Christian wisdom is nurtured over the course of time in institutions that act as bearers of tradition, laboratories for learning and incubators of leadership. The practice of thinking institutionally requires Christian leaders to embody Christian virtues and to focus attention on the larger purposes of an institution.

Our resources, while not exhaustive, will allow you to explore this topic more fully. The foundational resources are important for the development of consequential leaders. The formational resources are of a different sort. These are meant to spark your imagination by introducing you to stories and ideas that have surprising insight into the practice of Christian leadership.

Foundational Resources

• On Thinking Institutionally by Hugh Heclo – A political scientist looks at our need for institutions to shape and form us and calls us to think institutionally, which requires an interpretive standpoint of affirmation and trust rather than thinking “about” institutions as an observer or critic (For further reflection, read a column by L. Gregory Jones.)
• The Price of a Dream by David Bornstein – The story of Muhammad Yunus’s creation of the Grameen Bank and its microloan strategy provides a model for thinking about how to create and maintain accountability and initiative
• The Substance of Things Hoped For by Samuel Proctor – A memoir of Samuel Proctor, minister of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and leader of several significant institutions
• Freedom's Prophet by Richard Newman – A biography of Richard Allen, the founder of the AME church, who began his life as a slave but after his conversion to Christianity and gaining his freedom became the leader of one of the nation’s most influential black organizations. (For further reflection, see Richard Newman’s column Seizing the moment.)

Formational Resources

• Going to Extremes: How Like Minds United and Divide by Cass R. Sunstein - A Harvard law professor explores the phenomenon of group polarization, or the tendency of people to move to extremes when they find themselves in groups of like-minded people. (For further reflection, see L. Gregory Jones’ column Leading toward the “extreme center.”)
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – Seeks to answer why some succeed when most fail while recounting how communities form individuals. (For further reflection, see L. Gregory Jones’ talk The practice of asking questions.)
• Wellsprings of Knowledge by Dorothy Leonard – Helps leaders understand how organizations cultivate and transfer innovation. Also consider Deep Smarts and When Sparks Fly