Good Shepherds Smell like Sheep: Five Leadership Principles to Win in Uncertain Times

By Wade Runge

Today's leaders are facing unprecedented challenges that are causing them to quit, burnout, compromise, and even commit suicide. This current generation of leaders are functioning in an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving environment. Dr. Wade Runge understands the unique stress leaders are experiencing, in a culture that is calling for leaders to perform at their best at every moment. Leaders are expected to be available and accessible at any given moment. But the real question who is helping them navigate the choppy waters they are experiencing? His experience and acumen concerning leadership has been refined out of the need to be able to adapt to adverse conditions. We are living in uncertain times that calls for leaders to rise in the midst of chaos. Dr. Runge's background from combat in the military, to planting churches, and helping pastors in crisis has prepared him for this time. This transformational book on leadership was written as a manual to help leaders be better prepared for the challenges of the times. The five principles take the reader on a journey from the battlefield, to the landscape of ministry challenges, to better understand why a good shepherd must smell like sheep. In order, for any organization to thrive in uncertain times, it will require sheep and shepherds working together to win. This book is for the person who is serious about growing, leading, and winning in these uncertain times. Good Shepherds Smell like Sheep is a compelling guide for the challenges of today, while empowering leadership to win any battle they may be facing tomorrow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098036713

Book preview

Setting the Example and Establishing the Culture

Leadership is absolutely about inspiring action, but it is also about guarding against mis-action.

—Simon Sinek

It was a hot day in the Middle East during the First Gulf War, and we found ourselves patrolling along the border of Kuwait where there were more than two hundred thousand Iraqi troops on the other side of the border. Clearly, we saw a man-made berm that separated the borders that were being used as a defensive position for the Iraqi forces. We had orders only to patrol along this border and to report back any activity we witnessed. We were on a reconnaissance mission to report back with a SALUTE. Report, meaning provide the size, activity, location, unit, time, and equipment information of the enemy we discover while on patrol. The orders were specific to not engage the enemy unless they had engaged us first. The United States had begun the air campaign bombing the Iraqi forces, but we were not granted permission to start a ground campaign yet. Our mission was limited in scope to recon the future battlefield but to avoid a firefight with the enemy. We were on a mission as a unit, and everyone understood what we were assigned to accomplish.

This day would stay etched in my memory for the rest of my life because what happened in the following moments would teach me a valuable lesson about leadership. Just because someone has a title, even in the greatest of organizations, it doesn’t mean they are prepared for that moment or have the disposition to be a leader. I believe Leonard Sweet’s quote defined the moment I would experience that day when he stated, Leaders are neither born nor made. Leaders are summoned. They are called into existence by circumstances. Those who rise to the occasion are leaders (Sweet, 2004). That day would become a defining day for me as I began to understand the challenges of leadership. I picked up a golden nugget when I came to the realization that a leader is not defined by the rank or position he or she holds. Instead, a good leader is defined by how he or she responds in a moment of crisis.

As we were getting ready to complete this all-day patrol surveying the future battlefield, our young second lieutenant decided he wanted the patrol to head northwest five more kilometers. The problem with his order was it would cause us to cross the border and possibly engage the enemy when we were specifically ordered to avoid that. Yet this lieutenant ordered us to cross the border because he felt like that was the way back to our next check point. As the squad leader, I informed him this was the wrong direction, possibly could get us killed, and even start a ground campaign that had not been authorized at this time. In that moment, the lieutenant became enraged and began to berate me about who was in charge. (Side note, if you need to let people know you’re in charge, then you are probably not. If you are a pastor and have to remind people in every meeting, you may have a problem). In fact, he began to threaten me about how I was under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). In addition, he was going to charge me for disrespect and disobeying a direct order if I did not do carry out his