Ducere Est Servire “To Lead is to Serve” THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY FALL 2024
1 Volume 3 Fall 2024 Ducere Est Servire “To Lead is to Serve” THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
3 CONTENTS Preface. ......................................................................................................................4 Blake Killingsworth, Dean Boasting in Weakness: The Irony of Christian Leadership. ......................................6 Dale Braswell Why Read Fiction as Leaders? Cultivating Empathy Through Literature..............17 Mary Nelson Strategic Spiritual Leadership: The Interaction Between Spiritual Leadership and Strategic Management..............................................................................................22 Jason Moore Christian Leaders and Finding Meaning and Purpose Through Generativity........35 Doug Hagedorn Servant Leadership in Non-Western Settings: Insights from Prior Literature in Dallas-Fort Worth Chinese Heritage Churches.......................................................57 Samantha Chao Pastoral Calling and Overall Job Satisfaction Among Protestant Senior Pastors.....................................................................................................................71 Aaron Glover A Leadership Reflection Inspired by The Screwtape Letters...............................84 Jenni Harwood BOOK REVIEW........................................................................................87 DOCTORAL GRADUATES AND DISSERTATIONS 2023-24................93 Ducere Est Servire “To Lead is to Serve” THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY VOLUME 3 (FALL 2024)
4 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Preface Dr. Blake Killingsworth Dean, Cook School of Leadership Thank you for taking the time to engage with the third volume of our journal, Ducere Est Servire: To Lead is to Serve. Throughout the pages that follow, you will be challenged and stretched in your understanding of leadership as well as its applications in a variety of contexts. I am grateful for the vision of this journal that came from our DBU President, Dr. Adam Wright, as well as our former Dean of the Cook School of Leadership, Dr. Jack Goodyear. It also goes without saying that none of this would happen without the perseverance of Dr. Michael Whiting, who serves as editor of the journal. Thanks to his diligence, and the contributions of so many, this journal is available to provide tremendous insight and has allowed DBU to further engage in the “Great Conversation” of the academy. In 1995, historian Mark Noll released a book entitled, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Standing in a tradition of like-minded Christian scholars, including C.S. Lewis, John Stott, Arthur Holmes, and George Marsden, Noll lamented the trend of anti-intellectualism that far too often had come to characterize modern evangelicalism. Growing up in a Baptist church, I had unknowingly been shaped by an anti-intellectualism and a type of baptized dualism that valued only the spiritual world and treated every aspect of the physical realm as a distraction to the Christian life. While an undergraduate at DBU, I came to see how insular and myopic that worldview really was, and thanks to classes with David Naugle, Todd Still, and Mike Williams, I was exposed to a vast array of areas of exploration, eventually choosing the vehicle of history to begin my journey. Right before I left DBU to begin my graduate studies, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman at church. He was a wonderful Christian man, and my wife and I would babysit his kids from time to time.
5 When I told him about my future academic pursuits, his only response to me was, “Well, I hope you don’t lose your faith.” In that moment, I realized that the scandal that Noll described was alive, well, and active throughout all corners of the church. To combat this anti-intellectualism, Noll challenged the evangelical world to embrace scholarship not as a distraction from devotion but rather as an expression of devotion. He detailed the long history of Christian engagement with academics and pointed out how evangelicals had a rich legacy of scholarship, albeit strained at times. In 2011, he followed up Scandal with Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. In the work, Noll praises those corners of the Christian world that have embraced Christ-centered research and academics and discusses the primacy of Christ within the life of scholarship. According to Noll, if we confess along with Paul that by Him, through Him, and for Him all things were made and are held together, then our exploration of the human experience, whether that be in the sciences, arts, humanities, or leadership, can be understood as an act of not only discovery, but also, and ultimately, worship. “The light of Christ illuminates the laboratory,” Noll states, “his speech is the fount of communication, he makes possible the study of humans in all their interactions, he is the source of all life, he provides the wherewithal for every achievement of human civilization, he is the telos of all that is beautiful. He is, among his many other titles, the Christ of the Academic Road.” This journal represents in some small way our attempt to praise our Lord through the use of our minds. It is an act of worship for everyone who has researched and written, believing that in so doing, we are not abandoning our faith, but rather we are laying all of our talents at the feet of the Risen Lord, who illuminates our journey—especially our academic journey. It is the prayer of the Cook School of Leadership that you will find in these pages engaging insights, challenging ideas, fresh questions, and new roads for you to explore as you seek to learn more about the study of leadership and its implications in our lives.
