ART AND LEADERSHIP: THE INTERSECTION OF THE INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL - SHANE WOOD, PH.D

shane J. wood, ph.D.

art and leadership: the intersection of the internal and the external

Leadership is an art. Not a science. And that’s frustrating. Terrifying, even. That is, if you truly understand what art is, and as a result, what it reveals about what leadership requires.

Art is done at the intersection of the public and the personal. Most artists describe the process of writing or sculpting or painting as an unearthing of the self. As an act of vulnerability, where the emotions of the inner world are reflected, however subtle, in the outward product of their creation. Which can be painful. As Red Smith quipped in his book To Absent Friends, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at the typewriter, cut open a vein, and bleed.”

The sentiment is quite clear: art requires an unearthing of the artist. A pouring out of the private, the personal, the self. The artist is producing something to be encountered by another, but art is first an exercise of the inner journey. A wrestling with past wounds. A euphoria of healing. Tears of trauma untransformed.

Art is a creation that begins internally before ever transferring to the external world. Sometimes quite literally. According to Walter Isaacson’s magisterial biography on Leonardo Da Vinci, the Italian artist spent obsessive amounts of time with cadavers, studying the internal to perfect the subject’s movements in the external. Da Vinci intuited that the internal offered nuance often overlooked in the mirror or the world around. The combination of the muscles in the neck; the ripple of the skin with each step; the slight pull in the corner of the eyes that communicates approval however slight. Insights separating his art from others more concerned with what they can observe on the surface. Da Vinci’s macabre methods reveal what leaders often fail to embrace: the internal always shapes the external, regardless of how hard we attempt to ignore and conceal what lies beneath. Like art, leadership is done at the intersection of the public and the personal, the stage and the private recesses of our hearts. This is probably why so many leaders—whether inside or outside the church—crave cookie-cutter leadership methods celebrated at conferences or delivered in the latest best-seller. We prefer science over art; the predictable over the Spirit. The latter simply asks too much of us. Science rewards predictability and efficiency; yet the Spirit moves like the wind, only detectable to those fully present and aware of the slight movements therein, rewarding the patient not the proud, those more adept at paying attention than performing.

It’s easier to get attention than to pay attention. To pay attention to the movements of our heart. To the pitfalls of our character. To the complicated question, “Am I truly connected to the vine?” Yet, when getting attention and paying attention collide, the latter is always the casualty.

Consider the vogue preaching tactic of vulnerability. In a world desperate for authenticity, preachers are re-crafting their sermons to appear vulnerable onstage, even if the internal is ignored or mocked offstage. Preachers fabricate vulnerability by conjuring countless illustrations of “personal failures” or even inserting “umm’s” so as not to appear too polished. Why? To simulate vulnerability. To appear genuine. Yet the difference between Michelangelo’s Moses and a cheap garden statue from Hobby Lobby is that one emerges from the internal world of the artist and the other merely mimics masterpieces of old. One is fit for a museum and priceless attempts to preserve its glory for posterity; one is reserved for bird droppings and replaced at $49.99 when it deteriorates beyond the threshold of “ornamental.”

True vulnerability, like true art, simply can’t be fabricated without the hard work of unearthing the self. When leadership is more about getting attention in the external world than paying attention to the leader’s internal world, it becomes a brittle and frivolous imitation of something quite precious. Something life-changing, revival-igniting, and Christ-honoring.

Still further, to hold back the revelation of our true self to those we lead and even to ourselves is more demonic than God-like. Let me explain. Demons go to great lengths to conceal themselves, hide themselves in others or among the gravestones in isolation (Mark 5:1-5). Demons are strategically shifty, preferring the shadow instead of the light, deception instead of vulnerability. The goal is to control what others see, convincing image bearers there is no God, there is no hope, and, at times, there is no evil or demons at all.

Yet, throughout Scripture, God goes to great lengths to reveal Himself, all of Himself, to all of His creation (Rom. 1:20). He created the heavens and the earth to unveil Himself, a gift not expunged at the Fall in Genesis 3 (Psa. 19:1-6). He revealed his name to Moses through a burning bush (Exod. 3:1-14). He voiced His heart to Israel through His law (Exod. 20:1-21), which He would one day carve onto the tablets of their hearts (Jer. 31:33-34). When Israel forgot who He was, He sent His prophets to declare, “I am the one who brought you out of Egypt” (1 Sam. 10:17-19; Amos 2:10). He became flesh, born in a manger as true God and true Man to reveal Himself to us (Jn. 1:18), so that if we have seen the Son, we have seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). So that through the Son, we can glimpse the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15)— the image boldly emblazoned on humanity “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:26-27).

