Leadership for Your Future

Caldwell-week-9

Caldwell-week-9

by Deleted user -
Number of replies: 3

I think that the one thing that I must change in order to lead in this "discontinuous new space" is a reliance on leading from personal authority. It used to be that leaders of groups were often the best educated or the most experienced. Today people are able to easily access vast amounts of information, and make choices about what they believe and what they don't. I also feel like people today do not vest authority on titles and offices but instead they place authority on personality. 

I also feel that in my leadership I will have to let go of certainty. When I was younger I believed that at a certain point I would become established in a career and family, and that my life would become predictable, even boring. But when I look forward to my role as a leader of a religious community, I realize that we cannot count on models of professional ministry that were established in the past.

In reply to Deleted user

Re: Caldwell-week-9

by Elizabeth Shuba -

I hear a theme of flexibility in your response Jeff.  We must be flexible as our expectations meet reality in both our understanding of what leadership looks like and how it is realized.

In reply to Deleted user

Re: Caldwell-week-9

by Deleted user -

Jeff, you’ve stated that one of the things you will need to do in order to lead in this “discontinuous new space” is to not lead based on personal authority.  You feel that with people today have easy access to large amounts of information and make choices about what to believe (and what not to believe).  No longer is authority based on titles and offices but on personalities.   You also stated that in this “discontinuous new space” you must let go of the certainty and predictability that you’ve observed in the past and expect uncertainties in your ministerial career. 


In reply to Deleted user

Re: Caldwell-week-9

by Joseph Michael -

Hi Jeff, I hear you saying that you are rethinking where authority for leadership comes from and how to use.  You attribute the changing need to our new ability to access information for ourselves.  You seem to also be changing your thinking around certainty and the predictability of your life as the role and path of a minister may not be as well defined as it was before.