6 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Boasting in Weakness: The Irony of Christian Leadership Dale Braswell, Ph.D. Dr. Dale Braswell (Leadership Studies, '23) serves as Senior Director for Alumni and Parent Engagement at Dallas Baptist University. What are your strengths and weaknesses? This is a common question connected to any job application or performance review. Typically, someone may answer the first part with a litany of praiseworthy strengths an employer would desire in an employee. These responses are then accompanied by a more ingenious response for the second half of the question that technically meets a weakness requirement without sounding weak. Responses such as “cares too much” or “works too hard” are provided that demonstrate a lack of willingness of the person being interviewed to honestly divulge any real weakness on their part. However, what if the interviewee were honest about their flaws and shortcomings? Or, what if someone boasted of his or her qualities deemed as signs of weakness? In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, the apostle Paul does just that. Paul recounts his experience with a mysterious “thorn in the flesh” that limited his ministerial abilities. Paul repeatedly pleads with God to remove this hindrance from his life. However, God states that He will not allow the thorn to be removed so that Paul will learn to trust in God’s grace to empower him for service. As a result, Paul proclaims that he will choose to boast about anything that will highlight God’s grace and power at work in his life. In their book Spiritual Leadership, Henry and Richard Blackaby note that the biblical record demonstrates how God often used individuals who did not possess the typical leadership competencies to achieve His purposes. The authors conclude with Paul that God loves to use people with weaknesses to highlight His strength.1
7 BOASTING IN WEAKNESS However, is this a mindset that leaders can or should adopt today? Is this a mindset a leader outside of a church or ministry organization should seek to employ? If so, what would it look like for leaders to "boast" in—i.e., embrace—their weaknesses? Fortunately, Scripture provides the answer with several examples. Moreover, numerous examples from contemporary leadership literature support this concept. This article will argue that leaders should boast about their shortcomings and will demonstrate how they can accomplish this action regardless of their leadership position. Weak Leaders Abide The foundational way Christian leaders can boast of their weakness is by abiding in Christ. In John 15:5, Jesus calls His disciples to remain connected to Him for their ability to bear fruit. He then provides the solemn reminder that apart from Him, a follower of Jesus can do nothing. Leaders who boast about weaknesses must first grasp and apply this core truth. Leaders cannot do anything praiseworthy on their own apart from the empowering work of Jesus in their life. Therefore, Christian leaders must learn to abide in Jesus to produce fruit in their lives and leadership. When leaders practice the discipline of abiding, they demonstrate their need for Christ and their inability to bear fruit on their own. This magnifies the power of Christ and simultaneously highlights the leader’s weakness. But how does a leader, or any follower of Jesus, abide in Christ? Richard Foster provides some helpful guidance in this area. Foster notes that a person’s will is not strong enough to enable them to grow and bear spiritual fruit. Instead, individuals must allow God’s grace to work in them through the practice of the spiritual disciplines. These disciplines include prayer, fasting, Bible study, solitude, service, confession, and worship. As leaders practice these elements, they open their lives to the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside out and empower them to bear fruit for God’s glory.2 However, the noise and busyness of life can prevent a leader from practicing the discipline of abiding in Christ. Leaders are inundated with emails, text messages, meeting requests, and a barrage of social media messages. Therefore, leaders must learn to take control of these
8 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY external sources of input to hear from God and abide in Him effectively. In What’s Best Next, Matt Perman highlights how the world has become full of content that can easily lead to information overload. Therefore, leaders must learn to improve their time management and decision-making effectiveness. Perman’s foundational idea on how a leader can achieve this improvement is based upon recognizing and submitting to a God-centered approach to life.3 Pastor and author John Mark Comer also offers a practical suggestion for regulating the busyness and noise in life to abide more effectively. Comer recognizes that a person’s mobile device is a primary source of digital distraction. Therefore, Comer suggests that individuals “parent their phones” to limit the noise and distraction that can overwhelm our thoughts and limit our ability to hear from and focus on God.4 Cal Newport echoes this idea in his book Deep Work. Newport believes that leaders must wean their minds from the need for distraction and embrace boredom. This requires the individual to limit the time they spend checking their smartphone.5 Newport suggests that individuals develop strict policies to govern their use of social media to support their ability to be more effective and productive.6 The ability of the leader to manage and limit the noise and information he receives throughout the day can help him be more focused and productive. Moreover, this process will also enable leaders to be more aware of God’s presence in their life and increase the ability to hear and respond to God’s prompting. Numerous authors on leadership echo the importance of some form of abiding for the renewal of the heart, mind, and soul. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey states that the final habit calls people to sharpen the saw. This metaphor describes how a leader seeks to renew his life’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements. To accomplish this, leaders must proactively make time to spend on this important but not always urgent element to ensure their effectiveness.7 Ronald Heifetz argues in Leadership Without Easy Answers that leaders must gain perspective by getting on the balcony. This phrase derives from an illustration depicting the leader as a dancer in a ballroom who
