Lasting leadership does not begin with charisma or ambition but with surrender, stewardship, and servanthood.
Dr Margaret Diddams and Dr Shirley Mullen coauthored Tried and True: The Countercultural Virtues of Christian Leadership, which draws on John Wesley as a wise and surprisingly relevant leadership tutor for cultivating courage, humility, and hope for leadership that can last a lifetime.
https://www.ivpress.com/margaret-diddams
https://www.ivpress.com/shirley-a-mullen
https://www.ivpress.com/tried-and-true
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
- Relevancy of John Wesley’s Leadership Style
- Healthy Organizations Need Healthy Leaders
- Lasting Leadership Begins with Surrender, Stewardship, and Servanthood
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Dr Margaret Diddams is an industrial-organizational psychologist, leadership consultant, educator, and editor of Christian Scholar’s Review, whose work explores how Christian faith shapes leadership, character, and human flourishing. Having served in higher-education leadership, including as provost of Wheaton College, and in the corporate world at Microsoft, she brings both scholarly depth and practical experience to the question of what faithful leadership requires in complex institutions. She is coauthor, with Shirley Mullen, of Tried and True: The Countercultural Virtues of Christian Leadership, which draws on John Wesley as a wise and surprisingly relevant leadership tutor for cultivating courage, humility, and hope for leadership that can last a lifetime.
Dr Shirley Mullen served for four decades in the world of Christian higher education, most recently for 15 years as the President of Houghton University. She has earned doctorates in both history and philosophy. In retirement, she has served on several boards, and continued her mentoring of young leaders, as well as speaking and writing. Her book, Claiming the Courageous Middle, came out from Baker Academic in 2024.
RELATED LINKS:
- https://www.ivpress.com/margaret-diddams
- https://www.ivpress.com/shirley-a-mullen
- https://www.ivpress.com/tried-and-true
TIMESTAMPED SHOWNOTES:
00:37 – Introducing Dr Margaret Diddams and Dr Shirley Mullen
04:38 – Collaboration on their new book, Tried and True
06:34 – Relevancy of John Wesley’s Leadership Style
08:07 – Mission and Organization Beyond John Wesley
09:35 – Healthy Organizations Need Healthy Leaders
10:27 – …cultivate mission continually
11:37 – …drift or unhealthiness when the leader look for affirmation
13:08 – …healthy leaders have to care for themselves and their families
15:35 – Lasting Leadership Begins with Surrender, Stewardship, and Servanthood
16:27 – …grounded in surrender to the Holy Spirit
16:42 – …caretaker entrusted with a treasuer
17:10 – …servant leadership
18:30 – Surrender in Everyday Leadership
19:08 – …the opposite of surrender
19:28 – …why am I leading?
20:00 – …leading for a purpose
20:27 – …we don’t add to God’s glory
20:59 – …doing things FOR God vs time WITH God
21:23 – …Lead in such a way that increases dependence on God
23:12 – Thinking Like a Steward
24:00 – …past into the present into the future
24:52 – …humility
25:37 – …knowing when to let go
27:20 – …freeing role of stewardship
28:11 – Living Out Biblical Servanthood
28:38 – …what is the leader a servant to?
29:29 – …servant to a larger mission and nurture the people
29:53 – …passivity masquerading as empowerment
30:16 – …focus on what needs to be done; give away the credit
30:52 – …leadership is US
32:34 – …servant-prophet
38:02 – Surrender, Stewardship, and Servanthood Work Together
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