How Not to Waste a Crisis: Quit Trying Harder

by Tod Bolsinger, Mark Demel (illustrator)

Rising to the occasion calls for a new skill set. But when crises hit, we return to our defaults and double down. The upheaval you find yourself in can reframe your leadership and revive your team.

In this fully illustrated volume, an ideal place to begin the Practicing Change Series, Tod Bolsinger explores the opportunity available in a reality shaken by health, financial, social, and political disasters. Crisis is an opportunity to stop trying harder and begin embracing adaptability. Through observation, interpretation, and intervention, we as leaders can explore a way forward.

When your church or nonprofit needs fresh vision, take these steps to learn how to lead anew, and then continue on your leadership journey with the next volumes from Tod Bolsinger.

More adaptive leadership titles in the Practicing Change

The Mission Always WinsLeading Through ResistanceInvest in Transformation

Genres: Leadership

112 pages, Hardcover

Published August 13, 2024

About the author

Tod Bolsinger (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the vice president for vocation and formation and assistant professor of practical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives and Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy by Living Out the Faith. A frequent speaker, consultant, and blogger, he serves as an executive coach for corporate, nonprofit, educational, and church organizations in transformational leadership. For seventeen years, he was the senior pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church in San Clemente, California, after serving for ten years at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. Tod and his wife, Beth, have two children.

Reviews

[Kayla Peker · Rating 4 out of 5]

These past several years have been marked by significant disruption and crisis, and as a result we’ve seen countless faith leaders step down from their positions. It’s a hard season to be leading in, and Christian leaders need some form of support and encouragement to press on. I believe this book can aid in such a need.

The author writes clearly and succinctly with graphics and summary pages that both support the main point and are fun to stop and read. As a training tool, the images are especially helpful for making this resource transferable.

There are several points I personally hope to share with others. This book is also short and quick to read, making it an ideal resource to pass along. My only critique is some of the examples became quite prolonged, but overall information was shared in a way that was way to understand and picture how it could be applied.

Overall, a solid and helpful 4 star read that I hope to purchase once published.

Thank you to InterVarsity Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Publication Date: August 13, 2024

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how the author delves into crisis and adaptive leadership through the format of writing. Using visuals, summarizing key action points and also once in a while delving into a personal account of a situation made this easy to read and understand. It's this way of writing and format that I feel most readers and especially those in situations where they'd love to act right and on time, can relate to and draw practical insights from.

One key take away for me is more about making observations because I have often found myself wanting to act when in a crisis and then dealing with the after effects of failure or feeling like a failure later on. The call to simply step back and observe, is something I would want to try.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

[Ioana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book, part of a series, that focuses on how leaders (with emphasis on religious leaders) can tackle situations of crisis.

It features a useful strategy and I appreciated how it changes the perspective: you got a crisis, the question is not how you get over it, but how you benefit of it, how you don't waste it and use it to make things better.

It's a nice, easy read, for which I am grateful to have received in order to share my view on it. I think anyone in a crisis, especially leaders, because their job is even harder, can benefit from this strategy.

[Todd Buegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

While many of the principles in this book are not necessarily new, and are presented in other of Bolsinger's books, this book formats it in a quick and accessible way. And the focus on crisis presents it in a helpful context. I appreciate this book and I may use it with our leadership team or church council.

[Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Simple Roadmap to the Complex Challenge of Change

Tod Bolsinger has distilled decades of practical experience in the art of change management to a accessible enjoyable book that guides leaders on how to handle the crises of what made us successful no longer works.

[Craig A Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making.the.shift from knowing it all to asking good questions.and learning

I recommend tnis.book to start the journey of learning when you think you already know it all. And when all that you know.doesn't solve any of.your.peoblems.or.make any difference.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a small book but full of good insights for leaders, especially those facing challenging times in their organizations (as all of us will at some point). Some echoes of Jocko Willink’s Extreme Ownership principles, but will resonate better for those who may be averse to military verbiage.

[Yesica Aguirre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una guía rápida a través de ejemplo para mejorar nuestra forma de proceder en las crisis, me gustó mucho la forma gráfica de expresar las preguntas y la guía de ruta, para evitar predecir y basarnos en hechos reales y más de la mano para hacer frente al problema

[Susie Webster-toleno]

Probably not groundbreaking, but then, when did something need to be groundbreaking to be worthwhile? I particularly appreciated the questions about observations and … “what did we learn?”

[Abbey Fagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Work Book Club!! Lots of interesting things to think about when leading a team in the midst of crisis and change. Excited to discuss it with my team!

[Kyle Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

His example about how he got a skiing coach and realized he had been a 'successful' skier for years, but was using bad technique is extremely insightful.

[Brian Virtue · Rating 4 out of 5]

We waste opportunities for transformation all the time. Great intro to adaptive change as well as invitation to those who love to double down on what they know.