Time and again, the Scriptures unveil a God intent on revealing himself to those who follow Him. Not through cheap tricks or mere imitations employed in pagan temples with idols carved from stone (Isa. 44:9-20). But through bearing all of Himself in a variety of ways so that all of humanity would have the greatest opportunity to reach out and touch him (Acts 17:27). Leadership should be no different. At least for Christians. For like the master artist, Christian leadership requires the unearthing of the self (the internal) on behalf of the other (the external). Which is why I marvel and lament the Christian leader’s aversion to Paul’s brazen command to: “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). I find it strange that Christian leaders neither onstage nor in writing ask their followers to do the same: “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Instead, we hide the “me” from ourselves and others.

We disparage acts of unearthing like professional counseling or prayerful meditation, dismissing each as either unnecessary or too “new age” and hiding behind Scripture citations and Christian quotes to boot. Yet the last 50 years has seen the meteoric rise and cataclysmic fall of Christian leaders whose legacies are now enshrined in fledgling churches, institutional lawsuits, or episodic podcasts. Leaders who publicly taught the importance of understanding integrity—who we are when no one is looking—failed to do the hard work of vulnerability in their inner journey. Maybe this is why Jesus put so much emphasis on the prayer closet (Matt. 6:6); he knew that without the internal, the external is not just a mirage but a demonic ploy to disparage the gospel and dismiss the church as not just hypocritical but predatory on the truly vulnerable.

As leaders, we need to spend less time asking the question “How do we find new ways to multiply?” and more time asking ourselves the question “Am I worthy of being multiplied?” For if the congregation is the crossroads of the internal and external worlds of the leader, the most important thing Christian leaders can do for the church and the gospel as a whole is ensure that if the leaders are multiplied, the body of Christ won’t be ravaged with cancer necessitating chemotherapy. For better or worse, people in the pews reflect what they see on the stage.

two-fisted fighting (Spiritually): the importance of relationships aND truth (continued)

Thus, more than church growth tactics or cookie cutter methods promising to increase tithing and attendance, our churches need leaders who understand that vulnerability is not a preaching strategy to feign authenticity. No, vulnerability is the legacy of David sung in the Psalms, the legacy of Solomon lamented in Ecclesiastes, the legacy of Paul celebrated in 2 Corinthians 12:10: “When I am weak, I am strong.” Vulnerability— the unearthing of the self at the intersection of the public and the private—is the legacy of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, who in the shadow of the cross still cried out, “I don’t want to do this! Please take this cup from me” (cf. Lk. 22:41-44).

What the church needs today is not more methods and mantras crafted with the guarantee of multiplication. The church needs leaders willing to walk their own inner journey. The church needs leaders who go to counseling to confront the wounds of their past with the wounds of the Crucified King. The church needs leaders disciplined in the art of listening—to themselves and others—more than speaking three points and an application. The church needs leaders not ravaged by unsustainable rhythms or enamored with metrics more fit for Wall Street than the via Dolorosa. What the church needs is leaders who are holy, vulnerable, worthy of being multiplied, who can honestly pronounce, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” Leaders worthy of a legacy to be preserved like a priceless piece of art.

May it be so in me. May it be so in you.

Shane J. Wood and his family live in Joplin, MO, where he is the Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of New Testament Studies at Ozark Christian College. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Shane offers a plethora of free resources for the church on his website, shanejwood.com. It features video and audio of sermons, class lectures, and a weekly scripture study community. An 11-Week Revelation Study and a study over his most recently widely acclaimed book, Between Two Trees, can be found on RightNow Media. Between Two Trees: Our Transformation from Death to Life (Leafwood, 2019), received endorsements from Scot McKnight, Leonard Sweet, Richard Rohr, Kyle Idleman, and many more. Other publications can be found on his website. Additionally, Shane was recognized by Theology Degrees Online as one of the “100 Remarkable Professors & Scholars Theology Students Should Know About,” and he was also a featured scholar in The Armageddon Code: One Journalist’s Quest for End-Times Answers by Billy Hallowell (Pureflix.com, Faithwire. com, and TheBlaze).

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