Dawn,

Thank you for sharing your leadership story. You touched on several key points that I really appreciated. I think what you said about risk is so true for leaders. We have to be willing to step out and take risks in our leadership. Stogdill (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 21) identified risk taking as a trait that was “positively associated with leadership” (Northouse, 2016, p. 21).

In your discussion of risks you also mentioned that part of what contributed to your willingness to take risks was the “collaborative climate” (Northouse, 2016, p. 370) you found yourself in. This was a second point that I really appreciated, that I felt also came out in my leadership story; we need other people. Personally, I often struggle with remembering this, but in fact being part of community and part of a team is something that is important for leaders.

I also thought that your statement about that risk contributes to building our confidence and make us more of who we are created to be (dawnES, 2018) was incredibly profound; not just as it pertains to leadership. I think as followers of Jesus we have to be willing to take risks and step out into what he is calling us to. As we do this, I think we discover more of our identity and become more of who he created us to be.

Your overarching theme of being ordinary served as a reminder to me that leadership occurs by ordinary people in the midst of ordinary life. This is such an imperative thing for us to remember as leaders. When I look at my own leadership much of it has happened in the midst of ordinary circumstances. I work in full time ministry and when I talk about it I often say that lots of what we do is ordinary. There are these big God moments that happen, but they happen in the midst of the ordinary. I think this is true of leadership as well. That it happens in the midst of the ordinary.

Thank you for sharing your story and for the key lessons in it.

References

dawnES. (2018, November 28). My leadership story [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/leadinnovation/2018/11/28/my-leadership-story/

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.