Spirit On The Margins

city-house-leadership-flyer-blog-fall-08

Click above for a detailed description of an exciting new spiritual formation opportunity for fall 08

City House is delighted to announce the launch of a brand new spiritual formation opportunity for fall 08.  It is called, “The Inner Leadership Journey.”  It is a unique program for societal mainstream leaders that embrace humility and a spiritual path towards leadership – by choosing to learn from mentors on the margins.

Greg Mortenson and Pakistani students

I read a great book on vacation, called Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson. From the book’s jacket cover:

“One day in 1993, high up in the world’s most inhospitable mountains, Greg Mortenson wandered lost and alone, broken in body and spirit, after a failed attempt to climb K2, the world’s deadliest peak.  When the people of an impoverisehd village in Pakistan’s Karakorum Himalaya took him in and nursed him back to health, Mortenson made an impulsive promise: He would return one day and build them a school.  Although he was a homeless “climbing bum” living out of his aging Buick in Berkeley, California, Mortenson sold what few possessions he had to launch one of the most remarkable humanitarian campaigns of our time…Three Cups of Tea traces Mortenson’s decade long odyssey to build schools, especially for girls, throughout the region that gave birth to the Taliban and sanctuary to Al Qaeda.”

Three Cups of Tea web site

I really resonated with his story.  I was struck by how his mission chose him, reinforcing how often serendipity plays a part in calling and purpose. He did not set out to find this remote village. He got lost and stumbled into it.  He did not set out to build schools in that part of the world.  He was pursuing his passion of climbing mountains.  I would contend that this was God at work, shaping and molding his life world, passion, and calling.

The sub title of his hard cover book is, “One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations…One School at a Time”.  He goes on to explain in a podcast that this sub title was the idea of his publisher to help market the book.  But, in the book, he talks about his compassion for children as his driving force. 

Charlottesville Podcasting Network

For the longest time, he and his wife made great financial sacrifices to support this work. It was difficult to get the attention of people in the United States about educating children in Pakistan and Afghanistan, until after 9/11. Then once again, in circumstances not of his choosing, the world awakened to the idea of education as a way to counteract terrorism. He did not choose combatting terrorism as his mission. It has chosen him.

Central Asia Institute web site

I so resonated with this book because it so closely resembles the way I have experienced God at work in my life.  I did not choose City House as a place to work.  It was synchronicity that I was their consultant in 2002.  I did not choose an economic slow down in 2002 that opened my eyes to even look at this opportunity. I did not choose the passion for this mission that has overtaken me.  I would not choose to be working full time for half time pay and not feeling cheated about it. 

Greg Mortenson’s journey is very inspirational to me, and I come back from vacation more committed than ever to my passion for City House’s mission, regardless of the costs.  It is my life world that has been created by God and to which I have chosen to surrender. I am grateful for the way in which God spoke to me on vacation through Greg Mortenson’s life and book.

I really yearn for the kind of leader that David Brooks defines in his most recent column in the New York Times.  Of Abraham Lincoln, he said “He came to terms with his weaknesses, control his passions and achieve what we now call maturity…In Lincoln’s day, to achieve maturity was to succeed in the conquest of the self…The young Lincoln had been encouraged by the culture around him to identify his own flaws…He knew he was ferociously ambitious and blessed with superior talents — the sort of person who could easily turn into a dictator or monster.”

New York Times David Brooks

“This concept of maturity as self-conquest didn’t survive long into the 20th century…Self-discovery replaced self-mastery as the primary path to maturity, and we got a thousand novels and memoirs about young peoples’ search for identity…In the last few years, we may be shifting toward another vision of maturity, one that is impatient with boomer narcissism. Young people today put service at the center of young adulthood. A child is served, but maturity means serving others.”

“And yet, though we’re never going back to the 19th-century, sin-centric character-building model, for breeding leaders, it has its uses. Over the past decades, we’ve seen president after president confident of his own talents but then undone by underappreciated flaws. It’s as if they get elected for their virtues and then get defined in office by the vices — Clinton’s narcissism, Bush’s intellectual insecurity — they’ve never really faced.”

“It would be nice to have a president who had gone to school on his own failings. It would be comforting to see a president who’d looked into the abyss, or suffered some sort of ordeal that put him on a first-name basis with his own gravest weaknesses, and who had found ways to combat them.”

I couldn’t agree more with this point of view. Janet Hagberg, in her book Real Power talks about going “through the wall”, as a stage in leadership development – when a leader confronts his or her own shadows. (Read “George Bush” who seems incapable of introspection)

Parker Palmer, in his book, Let Your Life Speak, describes 5 shadows often encountered in leadership:

1. Insecurity about identity or worth.

2. The belief that the universe is a battleground, hostile to human interests.

3. The belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with me.

4. Fear of the natural chaos of life.

5. The denial of death itself (seen most often in the fact that all things must die in due course). This underlies so much of our fear of failure.  (Read, “Hillary Clinton” in her refusal to concede the race to Barak Obama when he had won the majority of the delegates)

Again in Real Power, Janet Hagberg defines 13 practices that develops one’s capacity for leadership from one’s spirit – beyond ego. One of the ways is to find a mentor on the margins of society. “Then you can look at your own homelessness, your own inner prisons, and your own addictions in a new and more compassionate way.”  Then one can lead from a place of wholeness that has integrated both shadow and light. This has certainly been my experience.

This is the premise of a new leadership program City House is developing – to connect mainstream leaders with a mentor on the margins of society – to deepen her / his capacity to lead from a spiritual center.

Viterbo University, a Catholic University in LaCrosse Wisconsin, with Franciscan roots, has a masters degree in Servant Leadership.  They have formed a cohort group that has been meeting in the Twin Cities.

Viterbo Univ Servant Leadership 

The pictures at the heading of this post are from a class yesterday, in which the Servant Leadership program course on prophetic leadership invited Faithful Fools and City House to present.  The Faithful Fools is a charitable and educational organization created in 1998 to be present with and to address the existence of poverty in the midst of material wealth. They do ministry in the Tenderloin District in San Francisco.  They are in the Twin Cities this week to conduct street retreats and put on some plays about the homeless. Faithful Fools web site

You will notice that people in the pictures are wearing funny court jester hats.  The Faithful Fools see themselves as playing the role of court jester in society.  Thus the hats.

It was an engaging two hours.  The Faithful Fools were articulate and passionate.  As a community, The Faithful Fools are very relational, organic, and trusting that God will bring them whatever they need.  They move in new directions based on who shows up to be a part of them, and they commit to meeting each others’ needs – and somehow that is always enough, even as they live among the poorest of the poor.  They are definite examples of prophetic leaders – so effective in telling the stories that make up their collective story.

The Viterbo University faculty and learners were very attentive, curious, and open. They were so hospitable. They asked about overcoming the fear of walking with the poor and what impact the work of the Faithful Fools has on both persons on the margins and on those taking street retreats. This is the only Servant Leadership masters degree anywhere in the country. I was struck by the vibrancy of their vision.

I talked about the challenges of following one’s call and the financial cost it can often entail.  I divulged that God has been making it clear in my prayer time lately that my path to an abundant life comes through impermenance and insecurity.  Both the Faithful Fools and Viterbo University’s Servant Leadership program understand what I mean by that and the countercultural nature of that commitment.

The past two weeks, I have been engaged in a fascinating discussion with people about the links between leadership development, spiritual formation / character development, and  intentional relationships with persons on the margins of society.

There are books and leaders in the world that have made the argument that leadership development is more than just a skill set – that it is about character formation. That includes people like Stephen Covey, Kevin Cashman, and many others.

Stephen Covey’s web site 

Leadership From The Inside Out by Kevin Cashman

I have been drawn to the work of Janet Hagberg the past 15 years. Janet is also part of our faculty for the “Will You Drink From This Cup?” program.  Her book, Real Power, does a marvelous job of describing the developmental stages of leadership and the individual’s spiritual formation as part of that process.

Janet Hagberg’s web site 

In fact in Janet’s book, she has a section entitled, “Leading From Your Soul”.  There she describes behaviors and practices that can take one on this journey. One of the practices is to find yourself a mentor on the margin.

I find her book so aptly descriptive of my own experience both in my career and particularly in my time at City House. I am feeling drawn to creating a program where mainstream leaders can have this unique experience – leadership development, through a transformational relationship with someone on the margins. I have been meeting and discussing this possibilty with leaders in the community. There has been an enthusiastic response from many.

One of the leaders I talked to was Jeff Pauley, CEO of Magellan Executive Resources. They have a servant leadership program based on Robert Greenleaf’s work. He and colleagues are hosting a Servant Leadership Training Academy in partnership with St Mary’s College.

Magellan Executive Resources Servant Leader Training Academy announcement

Jeff was very supportive of this new programmatic idea. We had a great conversation and have committed to meeting again.  I will keep you posted as additional discussions take place.

Excellent program on PBS last night, Cheney’s Law.

It was about the belief on the part of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that the president could do as he liked, even if Congress and the Supreme Court said he couldn’t. Assuming the report was accurate and truthful (which I know may be a big assumption) the report really made me angry. The controlling, manipulative, and secretive behavior it described were absolutely appalling in my mind.

 In the middle of my anger, a friend’s voice popped into my head. He would have asked me, “Did you pray for them?” Damn, I really wanted to despise these people, not pray for them. But, the Gospel is pretty clear about that. So, I stopped and prayed. I could feel more interior freedom afterwards. Must have been God at work.

 Then I realized that at the highest office in our government, we had leaders behaving like street people and addicts. The cynical side of me said, “Duh!” Is this new information? Then I realized I needed to pray for myself, about my cynicism.  Hmmm. Freedom returned again.

Then I realized that I too have those capacities for manipulation, secrecy, and control, and have used them in the past – sometimes knowingly and sometimes not. Time to pray again.

What I was left with was a sense of compassion for all of us – feeling God’s compassion for the street people, myself, and Dick Cheney, in our brokenness. And, I was drawn to this Biblical passage for meditation. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” Philippians 2: 3-7

 Every Wednesday night when I sit with a group of persons in recovery and who have been homeless because of it, I feel that invitation to be emptied. It is one of the few places I know where that emptying can take place. It is humbling. I hope and pray that we can all open ourselve to that emptying. It is life giving.

How is it you open yourself to emptying?

Peace