A Leadership Journey: Upward, Inward, Outward, and Forward

By Dr. K. A. Leahy

Are you looking for greater effectiveness and meaning as a leader?

In A Leadership Journey, author Dr. K. A. Leahy brings together biblical principles and modern strategic leadership practices into a new framework called Upward, Inward, Outward, and Forward. He challenges the modern perspective of leadership in the marketplace, suggesting that all honorable work, regardless of profession, can be of eternal value to God.

Are you wondering how to find greater peace and rest while meeting the demands of your career?

A Leadership Journey provides useful guidance for a balanced lifestyle of leadership that could dramatically transform your thinking about your career and help you lead in a manner more closely aligned with Gods purposes. Take a leadership journey to places you may have never gone before. Fulfill a greater purpose as you learn to lead by following.

Dr. Leahys book has the makings for awakening a sleeping giantChristiansand primarily those who are engaged in the marketplace Monday thru Friday. As a devoted Christian, husband, and father, with over thirty years of marketplace experience Dr. Leahy practices what he is calling for others to live. Upward, Inward, Outward, and Forward is filled with biblical principles. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to move forward.

Dr. Eugene T. Wilson

Dr. Eugene T. Wilson is an ordained minister, church consultant, and author of Realign: God -Called Leaders and Their Purpose and Seventy: Everyone Needs a Team.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490885346

Dr. K. A. Leahy

Dr. K A Leahy has been a leader of innovating organizations for over thirty years, motivated out of his passion to combine his faith in God with his work as an innovator in the high-tech industry. He is currently a leader of technology and a consultant in the field of strategic leadership principles. He is the author of multiple professional journal papers on the topics of electronics, product innovation, and effective leadership. He lives with his wife and life-long friend in the eastern range of the Blue Ridge Mountains where they enjoy the peaceful outdoors and visits from their children and grandchildren. His current passion is teaching effective leadership principles and sharing sound biblical values with leaders in the business world and full-time ministry.

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Copyright © 2015 Dr. K. A. Leahy.

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Unless otherwise stated, all scriptural quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The use of these quotations conforms to the standard copyright information for use of less than 500 verses, per https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/, accessed September 4, 2014.

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WestBow Press rev. date: 09/21/2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Epigraph

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction: A Leadership Journey

Upward, Inward, Outward, and Forward Model Overview

Part 1.   Work by God’s Design

Chapter 1.   Work as God Planned It

Chapter 2.   God’s Plan for Cocreative Partnerships

Part 2.   Upward Response to God’s Call: Partners in Cocreative Innovation

Chapter 3.   Engaging Him in Spiritual Transformation and Renewal

Chapter 4.   The Cycle of Continuous Renewal

Part 3.   Inward Response to God’s Call: Transformed Leaders by God’s Design

Chapter 5.   Who We Are as Leaders Redefined through Spiritual and Mental Renewal

Chapter 6.   Lessons from Peter’s Leadership Development

Chapter 7.   Transformed Leadership

Part 4.   Outward Response to God’s Call: Encourage Community Innovation

Chapter 8.   Our Outward Response through Our Inward Transformation

Chapter 9.   Organizational Conditions to Fulfill God’s Purpose

Chapter 10.   Developing Leaders Consistent with God’s Purpose

Chapter 11.   Engaging in Cocreative Partnerships

Chapter 12.   Four Levels of Organizational Cocreative Innovation

Chapter 13.   Creating Value through Cocreative Partnerships

Part 5.   Forward Response to God’s Call: Leading with Certainty in an Uncertain World

Chapter 14.   Peter’s Challenge in the Midst of Uncertainty

Chapter 15.   Leading with Certainty in an Uncertain World

Conclusion and Challenge: Upward, Inward, and Outward Transformation and Your Response to God’s Call

Postlude: Science and God’s Natural Laws

Bibliography

About the Author

Endorsements

Dr. Kevin Leahy’s book, Upward, Inward, Outward, Forward has the makings for awakening a sleeping giant—Christians—and primarily those who are engaged in the marketplace Monday thru Friday. As a devoted Christian, husband, and father, with over thirty years of marketplace experience, Dr. Leahy practices what he is calling for others to live. Furthermore, Upward, Inward, Outward, Forward is filled with biblical principles. Thus, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to move forward.