9 BOASTING IN WEAKNESS must gain a greater vantage point of the environment from a position higher up on a balcony.8 This process can be achieved by getting external feedback, visiting different environments, reading, or quiet reflection.9 Blackaby and Blackaby speak to the need for leaders to prioritize time alone with God. The authors note that leaders can easily allow numerous commitments and responsibilities to take control of their schedules. Blackaby and Blackaby suggest that these leaders must master their schedules and responsibilities to focus on the most important ones. Leaders must follow the pattern of Jesus, who made time alone with God as His utmost priority. This will then enable leaders to allow God to set the agenda for their life.10 Wayne Cordeiro provides a sobering caution for leaders who fail to abide in his book Leading on Empty. Cordeiro demonstrates that a failure to abide is more than a lack of fruit. It can be utter ruin for the leader. The author chronicles his experience as a pastor who forgot his human limitations. Due to a lack of rest, retreat, and solitude, Cordeiro found himself on the verge of not only burnout but potentially life-threatening health issues. Cordeiro argues that leaders must prioritize consistent time off to replenish their souls to serve in the long run.11 Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Paul worked hard in his apostolic ministry. Nevertheless, he understood that the power to work hard and persevere in his calling originated with God’s grace at work in Him as he sought to abide in Christ. Leaders who emulate this example boast about their weaknesses as they magnify God’s grace at work in their lives. A leader’s commitment to abide can yield a greater sense of fruitfulness, a broader perspective on life, and the likelihood of the leader’s ability to persevere in her role and calling. Weak Leaders Get Help Leaders who boast about their weaknesses recognize their limitations. In Psalm 103:14, the author provides the humbling reminder that God
10 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. Although humans are created in God’s image, they still have limits. This is repeatedly highlighted by the apostle Paul, who frequently uses the metaphor of a body when describing the various members of the church. In 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, Paul states that each person is gifted for various acts of ministry and service within the church. The resulting implication is that no one individual possesses all these abilities. Therefore, there is an inherent need for one another to fulfill the church’s ministry effectively. Leaders who boast in their weakness embrace this understanding of Scripture. These leaders recognize that they lack all the necessary skills and traits to lead. Therefore, they attempt to utilize their God-given strengths and rely on the strengths of others to accomplish a goal. In her work, Multipliers, Liz Wiseman notes that the leader’s role is changing from one who knows and directs to one who unleashes others’ capabilities.12 Ron Heifetz, in Leadership Without Easy Answers, echoes this sentiment. Heifetz argues that leaders traditionally were expected to be the primary source of knowledge for solutions to organizational challenges. However, wise leaders learn to rely on the expertise and input from others within the organization to solve problems.13 These authors indicate that everything must not rise and fall on the success of the individual leader but on the group as a whole. Therefore, it is not incumbent upon the leader to possess all knowledge in making decisions. Instead, the leader can rely on the collective wisdom of those within their context to determine the path forward. The Gallup Organization also argues that influential leaders do not attempt to develop a wide variety of strengths and skills. Instead, these leaders cultivate only their natural strengths and rely upon the strengths of others.14 The Strengths Finder test, developed from this concept, helps leaders identify their core areas of strength and focus on developing them. Conversely, leaders can then lean on the strengths of others to help achieve a collective goal. In Leading with a Limp, author Dan Allender notes that God has a history of calling flawed men and women to lead His people. Allender believes God wants to use flawed but forgiven leaders to tell others how
11 BOASTING IN WEAKNESS He can redeem their lives. Allender states that God works through the weakness of leaders to magnify His grace.15 Therefore, a leader must be willing to be honest about his weaknesses and spiritual struggles. Allender does state that there is an inherent risk in doing this.16 However, this transparency can be worth the risk when it leads to a community that is open and honest with one another because of the example provided to them by their leadership. When a community possesses the right mixture of honesty and truth, it results in a community of people who genuinely care for one another and can grow in their Christian faith.17 Leaders who learn to boast about their weaknesses will also embody an essential form of authentic leadership. This leadership style helps form a sense of trust between the leader and those within the organization, a necessary trait for a leader to possess when trust can be lacking in many leaders.18 Moreover, this aspect of boasting in weakness enables the leader to recognize and utilize the strengths and giftings of others in a way that benefits the entire community. Weak Leaders Listen Leaders must not only look to surround themselves with those who complement their weaknesses, but they must also listen to their wisdom. A leader’s ability to listen to others’ advice and input provides an essential way to boast of their weakness. Proverbs 18:13 warns against the dangers of speaking before listening. The author states, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” James echoes this sentiment in James 1:19 and encourages readers to be “quick to hear, and slow to speak.” This sentiment is reinforced in leadership literature as well. James MacGregor Burns highlights President FDR’s ability to know when to listen and when to speak up.19 Liz Wiseman recommends in Multipliers that leaders speak only approximately ten percent of the time. This allows others to voice their opinions and work together to find a solution.20 Stephen Covey encourages leaders to seek first to understand, then be understood. This fourth habit states that leaders must fight the tendency to listen to respond. Moreover, leaders must resist the internal sense of their rightness on an issue. Instead, leaders need to employ an empa-
