Why is racial healing needed, particularly at this undefinable epoch?

How can racial healing and leadership, a potent combination, rise to meet some of the unforeseen challenges we will likely face in the next several years?

Over the next several blogs, I will share my insights from South Africa and how the experience changed my life and answered these questions.

PART 1: Leadership Void

All morning, I’ve been reflecting on my trip to South Africa in September 2022 and some of the books we read on leadership that semester. It changed my life. Defining moments helped form the shared characteristics between racial healing and leadership.

The first defining moment that resonated with me is that there is a leadership void in the world. Pastor Zondi, one of our speakers in South Africa, called it a leadership bankruptcy. From some of my readings that semester, there were similar views from various authors that described bankruptcy as a defended leader (it is leadership by an individual who is selfishly concerned about meeting their own needs) and those that lead from a place of manipulation and coercion. [1] Different terms and different generations, but a common theme. The conclusion is that the leadership void has continued to be exacerbated over the past decade or more.

Although thousands of leadership books are written each year, and we can all list successful leadership characteristics - the question becomes what will change the pendulum to swing back such that there are leaders who are filling the bankruptcy void.

Stay tuned to this eight part series as I answer the questions raised in my opening paragraph.

[1] Simon Walker, Leading Out of Who You Are Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership (Kindle Edition: Piquant Editions, 2007), 19.