Shepherd Leadership: Wisdom for Leaders from Psalm 23

by Blaine McCormick, David Davenport

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me bedside the still waters;
He restoreth my soul. Today's professionals need reliable models to teach them how to become better leaders. In this remarkable book, leadership experts Blaine McCormick and David Davenport introduce us to a new kind of leader by offering a new image of leadership― the leader as shepherd.
Drawing on the wisdom of the timeless Twenty-Third Psalm, King David's psalm, the authors provide professionals with ancient wisdom for grappling with today's leadership challenges. Shepherd Leadership offers a much-needed lens through which to consider our own leadership as well as the leadership of those around us. This important book teaches us important lessons about leadership: we can be vigilant without being adversarial, we can serve without being passive, and we can guide without commanding. Shepherd Leadership offers a visionary new model for transforming leadership practices in both corporate and small business settings. This is whole-person leadership. It's not just a matter of thinking or doing things a certain way. It's a fully integrated life― a matter of head and hand and heart. It's a way of thinking and doing and being.

Genres: Leadership, Christian

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2003

Reviews

[Erin Oeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book helped me to understand what I don't like about the popular notion of servant leadership. Servant leadership only works if the servant leader is not just a servant to his followers but also to Christ. As I heard Blaine McCormick speak recently on Shepherd Leadership at Baylor, I realized that this idea of shepherd leadership resonates with my own ideas about leadership. I have also been reading another book, Lead Like Jesus, but this book captures more of the leadership of Christ than that one, at least it appears that way to me. It also gave me new insight and perspective on Psalm 23, far from a psalm of death to a psalm of life, abundant life in the care of a loving Shepherd. I highly recommend this book.

[Bennett Moody · Rating 3 out of 5]

A refreshing perspective on leadership that breaks down Psalm 23 verse by verse. I found the book strayed from the main metaphor of shepherds and sheep as the chapters went on, but I suppose all metaphors break down eventually.
I appreciated the practical suggestions and takeaways from each chapter, and the reflection questions were specific and targeted—for good and bad. As someone who is not “a leader” in my place of work the questions were less applicable at times as I am not in a position to make the changes the authors suggested.
Overall however, a great read with deep insights into effective leadership!

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

We often think of shepherds as humble and a weak or simple profession. In reality shepherds are silently strong individuals with great responsibility and weight on their shoulders.

The authors of this book take a familiar psalm and break it down into leadership lessons that are applicable to our fast paced and challenging times.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely insightful look at the 23rd Psalm. The authors take each action of the shepherd and translate it to concrete actions for today's leaders but it is not a checklist but a paradigm shift. Highly recommended for all leaders of any group or organization.

[Karla Renee Goforth Abreu · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful book on leadership--Every church leader should read this one, should be required reading.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good leadership tools.