12 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY thetic form of listening that seeks to truly understand the other person’s paradigm and point of view.21 Patrick Lencioni illustrates that leaders must be willing to listen to wisdom from any source. In his book, The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni describes a situation in which a business is in the process of deciding who to hire for an important position. The CEO turns to the office receptionist for her thoughts on hiring a particular applicant. The assistant’s opinion confirms for the CEO that he should not move forward with hiring the candidate.22 Leaders who learn to boast about their weakness by listening heed the advice of Proverbs 15:22, which states that, “Without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisers, they succeed.” These leaders are more likely to experience success in their endeavors due to the collective wisdom of others. Moreover, gaining input from others helps a leader to grow in self-awareness while exposing potential blind spots that enable the leader to grow in effectiveness. Weak Leaders Wait Another significant way leaders can boast of their weaknesses is through waiting. This may be one of the most complex traits of weakness for a leader to embody. The reason is simple: waiting is hard. Waiting reveals how the leader is not in control and is at the mercy of other factors that prevent the leader from taking action. Waiting tests the leader’s patience and resolve as he allows other forces to determine the course of action. Waiting is also a theme that is prevalent in Scripture. The concept of waiting is often tied to waiting on the Lord for Him to work to provide, protect, and care for the needs of His children. Isaiah 64:4 states that God loves to work for those who wait on Him. Jesus builds on this and declares in Mark 10:45 that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. The message is clear. God wants to work in the lives of those who wait on Him. Waiting is a visible demonstration of weakness and dependence upon the Lord to work. Leaders who can wait for God to work demonstrate trust in Him. Scripture is also clear that those who wait on God will not be dis-
13 BOASTING IN WEAKNESS appointed. Going back to Isaiah in chapter 40:31, the prophet states that those who wait on the Lord will be rewarded with His grace and strength. The passage highlights that although God may seem slow to act, His timing of provision is perfect. In Galatians 6:9, Paul encourages his readers not to grow weary as they wait to see the fruit of their labors. He promises that those who persevere in their work and waiting will reap the benefit of their effort. Gene Wilkes notes that waiting on the Lord develops the leader’s heart and character. But this time of waiting does not equal a lack of activity. Instead, Wilkes notes that leaders must use the time for reflection to gain insight and pray.23 Stephen Covey comments on Martin Luther’s famous quote, “I have so much to do, I’ll have to spend the first three hours in prayer.” Covey notes that prayer was not just a routine practice for Luther but a source of power that multiplied his effectiveness.24 Thus, the leader who learns to boast about weakness through waiting is not passively resigning to do nothing. Instead, she is getting out of the way to let the sovereign God of the universe work on her behalf. Weak Leaders Serve Others Serving others is a final means by which leaders can boast of their weaknesses. Christian leaders must find their identity and calling in Jesus Christ. This, in turn, frees the leader to let go of the desire to be served and to strive for accolades and places of prominence. Jesus embodied this mindset in His example of humility and service to the disciples in John 13. In this passage, Jesus takes the role of a servant as He washes His disciples’ feet. Following this demonstration, Jesus calls His disciples and, therefore, all Christians to emulate His example. In Philippians 2:4,5, Paul recommends a mindset similar to his beloved church’s. Paul encourages the Philippians to look to the needs and interests of others above their own. This concept is once again built upon the example of Christ in the incarnation as Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death on the cross. Robert Greenleaf developed this mindset into a substantial leadership theory in his book Servant Leadership. Greenleaf calls for the leader to view himself as a servant leader. Greenleaf states that a servant leader must be a servant first. This then leads to the opportunity for the indi-
14 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY vidual to assume a leadership position. Those leaders who first fulfill their role as servants are concerned about the care, growth, and overall improvement of those they lead.25 Gene Wilkes develops this as well in his work Jesus on Leadership. Wilkes suggests leaders can grow as servants as they humble themselves before the Lord. This calls for the leader to trust the Lord with His timing to exalt or promote the leader. Furthermore, leaders can emulate a servant-leader mindset by sharing responsibility and authority with others. This act can culminate in building a team as the leader empowers others to action.26 Leaders who boast about their weakness by serving others enjoy the benefit of a heart that is submissive to God. These leaders are not viewed by their peers or subordinates as a threat or someone with whom to compete. Instead, they are perceived as a source of encouragement, care, and support. The servant leader’s actions can help cultivate a greater sense of community and respect within the organization, which, in turn, develops an overall healthy work environment. Conclusion Scripture and various leadership authors make it clear that leaders need to make attempts to boast about their weaknesses as leaders. This style of leadership carries with it numerous benefits that can increase the overall effectiveness of the leader. However, the question remains: Is this a model that can indeed be implemented in the lives of leaders regardless of their vocation? The amount of leadership literature that alludes to elements of boasting in one’s weakness indicates that this mindset can be incorporated into the life of a leader regardless of their leadership setting. Moreover, Richard and Henry Blackaby argue that spiritual leaders are not limited to influencing God’s people. The authors state that spiritual leaders can benefit people in ministry and secular environments. The authors also note that God is at work in the lives of people in the local company and church.27 Therefore, the biblical concept of boasting in weakness as a leader can be incorporated into secular leadership. Robert Greenleaf supports this in his effort to recommend the concept of servant leadership to diverse fields such as business, education, and ministry.28
15 BOASTING IN WEAKNESS The concept of boasting in weakness is highlighted and encouraged throughout Scripture. These encouragements are not to be confined to the walls of the church. Instead, leaders must look for ways to boast of their weaknesses regardless of their environment. This enables the leader to fulfill Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 1:3 to boast only in the Lord. The leader can follow the psalmist’s example in Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” NOTES 1 Richard and Henry Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 2011). 2 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins, 1988). 3 Matt Perman, What’s Best Next (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 40, 53, 54. 4 John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook, 2019). 5 Cal Newport, Deep Work (New York, NY: Grand Central, 2016), 157-59. 6 Ibid., 181-214. 7 Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New York, NY: Rosetta Books, 2004). 8 Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Change (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2017), 53. 9 Heifetz and Linsky, 55; Northouse, 263. 10 Blackaby and Blackaby. 11 Wayne Cordeiro, Leading on Empty (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2009).
