ON THE SHELF
What Your Peers Are Reading
Thriving in Leadership: Strategies for Making a Difference in Christian Higher Education Edited by Karen A. Longman (Abilene Christian University Press, 2012) Review by Jo Kadlecek, Senior Writer and Journalist in Residence, Gordon College
Development Institutes (LDI) and grew to fruition at the Women in Leadership Development Institutes (WLDI) during a few summer weeks on retreat in Washington state. A long-time scholar on leadership trends and the co-founder of the LDI programs, Longman laments in the introduction that much of higher education has not been good about effective leadership development. The book, therefore, attempts to fill the gap by providing sage coaching grounded in actual—and personal— frameworks. Such leadership stories for Christian higher education
For more than a decade, bookstore
are crucial if, as Longman writes, “the complex challenges facing
shelves and academic libraries have
today’s colleges and universities are to be effectively addressed.”
been crowded with titles on leadership. Whatever your discipline or vocation, you can learn 21 indispensable qualities, seven steps to becoming highly effective, or five essentials for leaders who last. Scour a bit more and you’ll uncover secrets, principles, and tips for being extraordinary, great, and powerful. With so much expertise at our fingertips, it’s a marvel we haven’t yet cured cancer, balanced the budget, or ended poverty.
issues—hard, common, and sometimes territorial ones—always with an eye on the goal of “thriving,” that is, living and reflecting the abundant life of which Christ invites his followers to partake. Whether examining the interior life of thriving leaders (Part I), the social intelligence of thriving leaders (Part II), or discerning how leaders can shape a thriving organizational culture (Part III), these
But alas, mere scholarship on the art of leadership does not a
authors combine professional mentorship and scholarship with
leader make, any more than rigorous study of every playbook on,
personal narrative, offering healthy doses of realism, honesty, and
say, soccer makes one a player.
insight along the way.
So it is refreshing to find a book that actually reveals the nuanced
Some key topics include resilience and relationships; honoring
struggles and joys of real leaders in real institutions talking about
giftedness; storytelling as a visionary tool; building trust; and
real experiences. Thriving in Leadership: Strategies for Making
embracing failure, balance, and hospitality for creating academic
a Difference in Christian Higher Education, another recent gem
cultures of Christ-centered community. Regardless of what stage
from Abilene Christian University Press, takes a different and
a leader and his/her institution might be in, this book addresses it
smart approach to the other industry yawns and gives readers
in one of its many interesting and astute essays. William Robinson,
authentic stories. Lots of them, written, in fact, by 16 different
president emeritus of Whitworth University, nicely summarizes the
leaders from across the CCCU who care not so much about
book’s highlights around Christ’s leadership characteristics.
becoming extraordinary leaders but about providing extraordinary
The best part of Thriving in Leadership, though? The brave and
opportunities for their respective campuses. Edited by Karen Longman, professor and program director for Azusa Pacific University’s department of doctoral higher education, the book feels like a conversation with some of the CCCU’s most respected senior leadership, i.e., provosts, vice presidents, and presidents (or emeriti). That might be because the project was born during conversations at the CCCU’s Leadership
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Divided into three parts, the book’s authors explore a variety of
CCCU ADVANCE | SPRING 2013
vulnerable first-person narratives from these leaders who are—like many of us—working at becoming better leaders, not experts. They seem to know that leading is not easily discovered in formulas or principles but in life-long journeys of service, humility, and grace.