- ‘Listening to understand, rather than to respond’ — and, at times, even having wide, formal and structured listening processes
- Affirming continuities with a previous era, rather than rushing into discontinuity
- ‘Leading without Power’ (Max duPree), in the sense of displays of power
- Keeping promises, especially the little ones
- Absorbing criticism inaudibly and spreading credit audibly
- Being truthful, in speech and life
- Targeting consensus, even if it takes more time
- Empathizing with others, especially with the ‘suffering-with’ brand of compassion
- Attending to the marginal voice, dismantling hierarchies and patterns of exclusivity
- Information really is power — sharing it early, fully and in writing (a disempowering act)
- Avoid hiding behind ‘confidentiality’, if it is not absolutely necessary
- Inverting top-down organisational structures, on paper and in reality
- Focusing more on growing the people in the organisation, rather than the organisation itself
- Facilitating vision in others, working to make other peoples’ dreams happen
- ‘The first task of leadership is to say thank-you’ — so doing it frequently, creatively, meaningfully
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