16 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY . 12 Liz Wiseman, Multipliers (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2017), Kindle, loc.120. 13 Ronald A. Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 1994). 14 Tom Rath, Strengths Finder 2.0 (New York, NY: Gallup Press, 2007). 15 Dan Allender, Leading with a Limp (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 2006), 53. 16 Ibid., 110. 17 Ibid. 18 Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice (Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2016), 196, 206. 19 J.M. Burns, Leadership (New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1978), 115. 20 Wiseman, 26. 21 Covey, Seven Habits, Kindle, loc. 3707, 3723, 3738. 22 Patrick Lencioni, The Ideal Team Player (Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass, 2016), 108-10. 23 Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, (Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press, 1998), 49, 50. 24 Covey, Seven Habits, Kindle, loc. 4639 25 Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 2002), 27. 26 Wilkes, 25-27. 27 Blackaby and Blackaby, 39. 28 Greenleaf.
17 Why Read Fiction as Leaders? Cultivating Empathy Through Literature Mary Nelson, Ph.D. Dr. Mary Nelson is Director of the Ph.D. in Leadership Studies and also serves as a professor of English at Dallas Baptist University. In 2021, Forbes magazine published an article entitled, “Empathy is the Most Important Leadership Skill.”1 This article, and the particular timing of its publication, strike me as especially meaningful. In 2021 we were mired in the COVID pandemic and collectively reeling from various consequences of the deadly disease. In that context, the Forbes article identified empathy, a quality that some psychologists viewed as being in short supply, as essential to effective leadership. “Compassion fatigue” was no doubt on the rise during the apex of the pandemic. Psychologist Charles Figley coined this term, defining it as “the negative effect that long-term caring for those in distress has on a person’s ability to feel compassion for others.” 2 This phenomenon was, understandably, especially prevalent in first responders and medical personnel. Many, however, in the general public demonstrated this fatigue as well due to the sheer scale, and extended length, of the pandemic. The scope of COVID-related deaths—over one million in America and over seven million globally—remains staggering in its breadth.3 Even years before the deadly pandemic, psychologist Paul Slovic performed studies of “psychic numbing.” He explains that “our sympathy for suffering and loss declines precipitously when we are presented with increasing number of victims.”4 He asserts that “‘compassion fade’ takes place when an incident involving a single person expands to as few as two people.”5
18 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Perhaps in part because of the “psychic numbing,” during the peak of COVID, many sought what might be described as “feel good” entertainment. Viewers embraced shows such as Ted Lasso that promoted both levity and positivity— and The New York Times bestseller lists featured the usual suspects, reliably escapist fare from John Grisham, Danielle Steele, and James Patterson.6 One novel of historical fiction, however, received both critical plaudits and impressive sales during this peculiar season. Hamnet, by Irish writer Maggie O’Farrell, was released on March 31, 2020. 7 With an increase in stay-at-home orders, rising COVID casualties, and no sign of a vaccine on the horizon, the release of O’Farrell’s text with the eerily prescient subtitle “The Novel of the Plague” seemed to have been disastrously ill-timed. O’Farrell herself commented that she predicted it would “sink without a trace.”8 The novel might have been a tough sell to the general reading public even in less unprecedented days. Set in sixteenth century England, the work depicts the death of Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, as experienced by the playwright’s wife. Though the novel is historical fiction, records confirm that Hamnet did indeed die at the tender age of eleven, and though the cause is unknown, the plague has historically been blamed for his death as recurrences of the disease were common. DBU’s PhD students know I am a Shakespeare fan—but please don’t quit reading if you don’t like Shakespeare. There is no iambic pentameter incoming! Despite the dark subject matter of Hamnet, and O’Farrell’s own anxieties about its debut, readers embraced the book—and to date, it has sold nearly two million copies. The novel has even been adapted as a play by the Royal Shakespeare Company, a production deemed a “phenomenal success” at the box office that is now being adapted into a film helmed by award-winning producer Sam Mendes.9 Hamnet or to be more accurate, the protagonist of the novel, Hamnet’s mother, Agnes, broke through “psychic numbing” or “compassion fatigue” and resonated with readers throughout the world. Many readers, isolated at home, feeling a loss of agency, connection, and stripped even of the ability to grieve in a public forum, found a fellow sufferer in Hamnet’s mother—prompting the very empathy endangered by the
