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
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