Nehemiah on Leadership: I Can't Come Down

By: Shelley M. Fisher Ph.D

Narrated by: Kyle Tait, Erica Hogan

Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In a time when leadership seems to be in the throes of despair, Nehemiah’s leadership journey is refreshing. At the onset of the book that bears his name he is serving, exemplary leaders serve. The audiobook depicts the ethical dimensions of leadership, as Nehemiah shows compassion for the plight of his people because the walls were down, putting them in imminent danger. We learn that effective leaders do not compromise their values, and they confront improprieties both within and outside of the organization.

Nehemiah displayed many attributes of an effective leader - risk-taker, for example. The law of the land forbade a person from going before the king with a sad countenance; however, Nehemiah, the risk-taker, prayed and received favor from the king despite his sad countenance. In surmounting the challenge of rebuilding the walls, he demonstrates the role of the administrator by:

• Praying;
• Planning;
• Goal-setting and strategizing;
• Using excellent communication skills;
• Team building; and
• Mediating conflict.

Nehemiah demonstrates how to deal with conflict. Since conflict is inevitable, it is important for leaders to know how to resolve it. Nehemiah on Leadership: I Can't Come Down displays Nehemiah’s focus and perseverance on the task.

He shows how to structure tasks with diverse groups - mayors, priests, people of all backgrounds, including women - worked collectively to accomplish the completion of the walls in 52 days.

The ageless principles of leadership comingle with contemporary organizational theory. Albert Bandura highlights agency, self-efficacy, collective and leadership efficacy as key factors in motivation. Organizational theorists view leaders today through the five lenses of motivation, communication, politics, structure, and design.

Finally, the listener is challenged to become proactive in his own community by participation, persuasion, and prayer. The concept of positive deviance is suggested as viable for solving problems in neighborhoods. It is a misnomer to think in terms of sacred and secular, for God is creator of everything.

©2019 Christian Faith Publishing, Inc (P)2019 Shelley M. Fisher PhD

Leadership

Good introduction to leadership. Easy to understand. It was written as a scholarly journal article.

High Level Leadership Instruction

The Good: This audiobook has a lot of high-level instruction on leadership backed up both by examples from Nehemiah and copious references to documented research. Covers a great many aspects of leadership, including in a faith-based environment and from a faith-based perspective.

The Bad: The book listens like an audiobook of a college research paper or textbook. The languauge uses high-level vocabulary and makes constant citations to published research and books (the citations are not summarized at the end nor is a PDF of the citations included on Audible).

Overall: A good book which covers a lot of what goes into effective leadership, but not for the average reader/listener looking for a plain-language instructional on improving personal leadership.

Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook and have voluntarily left this review.