19 numbing effect of COVID’s scale. So how does this relate to our role as Christian leaders? Well, the Forbes article confirms what servant leadership scholars have said for years: employees prosper with empathetic leaders. The article reports that “76% of people who experienced empathy from their leaders reported they were engaged compared with only 32% who experienced less empathy.”10 As Hamnet’s popularity reveals, fiction in particular may have the ability to penetrate the numbing that we may experience with a simple glance at the news on our smartphones. Scholar Martha Nussbaum notes the crucial role that literature may play in resuscitating atrophied empathy: We have never lived enough. Our experience is, without fiction, too confined . . . Literature extends it, making us reflect and feel about what might otherwise be too distant for feeling.11 Mary McCampbell’s 2022 article in Christianity Today similarly argues for the role of “imagination” in achieving the level of empathy demanded of us by the scriptures. Christ’s weeping was the God-man’s act of compassion and empathy, a shared mourning for the unavoidable pain of the fallen human condition. In his crucifixion, Christ’s capacity for empathy was complete. Unlike Christ, we cannot ever fully understand the mind or ex- istential experience of another, yet we are commanded to love them like we would love ourselves. This is an incredible, superhuman feat, and we need imagin- ation to help bridge the gap between ourselves and the other. As we grow our imaginations, we need stories that can convict us of our own sins of omission or commission, enabling us to see the beautiful, complex world of our neighbors as we look WHY READ FICTION AS LEADERS?
20 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY beyond ourselves.12 Nussbaum and McCampbell identify one of the reasons a Great Texts course is an essential element of our PhD curriculum. In this first-year course, students engage with a plethora of readings from the ancient world to the present. The class features non-fiction works, such as the searing reflection by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in Night, and fictional works such as Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. Students’ empathetic responses to texts produced by writers from various eras, ethnicities, and experiences, often surprise them. Might I suggest a reading challenge to you? At the end of 2023, many on social media posted images of novels they read over the course of the year. In 2024-25, you too could challenge yourself as a reader— what books might further awaken empathy within you? Do you need suggestions to get you started? Consider novels that might challenge your preconceived notions about the human experience. Here are a few suggestions: The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan An American Marriage: A Novel by Tayari Jones Gilead by Mariynne Robinson Silence by Shusaku Endo One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Invest a few minutes in fiction over the next week. Your followers may thank you! NOTES ¹ Tracy Brower, “Empathy Is the Most Important Leadership Skill According to Research,” Forbes, September 12, 2023, accessed February 8,2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/09/19/empathy-is-the-most-important-leadership-skill-according-to-research. ² Charles Figley, “‘Compassion Fatigue: Coping with Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder in Those Who Treat the Traumatized,’” American Psycho-
21 logical Association, American Psychological Association, 1995, psycnet.apa.org/ record/1995-97891-000. ³ “Coronavius,” World Health Organization, n.d., accessed February 8, 2024, https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus.. ⁴ Scott Slovic and Paul Slovic, “The Arithmetic of Compassion,” The New York Times, December 4, 2015, accessed February 8, 2024, https://www.nytimes. com/2015/12/06/opinion/the-arithmetic-of-compassion.html ⁵ Ibid. ⁶ “Best Sellers - Books - Dec. 20, 2020,” The New York Times, n.d., accessed February 9, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2020/12/20/. ⁷ Claire Armistead, “Shakespearean Sisterhood: Maggie O’Farrell on Hamnet,” The Guardian, September 12, 2020, accessed February 8, 2024, https:// www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/12/shakespearean-sisterhood-maggie-ofarrell-on-hamnet.compassion.html.https://www.theguardian.com/ books/2020/sep/12/shakespearean-sisterhood-maggie-ofarrell-on-hamnet ⁸ Ibid. ⁹ Baz Bamigboye, “Breaking Baz: Stage Version of Maggie O’Farrell’s ‘Hamnet’ Has Become a Phenomenon before It Opens; Transfer from Stratford-upon-Avon to London’s West End Revealed,” Deadline, March 21, 2023, accessed February 8, 2024, https://deadline.com/2023/03/hamnet-play-londonwest-end-transfer-1235305302/ 10 Bower. 11 Martha C. Nussbaum, Love’s Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009), 47. 12 Mary W. McCampbell, “Christian Empathy Imagines Neighbors as Ourselves,” ChristianityToday.Com, April 22, 2022, accessed February 9, 2024, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/april-web-only/imagining-neighbors-ourselves-good-samaritan-story-empathy.html. WHY READ FICTION AS LEADERS?
