Arete Again

I was asked by a friend to write an article for a monthly group in Seattle called the Fellowship. The article topic is on transformational leadership...here is what I wrote for them. Interestingly enough the Fellowship is a weekly prayer breakfast that has been in existence for approximately 50 years. They helped to found the network that is now the Presidents Prayer Breakfast.

Hmmm

I know that this is a rather interesting way to begin an article but it is most appropriate. When Mitch asked me to write and speak, I was honored and humbled of course. I was honored because Mitch “dropped into” my life at a time when I began to look at who I was in private and who I was in public, only to see a few glaring gaps between the two. He has always been somewhat of a mentor to me, Thus, I was honored…..and humbled!

The ideas began to immediately flood my mind and the ideas have not stopped. What has been interesting to me in this dynamic is that I have rarely thought intentionally about a theology and methodology of leadership that forms a framework and context that is strong enough to sustain one through the ebbs and flows of strategic movements. It has been something that I have just been and done. What I have come to realize is that who and how I am are more thoughtful than I had initially been aware. Which leads me to this moment in time where a deadline to turn this in looms large. So now, it is time to write. The following is my thinking to this point in what should prove to be a lifelong journey and dialogue into leadership in the largest sense of the word. It is written as an offering; reverently, prayerfully, and for your reflection. My prayerful offering is that this may, in some way, satisfy a need in your life to be encouraged on your journey as a leader that is Christian. Look at the following as a buffet. Take what is helpful and leave what is not but at least peruse all of the fine foods and taste at all that is here. My underlying goals in writing this are to dialogue about leadership in ways that take us deeper, yet remain accessible and simultaneously practical. I hope to do this with a sense of authenticity and vulnerability. Coram Deo (In the face of God)!

A Reluctant Participant

The truth is that I never really wanted to be a leader. I really don’t like the pressure.  What is interesting about my personal journey as a leader is that leadership has always pursued me, sought me, and ultimately found me.  I remember being elected a captain of my High School hockey team. It was the first time I was ever in a legitimate leadership position with a title that actually meant something. What an honor but with roles come increased responsibility. This plaguing sense of reluctancy has followed me wherever I have gone. It has led me to Pastoral roles in five churches in three states, and to a variety of non – profit leadership roles. I am, therefore, a reluctant participant.

Leadership at the most simplistic level, as has been argued by some, is people who lead.  In other words, leaders lead. It goes without saying that if no one is following then you are not leading. So, what is leadership? I have always tried to live into and out of a definition that understands leadership as a holy influence in another person’s life.  My passion in life is to be used by God to have a trinitarian influence on the life of someone else.  Let me flesh this out in the following ways. First, I will argue that one’s God determines one’s character. In other words who or what our God is drives everything about who and how we are. This is the raw volition of my will to follow and pursue the Christian God. In this initial section I would like to discuss God’s interiority. The interior life of God with God becomes the infinite Trinity place for the space of the leader to practice leadership.  Secondly, who one’s God is determines our Arête. Arête is a Latin word for character and virtue which forms the title for this article. The one we are aligned with cosmically is the one who informs and forms the interior life of the leader. This is the unseen work of a leader that precedes but also provides the framework for what is seen.  When we fully understand the inner workings of the interior life of the Trinity then we can live more fully into our own interior life of Arête again.  A leader cannot short circuit these two areas in one’s interior life. They converge to form the basis for what is seen.  Character-less leadership is not and option.  I will argue that it is time to return and demand character from our leaders.  Notice I did not say perfection, I am asking for Arête, for virtue and character, and not perfection. The final section of the article is how do we live in accordance with who our God is and who we are in the soil of where we are called, whether it be the boardroom, the showroom, the classroom, the locker-room, or the pulpit. I have entitled this the praxis segment and it is where we are seen as a leader in real time. It is the convergence of who God is and who we are in real time. This is significant because leadership is always in real time, spontaneous yet with wisdom, clarity and insight—at least that is the intent. So enjoy!

God’s Interiority

God exists apart from creation co-equally and co-eternally in three persons yet sharing the same essence. This is the nature of the interior life of the Trinity.  It is what German theologian Jurgen Moltmann calls the nature of the Trinity “like for like.” Moltmann draws heavily on a Russian orthodox painter Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Holy Trinity which is engaging for me as a leader. In fact, I have found it to be so riveting it is the front of my business card. The icon was painted in roughly 1425, just preceeding the time of the Protestant Reformation and forms the model of leadership that I will ask us to consider.  It features the perichoresus of the divine inner working of a trinitarian God.  The word perichoresus means circle dance. I want to highlight five key elements of the interior life of this dancing God, whom we worship. By the way it is also where we get our English word equivalent, chorus line. I have asked Mitch to include a photocopy of the icon of the Holy Trinity.