Dr. Eugene T. Wilson, an ordained minister, church consultant, and author of Realign: God-Called Leaders Connecting With Their Purpose and Seventy: Everyone Needs a Team. (www.eugenewilson.org).

EPIGRAPH

Inspired by the goal of seeking God’s intentions for our lives, we can align our efforts as innovators or leaders of innovation in the marketplace with His will. We can seek to fulfill His purposes through our own lives and through the lives of those we lead every day of the week, not just on our days of worship or service to the church and community. Our actions can be of eternal value as we allow Him to shape how we lead and invest our time in our employees, our stakeholders, our customers, and society at large. Our career in the marketplace can become a continual leadership journey, as we walk along side of God in our work in the office or on the job-site.

PREFACE

Over my long and abundant career in the high tech marketplace, I have been searching for answers to two basic questions; How can I fulfill God’s purposes as a leader of an innovating organization in the secular marketplace, and how do I guide my organization towards God’s purposes? Early in my professional career I thought that I would remain aligned with God’s will if I lived a Christian life-style in the office, my home, and my community. I had also become convinced that God’s purposes could best be served only through service in the church, the local community, and my own home. However, I am now convinced that this assumption fell short of God’s truth and was not what He intended for my professional career or for the works of many in the secular marketplace.

I believe that God is challenging our modern notion of leadership in the secular marketplace. He wants us to view our roles as leaders in much the same way we view the work of our pastors or other leaders in full-time ministry. He desires to use all godly leaders to fulfill His purposes, not just on Sunday’s or on days when we offer our time to support ministry. He also wants to use us to fulfill His purposes in the office or on the job-site.

I felt that God was challenging me to share what I have learned with others. This work represents insights gained through my life-long search for answers, blessed by renewed insight gained through my relationship with the Holy Spirit and the careful guidance of many godly friends, family members, and teachers. I owe them all a tremendous debt of gratitude. It is through an upward posture of service to our Father, an inward transformation that came from a strengthened faith in Christ, and my response to Him through new outward actions as a renewed leader that I came to understand God’s purposes through my life. I hope that in sharing these insights and the concepts that I call upward, inward, outward, and forward that you too will find God’s purpose through your life and the lives of those you lead.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work would not be possible had it not been for the unwavering support of my life-long friend and love, Bridget. The many hours of research and writing could have taken me away from much needed time with her and with my family. Instead, she somehow made it all balance with our life as a married couple and as parents.

Through both blessings and trials, we have learned to love God and to love our family more deeply with each passing day. Bridget stood by me, despite the many hours away from family, as I ‘rose to the top’ of the organization and learned the good and bad of leadership. Bridget has always been a dedicated partner, regardless of how many mistakes I made as a leader at home. I am blessed by Bridget’s unwavering support for my dream to write this book. We have also learned that there is much more left in our journey together.

I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of two of our children. My son Christopher provided outstanding artistic contributions. He has captured the essence of the ‘leadership journey’ in the book cover and artwork throughout the manuscript. His gift is truly a blessing. Second, I thank Teresa for her tireless efforts at reading and re-reading this document. Her editorial corrections made the final copy much more legible. Her challenging questions regarding some of the claims made throughout this text also made me a much better writer and a stronger disciple of Christ.

I want to acknowledge my mom and dad, Alberta and Donald. The Christian foundation they built beneath my feet has made all of this journey possible and sustainable in my life. A model Christian couple of more than 60 years, their partnership exemplifies all that we read in Scripture about a godly marriage. Their love for God, the church, and their family has created a legacy that will live for many generations to come. Additionally, I want to thank my Dad for his willingness to read this book many times; first, in the form of individual papers and publications during my Doctoral research; second, as it came together as my Doctoral thesis; and finally, in the form of seemingly endless revisions of the final manuscript. Through endless hours of discussion, Dad shaped this writing with his wisdom and experience, gained throughout a life time of living out his love for God and his passion for Christian leadership.

