style="font-size:15px;"> Embracing authenticity
Cultivating attunement
Character is not perfection
Chapter 3: Competence—Doing the Right Things the Right Way
Key messages: Building basic foundations of competence for emerging leaders
Self-knowledge—to make mature choices
Collaboration—to mobilize collective strengths
Complexity—to navigate systems, culture and diversity
Cultivating the basics so other competencies can grow
Chapter 4: Cadence—Sustaining Leadership by Keeping in Step with Yourself, Others and God
Key messages: Understanding cadence and singing from a bigger song sheet
Walking the learner path with a disposition of openness
Staying awake to frameworks with a disposition of awareness
Moving to action with a disposition of responsiveness
Designed to be in cadence
SECTION III—SPANNING THE DISTANCE—MAXIMIZING INFLUENCE WITH EMERGING LEADERS
Chapter 5: Walking with Young People in the In-Between—the Role of Mentors, Coaches and Sages
Key messages: Blending roles and modeling leadership
Defining reality by reading the landscape
Living as a learner
Acting with authenticity
Leadership development for in-between people
SECTION IV—TRANSVERSING TOGETHER—POSITIONING EMERGING LEADERS FOR EXCEPTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 6: Seeing Young People for Who They Are and Who They Can Become
Key messages: Seeing emerging leaders for who they can become
Understanding the landscape of today’s emerging leaders
Knowing the personal story of emerging leaders
Chapter 7: Stretching Young People to Do and Be More Than They Thought Possible
Key messages: Stretching experiences and leadership development
Seeing emerging leaders first
Staging the right stretching experiences
Setting up emerging leaders for success
Chapter 8: Supporting Young People as They Succeed and Fail
Key messages: Supporting emerging leaders through maelstroms and crucibles
The centrality of presence
Consistent support through feedback
Feedforward and processing failure
Supporting emerging leaders to learn and grow
Conclusion: Over the Bridge Together
FOREWORD
The oaks of the future lie in today’s acorns. Accordingly, nurture and care provided in the present is crucial to ensuring healthy and mature growth in the years to come.
In Leading from the In-Between, John draws on his many years of working with emerging leaders. When built into the lives of younger leaders, the mindset and skills he shares nurtures them into strong, well-rooted “oaks.”
John’s experience with younger leaders and others seasoned in leadership is captured in these pages. His insight is a roadmap to success that avoids pitfalls and celebrates the prizes to be won.
The depth of John’s understanding is clearly in evidence throughout the book. He creatively explains the viewpoints of those being served and illustrates how to equip future leaders for their maximum impact and success.
John’s faith story is part of the weaving that underscores the importance of each individual’s relationship with God. The idea of “cadence,” which invites emerging leaders to “be in step with God,” is refreshing.
The book is enriched by John’s leadership experiences at Muskoka Woods. His passion for developing emerging leaders into all their potential inspires the rest of us to do the same.
PHIL GELDART
President/CEO, Eagles Flight
AUTHOR’S NOTE
When a band releases an album, you can be sure that many people have contributed to each track. There are songwriters, session musicians, singers, engineers and producers. Yet, when authors release a book, we often imagine they have sat in isolation in a room with a laptop and written every word and then pressed print.
This book was put together like a music album. The content was born out of my two decades of experience with emerging leaders, as the president and CEO of a large youth organization, and as a leader in the camping industry as a Christian minister. The content also springs from my graduate studies and teaching in leadership development over the past several years. I recognized early in this process that sitting alone with a blank screen and trying to write my thoughts on leadership was not going to work. Instead, I pulled together a team of people to bring this project together.
Brenda Melles played the most important role. I talked out my thoughts to her in many hours of interviews and phone conversations. She helped me organize and write my stack of stories in a way that could work for a reader. I invited other youth leadership development practitioners to participate in focus groups on some of the key content. I sat with writers who helped me organize the material. In the end, we wrote this book, which I hope reads like a great playlist, each chapter a fresh melody that echoes what is before and crests toward what is next.
In 2010, with the help of Ellen and Tim Duffield and Dave Garda, I published a napkin sketch model of leadership development in a small fieldbook called Leader to Leadership. This book expands that basic framework and puts flesh on the bones of what were simple graphics and short phrases. I’m indebted to Emily Duffield, Kathlene Evans and Rachel Thiessen, who spent time and energy sharpening the Leader to Leadership Model, which contributed to the clarity of this book.
Everything I am as a leader, earthly speaking, is made possible because of my family. Lori, you are the reason I am able to daily stand firm; you are the most gracious leader I know. Kasi, your incredible creativity reminds me every day to look deeper
