Leadership

This will be a very short post, but will serve as a prelude to much more to follow in the coming months.  At the recommendation of a dear friend and trusted spiritual director, I am currently reading a phenomenally insightful book that has me feeling like Neo reeling in the mind-freeing and power-releasing impact of Morpheus’ call to “Free your mind!” from The Matrix.  For those who never saw The Matrix, that means I am seeing the world in a whole new way.  Anyway, the book is essentially the magnum opus of Edwin Friedman, a brilliant pioneer of understanding relationships, who died before completing the final chapters.  The title is “A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix.”  From parenting to neighborhood atmosphere to political decision making to church community to business structures, and the list could go on and on, effective leadership is so vital to the survival, health, and growth of all human institutions.  And we live in a time and culture that is not only rapidly losing the presence of effective leadership, but barely even remembers what it looks like.  I will have much more to say on the subject, and I hope to present much of it in ways that are empowering, rather than gloom and doom (like my last sentence).

Thanks, Eddie P!  I am so glad you shared this with me.  And I am so glad I am mature enough to understand and utilize these transformative insights.  Growth is so good.  Thanks for sharing your growth process with me, and inviting me to share with you!