As part of my own leadership journey, I have cherished a friendship with one of the godliest men that I will ever know – Martin Parlette. Our friendship has extended over multiple decades spent in child rearing, in community youth activities, in multiple business start-ups, and in Christian ministry. He has given me new insights into how to walk with God as a matter of a daily practice. Through the many hours we have shared witnessing to our faith, our own shortcomings, and our common calling to help other leaders walk with God, he has helped to shape much of the ideas captured here. Although not mentioned anywhere in this writing, Martin is there taking the journey with me, in nearly every word and concept.

In my search for answers to life-long questions regarding God’s purposes for my life as a leader, I came upon the good people of Regent University. It was through my studies with Regent University that I came to understand how to combine my own knowledge and experiences with godly principles of effective leadership. I owe a heartfelt Thank you! to the many leaders and teachers of the Regent University, for without them, the answers contained in this book would have simply remained in the deep recesses of my mind. I want to especially acknowledge four key leaders and teachers of Regent University—Dr. Winston, Dr. Oster, Dr. Gary, and Dr. Becker. Many of their teachings and writings are contained within this book. I owe them each a special debt of gratitude for their encouragement and professionalism as they turned me from a mediocre leader into a more effective Christian leader and a better writer.

Finally, I would like to thank all members of the Master’s Highway Leadership Consulting team for your support in improving many of the ideas discussed in this book. Your engaging conversations on the concepts embodied in the upward, inward, outward, and forward model have affirmed the importance of sharing this book with other leaders. Your dedication to living out your faith in the workplace and full time mission field, and your commitment to helping other leaders to do the same has been an inspiration in my life.

Thank you all for taking this journey with me over these past several years. I hope that what we have accomplished together in this writing will change the lives of godly leaders as they seek to fulfill God’s purposes through their own lives.

INTRODUCTION: A LEADERSHIP JOURNEY

Innovators who are drawn to the excitement of creativity may share the sense that they have always been wired to innovate. Technological innovators in engineering, architecture, and computer science may have been drawn to their professions out of enthusiasm for science or the instinct to harness science to create something. Professional innovators in health care, social work, and environmental science may be driven by the desire to contribute to the common good of humankind. However, many are encouraged to believe their work is of less value to God than is a calling to full-time ministry or the part-time efforts of laity.

Many contemporary authors and historical figures cited throughout this text have challenged the notion of a separation between sacred and secular careers. Their writings convey a common understanding that all work, regardless of profession, can be of eternal value to God. After all, the disciples were recruited from the marketplace and sent back to the marketplace to spread His Word.

The premise of this book is that faithful leaders of any organization whose efforts are not in conflict with godly principles can transform their thinking about their work that will allow them to live out their careers in ways blessed by God and aligned with His purposes. A new framework for Christian leadership is presented that will challenge our thinking about our careers as innovators and offer insights into our actions as leaders of innovation in a community setting. The conceptual framework, referred to as upward, inward, outward, and forward, focuses on helping leaders who have responded to their creative instincts through their full-time professions and are seeking answers to fundamental questions about applying their faith to their work.

The question that will be addressed throughout this book is, As a Christian leader in a career involving innovation in the marketplace, how do I translate my faith into action and align the activities of my organization more intentionally toward God’s purposes?

To begin to answer this question, insights are provided combining modern insights regarding spiritual and mental renewal, community innovation, and the concept of servant leadership with historic paradigms about God’s intentions for our lives and our work. This framework is offered to leaders who seek to live out their faith more effectively through their professional careers. Jesus modeled the ideal form of leadership, and He will transform our leadership approaches in all walks of life if we simply deny self and follow Him. Following Him and leading in a manner modeled by Jesus grants us the opportunity to bridge the secular-sacred divide through our work in the marketplace and in our homes, communities, and churches.

One of my goals is to illustrate how leaders can engage in continuous conversation with the Lord through their upward gaze to our Father. This will result in an inner transformation that will come from denying self, as leaders learn to lead by serving, just as Jesus modeled servant leadership.

We are encouraged to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:7) and to lift up our eyes to the Lord so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy (Psalm 123:2). Jesus said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me¹ (Mark 8:34).

By changing our response to our inner transformation, we can find our purpose as Christian leaders in the marketplace, our homes, our churches, and our communities. By taking the posture of a servant who applies scriptural principles at work, we can increase our effectiveness as leaders and thus improve the effectiveness and well-being of those we lead. By seeking God’s purpose through our lives, we will ultimately find we have fulfilled His purposes for our lives and help those we lead to do the same.

