Barnabas File

  Effectiveness can be learned.  Effectiveness must be learned. —Peter Drucker This quote affirms the late Peter Drucker’s belief that leaders are made not born.  Mark Miller cites Drucker in the Introduction to Smart Leadership to affirm that leadership can be learned and is based on making appropriate choices.  I must disagree with one word in the subtitle, however.  These are not “simple” choices but decisions that a leader practices until they become second nature.  With practice, they become part of one’s lifestyle. Miller, a VP at Chick-fil-A, has become a leadership guru in his own right.  Most of his leadership books have been written in the popular “fable” style, telling a story that embodies the principles he wishes to teach.  This is a more traditional approach that shares the insights of research, personal experiences about leadership, and practical suggestions for implementation. There is much here t...

We cannot motivate others.     We can provide an environment in which people can become motivated, but real motivation comes from within.     In the same way, a leader cannot make people into innovators.  If this is true, then what is the role of the leader in innovation?  How much can a leader do to foster innovation among others?   Alec Horniman is the Killgallon Ohio Art Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, teaching in the areas of ethics, strategy and leadership.  He suggests three actions that a leader can do to foster innovation.  First, invite people to join the process of innovation.  The innovative leader invites others along on the journey. He or she is not only a role model but a resource, sharing experiences and opportunities.  An innovative leader invites others to be part of the process and to learn together.  An innovative leader does...

Although the author rarely uses the term, The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age is a useful resource for assisting a mainline church to become more missional. The book incorporates the key ideas of missional theology but also provides insights about what a congregation must do to provide innovative and effective ministry in a complex, fluid culture. The writer is Dwight J. Zscheile, an Episcopal priest who teaches at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He draws on his personal experiences in a local congregation as well as concepts such as trinitarian theology, adaptive leadership, design thinking, and organizational development to provide a path for the local church to respond to the leadership of the Spirit in the 21st century. A key point is his description of the apostles’ ministry in the book of Acts: “The apostles don’t typically understand what kind of witness God wants to bring forth until they are in the midst of it; it is...

We cannot motivate others.   We can provide an environment in which people can become motivated, but real motivation comes from within.   In the same way, a leader cannot make people into innovators.  If this is true, then what is the role of the leader in innovation?  How much can a leader do to foster innovation among others?  Alec Horniman is the Killgallon Ohio Art Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, teaching in the areas of ethics, strategy and leadership.  He suggests three actions that a leader can do to foster innovation. First, invite people to join the process of innovation.  The innovative leader invites others along on the journey. He or she is not only a role model but a resource, sharing experiences and opportunities.  An innovative leader invites others to be part of the process and to learn together.  An innovative leader does not just attend conferences and explor...