Leadership Practices: A Global and Biblical Perspective

Leadership Practices

A Global and Biblical Perspective

Dr. Widza Bryant and Dr. Cedric Bryant

Copyright © 2021 by Dr. Widza Bryant and Dr. Cedric Bryant

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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Table of Contents

Leadership as a Reciprocal Relationship

G. Love

Culture

Role of Culture

Obstacles and Challenges that Paul Encountered and Overcame

Obstacles and Challenges that Paul Encountered and Overcame

Why Is Coaching Important and Beneficial Today?

To God first and foremost, for His faithfulness in orchestrating our lives. Over the years, we have tried to change this project many times, and each time, the Holy Spirit steps in to redirect our paths to make this work possible. This project would not have been possible without the promises of Isaiah 40:31: They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they will run and not be faint. We hope you are as excited to read this manuscript as we were writing this—a combination of both of our doctorate projects.

This manuscript is also dedicated to our five children: Olivier, Vladimir, Ruth, Daniel, and Grace Bryant; to our mothers, Alourdes Cauvin and Ida Y Parker; our late mother, Martha Davis; our spiritual mother and father, Sister Lunise Fortune and Rev. Marc Pean. We love you very much.

Introduction

The term leadership has been the dominant trend for decades, and countless definitions have evolved as a result. Winston and Patterson’s (2006) search of the Expanded Academic Database in 2003 of published articles using the term leadership returned over twenty-six thousand essays. The two explain the quest to define leadership by scholars as to the story of the blind men describing a moving elephant, one that is subject to different interpretations and variations.

Many scholars have dedicated their time in an attempt to invent the most appropriate meaning over the years. Winston and Patterson believe that the quest to pursue the right definition of leadership is perhaps due to scholars’ understanding rooted in social sciences research. They surmise,

Perhaps our training in research and the exploration in the social sciences caused us to miss the whole as we probed the parts. Social science research often uses reductionism in studying and understanding social phenomena, with studies focusing on relationships among selected variables. This is not a bad thing to do and has helped us understand hundreds, if not thousands, of social science concepts. However, in the case of the study of leadership, this approach has taken us away from the whole. And it is this whole that we seek to understand.

Scholars’ interpretations of leadership have led to countless definitions of the term leadership. The Journal of Educational and Social Research (2016, vol. 6, no. 2) summarizes some of the interpretations of leadership as follows: Leadership is a process whereby an individual influence a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse 2010, 3); leadership is a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to guide, structure and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization (Yukl 2010, 21); leadership is both a necessary process and a specialized role held by an individual (Tafvelin 2013).

Moreover, Zeitchik (2012) believes that leadership means to motivate the members of a team to do their best; to inspire others to pursue their targets based on the parameters set. Kruse (2013) defined leadership as a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others toward the achievement of a goal. Matei and Vazquez-Burguete (2012) describe leadership as the process of articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished. According to Bush (2003), three dimensions form the basis of his definition of leadership: leadership as influence, leadership and values, and leadership and vision. Some scholars see leaders as servants. In this line, Crippen (2005) points out that the primary purpose of servant leaders is to help rather than lead. Bijur (2000) believes that leadership means enhancing human potential—creating the right environment for people to develop their abilities.

Northouse (2013) expounds there are as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define the term. He affirms that the public has become increasingly captivated by the idea of leadership, and scholars continue to have opposing views of what constitutes leadership (p. 1). He adds that leadership over the years has changed and continues to evolve and that putting a definition to the term has proved to be a challenging endeavor for scholars and practitioners alike. He believes that the term leadership has spanned over decades, beginning with leadership as power-positioned, personality traits, behavioral-leaning, group process, and into the twenty-first-century agreement between scholars that the term leadership is too complex of a concept, one that will continue to have different meanings for different people.

Despite the work by many over the years to define leadership in ways consistent to God’s intended purposes, misrepresentative applications, variation in viewpoints often overshadow its originality resulting in continued quests to harmonizing leadership definition, intent, and practices. It is fair to conclude that leadership is inherently a part of everyone’s lives. Leaders reside in every city and country, every position and place. Leaders are employees and volunteers, young and old, rich and poor, male and female. Leadership knows no racial or religious bounds, no ethnic or cultural borders; there are as many as two hundred definitions of leadership over the years with a new paradigm every decade (Kouzes et al. 2004). Hence and Kuhn (2012) deduce that theories exist because study of both science and leadership is not static. It is exposed to different interpretations and ongoing studies by all groups of scholars and practitioners alike.

Could the inexorable pursuits to define leadership and align its practices be the cause of man’s biased predispositions from God’s intended purpose? A trend that commenced before humanity even existed—the rebellion of Lucifer against God, as summarized in Isaiah 14:12–15:

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart; I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will make myself like the Most-High. But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

Humanity is impacted due to the one-sided nature of our understanding of leadership as influenced by dominance for most of the earth’s history (Stanley 2017) with Adam and Eve’s disobedience in conjunction with Satan’s efficacious effort to turn them (Adam and Eve) away from the will of God. Humanity’s mockery to God’s purpose continues throughout biblical history, which often leads to harmful consequences. The narrative of Matthew 20:20–24 reveals the degree to which even Jesus’s disciples were impacted by self-ascendant and dominance tendencies. The mother of James and John sought to persuade Jesus to honor her sons with high positions in his kingdom, and the jealousy and anger among the other disciples reveal that unhealthy ambition lurked just below the surface among them" (Stanley 2017). Glaring evidence of the quest for self-seeking glory dominated biblical stories and continues to be detrimental today in leadership practices.

Upon creation, God created a global world that mandated a global leadership approach as corroborated in Genesis 1:28. God expected His creation (man) to be like Him and to take complete dominance in collaboration with one another. He gave us His attributes and the mental capacity (A Global Mindset) to enable us to work across culture with no boundaries or border limitation, to be fruitful and multiply, to be inclusive and accessible in our approach.

Chapter 1

In the Beginning God Created Leaders for Good Works

The concept of leadership birthed in the Garden according to Genesis succeeding creation of all things and sufficient resources. In Genesis 2:1–18, we glean that humanity was given leadership over creation and was intended to thrive under man’s leadership (Phillips 2016):

The heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array…The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you earth from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:1–18)

The biblical definition of the term leadership was established in the sixth day of creation when God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over all creatures (Phillips 2016). So God created man in His image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over [every living creature]. Male and female are created in the image of God and given the task of ruling. Bearing the image of God is to represent