Leadership, diversity and Hauerwas

As ever I benefit from the reading and erudition of others as I continue thinking and writing about leadership. Prodigal Kiwis are a great read and a good reality check for clergy like myself. There are many, many people out there who love God, are fascinated by theology but really cannot hack the church at all ... a real challenge for those like me who work for the institution.
Anyway more on that another time for now here are some of Stanley Hauerwas' quotes on leadership that Paul Fromont has put on the Kiwis blog. I was surprised to read this - not quite what I expected Hauerwas to be saying which just shows I need to read more! In the model of leadership that Hauerwas encourages here there is a spiritual discipline which makes for an interesting challenge for church leaders.

Part of your responsibility as an administrator and leader is to help members of the community own them as contributing to the overall good of the community. To be in a position of power means that you recognize how fragile the power is. You wouldn’t have it otherwise. And you have enough confidence that you don’t have to win all the time. That’s a real ascetic discipline, a discipline of the ego, which is absolutely crucial for being an administrator and to allow the institution to go on once you’re no longer there...
... For any person that wants to be in leadership, if they try to lead in a way that means they don’t have to deal with people, they automatically defeat community. It is everyday interactions that make it possible for there to be people who tell the truth to us one at a time in the hopes that in that process we will be a truthful community...”