“The
essence of leadership is helping others follow well,” Galvin writes
(110) Learning to follow well is essential to leading well so that is
what Galvin concentrates on.
He
begins with story, a parable. Stories are powerful and, besides,
Jesus used them. Jack is a retired army and ex-missionary who coaches
four young professionals who are stuck. Randall is a college graduate
working in the produce section of a market. Valerie has a marketing
degree but is in a job with no possible advancement. Brad is in youth
ministry and does not want to move up to director like the board is
requesting. Lynn is in medical billing but her boss is not at all
helpful.
We
follow the four as they try to put into practice the teaching Jack
gives them weekly. He asks them to become good followers, even if
dealing with bad bosses and bad leaders. He helps them learn how to
work with flawed people, how to help them lead better. They learn how
their past experiences formed their mental model of leadership. “'We
tend to lead the way we have been led unless we reflect deeply on our
experience, become aware of our actions, and develop our unique
potential,' said Jack.” (52-53) They learn about character and
competence, REAL followership (Responsible, Ethical, Authentic,
Loving), the three types of followership (God, parents/government,
other humans), and how to slay the fear dragon.
Galvin
follows with a theology of leadership section, explaining the
principles revealed in the story. He reminds us that leadership is
God's idea but it has been corrupted by the Fall. We are imperfect
people leading imperfect followers. He explores leadership as the
interaction between leaders and followers, giving biblical insights
on both.
This
book is for everyone, not just leaders. We are all leaders and
followers in some way. I was amazed at the amount of insight in this
book. Reading about the three types of followership answered so many
of my questions! It addresses issues about submitting to those who
have (or claim to have) spiritual authority over you. Galvin also
clarified what true servant leadership is and he addresses leadership
abuse.
(One
area Galvin did not cover in this book is leading and following in
the home, the husband/wife relationship. He did not clarify which
type of followership, I, II, or III, that relationship would fall
under.)
I
highly recommend this book! Having been a ministry leader as well as
serving on church and private school boards, I have read many books
on leadership. I have never read one like this. I have never
understood so much about the relationship between leading and
following. I have never had so many of my own leading and following
experiences explained.
Galvin
has included discussion questions divided into eight sessions. This
would be a great book for church or other nonprofit boards to read
and discuss. And it would be a great book for you to read, just
because you lead or follow someone.
I
can see that there might be two issues that would make pastors a
little uncomfortable with this book. Galvin places pastoral
leadership under Type III, where followership is optional. (He does
distinguish between preaching God's Word, which is under following
God, and ministry leadership, which is under following humans.)
Another issue is the suggestion (by a fictional character) that
career ministry people give as many hours of volunteer work as they
ask of their laypeople. (After evening church board meetings, we
laypeople would all have to go to work the next morning, but the
pastor would not come into his office until noon – because he'd had
a meeting the night before.)
James
C. Galvin is an organizational consultant specializing in strategic
facilitation for a wide variety of organizations. He has completed
successful
TenthPowerPublishing,
204 pages. Publisher product page.
You can buy the book here.
I
received a complimentary copy of this book from the Handlebar publicity group for the
purpose of this review.
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