Leaders on Leadership (The Leading Edge Series) , livre ebook

L EADERS ON L EADERSHIP

1997 by George Barna
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Baker Books edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2361-6
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All Scripture quotations in chapter 5 are taken from the NASB unless otherwise noted.
Other versions used are:
AMP. N.T.— Scripture quotations are taken from the Amplified New Testament , copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
KJV—King James Version . Authorized King James Version.
The Message—The New Testament in Contemporary English by Eugene H. Peterson, © 1994. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
NASB—Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible , © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
NEB— From The New English Bible . © The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970, 1989. Reprinted by permission.
NIV— Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV® . Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
NLT— Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation , copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
C ONTENTS
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P REFACE
1. N OTHING I S M ORE I MPORTANT THAN L EADERSHIP
George Barna
2. W HAT L EADERS D O
Kenneth O. Gangel
3. T HE V ISION T HING
George Barna
4. T HE C HARACTER OF A L EADER
Jack W. Hayford
5. B ECOMING A S PIRITUALLY M ATURE L EADER
Gene Getz
6. B EING A T OUGH BUT T ENDER L EADER
H. B. London Jr.
7. H ELPING L EADERS G ROW
Leighton Ford
8. T HE L IFE C YCLE OF A L EADER
J. Robert Clinton and Richard W. Clinton
9. T HE R OLE OF I NNOVATION IN L EADERSHIP
Elmer L. Towns
10. T HE L EADER AS C HANGE A GENT
Doug Murren
11. B UILDING A T EAM TO G ET THE J OB D ONE
Tom Phillips
12. C ONFLICT : T HE R EFINING F IRE OF L EADERSHIP
Jim Van Yperen
13. C REATING THE R IGHT L EADERSHIP C ULTURE
Hans Finzel
14. T HE I MPORTANCE OF P RAYER IN L EADING P EOPLE
C. Peter Wagner
15. T RANSITION IN L EADERSHIP
Wallace Erickson
R ESOURCES FROM THE B ARNA R ESEARCH G ROUP , L TD .
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Allow me to express my sincere gratitude to the people who have made this book possible.
Fifteen people have contributed chapters to this book. I believe that the cumulative efforts of this team have demonstrated the meaning of synergy. My thanks goes to each man who shares his knowledge, wisdom, experience, time and heart with us through his contribution to this book.
My friends at Regal Books have been supportive partners in ministry for many years. I count them as friends, colleagues in ministry and respected professionals in publishing. They deserve our appreciation for sharing the vision for this book and exhibiting great patience in waiting for it to come together.
My family probably makes the greatest sacrifice of all each time I create a book. My tendency is to devote myself fully to completing a book project, emerging from my room for meals and to tuck the girls in at night. My wife, Nancy, becomes the true leader of the family in my absence during such periods of literary hibernation. My daughters, Samantha and Corban, probably wonder what happens to Daddy during these periods.
Although I tried to keep our family time sacred during the days when I worked on this book, I know all three girls gave up some of the time and interaction that we cherish. Nancy, in particular, worked hard to protect my time and facilitate a reasonable level of uninterrupted concentration. In the equation of eternal value, I pray that the tradeoffs made during this project are justifiable before God. I love Nancy, Samantha and Corban and pray that this book will help to raise up the kind of leaders who will enhance their lives.
In the final analysis, however, this is a vain exercise in chasing the wind if it does not produce that which brings greater glory and honor to God. Like every true Christian leader, my desire is that this effort is one that will enable many more people to know, love and serve Him with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. For that is the chief end of humankind. It has been my privilege to know Him and to offer this project as a means of being a blessing to Him and His people.
P REFACE
When I was young, sports were the center of my world. I was especially interested in major-league baseball. Besides spending most of my waking hours playing baseball, watching baseball, thinking about baseball or talking about baseball, I also played a board game called “Challenge the Yankees.” Back in the early sixties, the New York Yankees were a perennial powerhouse, always a good bet to win the American League pennant. The point of the game was to create a mythical all-star team that would play against the Yankees to see if the Bronx Bombers could be beaten.
I was born in New York City and was an avid Yankee fan during my formative years, so I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing that game. (An inveterate statistician, even by age six, I developed notebook after notebook of hand-tabulated statistics based on the pretend battles these fantasy teams waged. Sometimes it is easy to foresee what a child will do with his life when he is grown.) One of the most enjoyable aspects of the game was dreaming up a killer lineup of opposing players to take on the champs. (It was the modern-day equivalent of the “Dream Team” concept popularized by America’s Olympic basketball teams.)
That was a couple of decades ago; but the same sense of joy and wonder was rekindled in creating this book about leadership. As the one who conceived the project, I began with a blank slate, starting with the topics I thought should be included in a handbook about leadership aspects. I then had the privilege of asking a veritable all-star team of leaders and leader developers to join me in creating this volume.
The substance of this book comes from a team of experts that is as awesome as any you can imagine assembling from within the Christian community. Much like an all-star team, each of the participants is “playing his own position”—that is, writing about the topic or subject he has studied, experienced, mastered and mentored about for years. It is exciting to provide for you the words of wisdom from men who have an intense passion for the topic about which they have written.
A long time ago, I discovered that there are two kinds of people: those who try to cut costs by accepting inferior products that will enable them to “get by,” and those who pay more to get the best products that, hopefully, last longer and provide superior performance. This book reflects the latter strategy: get the best “talent” available and benefit from their experiences and insights. This lineup of talent parallels that of the 1961 Yankees:
• Jack Hayford , “the pastor’s pastor,” instructing us about the character of a leader;
• Leighton Ford describing what it takes to develop a person who has potential into a transforming leader;
• Peter Wagner focusing on the significance of prayer in leading people;
• Bobby and Richard Clinton outlining the phases and cycles that naturally occur in the life of a leader;
• Gene Getz exegeting Scripture to remind us of what God looks for in a true leader;
• Elmer Towns unraveling his years of experience to divulge how change and innovation define a leader;
• Kenneth Gangel providing an overview of what leaders do that make them leaders;
• H. B. London Jr . revealing how a leader can maintain the paradoxical balance between being tough and tender;
• Doug Murren sharing his experience and education regarding what it takes to be a change agent;
• Tom Phillips explaining the process of building a team that gets the job done;
• Hans Finzel awakening us to the importance of organizational culture , and how to develop a culture that facilitates influence;
• Wally Erickson giving insight into the process of preparing for and implementing transition— passing the torch;
• Jim Van Yperen guiding us through the methods of perceiving, acknowledging and resolving conflict —the situations that often make or break the leader.
Now the confession. The only way I could get named to this team was to create it! So part of the fun for me in this process was appointing myself to the team—the advantage of owning the ball required to play the game.
I trust this book will open your mind and your heart to new truths, principles and possibilities you may not have considered. My horizons have been expanded by the wisdom and perspective so generously offered by this team of leader-servants.
One last baseball analogy. A fascinating aspect of the Yankees was that the team played well together even though they came from a variety of backgrounds and had diverse lifestyles. The team ranged from the hard-drinking, rowdy party boys such as Mickey Mantle, Jim Bouton and Whitey Ford to the clean-cut, Christ-honoring Bobby Richardson. Long before tolerance, plura