A good friend and colleague of mine, Jay Gary presented an excellent paper on the role of forgiveness in leadership at the recent "Bridging Sunday and Monday" Conference in Seattle. Here is an abstract of the paper:"A recent leadership survey found that ‘mending relationships’ was considered a vital skill of effective leadership, rising above three skills previously ranked highest: individual resourcefulness, decisiveness and doing what it takes. Can workplace forgiveness help mend relationships that have once been breached? What leadership theories view forgiveness as central to their theories? How do Christ-centered leaders embed a culture of forgiveness, especially in publicly held companies where religious and non-religious employees work side by side? This chapter examines how Christian leaders can draw upon the power of forgiveness to counter workplace dehumanization. It unfolds under five topics: (a) the construct of forgiveness (b) the leadership traditions that encompass forgiveness, (c) the developmental nature of forgiveness, (d) the research and measurements of forgiveness, and (e) how leaders can use interventions to cultivate an organizational culture of forgiveness."
Jay's paper make a significant contribution to our common quest to explore what an authentic Christian and compassionate approach to leadership could look like. His website can be seen at: http://www.jaygary.com/
