1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Most leaders I know are trying to do 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: good work. There's no surprise there, but I keep finding 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: leaders trying to work at a pace that unintentionally undermines 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: the very things they care about most. We want trust, depth, resilience, 5 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: and lasting fruit. We often try to grow those things 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: in a great hurry, and life just doesn't work that way. 7 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: There are certain kinds of growth that cannot be rushed, 8 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: no matter how much effort, urgency, or even resources we 9 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: bring to them. They take time, attention, presence. In this episode, 10 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: I want to explore a different way of thinking about leadership, 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: not as something we drive, but as something we tend. 12 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: Drawing on the writing and wisdom of Wendell Berry, will 13 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: consider what it means means to cultivate the kind of 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: life in our leadership that can actually sustain good work 15 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: over time. After a word from our sponsor, I'll move 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: into our theme for today. Hello friends, I'm Alan Faddling 17 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: and you're listening to the Unhurried Living Podcast, where we 18 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,199 Speaker 1: inspire you to rest deeper, live fuller, and lead better. 19 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: Now before we begin, if you find this podcast helpful, 20 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: i'd encourage you to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: or wherever you happen to listen. It's a simple way 22 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: to help these conversations reach other leaders like you, and 23 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: I hope you've been finding these monthly monologues helpful. They've 24 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: become one of my favorite kinds of writing lately. I 25 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: wanted to share a little about their genesis. Most of 26 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: my writing, whether books or articles or podcast scripts, begins 27 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: in my journal. At least the seeds or the raw 28 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: material of what I eventually share starts there. In this way, 29 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: my writing starts as a personal reflection, a prayerful interaction 30 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: with God. This reflects a sense of calling that Jem 31 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: and I felt God extend to us at the beginning 32 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: of our ministry together, that whatever we did would be 33 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: a sharing of our lives with leaders. We received that 34 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: call in our late twenties. I'm now in my mid sixties. 35 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: What this has meant is that the care of our 36 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: own souls has never been incidental to our work, and 37 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: we don't believe that the care any leader gives to 38 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: his or her own soul as incidental either. The greatest 39 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: resource you bring to your leadership is the quality of 40 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,239 Speaker 1: God's work in you, your life being transformed by Jesus 41 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: and your cooperative participation with Him in that work. So, 42 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: now turning back to these monthly monologues, they begin as 43 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: excerpts from my journal personal reflections on meaningful spiritual readings 44 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: or biblical passages. I currently have something like three hundred 45 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: pages of these excerpts gathered for future development into publishable writing, 46 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: and in these monologues, I'm choosing the ones that I 47 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: have felt most timely and meaningful in this season of 48 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: my own life and leadership. Today, I want to share 49 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: some insights from Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer and poet 50 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: whom Eugene Peterson often encouraged leaders to read. Eugene, who 51 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: spent his life as a pastor, used to say that 52 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: when you read Barry, wherever he says farm, you can 53 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: think church, and where he says farmer, you can think pastor. 54 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: I've come to believe that leaders in non church settings 55 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: can make a similar translation organization and leader instead, and 56 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: they can gain a great deal of benefit as a result. 57 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: And so before we turn to Barry's words, let me 58 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: say a word about why I think this matters for 59 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: your leadership. The reflections I'm drawing from come from Barry's 60 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: book Standing by Words. At first glance, you're reading essays 61 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: about soil and hillsides and farming that might feel far 62 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: removed from the pressures you face as a leader, decisions 63 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: to make and people to care for and outcomes to steward. 64 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: But over time I've found that Barry names something many 65 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: of us feel but rarely articulate. That much of what 66 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: we are trying to grow in leadership, like trust for maturity, 67 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: or resilience, or even shared sense of purpose, simply doesn't 68 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: flourish well in a hurry. And so his writing offers 69 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: a different lens, one that can quietly reshape how we 70 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: think about our work, not as something to push, but 71 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: as something to tend. And if that's true, well, then 72 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: the way we lead may need to become slow enough 73 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: to pay good attention. And so let me read an 74 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: extended passage from Wendellberry that has recently spoken to me 75 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: in a very profound I just love what he says 76 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: about the slow work of restoring fertility to a piece 77 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: of farmland. He says, in the processes of most concerned 78 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: to agriculture, the building and preserving of fertility nature is 79 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: never in a hurry. During the last seventeen years, for example, 80 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: I have been working at the restoration of a once 81 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though still visible, 82 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: and this year it has provided abundant pasture, more than 83 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: in any year since we have owned it. But to 84 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: make it as good as it is now has taken 85 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: seventeen years. If I had been a millionaire, or if 86 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: my family had been starving, it would still have taken 87 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: seventeen years. It can be better than it now is, 88 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:34,600 Speaker 1: but that will take longer. For it to live fully 89 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: in its own possibility as it did before bad use 90 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: ran it down may take hundreds of years. What Barry 91 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: labels as fertility can be carried a little further into 92 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: the lived experience of a church, a team, or an organization, 93 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: not as an ideal to chase, but as something we 94 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: notice and then tend. It starts to look like lives 95 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: that are quietly becoming fruitful, not just busier, but more alive. 96 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: People who are growing in their capacity to love well, 97 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: to tell the truth, to contribute from a place that 98 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: feels rooted rather than pressured. It feels like a life 99 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: giving environment. It's not perfect, It's not without its challenges, 100 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: but it's a place where people are not steadily depleted. 101 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: It's a place where conversations, even hard ones, can leave 102 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: a person just a little more grounded, a little more clear, 103 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: a little more respective. There is a generative quality. For example, 104 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: new leaders emerge not because they're recruited into roles, but 105 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: because something in them has been nourished long enough to 106 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: begin offering itself. Initiative rises not out of urgency, but 107 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: out of life's nourishment. For some, that may be scripture, prayer, 108 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: and shared faith. For others, it may take the form 109 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: of meaningful work, honest dialogue, and a sense of shared purpose. 110 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: In either case, people are being fed at a deeper 111 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: level than mere information or task. Now, much of this 112 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: remains hidden. You might not always see it immediately in 113 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: metrics or dashboards, but over time you begin to sense 114 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: a deeper vitality, less reactivity, more steadiness, less anxiety, more trust, 115 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: a team or community that can absorb strain without fragmenting. 116 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: There is a renewing effect. People who were tired begin 117 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: to recover, Those who felt stuck begin slowly to move again. 118 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: There is fruit, but it comes in season, and there 119 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: is a kind of quiet goodness to it all. It's 120 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: ore to measure, but it's unmistakable a sense that this 121 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: is a place where life, deep, meaningful life is genuinely possible. 122 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: If we were to keep this simple and livable, three quiet, 123 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: steady movements a leader could actually carry into a week. 124 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: These three feel like the strongest. First, stay rooted in 125 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: your deepest source. Your leadership is drawing from somewhere. For 126 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: many of us, that is our life, with God returning 127 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: in prayer, in scripture, in a few unhurried moments of 128 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:47,119 Speaker 1: honest presence. For others, it may begin with a commitment 129 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: to live from what is most true, rather than what 130 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: is most urgent. However you name it, tend the place 131 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: you draw from. Over time, the quality of of that 132 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: hid life becomes the quality of what you offer to others. 133 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,959 Speaker 1: This is what it looks like to lead from abundance 134 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: rather than out of scarcity. Second, give your attention before 135 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: you give your direction in meetings and conversations. Resist the 136 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: reflex to move quickly to answers. Ask one more question, 137 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: Listen a little longer. People rarely flourish because they're managed well. 138 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: They flourish because they are known and Often the clarity 139 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: we're trying to provide emerges as we slow down enough 140 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: to truly hear. And third, stay long enough to learn 141 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: from what you've done. It's easy to move on once 142 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: something's finished, but the deeper learning comes afterward. Circle back, 143 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: Notice what your decisions are producing in people, in the culture, 144 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: in your own soul. Let outcomes teach you. This kind 145 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: of staying turns leadership into an apprenticeship where experience, over 146 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: time becomes wisdom. And none of these are dramatic shifts, 147 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: but they are the kinds of practices that, over time 148 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: begin to restore a deeper kind of fertility, the kind 149 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: of life that can actually sustain good work. And over 150 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: time you may begin to notice something changing, not just 151 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: in what you're leading, but in the life that's growing there. 152 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: Next time, I want to explore what kind of life 153 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: in us can sustain that kind of work over the 154 00:11:48,320 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: long haul.