This is a fundamental change in mind-set from the influence of our modern society and its understanding of what success is for many leaders who are searching to fulfill a greater purpose for their lives through their work. Instead, we should seek to become instruments for God’s purposes, thereby allowing Him to fulfill His purposes through our lives as leaders. Our posture of denying self and seeking Him changes who we are as leaders and how we view our professional careers.

Through this framework, we will engage in a regular cycle of spiritual and mental renewal, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit in redefining or refining our understanding of who we are as innovators and leaders. From this foundation, we will illustrate how to leverage contemporary strategic leadership practices in the workplace and combine them with biblical principles. This will be our outward response to our inner transformation affected by our regular upward gaze.

We will then discuss how to transform our leadership teams into rudders that guide our organizations. This is achieved through aligning our organizational culture with biblical principles and influencing those we lead to do the same even if they do not share a common faith in God.

This goal may seem unrealistic, but Paul was clear in Romans 12:2: Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

By discerning God’s pleasing and perfect will, leaders in the marketplace can steer their organizations toward His purposes by aligning their organizational cultures with godly values and seeking to fulfill His purposes through their lives. God will use us to affect organizational values by the influence we exercise as leaders as we maintain a continuous, intimate relationship with Him. As willing and abiding servants, we become instruments of His will. Our upward, inward, and outward cycle of renewal and response allows us to lead with greater certainty in His plans for our future and that of our organizations.

Upward, inward, outward, and forward ties biblical principles of leadership and contemporary strategic leadership concepts into a framework of useful insights and disciplines that any godly leader can apply in her or his professional career, community, church, and home. These principles will help you to experience a transformation in your own life and in the way you approach leadership.

You will be encouraged to engage in an intimate relationship with God and to live out your faith in a manner that focuses on the intentional transformation of your organization. You will improve the effectiveness of your workforce through shared values and purposes consistent with biblical principles of stewardship and cocreation. You will transform your professional career into full-time ministry and make your organization available to God to fulfill His purposes through it. In the process, you will help others to find ways to fulfill God’s purposes through their own careers as leaders and innovators.

It is my belief that we all have the opportunity to honor our responsibilities as stewards of all God’s creation as we participate in the creative process. I believe He intends for this creative process to be a partnership with Him through our work and the works of our organizations. I invite you to take this journey and employ the concepts throughout this book. My prayer is that the concepts captured in the framework upward, inward, outward, and forward will help you along your journey to fulfill greater purpose through your career as an innovator and as a leader of innovating organizations.

UPWARD, INWARD, OUTWARD, AND FORWARD MODEL OVERVIEW

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

—Proverbs 3:5–6

The phrase upward, inward, outward, and forward describes a new model for godly leaders who seek to transform their work into a sacred vocation. This model’s cornerstone is a renewed understanding of our work as God intends it based on biblical and historical truths regarding God’s intentions for the sacred nature of our work. This model represents a framework that will help godly leaders integrate familiar concepts into a transforming lifestyle that encourages them to

1. engage God in continuous renewal through an upward gaze from a posture of service,

2. experience an inward response of a transformed spirit and renewed mind through this continuous conversation with God,

3. respond outwardly, transformed through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as models of Christ to encourage and enable others to fulfill His purposes as a community of innovators, and

4. look forward with confidence, through faith in Christ, to lead with certainty amid the storms of an uncertain world.

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Figure1: Upward, inward, outward, and forward describes a new model for godly leaders who seek to transform their work into a sacred vocation.

The upward, inward, outward, and forward model forms the framework that integrates these concepts into an actionable way of life for the innovator and the leader of innovation. Here is a summary of each element of the model.

Work as a Sacred Vocation

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. … It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Colossians 3:23–24). God intends for our work in the marketplace to be a holy endeavor through which we fulfill His purposes and create results of eternal value. We should strive to integrate our jobs into a balanced lifestyle with family, church, and community. His intentions were clear at Creation and have been reinforced through His interactions with His people in the Old and New Testaments. Insights from Scripture help us develop a renewed understanding of work as God intended it.

Designed in God’s image, our creative instincts should be guided through our response to God’s intention to engage us as partners in the creative process and as stewards of His continued creation. Our response to God through these