Leadership and Emotional Sabotage by Joe Rigney

 I started Leadership and Emotional Sabotage about a year ago. I made it about half way through, and was really loving it, but got side-tracked with life. I picked it back up and finished it a couple of days ago. Like in his other book, The Sin of Empathy, Rigney is hitting on an important element of leadership in today's world, because, as he says, "Your home, your church, and this world need leaders who are mature and sober-minded, filled with gravity and gladness, and grounded in the glory of Jesus."  ... meaning that leadership is needed, not just in political positions and church pulpits, but in our homes. And since these leaders need to be "...steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord..." (I Cor. 15:58), they need to not only be grounded in something that is steadfast and immovable, but they also need to be aware of those things that tend to move people off of the steadfast and immovable... and that is what this book is about. 

I found it to be very helpful personally. I am a leader in more than one sphere of life. I don't always want those roles, but so say all who experience times like these. My leadership has failed on more than one occasion... failed miserably. A few of those times of leadership failure, they might have even been due to the mentioned "Emotional Sabotage" this book is referencing. I have also seen leaders completely succumb to this same thing, and it has made shipwreck their faith. I wonder about the desire to have learned things earlier in my life, but God is sovereign over all, so I don't dwell there too long, I simply thank Him for learned truth when I do encounter it. 

I won't attempt to summarize what is going on in this book, but I will say that you don't need to be a leader to read it. In fact, I would encourage you, even if you don't see yourself as a leader in anything, to read this book. Read it to be a leader, if the opportunity were to ever arise. Read it to assist your leaders. Read it to be ready to lead in whatever area is presented to you. And read it to help yourself identify a leader to follow. 

Leadership and Emotional Sabotage

The Sin of Empathy by Joe Rigney

 I had seen the recommendations and the numerous posts about The Sin of Empathy by Joe Rigney. A few years ago (well before the book) I watched the Man Rampant episode with Joe Rigney titled The Sin of Empathy and found it to be very interesting. Well, I finally read this book. I started it two days ago and finished the last chapter this morning. 

The Sin of Empathy: 
Compassion and its Counterfeits
by Joe Rigney

Something that might be helpful for consideration of this book, might be an excerpt from an appendix at the end of the book. The author is addressing one of the criticisms regarding the title of the book. He says, 

... numbering empathy among the other passions may be clarifying. An article on "the sin of anger" or "the sin of sexual desire" or even "the sin of loyalty" is comprehensible to many, even though we all know that not all anger or sexual desire or loyalty are sinful (the same would be true for fear, anxiety, and grief).  In each case, we naturally understand the phrase "the sin of anger" to mean "sinful anger," and we would need to actually read the article to determine whether there were clear definitions and proper distinctions made. 

The issue with "the sin of empathy" is that few people in the modern world can imagine empathy being sinful or negative. It is an incorruptible virtue, and thus ... questioning its value is considered irreverent, if not sacrilegious. But it's precisely empathy's inviolable status that makes it such a powerful mask for corruption.

There are two types of books that really grab my attention. One of them is a book that is introducing ideas that are almost foreign to me: things I hadn't thought about before. The other type is the one that puts constructed sentences to realities I've experienced. That is precisely what this book did. It offered a clarity to my own lived reality... things I've done, said, and watched happen. About halfway through this book I found myself thinking, "I wish every pastor I know would read this book."

So... If you are a Pastor, I am recommending that you read this book. If I were famous, that might mean more to some, but I am hoping that if you know me at all that you might give me the benefit of the doubt and grab a copy of this and give it a wholehearted consideration as you read it.