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The Aspiring Leader's Guide to the Future: 9 Surprising Ways Leadership is Changing
You may not hold a position of leadership or think of yourself as a leader. But if you want to create, change, or impact the world around you—even in a modest way—then you're guided by a leader's impulse and shaped by a leader's principles. You are an aspiring leader. But the fact is that you've come to this role at a time when leadership—like everything else—is rapidly changing...and too many leaders are addressing the problems of today and tomorrow with the style and substance of yesterday's leadership. We need an update. In The Aspiring Leader's Guide to the Future , Clay Scroggins (author of How to Lead When You're Not in Charge ) explores nine new principles of leadership that will help leaders adapt to a changing world and work culture, such as: These may seem like counter-intuitive principles, but they provide a new way forward for leaders and teams and will prove versatile in the event of change and durable in the face of conflict. With humor and a pastor's candor, Clay will show you why the old ways need updating and what developing new leadership skills could look like for your future. To be clear, the author of this book does not know the future. If he did, he would have used his talents on sports betting or stock trading. What he does know is that yesterday's leadership axioms are today's myths and what that means. The way forward requires an understanding of the past, a conviction of what's at stake today, and a vision for how different tomorrow will be. You don't have to be a young entrepreneur with big dreams or someone looking to land a leadership role just to be considered an aspiring leader. You are one now. And by developing your skills for the future, you can become today's version of a leader worth following.
- GenresLeadershipChristian
208 pages, Hardcover
Published January 11, 2022
15 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Clay Scroggins
19 books89 followersClay Scroggins is lead pastor of North Point Community Church (NPCC), where he provides visionary and directional leadership for the local church staff and congregation in Alpharetta, Georgia. As the original and largest campus of North Point Ministries, ranked by Outreach Magazine in 2014 as the largest church in America, NPCC averages over 12,000 people in attendance.
Clay works for Andy Stanley (“one of the greatest leaders on the planet” according to Clay) and understands firsthand how to manage the tension of leading when you’re not in charge. Starting out as a facilities intern (a.k.a. “vice president of nothing”), Clay worked his way through many organizational levels at North Point Ministries and knows all too well the challenge of authority deprivation.
Clay holds a degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. During his years at Georgia Tech, he volunteered with the high school ministry at NPCC and discovered a passion to help students find a faith of their own. Also during that season, Clay attended a Bible study led by Louie Giglio, and a relationship developed that allowed Clay to be involved with Passion Conferences. At Dallas Theological Seminary, Clay earned a master’s degree as well as a doctorate with an emphasis in online church.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 5, 2022
When was the last time you heard the words humble or vulnerable used when describing a leader? Or when did you last hear a leader say “I don’t know” in the middle of a meeting? These are just a few of the unique traits you’ll find author, Clay Scroggins, finds positive in his leadership profile.
“The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future” is an affable read. After an introduction of strange but true facts about leaders past and maybe future, Scroggins lets us know that leaders do not have to know everything - what a relief! He talks about having and being a coach and failure, which he calls “ loads of expensive learnings”. This touch of humor is peppered throughout the book as are sports analogies and his personal experiences making the book an easy read that I found geared a bit towards men.
Personal awareness should include both strengths & weaknesses, building a team shouldn’t include only those who make life easy, give trust to earn trust and truth about conflict are topics for chapters that current leaders will find particularly useful. I can tell you from personal practice that this approach works when building a strong, efficient and productive team that’s happy working and supports their mgr/leader. The final two chapters incorporate those headline adjectives: humble & vulnerable, the traits strong leaders need for success and then how best to use them.
All notes are sorted by chapter and appear at the end of the book. There’s no index, charts or graphs as this is not anything like a textbook or technical volume.
All things considered, common sense on leadership for those seeking a better way forward📚
“The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future” is an affable read. After an introduction of strange but true facts about leaders past and maybe future, Scroggins lets us know that leaders do not have to know everything - what a relief! He talks about having and being a coach and failure, which he calls “ loads of expensive learnings”. This touch of humor is peppered throughout the book as are sports analogies and his personal experiences making the book an easy read that I found geared a bit towards men.
Personal awareness should include both strengths & weaknesses, building a team shouldn’t include only those who make life easy, give trust to earn trust and truth about conflict are topics for chapters that current leaders will find particularly useful. I can tell you from personal practice that this approach works when building a strong, efficient and productive team that’s happy working and supports their mgr/leader. The final two chapters incorporate those headline adjectives: humble & vulnerable, the traits strong leaders need for success and then how best to use them.
All notes are sorted by chapter and appear at the end of the book. There’s no index, charts or graphs as this is not anything like a textbook or technical volume.
All things considered, common sense on leadership for those seeking a better way forward📚
January 3, 2023
Read this for work and it had some great thoughts. Leaders need to be thinking about how leadership is changing and that you can’t stop it. Being humble, showing vulnerability & transparency & celebrating others are great tactics to make you a better leader of others.
The only thought of this being for work is that there may have been too many religious references, but sections of the book could be assigned and not the entirety of the book.
The only thought of this being for work is that there may have been too many religious references, but sections of the book could be assigned and not the entirety of the book.
