The Vikings should not be in the playoffs. No way. No one expected it. Even through most of the season, people hardly mentioned them, except perhaps for noting that head coach Mike Zimmer (for most of his career a defensive coordinator) put together a really good defense. Why shouldn’t they be in the playoffs? Last year’s record was mediocre (8-8), and you don’t often improve that much in one year, particularly when your starting quarterback (Teddy Bridgewater) isn’t expected to play much and you trade away your franchise running back (Adrian Peterson). Moreover, even when they got off to a decent start, the QB brought in to replace...

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,...

When I talk about making the move from what I describe as “performative leadership” to “formative leadership” (as I did obliquely in last week’s Dear Partner letter), I regularly encounter a reaction as understandable as it is predictable. First, let me say a little more about what I mean by these terms. Performative leadership is essentially leadership that focuses on certain skills or practices that the leader has acquired through training and practice and now uses on behalf of the organization he or she is leading. In congregational ministry, these are often of the skills of preaching, teaching, pastoral...

I couldn’t decide whether to put this post under the category of “leadership” or “creativity,” so I finally put it under both. (I know, I know, this shouldn’t be a big decision, but there you go….) Here’s why it’s in both. I think one of the most difficult things for leaders is to imagine something that is beyond our own experience. Actually, I think this is true of all of us. More often than not, the futures we imagine are slightly idealized versions of our pasts, and the solutions we come up with are essentially things we’ve seen work elsewhere or, even more likely, it’s...

I’ve suggested on countless occasions in multiple venues that we live in a liminal time, a transition time, a time when major paradigms are shifting and change is the only constant. Which means that business as usual just won’t cut it. In particular, during times such as these, a different kind of leadership is needed. Whereas technical competence and excellent managerial skills are highly valued traits of leaders during the long stretches of stability in between more tumultuous times of paradigm change, those very traits can greatly limit an organization’s ability to adapt to new circumstances. Why? Simply because you...