Customer Reviews

Leadership from Inside Out: Spirituality and Organizational Change

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Wes has an amazingly fresh, riveting and insightful introduction as he details three modern gifted leaders that fell because they were not able to self-differentiate between their weaknesses manifested in insecurity and subsequently curtail the reactive expressions of insecurity in their work environments. Basically, self-differentiation, "simply implicates one's capacity to chart one's own course in a lifelong process, in which one is emotionally present but not reactive to others". To overcome this natural tendency towards reacting to others out of our weakness Wes details his own spiritual journey illustrating a path from experiencing a deep spiritual calling to, listening to God, discovering strengths, vision casting and implementation through change, which is often messy. The backdrop for this leadership from the inside out is the journey of the RCA, which Wes heads up. Wes gives great examples of each of the talking points above in his journey leading the RCA into a bold new future. He sprinkles into the "story telling" a few great reality checks applicable to any leadership setting: as mentioned already, change is messy; one such 'mess' is that the day may come when the transformed organization grows past the leadership style and skillsets of the founding leader; one's leadership style must change to fit the present reality of the organization; transformation is most likely to occur through teams that catch the vision, as opposed to a charismatic leader; also, successful leaders see the big picture and understand their role "in the context of this longer narrative, and feel greater meaning and value in their role as they place themselves within this story-line."

What this writer finds most refreshing about Wes' book is that Wes uses original leadership material and applies it in his unique position as general secretary of the RCA. Most books in this genre are theories or paradigms or prophetic material that looks back at field work, here we have a seasoned practitioner who provides a rich story-line of implementing some of the best practices into his ongoing role leading a ministry. "Leadership From Inside Out" engages the reader in theory, implementation and follow-through. "Leadership from the Inside Out" will richly bless readers who are in a turn-around, revitalization and/or church plant situation.

You must know yourself before you can lead others. This book clearly demonstrates how self-knowledge is critical to successful leadership. It fits excellently with other books that truly have the right handle on defining leadership, such as "Good to Great" and "Servant Leadership."

In a world that has so many pretenders to leadership, this book clearly hits the mark. It's one of a few true leadership classics. I have passed it along to many others.

I was told by some colleagues that this was a good read however I did not expect to connect with his writing on so many levels. Michaelson's varied experiences lend to the credibility of his views, experieces and recommendations. Pastors, denominational employees and other leaders would be well served by checking out this book.