Intentional Leadership in between Seasons (Drummond)
Lead Tension Intentionally
Leadership is, inherently, a management of tensions:
- the individual and (or versus) community;
- inclusions and boundaries;
- structure and creativity.
Each pulls at the other—helpfully at times, harmfully at other times, and always with complexity.
Leadership scholar and author Sarah B. Drummond provides a framework for leading tension, intentionally, especially within religious communities and institutions.
From Intentional Leadership
"Many people seeking happiness and sustainability in their lives strive to find balance. The word 'balance' suggests a state of equilibrium and all its pleasing results: mental clarity, peaceful relationships, physical wellbeing.
"Tension is similar to balance in that two forces counter each other to ultimately put us in the center. Balance describes the end point, however, not the practice that led us there.
"We cultivate tension to find a balance. ... We seek to arrive at a state of balanced tensions, and in order to live in tension, we need intention to get there."
About the Author
Sarah B. Drummond is a scholar, educator, and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, serving as the Dean of Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School.
The Pilgrim Press
Paperback
ISBN 978-0-8298-0016-6
2022
