My sense is that leadership these days is more often than not about change. Whether you’re a leader in business, at home, in a volunteer agency, school, or church, the world has changed significantly enough – and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon – that organizations inevitably need to change, often continually, to adapt to both the challenges and opportunities ahead. And change is hard. Why? Because change is disruptive, and we tend greatly to prefer stability to change because, quite frankly, stability promotes growth. So the idea of changing direction, changing practices, and perhaps above all else changing personnel,...

Everyone wants transformational change. Congregations, the church at large, companies, public schools, the government, colleges and seminaries… The list could go on. Two reasons, I think, explain this desire. First, we know that a lot of the ways “we’ve always done it” aren’t working anymore. Whether it’s the way our congregations are run, our seminaries educate leaders, our companies make a profit in a way that serves customers and is environmentally sustainable, our government functions, etc. – we have this deep sense and suspicion that just enough has changed in our world that we also need to change – really change – to...