22 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Strategic Spiritual Leadership: The Interaction Between Spiritual Leadership and Strategic Management Jason Wood, Ph.D. Dr. Jason Wood (Leadership Studies, '22) is Associate Professor of Business at Paul Quinn College. Introduction When leaders underperform, they are often discouraged and even blamed by others, enduring the agony of leadership. While leadership is challenging, spiritual leaders endure the additional burden of disappointing their people and their God.1 Spiritual leadership focuses on values, a sense of calling, and motivating followers. It faces challenges that impact the performance of their organizations, such as church attendance, technology underutilization, growing diversity, and the increase of globalization. 2 Spiritual leaders endure many challenges that political and business leaders face. Blackaby suggested, “Churches require leaders who can not only overcome the enormous challenges but also attract new members and secure the necessary resources to finance an increasingly expensive organization.”3 Businesses require leaders to guide the organization strategically despite their many challenges. Spiritual leaders can use the same strategic skills found in strategic management to address challenges and achieve organizational success. Strategic management involves strategy and planning work to increase the value of an organization for its stakeholders.4 Kennedy et al. suggested, “successful organizations have found that a strategic management process helps them achieve their goals.”5 Effective spiritual leaders must complete the right work related to their goals to ensure their organizations accomplish God’s purposes.6 Some leaders are
23 tempted to mimic the successful strategies of other leaders to avoid the need to plan.7 Strategy distinguishes organizations from one another. It is complex and typically long-term.8 Blackaby argued, “The key for spiritual leaders is the role God plays in their long-range plans . . . the plan becomes the guiding document for the organization.”9 Strategy and spiritual leadership can be harmonious for organizational success. This essay will discuss spiritual leadership, strategic management, and examine how strategic management and spiritual leadership interact to achieve organizational success. The following section will discuss spiritual leadership, followed by strategic management, and conclude discussing the interactions between spiritual leadership and strategic management. Spiritual Leadership Spiritual leaders focus on more than performance and results within an organization. According to Yukl, spiritual leadership focuses on “how leaders can enhance the intrinsic motivation of followers by creating conditions that increase their sense of spiritual meaning in the work.” Leaders feeling interconnected to others while experiencing a sense of calling or destiny through work is considered a transcendence of self. Leaders that achieve transcendence of self and interconnection with others go beyond obtaining financial benefits and organizational performance.10 Spiritual Leadership and Religion Spiritual leadership is emphasized in Christian churches, which have been prominent in the Western world.11 According to Fry and Egel, religion often involves “a theological system of beliefs, ritual prayers, rites and ceremonies, and related formalized practices and ideas.”12 Spiritual leadership incorporates values consistent with spiritual ideals often found in religion, resulting in effective leadership within organizations. Spiritual values like integrity, humility, and honesty can foster successful leadership. Religious institutions have values that allow individuals to have spiritual experiences, aligning with practices of the established religion.13 Spiritual leaders seek to satisfy their people and God as leaders of religious institutions.14
24 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Spiritual Leadership and Business Spiritual leaders lead people by serving God no matter where you find them. Some spiritual leaders can lead secular organizations in the marketplace.15 Effective leadership is a need in businesses that endure complex and critical issues. Business leaders must adapt to turbulent situations and daily changes that impact their company.16 Organizations that possess strong cultural values and traditions encourage spiritual leadership. Organizations that express spiritual values have motivated and highly committed members, contributing to overall organizational performance. Yukl suggested, “spiritual leaders increase mutual appreciation, affection, and trust among members of the organization.”17 Spiritual leaders enhance the meaning and value of work for followers. As a result, spiritual leadership can inspire higher performance through collaboration, encouragement, and collective learning of the individuals within businesses.18 Model of Spiritual Leadership Spiritual leadership in practice offers a significant source of competitive advantage for organizations.19 Spiritual leadership involves hope, faith, a sense of calling, belief, trust, and conviction. Fry and Slocum stated, “Having a sense of calling through one’s work and for a social connection at work is central to spiritual leadership.”20 These dimensions of spiritual leadership motivate an organization’s followers to believe in the organization’s vision. The organizational culture also requires altruistic love by leaders of the organization demonstrated through their attitudes and behavior. Figure 1 displays the model of spiritual leadership. As a result, the dimensions of spiritual leadership work collaboratively to produce positive outcomes for an organization, such as the wellbeing of the organization’s members, organizational productivity, and organizational profitability.21
25 Figure 1 Model of Spiritual Leadership Strategic Management Why plan in a world that is unpredictable? Hill et al. suggested, “In an unpredictable world, being able to respond quickly to changing circumstances and to alter the strategies of the organization accordingly is paramount.”22 According to Kennedy et al., strategic management involves planning the allocation of resources to implement actions on behalf of organizational leaders to improve performance in a given environment.23 Hill et al. suggested that strategies allow managers to achieve superior performance compared to their competitors. In the corporate context, leaders of the organization are managers. Strategic management focuses on strategic leadership, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation to achieve successful performance. Strategic leadership involves leaders managing the strategy-making process to formulate strategies that create competitive advantages. Strategy formulation is a process for selecting strategies. Lastly, strategy implementation involves utilizing the selected strategies from strategy formulation and putting them into action.24 In strategic management, thinking and planning are essential for creating successful strategies.25 STRATEGIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
