Building the Bridge as You Walk On It

One thing I love about cross-country flights is the ability to knock out huge chunks of reading. During my Christmas flight from DC to Chicago to San Francisco to Medford, I read Batterson's new release, Primal, and Robert Quinn's Building the Bridge as You Walk On It. Building the Bridge as You Walk On It isone of the 12 books I selected to read in 2010 as part of my leadership development focus. I guess I just got a jump start on the list! Here are some take-aways:

• First of all, it would have been great to read this book before launching Operation Kaboom.
• Reading this book has caused me to contemplate a few questions: 1) What are the things that only I can do? 2) What do I do best? 3) What do our leaders at NCC want/need? 4) What does God desire for our leaders at NCC?
• Leading means walking in the tension of polarities (kinda reminds me of Walking the Small Group Tightrope by Robinson and Donahue)
• Is my leadership focused on control or on being a catalyst?
• Leaders disturb the collective script
• Leadership is walking naked into uncertainty

Quinn examines eight practices that are necessary for effective leadership, and all of them are found in the tension of opposites: reflective action, authentic engagement, appreciative inquiry, grounded vision, adaptive confidence, detached interdependence, responsible freedom, and tough love.

After reading this book, I hope that I listen better to the people who lead with me, that I spend more time reflecting on where we are and where we need to go, and that I would find creative and meaningful ways to empower the leadership community at NCC