Why Leading is Harder than Ever
November 3, 2011 - Being a church leader is harder than ever in the U.S. Actually, I think it’s more difficult to be in any kind of leadership position—whether political, spiritual, media, economic, or otherwise. Here are three reasons:
1. Anti-institutionalism. The first is that Americans of all ages are increasingly skeptical of institutions. Surveys continue to show that we are more distrustful than ever of media, government, the military, education, industry, banking, advertising, religion, and so on. It is simply harder than ever to win people’s long-term trust and allegiance.
2. Accelerated life. Second, things change so darn rapidly, making leadership more complex. For example, the feedback cycle is nearly instantaneous due to social media. In the excellent book, Onward, Starbucks’ founder Howard Schultz says that he dramatically underestimated the power of the digital conversations that were taking place about his brand. Yesterday, a pastor told me how his younger congregants are fact-checking his sermons from their smart phones during worship services. Life is speeding up.
3. Increased expectations. The third reason leading is so difficult is the super-charged nature of our expectations. Whether we admit it or not, we all aspire to live near-perfect, profitable, and passionate lives. We want it all, and we believe we can achieve it. The problem is that unrealistic expectations are diluting followers’ patience and leaders’ persistence.
One question this raises is what happens when we, as leaders, become disillusioned with the challenge of it all. What happens to our souls when we apparently fail? Are we still committed to leading when our results don’t match our aspirations?
This month, Barna Group is pleased to launch {w}hole, a new Barna Book from author Lisa Whittle. This book is about how to make your life count when you no longer live by unrealistic expectations. Frankly, I find that many books are just not that honest. They make leadership and life look easy. In fact, they lie to readers by heaping on even more expectations.
{W}hole is honest. It looks at meaningful questions that we must face in an era of super-charged expectations. If you are a pastor, what happens when your church doesn’t grow? Or worse yet, it fails entirely? What occurs to your leadership when your best effort does not seem to be enough? Where do you turn when people you trust let you down?
Lisa looks at these kinds of questions in her new book. It includes new research about the expectations that women have of their life and spiritual journey. And George Barna wrote an excellent foreword.
I am grateful Barna Books could partner with Lisa on this project. I hope you take a look at {w}hole as you attempt to right-size your leadership expectations.
Moses is called “My servant Moses” by God, in scripture, never, “my leader Moses”. We have one Leader, Jesus Christ. We are all brothers. God may give us a word of guidance for the church or for individuals, but that still leaves us mere servants. There is much too much potential for abuse in the position of Leader. Only the Lord can be trusted with it.
Christ centered leadership is the call of the whole New Testament. Ignoring the call to leadership is the easiest thing to do in the climate Kinnaman describes. In fact the void of leadership in West provides an indicator of the spiritual climate of this country.
Hey Maurice, i’m pretty sure the Bible talks about a spiritual gift of leadership and Paul in Romans 12:8 says those people should lead with all diligence. What David is saying is that leading diligently is harder than ever based on a few big shifts. And Lisa has written a book about how to lead in this new context. I look forward to gleaning her insights. Truth is, everyone leads in some capacity or another. Those with the spiritual gift are called to do so in perhaps bigger ways, but at some level leadership is influence and we all lead/influence others in many ways. It’s increasingly harder on many levels and i’m all for any resource that can help me understand and improve.
Thanks, Jon (and Corey) — good points. I think that Lisa’s book is strongest when she talks about her experience of disillusionment following some significant struggles her father had in ministry. I think anyone who is raising kids while serving in ministry should read that chapter, at the very least. It’s a helpful reminder of how tough ministry can be on our kids. And Lisa’s response is very honest and hopeful. She keeps her faith in God and the church. – David Kinnaman
Marbe leadership is so hard because Jesus never called anyone to be a leader, only to be a servant. We have one leader, Jesus Christ, and shunting Him aside and trying to fill His place is going to be very difficult. We are determined to put ourselves forth as leaders out of pride and egotism, two qualities that should never be part of a Christian’s make-up.
Is this unrealistic? No, the scripture repeats it over and over but we, in our selfish pride refuse to see it and believe it.
So then we don’t take any action other than serving? God doesn’t want us to excersize these gifts in the manner of a servant/leader?
What about Moses, Paul, etc? Seems like they led under God’s blessing and direction.