Monday, October 20, 2008
Feminization?
Over at Intellectuelle, Bonnie responded to a post I did some time back on new leadership paradigms. Bonnie starts by accusing me of going feminist:
The problem we face is when we elevate the feeling over the fact; happiness over salvation; "feeling good about yourself" over morality. The leadership model Bonnie calls, "community and collaboration" is not the problem, but from it problems can arise when we hold the community above the mission and the collaboration above action. I have been in far too many places where "can't we all just get along" mattered more than getting anything done.
The bottom line is this. Leadership, whether command and control or community and collaboration is only as good as the leaders themselves. As I argue and Bonnie quotes, community and collaboration provides some checks and balances towards that end, but I have seen them fail as mightily as in any other system.
True Christian leadership is less about the system and more about the leader. If you are a Christian leader, or aspire to be one, before you study systems and management, before adopt a "leadership style," before you study your organization's culture, evaluate yourself and look to God. And then, do that every day, before the day begins. Carry the lesson of humility such an examination MUST give you (else it was a poor attempt) throughout your day.
God is changing the world one person at a time. That means you should start with yourself.
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...I couldn't help but think, is this an example of what some would call the feminization of society, or the church? Hasn't alpha leadership been considered a male thing, while collaboration and community have been considered female? And, now that men are starting to speak out about the value, or even the superiority, of more cooperative means of accomplishing things, is this evidence that they are feminized?But she then goes on and points out that such is a bit of a straw man:
And here's one of the reasons I think the above-mentioned types of leadership have little to do with gender,...So Bonnie and I have a basic agreement here, but I do want to point out that there is a feminization problem in the church, and it is related to this. Now to be frank. i think "feminization" is a poor word choice, I would prefer to call it "emotionalization," a trait that can be associated with the feminine, but they are not necessarily a package.
The problem we face is when we elevate the feeling over the fact; happiness over salvation; "feeling good about yourself" over morality. The leadership model Bonnie calls, "community and collaboration" is not the problem, but from it problems can arise when we hold the community above the mission and the collaboration above action. I have been in far too many places where "can't we all just get along" mattered more than getting anything done.
The bottom line is this. Leadership, whether command and control or community and collaboration is only as good as the leaders themselves. As I argue and Bonnie quotes, community and collaboration provides some checks and balances towards that end, but I have seen them fail as mightily as in any other system.
True Christian leadership is less about the system and more about the leader. If you are a Christian leader, or aspire to be one, before you study systems and management, before adopt a "leadership style," before you study your organization's culture, evaluate yourself and look to God. And then, do that every day, before the day begins. Carry the lesson of humility such an examination MUST give you (else it was a poor attempt) throughout your day.
God is changing the world one person at a time. That means you should start with yourself.
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