A Few Ambitious Thoughts

On Ambition

The Fall 2010 edition of Leadership Journal contains a cover story on ambition and its role in leadership. The title on the cover read:

Ambitions:

They keep you going, but they can go bad.

The above statement is correct. Leadership theorists fill both books and articles with reasons why good leadership is characterized by ambition. Time management guru Stephen Covey explains ambition is connected to what he refers to as the four basic human needs; live, love, learn, and leave a legacy. Dave Harvey writing in Leadership says that “without ambition nothing happens” (p. 21). He reinforces Covey’s idea about the need to leave a legacy as he states: “If you undermine ambition, you rob people of their desire and will to do something great with their lives” (p. 21). Ambition is not a bad thing. Ambition creates new technologies, new approaches to old problems, and beneficial ministries. As Harvey says without ambition nothing positive or worthwhile gets done.

The problem with ambition is that it has not only a light side; it also has a dark side. Ambition can destroy as well as build up. Ambition can eat at the heart and soul of the leader leaving him or her empty. A legacy may have been left but not the legacy they he or she may have intended. JR Kerr in the same Leadership issue wrote of the power of narcissism to derail positive ambition. Narcissism is driven by a pathological need to think well of oneself which results in an abnormal self absorption. Kerr would suggest that you know when you are slipping toward the dark side of ambition when you engage in self-aggrandizing behaviors whose goal is to show that you are as good or better leader than others in your sphere.

Kerr shared a story in his article that captures the tension created by the light and dark sides of ambition. He said he came home one day and found his wife researching the term narcissism on the computer. He wrote:

This isn’t a problem for me. Narcissism is the adulation of self, the diminishment of others, and often expressed as reckless ambition. Nothing could be more inconsistent with the character of Christ—the self-sacrificing servant who sought only to do the will of the Father. How can I be a pastor, a servant of Christ, and struggle with this (p. 30)?

Kerr and Harvey in their articles raise the question of balance in ambition. Ambition is common to all humans. Everyone is ambitious. Some may have found their ambition drained by negative statements that bombarded them in their formative years. Or, they have denied their ambitious for fear of failure and rejection. So if ambition is part and parcel to leadership just how do we keep from slipping over to the dark side? First, we want to remember that a Christian worldview perspective helps us understand ambition in a positive way. It begins with understanding the implications of Genesis 1:26. This passage that tells us we were created in the image of God, but it also suggests much more. It tells us that we have an essence that precedes our existence. God created us because of a desire (let us make), with a plan (make man), a pattern (in our image, in our likeness), and a purpose (so that they can rule or steward). A Christian worldview perspective recognizes that ambition is normal. God created us with a natural drive to thrive. Living in harmony with God and his creative purpose for us allows us to experience harmony with him which in turn allows us to experience a natural and normal harmony with ourselves. When we are living in harmony with God and ourselves we have a foundation for living in harmony with others. Living with these harmonies protects us from the dark side of ambition. Ambition that is rooted in the knowledge of and an understanding of the implications of being created in the image of God reminds us that God created us with a purpose. Living with a sense of purpose fuels ambition in a positive and healthy manner. The fact that we all have a drive to thrive is not the result of a sinful nature but is rooted in God’s sense of normal for us as human beings. God created us to thrive and out of that natural and normal drive to thrive ambition emerges.

A Christian worldview perspective also tells us about the dark side of ambition as well. Christian worldview is built on the scripture narrative of God, creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. God has created human beings as good and capable of accomplishing his purpose to steward his creation. However, scripture clearly teaches that human beings have been impacted by the fall and we wrestle with the ongoing results of that original fall in our lives. The fall brought about disharmony and introduced the dark side of conflict in our lives. The conflict ushers us into the dark side of ambition. The primary characteristic of the dark side of ambition is self-preservation. Adam and Eve demonstrated that by covering their nakedness with leaves, hiding when they heard God call and blaming behaviors when God confronts them. Their ambition was transformed from a normal means of thriving to an abnormal desire to survive.

What can we learn about ambition by thinking from a worldview perspective? First, it is not evil in and of itself. Ambition is a normal characteristic of our lives. God created us to thrive and ambition is the fuel which powers our drive to thrive. The fact is that we were created with an essence, a reason for being; which helps us understand why we seek to do well and feel good about what we accomplish. The second thing we learn is that ambition’s dark side is rooted in the disharmony created by the fall. Thriving is still possible despite our fallen condition. The fall does not mean we no longer possess the characteristics and drives that come from being created in the image of God. Rather, it helps us understand why surviving often trumps thriving. When we understand ambition in light of the scriptural narrative we have a means for developing strategies for living with the tension of the light and dark sides of ambition. This leads to a third thing we learn about ambition by thinking from a biblical worldview perspective. Balancing the need to survive with our desire to thrive is best accomplished when we see the importance of living in harmony with God as our first priority. When we seek to grow and thrive within that harmony afforded us by Christ’s redemption of our life and character then we have a secure place from which to manage our ambition. Our ambition is not rooted in our need to survive but it is a means for thriving as we live with a sense of purpose. Our purpose is rooted in the fact that we were created to be co-regents with God. God brought us into being because of his desire, with a plan and purpose that are congruent. The dark side of ambition is moderated by this understanding.

What needs to be done? Start by thinking reflectively about your understanding of the story of creation and how it informs you regarding leadership and ambition. Next, ponder the implications of the fall and the fact that you have been redeemed. Being redeemed means we can live normal lives in an abnormal world. Redemption means that we can understand the tensions we encounter and develop strategies that are consistent with God’s purpose and desire for our lives. Go ahead be ambitious. Go ahead and dream big dreams. Go ahead in the power of the purpose that God created you for and achieve big things!

Why You Think the Way You Do

I just finished reading a very interesting book by the title of Why You Think the Way You Do: the Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home. The author is Dr. Glenn S. Sunshine a professor of history at Central Connecticut University. He is also a Research Fellow at Acton Institute and a faculty member of the Centurions Program at Charles Colson’s Breakpoint, the worldview training ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries. You can get a more complete picture of his background on the cover of the book.

The basic premise and conclusion of his thorough analysis of worldview perspectives in western society is to demonstrate that “As Christianity’s influence on the western worldview has declined…since ideas have consequences, since worldviews inevitably shape culture and even their most extreme implications are eventually put into practice, it is no accident that people in our culture are acting more and more like the Roman” (p. 203). The journey through western worldviews begins with a look at the pluralism of Rome’s various religions and the idea of tolerance that was built into the various religious expressions. Sunshine provides a readable yet substantial enough description of paganism (worship of nature), the mystery religions (mystical experiences with the deities), and Neoplatonic religion (mystical union with the One). The point he makes is that the Roman religious scene was comfortable with this pluralism and were tolerant up to a point. The point at which their tolerance ended was with the rise of Christianity and its growth from a Jewish sect into a Jewish and Gentile religious expression. The Roman Empire lost its patience with Christianity because it violated its worldview perspective of tolerance for all religions. Christianity made a claim of exclusivity “The claim that Christianity is true and everything that contradicts it is false. As in society that makes tolerance its principal virtue, there were limits, and Christianity’s claims of exclusivity crossed them” (p. 41).

What follows next is a discussion of the transformation from pagan worldview to a Christian worldview (chapter 2). To Sunshine’s credit he shows that the transformation which begins in the 4^th century is continued through the medieval period. Chapters 4 and 5 demonstrate the development of a Christian worldview during this period and how these developments benefitted western society and provided the foundational ideas that would be embraced by those who would follow; though important elements of the worldview would be challenged. Chief among the ideas that would be challenged is epistemology (question of knowledge). Sunshine shows how the Renaissance, Reformation, and Pyrrhonism challenged the medieval epistemology and how a new epistemology rose during the modern period. Sunshine does a very good job of summarizing and providing some correctives to the science versus faith debate in chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 8 examines the challenges to the Christian medieval worldview from the perspective of the Enlightenment and the three revolutions of the period (Glorious Revolution, American, and French). Chapter 9 is a history of the modernist worldview and how western society moved from Deism to Materialism and the implications of the shift.

The most profound implication may be what Sunshine describes as the call of the irrational. Materialism raises a number of profound questions. Sunshine mentions the following:

• How do you explain art scientifically?

• How do you do a scientific analysis of love in such a way that does not make it meaningless?

• If the human brain is the product of random chance plus time working on the primordial soup, how can we imagine the brain is capable of understanding the world, or even giving us accurate information about it?

These questions lead to chapter 10 and the rise of postmodernism and its embracing of the irrational whether it be through deconstruction, the politicization of language, or the emergence of the new spirituality. Sunshine concludes chapter 10 with the following observation: “…in the union of postmodernism with the new spirituality, we have come full circle and returned to the worldview of ancient Rome” (p. 202).

Why should leaders read this book? First, it builds upon the understandings that many of us have gleaned from James Sire’s worldview catalog in the Universe Next Door. Sire provides a philosophical and systematical way to understand the various worldviews. What Sunshine’s book provides is a historical narrative that helps us see how the worldviews developing and some of the major implications that the development had upon economics, labor, marriage and family, and other concerns that leaders have. Chapter 11 entitled Trajectories gives the thoughtful leader much to think about. A second reason that I would urge leaders to read this book is that his analysis forces us to consider how we ought to think, as opposed to, going with the cultural flow of thought. If we understand the” current” of thought we can find ways to get out of the current and find ways to reflect on where it is taking us. Leaders cannot be swept away by the current of worldview thinking. Leaders need to be informed and then thoughtfully reflect on what they are receiving. Then and only then are leaders prepared to lead. Leadership by its very definition is not a go with the flow mentality. The current direction of worldview thinking is going to produce some discomforting realities for leaders who are Christian (chapter 11). We need to see where the rapids are so we can help navigate others through the whirlpools and dangerous drops.

Academics may be less than enthusiastic about this book. In eleven chapters it has only 60 footnotes. Academics may want more in this regard. However, I will stand behind my recommendation of this book because the careful reader will be forced to pause and think. I can think of no greater reason to read than to expand our thinking and open new ways of seeing and ultimately leading.