LEADING THE LEADERS.

Is it possible to be disappointed by a book, yet still find it excellent? I am not sure who recommended Graham Standish's new book to me (Humble leadership: being radically open to God's guidance and grace) , but I started into reading it with the hope that I would learn a great deal from it, and be bursting to recommend it to other leaders.

It is a good book. It begins and ends with the spiritual dimensions of leadership. Standish criticises the unthinking way Christian leaders sometimes adopt the advice for secular leaders. He believes Christian leaders should be

• humble,
• self-aware,
• prayerful,
• unifying,
• and spirit-led.

He rejects the notion that humble leadership is ineffective, citing, with some contradiction, how the successful CEOs of secular organisation are often humble. I liked his attempts to find sources for understanding leadership in the scriptures and in church history, particularly in the desert Fathers.

His favourite is Dorotheos of Gaza, whose key principle was to first blame oneself before blaming our followers. Standish writes, "I have found that even though it is easy to detect others' faults, I can work to detect how I failed to give enough instruction or guidance. By sharing the blame for the failure, I not only hold the other person accountable, I become accountable to helping resolve the problem." (Page 168).

The leadership he recommends is not only godly, but also opens the way for God to transform the congregation or institution that the leader leads.

But what should I make of Standish's concept of "mystical intelligence?" I realised as I was searching the book for a way to grow in my understanding of the process of discernment. It is obvious that leaders need discernment, but is it pure gift or can it be learned? And if discernment can be learned, how do you learn it?

I find Standish's answer somewhat puzzling and evasive. He posits an additional intelligence named mystical intelligence to add to IQ and emotional intelligence. This is how he describes it:

"Mystical intelligence incorporates [IQ and EQ], but adds a deeper awareness that is in tune with our transconscious, which integrates both our aspirations (yearning for God) and inspirations (the deeply sensed in-breathings of God into our mind, heart and soul).
"The transconscious is a level of consciousness that goes beyond conscious or unconscious awareness. This level of consciousness is connected to the transcendent, to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who speaks to us from the eternal. Just as we can live unaware of unconscious motivations and unresolved conflicts that cause certain behaviors in us, behaviors that counselors have to help us resolve, we can also live in ignorance of our transconscious. While the transconscious is a dimension of consciousness that is connected to the sacred and divine, it is also easy to ignore because it's a deep, rather than a surface consciousness. Like the unconscious, it lies deep within our psyche connecting it with God at levels that the conscious mind doesn’t easily access.
"Mystical intelligence arises out of the transconscious, so that we live in openness to the sacred and divine in everything. By becoming open transconsciously, we develop an intuitive, integrative awareness of God's presence in all situations that help us to lead others in God's direction. When we are transconsciously aware, we sense God's presence and guidance at deep levels beyond normal perception. It's the depth of this awareness that causes others to be skeptical of our discernments. What we see is not readily apparent to others, and sometimes it's only fairly apparent to us." (Pages 147-148)

Maybe I've missed something somewhere, but this definition seems to define "transconscious" in terms of mystical intelligence, and mystical intelligence in terms of "transconscious”. Are these two vaguely defined qualities an extension of Freudian concepts or do they come from the mystical tradition? is Standish saying anything more than that we should trust in our praying?

I would dearly love to be a more discerning leader. I know that one way, I can become more discerning is by working harder at my praying. This excellent book, however, by abandoning its usual clarity, lets me down at this point. It seems there are no skills I can learn to be a better discerner. It's back to my prayers, I think. ( )