8. Attain God-designed potential, 9. Descover my destiny. There you go. I saved you $15 and a couple hours of reading. This book is really good if you are in a roll leading a larger group and are feeling that it’s lonely at the top. These authors will help show you why that need not be the case.
Podcasts:
Manager Tools – http://www.manager-tools.com/available-rss-feeds#mt_feeds
Andy StanleyLeadership – http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndyStanleyLeadershipPodcast
Harvard Business IdeaCast - http://hbsp2.libsyn.com/rss
Videos:
TEDTalks – Video PodCast = http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEDTalks_video
