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Leadership

Conceptual foundations of Leadership and their immediate practical value

“Leadership” is often an incoherent field of study. Often it’s anecdotal. “Here’s what I did to … win the game … make a lot of money … win the war … win an election.”
But below I sketch a few conceptual foundations of Leadership and note their practical value. 👇 

Properly, Leadership is a subdiscipline of Ethics (how to live well), which is a subdiscipline of Philosophy. 

Within Christianity, Leadership is also properly a subdiscipline of Ethics (how to live well with the presupposition God has spoken in Scripture and in Jesus Christ), which is a subdiscipline of Theology. 

The reason Leadership is its own subdiscipline under Ethics is that it treats how one should participate in groups that are trying to do something. Doing something by yourself may be Ethics but it is not Leadership. (“Self-leadership” is an oxymoron—cute for “self-discipline”). 

There is value in the field of Leadership because being part of groups that are trying to get things done is ubiquitous and unavoidable. You can either function within these groups productively and see positive progress accomplished or not. 

A person who grows in their understanding of leadership grows in their awareness of groups and what they are trying to accomplish. They then can contribute to the group finding the right goals and to the group using good means to work on those goals. 

It is crucial to notice that any group has multiple conflicting ends and that there are many possible means which are dismissed for ethical reasons. There is no end to the work of reassessing these. The referral to philosophy or theology is ongoing. 

A person who begins to understand leadership accepts the logical argumentation, the trade-offs, the balancing of values, the judgment calls, the disagreements, the discussion, the collaboration, the listening, and the learning because they are necessary for good work by a group. 

This understanding of the difficulty of having a group accomplish something good using good means sobers a person that work by a group is neither simple nor easy. They then can decide either a group’s work is not worth it or commit to persevere. 

An appreciation that leadership is group-oriented helps people realize that one’s fellow group-members are not the enemy or one’s minions to be ordered around but are one’s fellow participants, one’s partners, who must be worked with to accomplish the right ends with right means. 

Leadership has little to do with formal authority or position. Anyone contributing or participating in a group can help the group towards better goals and use better means. But the extent to which a person is silenced or muzzled or constrained by the group limits their influence. 

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Uncategorized

Where to find me as I’m posting thoughts and videos all over

Today for the first time I put three (under 10 minute) phone videos for a course (Leadership Communication in Global Perspective) on:

– YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@andyrowell94 (public rather than unlisted)

– a new Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rowell_leadership/

– a public new Facebook page.
https://m.facebook.com/people/Andy-Rowell-Church-Leadership-Conversations/100086226624019/

and

– TikTok

I am also posting at X formerly known as Twitter

And starting August 7, 2023, I started posting at Bluesky bsky

https://bsky.app/profile/andyrowell.bsky.social

Mastodon

https://ohai.social/@andyrowell

Threads

https://www.threads.net/@rowell.andy

and

Post News

https://post.news/@/andyrowell

Categories
Evangelism

Testimony lyrics from The Avett Brothers

Some testimony lyrics from The Avett Brothers.

"And I hate to say it but the way it seems
Is that no one is fine
Take the time to peel a few layers
And you will find
True sadness"
– The Avett Brothers, "True Sadness" (2016).

"From victory, I tried
To match eternal light with how I live my life
Of course, I was forced to retreat
From victory, I accept defeat."
– The Avett Brothers, "Victory" (2020).

"There ain't nobody here
Who can cause me pain or raise my fear
'Cause I got only love to share
If you're looking for a truth, I'm proof you'll find it there"
– The Avett Brothers, "Ain't No Man" (2016).

"Sometimes I don't see love in anything
And just when I surrender to my shadow
I snap out of it, and step into the light"
– The Avett Brothers, "Back into the Light," (2020).

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 23, 2023.