He doesn't know it, but Dan Allender has been such a leader to me as I have ventured forth into the uncharted waters of leading the conversation between men and women. I have loved his book, Leading with a Limp and have come back to it again and again.
I love his thirst and hunger for friendship in leadership even when it is such a challenge and friendship troth disappears:
"A good friend is not merely a person with whom you spend time or show concerns and support. A friendship involves a troth, or a pledge of fidelity...Friends make an oath of loyalty to live in truth and to honor, protect, and provide for each other...An honest heart acknowledges the insatiable human desire to be in union with others...Friendship continues to be one of the hardest and most painful aspects of being a leader. I have many friendships that have grown and thrived in thirty to forty years. On the other hand, during the years of living at Mars Hill Graduate School, I have lost many dear friends who, over time, have come to call me everything from a liar, betrayer, manipulator, and narcissist, to dog and thief....May I remain desperately longing for friemdships with any who truly desire to know and serve truth and who claim to be open to troth as the path for knowing, let alone living, the truth."
