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How to overcome work politics and get your idea adopted

In our schools and workplaces, groupthink is rewarded. Those who question decisions and advocate for different ways are often ignored, ostracized, or fired. Yet without rebels, our systems, companies, schools, churches, government agencies, and healthcare organizations become rigid and sometimes even dangerous, according to Lois Kelly, Carmen Medina and Debra Cameron in their book Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

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Books

Leadership for everyday church leaders

Christian leaders who stay in love with God embody something that the world deeply needs; they possess an ethos characterized by love, servanthood, and sacrifice that is distinctive and more important than other skills or insights that leaders acquire; they may not have all the latest leadership techniques, but quite often people will follow them anywhere, according to Tom Berlin and Lovett Weems in their book High Yield: Seven Disciplines of the Fruitful Leader.

The seven leadership disciplines recommended by the authors are:

  • Build trust, which includes the importance of attending to people in their time of need
  • Lead the journey, including engaging the past, naming the present and envisioning the future
  • Set high standards, by insisting on excellence, expecting accountability without being controlling, and counting people carefully
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate, which includes speaking the whole truth and preaching well
  • Redeem conflict, by getting comfortable with uncomfortable conversations and being assertive while remaining humble
  • Cultivate leadership practices, including teamwork, appropriate delegation, and consulting wise counsel; and
  • Keep growing, by finding mentors, seeking and using feedback, and staying in love with God

Unlike many leadership books which are written from the perspective of a megachurch senior pastor, this book considers leadership from the perspective of everyday non-superstar pastors. It is a short book, easy to read, and should be a source of great encouragement to those who are called to lead a church in the current difficult times.

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Early church solutions to current problems

Like our world today, Roman citizens were bombarded with new cultures, new commerce, new foods, and new ideas, as well as new philosophies, cults, and religions; theirs was an era of massive disorientation, and at the same time, it was exactly the right environment for Christianity to emerge and thrive, according to Christine Chakoian in her book Cryptomnesia: How a Forgotten Memory Could Save the Church.

The author’s thesis is that the church today could work out how to respond to the current difficult times of change and crisis if only we could recover our memory of how the early church managed to thrive.

  • Technology is causing massive disruptions today, just as the new Roman roads and technologies were causing disruptions in the ancient world.
  • The shrinking world has brought religious pluralism, just as the Roman roads led to a melting pot of many foreign religions.
  • The early church had to decide which parts of the faith were essential and which parts were not, and we have to deal with similar questions today.
  • The early church had to struggle with finding authority in community, and we face similar struggles in today’s authority-questioning environment.
  • The early church had to find ways to reach out to a non-Christian culture, and we face a similar task.

There are plenty of interesting ideas in this fairly short book. Most readers will probably find something to disagree with, but in my view this book does a provide a helpful context for the thoughtful consideration of a number of important and controversial issues.

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Books

A detailed path for turning around your business

In order to overcome the natural resistance to change within an organization, a systematic approach must be taken; this approach must deal with the whole system, which includes people, processes, and systems; it must begin with defining the organization, developing the vision, and detailing the steps along the way, according to Greg Howes in his book Business Optimization: Six Steps to a Sustained Performance Culture.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.