Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge

How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge

Last updated on: September 17, 2017 at 4:21 pm by Frank Viola

How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge 2017-09-17T16:21:55-04:00 Frank Viola

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Quick note: If you are subscribed to my Thursday UNFILTERED updates, I was without power for 5 days so I wasn’t able to send it out this past Thursday. It will go out next Thursday, God willing.

Clay Scroggins has come out with a new book on leadership called How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge.

I caught up with Clay recently to interview him about his new book.

Enjoy!

Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’s behind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit from reading your book?”

Clay Scroggins: Great question! I believe that readers will feel like they have better handles on how to cultivate influence from the seat they are in today! You don’t have to wait to begin leading! You don’t have to be in charge in order to lead! You can start today!

Actually, the answer to that has actually been the most fulfilling part of this process for me. I’m a practitioner. I’ve always been that way. In fact, seminary was sometimes a struggle for me because of how theoretical it was. I wrote this book to try and help people. In fact, my favorite comment I’ve gotten from people is “This book has really helped me learn how to have more influence in my work.”

What motivated you to write this book?

Clay Scroggins: It’s my own personal journey of leadership. I actually felt like such a joke writing a leadership book because I thought, “How arrogant does someone have to be to write a leadership book?!?” But genuinely, I didn’t set out to write a leadership book from the standpoint of thinking I’m a leadership expert. Rather, I just wanted to put my own personal leadership journey to paper because I feel like it can help people who feel frustrated in the seat they’re in. I want to help people who feel like the organization has become an obstruction to their leadership as opposed to learning to leverage the organization to push ideas forward.

There are countless books on the subject of leadership in circulation. How is yours different from the others?

Clay Scroggins: 99% of leadership books are written to the person in charge. That’s not my story though. I do have some authority now, but when I was learning these lessons, I was in a position where I had far more responsibility than authority. Like everyone who is not in charge, I had to learn to cultivate influence because that’s all I had to lean on. Now that I have more authority, I’m so glad I learned those lessons when I had less authority because influence is still the currency of leadership even now that I have more authority. Authority void of influence isn’t dangerous. I want to help those who are not in charge learn how to cultivate and leverage influence now so that when the authority comes, they know that great leaders lead through influence even when they are in charge.

Tell us a bit about the experiences that shaped the insights in the book.

Clay Scroggins: Once you learn a truth about something, you start seeing it everywhere. The more familiar I have become with the distinction of authority and influence in leadership, the more I realize that it’s everywhere. Certainly, there were lessons from high school student government, college civic organizations, and even as a volunteer at North Point when I was first attending this church.

The most impact experiences have been in working for Andy Stanley. Although he sets a high bar, he’s a very empowering leader. I’ve had multiple conversations with him over the years where he was pressing me about something that hadn’t gone well. In those moments, I began noticing that my tendency was to abdicate responsibility and blame my position for my lack of leadership. Maybe not in these exact words, I would say: “If only I were in charge…” or “If I had more authority, that wouldn’t have happened.”

Give us three key insights from your book about leadership that you believe to be unique.

Clay Scroggins:

1) If being in a charge doesn’t make you a leader then not being in charge doesn’t mean that you aren’t a leader. Because leadership is influence, everyone has the potential to lead no matter what seat you’re currently sitting in.

2) Everyone is in charge of something. The greatest way to cultivate more influence is to create an oasis of excellence with what you are in charge of.

3) Great leaders are skilled at thinking critically. However, the line between thinking critically and being critical is razor thin. Critical thinking is a skill that can be worked on. Being critical is a spirit that needs to be worked out.

What are the ingredients that make a great leader in your view?

Clay Scroggins: The most valuable thing I bring my team is not my education, talent, experience, or expertise. It is my energy. A hope-filled, can-do, forward-thinking, positive person is a force to be reckon with. That makes a great leader in my mind. The challenge is bringing that every single day.

What are the two most common mistakes that leaders make?

Clay Scroggins: I can’t speak for other leaders, but I’ll give you two mistakes I’ve made. Both of these are manifestations of believing the lie that I need more authority in order to lead. When that happens, I have either resorted to passivity or forced issues with too much aggression. I either sit on my hands and miss opportunities or I put up my hands in a combative way. I can’t over-emphasize how important this idea is to resist the myth of authority-based leadership. It never works out well.

What do you say to the Christian who has been taught that they are just a “laymen,” so they can’t lead and aren’t called to leadership?

Clay Scroggins: Well first of all, it’s just not true. Every church, organization, or business has benefitted from someone who wasn’t employed by that organization. Secondly, it does no good to believe that. It doesn’t help the church and it ultimately doesn’t help the laymen either. God has given each of us a measure of influence and an opportunity in this lifetime to leverage it. If you find yourself in a church that doesn’t value your gift or hasn’t given you an opportunity to exercise those gifts, don’t quit trying!

What else would you like readers to know about your book?

Clay Scroggins: The most amount of pushback I get from this book is this: “Well, good for you, Clay. You must have a great boss. I don’t. My boss is really tough to work for. What should I do?” And I get that. I do have a great boss, but I haven’t always had great bosses. But just because you don’t have a great boss doesn’t mean this isn’t a season for you to grow.

In fact, this might be the best time for you to grow. The entire point of resistance is that it builds strength. If it were easy, you wouldn’t grow as much as you can grow during a difficult season. So don’t give up! And don’t leave too early! Learn all you can learn and allow God to help you build strengths that you’ll only be able to build under a difficult boss. It’s always worth the effort!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 13, 2017

Survived Irma & Update

Next Post

September 19, 2017 How to Make Friends in No Time at All

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was sold into slavery by his brothers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judah Benjamin Dan Joseph