January 12, 2024
Not the best. Feels rehashed. I like Clay, but start with How to Lead When You’re Not In Charge
February 25, 2022
Leadership is changing. Accelerated by the pandemic, the work lives and personal priorities of people around the world have shifted and leadership is trying to catch up. With the “Great Resignation,” you hear stories every day of how poor, outdated, or even dehumanizing leadership has led to business failure. In The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future, Clay Scroggins navigates readers through a series of nine surprising ways that leadership is changing—hopefully for the better!
Right inside the inside cover flap, it reads “Go beyond the cliches and myths.” I’m not sure exactly what they have in mind when they say that because The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future is just about as cliched and folksy as it gets. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Pop leadership has its place. But Scroggins work reads like a high-octane, goofy, surface-level look at leadership that riffs off the style of so many other leadership gurus.
The subtitle of the book talks about nine ways leadership is changing, but that structure never really comes into play in the book—other than having one introductory chapter followed by nine primary chapters. Some of the chapters have good advice—“Conflict never gets easy”—but how is that a change in leadership from the past? Another chapter in entitled “Leaders Never Fail—They Just Have Loads of Expensive Learnings.” Did leaders of the past believe they could fail? Scroggins sets up his book as contrasting the way things have always been done with A New Way™, but it isn’t at all clear these are actual changes in leadership trends.
Integral to the book’s style is Scroggins’ folksy humor and sports/television references. It’s maybe not fair to criticize a book based on something it was actively trying to do, but for me the references fell flat. Most were a distraction from the content, not an addition to it. They led readers away from the intended point instead of deeper into it.
The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future doesn’t give bad advice, it just fails to give good advice with any substance behind it. None of the leadership trends it talks about are at all surprising or even necessarily current trends. Like, maybe if you only had a late-20th century sitcom idea of what leadership was like—think Cosmo Spacely or Mr. Burns—then this may introduce you to new thinking, but otherwise it’s nothing new. Overall, the book comes off as carefully marketed, packaged, and presented but I found it to be, as they might say in Texas, all hat and no cattle.
Right inside the inside cover flap, it reads “Go beyond the cliches and myths.” I’m not sure exactly what they have in mind when they say that because The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future is just about as cliched and folksy as it gets. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Pop leadership has its place. But Scroggins work reads like a high-octane, goofy, surface-level look at leadership that riffs off the style of so many other leadership gurus.
The subtitle of the book talks about nine ways leadership is changing, but that structure never really comes into play in the book—other than having one introductory chapter followed by nine primary chapters. Some of the chapters have good advice—“Conflict never gets easy”—but how is that a change in leadership from the past? Another chapter in entitled “Leaders Never Fail—They Just Have Loads of Expensive Learnings.” Did leaders of the past believe they could fail? Scroggins sets up his book as contrasting the way things have always been done with A New Way™, but it isn’t at all clear these are actual changes in leadership trends.
Integral to the book’s style is Scroggins’ folksy humor and sports/television references. It’s maybe not fair to criticize a book based on something it was actively trying to do, but for me the references fell flat. Most were a distraction from the content, not an addition to it. They led readers away from the intended point instead of deeper into it.
The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future doesn’t give bad advice, it just fails to give good advice with any substance behind it. None of the leadership trends it talks about are at all surprising or even necessarily current trends. Like, maybe if you only had a late-20th century sitcom idea of what leadership was like—think Cosmo Spacely or Mr. Burns—then this may introduce you to new thinking, but otherwise it’s nothing new. Overall, the book comes off as carefully marketed, packaged, and presented but I found it to be, as they might say in Texas, all hat and no cattle.
May 7, 2022
When I saw that this book was out I had to have it! It was such a refreshing and frustrating read. It was refreshing because I said, “He gets it!” And yet it was frustrating because so many people in leadership roles miss these 9 ways leadership is changing. Too often fear is holding people back from stepping up and stepping into what they could be. If you are a leader and you want to make a lasting impact on those around you or the company you are leading, do yourself a favor and read this book! Also, if you are someone who wants to be a leader, read this book. Make this the new normal and see how the world can change for the better!
June 27, 2022
This is a terrific book for both leaders and "followers".
Why the scare quotes around followers, Craig? Because we're all leaders in .oat aspects of our lives. In fact, at any given moment we're more likely to be leading than to be following.
This guide will provide a great path for being an effective, trusted, and loved leader.
Why the scare quotes around followers, Craig? Because we're all leaders in .oat aspects of our lives. In fact, at any given moment we're more likely to be leading than to be following.
This guide will provide a great path for being an effective, trusted, and loved leader.
May 4, 2022
Clay absolutely killed it. His best book out of a lot of good ones. Clay gives us the tools to look to the future and prepare. While no one can actually KNOW the future, they can sure enough get ready to become better leaders entering in.
January 12, 2023
One of the best leadership books I’ve read in a while! It’s relatable with all of the author’s analogies and pop culture references, and really hones in on how the leadership culture is evolving in society and how to change with it.
February 4, 2022
I really appreciate this one. It was fun and practical. The sections on conflict, feedback, and trust were particularly gold 🏅.
February 19, 2022
Nobody does a better job of making points using real life examples & funny, relevant pop-culture references. This is book is incredibly helpful.
October 7, 2022
It was a good book. Though I wouldn’t say I learned anything ground breaking, but I certainly got new perspective towards somethings.
November 14, 2023
Good review of most popular leadership books taking nuggets out of each to talk to the future of leadership
March 2, 2024
Great book, straight to explaining his concepts of leadership in the future.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews