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Torry Sheppard. Harney, Kevin. Leadership From The Inside

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Torry Sheppard
Harney, Kevin. Leadership from the Inside Out. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
HARNEY BOOK REVIEW In Kevin Harney’s book, Leadership from the Inside Out, Harney discusses some foundational qualities that are essential to a leader. Many of these qualities are things that must be worked on internally before external results are noticeable. While Harney does provide some pragmatic examples of ways to implement such leadership qualities, each chapter begins with a brief survey designed to lead the reader into self-evaluation. For the purposes of this paper, I will explore and evaluate three of Harney’s topics: a leader’s mind, a leader’s mouth, and a leader’s libido.
A Leader’s Mind In this chapter, Harney discusses the …show more content…

This is not easy for many leaders because many leaders tend to be prideful; however, there is something that can be learned from everyone, even people you disagree with. Surround yourself with people who have something to offer and soak in what you can. It is ok not to have all the answers.
A Leader’s Mouth
This chapter is dedicated to creating a culture of blessing and affirmation in one’s church or organization. Throughout this chapter, Harney gives plenty of examples as to how he created such a culture at Corinth Church, the church where he served as the long-time pastor. By creating a culture of honesty and blessing, the staff at Corinth was not only able to work well together, but the church seemed more alive to the staff and congregation.
Some of the practical ways that Harney helped create such an environment was by asking an artist to create four generic cards to be used for passing notes of blessing (p. 101). This written encouragement meant more to the staff and members than anyone would ever realize. Furthermore, Harney himself would take a card and bless 3 people each day. The staff loved it.
Harney also writes about the importance of preventing a toxic environment. Gossip, will kill unity and life in a church fast, and it should be treated seriously. At Harney’s church they implemented a process for handling dispute in the church, and they pulled it straight from scripture (p. 107). The first step is to handle the issue one on one with the

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