Leadership 2.0
The Creative Imperative needed
for America & the Church

Several experiences in the past three days got me thinking about leadership and what it is that we need in our culture, in terms of the next President, in our cities, in our communities and in the church. I met with a group of pastors I covenant with for growth and conversation, had several conversations about Obama/Hillary around shared meals, accompanied a church member at the death of her husband, shared in a Senior Seminar Class at San Francisco Theological Seminary, participated in the ongoing discussions in the Dimond about desired businesses in our preferred and emerging community future, and read a great editorial on sf gate, "America 2.0: The creative imperative."

Here's my thoughts (not original in anyway, but definitely skewed by me):

1. We're at a time when we need creative, new, organic, inspirational, hope-giving and inventive leadership to get us out of our stuckness (whether that be the quagmire in Iraq/Afghanistan, racial reconciliation, the credit crisis, the budget crisis and education in California, crime in Oakland, business development in the Dimond, and transformation/contextualization/sexuality debates in the church). A leader, or leaders, who are classically trained in past decisions and policy-making in view of making new ones to help us today just won't cut it. Looking for a cassette tape won't work when what we need is the next generation of Ipods.

2. Our culture values creativity, innovation, collaboration, participation and risk. So why are we avoiding that in terms of who we look at to lead us, and how we're seeking to solve our myriad of problems.

3. We claim democracy, equality and the pursuit of the American Dream, but we need to recognize that we often do this in lip service. We feel entitled to our own opinions and visions to the extent that we expect our democratic processes and community decision-making and corporate discernment to simply - and logically - validate what we already know to be true and right. It's our narcissism (polarizing selfishness, stubborn doubt, avoidance of the topic of death at all costs, all-too-familiar comforts, and rigid sense of self-righteousness) that blinds us to the path less taken that's called for today.

4. We do not have a shared understanding of what it means to:
be experienced enough to lead,
and
be viable enough to succeed.

5. We're about participation and collaboration. Yet we keep articulating surprise when we obtain the same results when we undertake the same actions (someone once told me this is a definition of insanity). We look to others to solve our problems and give us the answers, as opposed to leaders who will speak truthfully and ask the questions we must work through together to find the way out. We say we want 2.0 solutions and community, but we seem to always choose a 1.0 worldview as our fall-back or fail-safe way of operating.