26 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Strategic Leadership Managers play significant roles in the strategy of a company. Robbins et al. stated managers utilize technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills to achieve their goals.26 Effective managers possess these skills. Managers help form strategies in the strategy-making process.27 There are general managers and functional managers in companies. General managers take responsibility for the overall performance of an organization, and functional managers supervise specific functions within an organization.28 These managers provide strategic leadership necessary to achieve high-performance levels for their organization.29 Managers make decisions involving strategies, goals, organizational procedures, and the distribution of resources.30 Strategic managers often write down budgets, policies, objectives, and strategies communicated from the top management down to the lower level of management.31 Strategy Formulation Strategy formulation is a formal process used by leaders of an organization.32 Hill et al. suggested there are five main steps of strategy formulation. The following steps include: 1. Select the corporate mission and major goals. 2. Analyze the organization’s external competitive environment to identify opportunities and threats. 3. Analyze the organization’s internal operating environment to identify the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. 4. Select strategies that build on the organization’s strengths and correct its weaknesses in order to take advantage of external opportunities and counter external threats. These strategies should be consistent with the mission and major goals of the organization. They should be congruent and constitute a viable business model. 5. Implement the strategies. Analyses of the organization’s external and internal environments and selecting the appropriate strategies is the formal process of strategy formulation.33 Each step in strategy formulation involves additional planning processes. For example, steps 2 through 4 require leaders to conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis compares an organization’s
27 strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify successful strategies.34 Types of Strategies. There are four main strategies related to strategic management: functional-level strategies, business-level strategies, global strategies, and corporate-level strategies.35 Each strategy type implemented should be congruent with other strategies used by an organization. According to Hill et al., “When combined, the various strategies pursued by a company should constitute a complete viable business model.”36 The following sections will discuss each type of strategy used in strategic management. Functional-level strategy. The functional-level strategy focuses on improving the operations of an organization. Leaders evaluate efficiencies and effectiveness of the organization’s processes by function such as marketing, product development, or customer service. Business-level strategy. The business-level strategy is essential for assessing an organization's competitive advantage within its market. This strategy focuses on how leaders define the overarching strategy that guides the organization’s industry. By analyzing this strategy, leaders can better understand how effectively the organization meets consumer needs and positions itself against competitors.37 Global strategy. Organizations planning operations beyond their country’s borders focus on global strategy. Global strategy requires leaders to consider how globalization impacts the environment and their organization.38 Steger defined globalization as “the intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world space.”39 A global strategy allows leadership to strategically plan for their organizations to grow and prosper globally.40 Corporate-level strategy. Corporate-level strategy involves an organization selecting specific actions to gain a competitive advantage through managing different business units. Executives must manage various businesses across several industries and markets, requiring strategies to maximize business efficiency and cooperation. Corporate-level strategy utilizes synergy to ensure two or more business units operate effectively STRATEGIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
28 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY together compared to operating individually.41 Strategy Implementation Strategic implementation involves executing a strategic plan within various levels of an organization.42 Hill et al. defined strategic implementation as “the task of putting strategies into action, which includes designing, delivering, and supporting products; improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations; and designing a company’s organizational structure, control systems, and culture.”43 Designing organizational culture, control systems, and governance systems are essential for maximizing profitability and growth with new strategies.44 Leaders can implement strategies for organizations to achieve competitive advantages and superior performance within their industry.45 Spiritual Leadership and Strategic Management Spiritual leadership and strategic management impact an organization’s wellbeing through its leaders: spiritual leadership and strategic management work to achieve superior performance based on its established goals. Fry and Slocum argued: “spiritual leaders build high-performance companies that are personal and human with a focus on the importance of the individual; every member feels empowered and responsible for the reputation of the company.”46 While strategic management is necessary for planning and decision-making, spiritual leadership offers an opportunity for organizations to incorporate various dimensions that satisfy the needs of followers. Spiritual Leadership Balanced Scorecard Business Model Spiritual leadership and strategic management conjoin at the intersection of sharing success based on measurable indicators. According to Fry et al., the spiritual leadership balanced scorecard business model (SLB) measures the multifaceted drivers of productivity and performance excellence in organizational processes.47 A balanced scorecard demonstrates organizational performance using strategic performance indicators, also known as organizational performance indicators, that derive from the organization’s strategic plan.48 Examples of organizational performance indicators include quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.49
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