Lead Like It Matters To God

Several years ago I signed up for the InterVaristy Press Book Club. This book caught my eye. Lead Like It Matters to God: Values-Driven Leadership in a Success-Driven World is written by Richard Stearns, who during the course of his tenure was CEO of Lenox (the china manufacturer) and Parker Bros. (the game manufacturer) before heading up World Vision for 20 years. Now retired, Richard writes with wit and self-deprecating humor about taking over the leadership of various organizations (some at a young age) along with some of the pitfalls along the way.

Richard lays out the premise of the book at the beginning, which is that our culture is obsessed with outcome-based success. However, God is more interested in our “why” and “how” than our “what.” In the introduction to the book, he lays out the following:

And despite my three CEO titles and decades of working in multiple organizations, I just can’t imagine God saying to me: “Well done, good and faithful servant, for those twenty consecutive quarters of earnings growth!” or, “Way to go, Rich, on becoming a CEO at the age of thirty-three. You killed it!” No, I don’t think God will be impressed by those things. Heck, my wife isn’t even impressed by those things. It’s far more likely that God will speak to us about how we led and how we lived. How did we represent him to those we worked with? How did we embody the truths and values of the kingdom of God in our lives? And how did we tangibly show his great love for people in our daily conduct?

The book walks through various values we are to cultivate as we go about our work, with each chapter focusing on a trait such as humility, vision, courage, humor, listening and perseverance. I enjoyed reading his anecdotes from his tenure and appreciated the reminder that each chapter brought.

You can purchase a hard-cover copy or a paperback copy of the book from Amazon.*

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