The Mission Always Wins: Quit Appeasing Stakeholders

by Tod Bolsinger, Mark Demel (Illustrator), Marty Linsky (Foreword by)

Overview

It's time to further the mission. Not the boss, not the team, not the stakeholders—the mission.

Change requires tough decisions. But when the focus is blurred, how can we stay on track? We need clarity and agreement on the real task at hand—our genuine mission. This Practicing Change volume from Tod Bolsinger guides us through naming competing values and realigning the driving purpose with missional clarity.

In this essential Christian leadership resource, you'll find:

• Wisdom on clarifying your organization's purpose to give your team an aligned mission
• Practical advice from experienced Christian leader and bestselling author Tod Bolsinger
• Brief and accessible chapters sprinkled with colorful illustrations
• Real-life case studies and balcony time exercises for teams

The Practicing Change Series from Tod Bolsinger offers an engaging introduction to how we process organizational change and come through with renewed mission and vision. Each of the four illustrated volume opens and closes with a case study and includes balcony time exercises for teams to process together. Also available: How Not to Waste a Crisis, Leading Through Resistance, and Invest in Transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781514008683
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Series:	Practicing Change Series
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Tod Bolsinger (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the vice president and chief of leadership formation and associate professor of leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. For seventeen years, he was the senior pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church in San Clemente, California. A frequent speaker and consultant, he serves as an executive coach in transformational leadership.

Mark Demel brings ideas to life through pictures and creative communication. He has spent more than a decade using his artistic skills in the non-profit sector.

Marty Linsky is a professor at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and a co-founder with Ronald A. Heifetz of Cambridge Leadership Associates. He has published extensively on leadership, management, politics, and education.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Marty Linsky
About the Practicing Change Series

Introduction: Disappointing Leadership
1. A Leadership Story: When a Good Day Goes from Bad to Better
2. Old Mindset: Think Win-Win
3. New Skillset Part 1: Build a First Team
4. New Skillset Part 2: Write an Eight-Word Mission Statement
5. New Skillset Part 3: Face the Reality of Casualties
6. Adaptive Reset: Name and Navigate Competing Values with Missional Clarity
7. The Story Continues: The Meeting Before the Meeting

Acknowledgments
Discussion Guide: Taking Your Team to the Balcony
Notes

Editorial Reviews

"This series is required reading for anyone who wants to lead change. In the very best way, reading these books was like sitting down with a mentor who has done the hard work of leading change himself and wants to help us work through the mistakes, challenges, and dynamics we can't see by ourselves."

Michaela O'Donnell

"This book is a punch in the gut, but a good kind of punch! Tod Bolsinger skillfully conveys the power of being clear about mission—or purpose as I like to say. And he brings to life how often a multitude of other things—our desire for approval, comfort, or safety—actually becomes our focus more than our so-called mission. You can't exercise leadership without passionate clarity around purpose. This book shows you why and how to bring that to life in your life."

Ed O'Malley

"Leaders who know organizational change is needed but don't know how to go about it will find accessible, practical, and wise guidance in Tod Bolsinger's Practicing Change Series. I've found the concepts of adaptive leadership incredibly helpful in thinking through organizational challenges. Bolsinger helps us apply and practice these concepts in a way that will transform our organizations and ourselves as leaders."

Teri McDowell Ott

"The Practicing Change Series is like having Tod Bolsinger as a personal coach. He offers practical and powerful wisdom for anyone who is wrestling with the complex challenges of ministry leadership today."

Mike Bonem

"The Practicing Change Series provides exactly the kind of help that busy leaders need in seeking to bring meaningful change to their organizations in the midst of the ongoing demands of day-to-day leadership. Concisely accessible. Imminently practical. Immediately actionable. And built on solid theory tested in the real world. My own life and leadership have been profoundly impacted by having Tod Bolsinger as a trusted guide in navigating the complexity of leading adaptive change."

Barry D. Jones

"Here's a scary truth: regardless of where you work or what you do for a living, a crisis is coming. In fact multiple crises lie ahead for you because our world is now changing at an unprecedented rate, and those changes will render you and your organization obsolete if you can't find a way to continuously adapt to these coming crises. Leading through these changes will require leaders who aren't afraid to slay some sacred cows, challenge conventional wisdom, and even live outside their own leadership comfort zones. Adaptation will be the single most critical survival skill of the twenty-first century. Tod Bolsinger's four short books in the Practicing Change Series are the 'emergency preparedness drill' that you will be grateful to have read when the next 'tsunami' hits your organization. Read them now before the next wave hits your shore."

Richard Stearns

"Leadership is a lot like twirling a baton: it looks easy until you try it! If you are involved in leadership at any level I would highly recommend Tod Bolsinger's Practicing Change Series. It invites those of us in leadership to reflect on and rethink what it means to be a leader and to build a 'in what really makes a difference—transformation.'"

Daniel Dorsey

"As usual, Tod Bolsinger takes complex concepts and makes them easy to understand and apply, embedding them in engaging stories and practical counsel for any leader wanting to help their organization to change. He meets us at the stairs to the balcony and invites us up to think deeply and creatively about ourselves and our leadership in changing and challenging times."

Trisha Taylor

"The Practicing Change Series is compelling and immediately applicable. Each book weaves us through story, illustration, and discussion to contextualize paradigm-shifting frameworks for thinking. Your leadership, but more importantly the impact through your leadership, will experience a trajectory change through the words penned. Tod is a master storyteller, carefully threading points, principles, and processes with ease and nuance. Today's era of leadership calls for continual, on-the-go growth, and this series offers solutions to today's demands. For the leader whose time is limited and responsibilities toward self and service are complex, these books are for you."

Wendy Nolasco