First, notice that these three figures are sitting around a table and are in a circular format.  This is a social God that is always in relationship to and with one another. A leader is a social person always in relationship to God, themselves and their environment.  An effective leader is not silo-ed or an entity unto themselves. Secondly, notice the titling of their heads. The head of the Father figure on the left is tilted toward the Jesus figure in the middle and the Spirit figure on the far right. The heads of the Jesus figure in the middle and the Holy Spirit figure on the right is tilted toward the Father figure on the far left. They are in a mutuality of relationship, a circle dance, in the words of Moltmann, “like for like.” This is important in today’s context, because we are no longer hierarchical; we are mutual, consensus building and grassroots. A leader is always interacting with multiple variables at once seeking respect, love and wisdom at the same time.  Third, notice how these figures form a virtual cross with you the observer at the foot. You the participant and the Jesus figure form the vertical beam, while the Father and the Spirit figure form the horizontal beam. The passion of God is the environment where leadership takes place at all levels.  Therefore, leading into and out of pain and passion is the essence of leadership at every turn. Fourth, it is from the passion of God that we experience the unconditional love of God.  Leadership is always practiced into and out of the love of God.  Fifth, as you enter into a multi-dimensional gaze of the icon there is room for you to become part of this dance. This is the open nature of the Christian trinitarian God.  This is of utmost importance for our discussion because I am arguing that leadership is a holy influence. It is our task as leaders to point people, invite people, to engage people to become key dancers in this cosmic Trinity-dance. When we are the conduit that God the Holy Spirit uses to influence another to this holy circle dance then we are leaders!  Obviously there is more to be said about this cosmic interior life of God. However, for our purposes I suggest that it is this trinitarian God that we, as Christian leaders, surrender to and seek to draw others to dance with as well. When we are fully in this dance with this specific notion of God, there is the space to shape our own arête as image bearers of God to the world!

Arête Again

Who our God is determines and drives who we are; it is the basis of our interior spiritual formation. It is also the genesis of our interior life.  I read a remarkable phrase by Stanley Hauerwaus, the Dean of Ethics at Duke Divinity School, he writes, and I paraphrase “the reason why so many leaders are not worth following is because there is no person of significant character worth aligning with.”  I am struck by this statement. When I have looked at my conversion to Christ and watched my behavior over the last twenty years there have certainly been moments where I have witnessed gaps in my character. I find these moments to be great learning opportunities and times of personal transformation and growth. It has led me into a recent study of this and related matters of vices and ensuing Christian virtues. I will suggest that integrity is bringing together who I am in private with who I am in public. The curriculum for this closing of the gap is arête formation. There has been a glaring vacuum in this genre of leadership development. We are quick to talk about alignment with the Trinity and then we immediately jump to strategies of change, capacity building, and value added leadership. We, as a culture are more concerned with outcomes and techniques than we are with building and growing quality people. Yet, where is the virtue?  It is startlingly absent in our curriculum and discipleship at all levels. I believe that this has been to the detriment of our public politic both within and outside the church. Until we close this gap we can all expect to see more failings, and adultescent (this is not a mis-spelling, it is intentional) like behavior! Again I am not arguing for perfection but rather the pursuit of excellence, especially in the arena of Arete Again. This entire remarkable debate in secular discourse between the public life and the private life being severed is difficult, if not, impossible for leaders seeking to have a holy influence in their spheres of operation.

In order to lead well as people exhibiting a holy influence on others, we say a resounding “Yes” to God and to Godly arête and “NO” to other characterless-ness (I am not sure if that is a word-but it is in my article-ha). When I say “Yes” to this dance with a dancing God I say bring on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I say with equal passion a resounding “NO” to greed, sloth, pride, envy, gluttony, anger, and lust. In order for a Yes to have meaning there must be a NO!  This is true freedom to have and exert power as a holy influence. Freedom is not just freedom from certain rules it is a freedom to live another way; the way of a dancing God, the way of holy influence, the way of Arete Again, and with great freedom that shows the world another way of living. This freedom is not a shaming freedom, rather it is a free freedom. Helmut Thielicke writes, “…the Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic ‘You ought,’ but in the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of the ‘You may.’” My friends “You may” live and lead differently when your arête interior life is aligned with a dancing perichoretic trinitarian God who says lead on my friend, lead on!

Praxis

This is the practical element of leadership. It is the external life of what is seen in a leader. It is a Hegelian word that brings together the interior life of God at work with the interior life of arête in a leader. This praxis and coming together converges in the moment of Godly leadership. It is the practice of a leader to be wise in the split second or a moment in real time.  I find that this is where most of leadership acts in the world and forms the central theater and environment of the practice of leadership. It transcends decision making. Decision making can be done by anyone; we are talking about a holy influence that brings together all that we have discussed to this point and actualizes it in a convergence of love, wisdom, and in a way that influences a person, situation or circumstance to move more fully into the trinitarian dance.

It is in this space that I find leadership most difficult. When the influences of a secular and whatever culture push me to the extreme of my personal boundaries of character and integrity that I have difficulty as a leader.  In a world where there is so much subjectivity surrounding issues of scruples, sexuality, and personal boundaries that I find myself stretched very often and being as elastic as I can be.  It is in those moments that I must be wise, and point people, not to a personal ethic but to a dance with God and allow God to worry about what transformation and sanctification actually looks like in another person.

Endtroduction

It has been my prayer that this brief conversation would spur you on and encourages you to lead on with depth, power, and intentionality as we are tethered together with a dancing God who transforms our arête in order to lead well in real time as ones who point people to the holy other.  I have captioned this portion of my brief article as the endtroduction because we are not ending, rather, we are beginning. We are writing the first few words of what it might look like to lead with depth, accessibility and practicality.

On the back of my business card is a question that I will leave with you. It is intended to provoke thoughtful conversation, a holy influence and intentionality in all relationships.  The question is, “Would you like to dance?”  I hope you will…