Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Lead Like Jesus -
"Blessings for Leaders offers profound spiritual inspiration for every aspect of leadership. With thoughtful and encouraging examples of how the teachings of Jesus can be applied in any workplace, Dr. Dan Ebener has given a gift to leaders everywhere."
In Blessings for Leaders, Dan Ebener skillfully weaves an understanding of one of the most powerful and familiar Bible passages with insights drawn from his experience developing faith-filled leaders in churches and ministry organizations. Ebener reflects on how the paradoxes of leadership can be understood from a careful reflection on the Beatitudes: It takes wisdom, empathy, humility, justice, mercy, service, peace and courage to lead as a Christian.
Each chapter begins with Scripture, reflects on the inward journey of leadership through the virtues associated with each Beatitude, and suggests how that might be extended outward in the challenges of leadership, such as mission, vision, core values, followership, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, communication and listening, team-building, meeting facilitation, innovation and dealing with change.
Straight-forward, easy-to-read, and filled with illuminating stories, this book is ideal for individuals in search of greater insight or groups journeying to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ vision for leadership.
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Supplemental Material
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Reviews
“Dan Ebener has been a truly vital and prophetic Christian leader for the community of faith. In my experience, Dan is one of the best Christian activists in the country. In Blessings for Leaders, he examines what it means to be a leader through the lens of The Beatitudes, encouraging each of us to live into the invitation that Jesus has offered us: follow me and be my disciples. This is a book for anyone interested in learning more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple, and an apostle.”
- Jim Wallis, Sojourners
“This is exactly the type of book that I highly recommend. It provides insights into the Gospel, inspiring stories, practical advice and specific examples of how to apply the Beatitudes to leadership. In Blessings for Leaders, Dan Ebener brings over 40 years of leadership and management experience and draws from the Beatitudes as a source of wisdom for leaders in any type of profession or business. As Dan points out, the Beatitudes of Jesus are indeed blessings for leaders. They provide incredible insight into Christian life and leadership.”
- Most Rev. Martin Amos, Bishop of Davenport
"I enjoyed reading your book and I think the world would be a better place, if people would act on the basis of the virtues. We can only hope that more and more people adapt the approach of servant leadership."
- Katherina Schaal, MBA student, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
"Our Bible Study at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Long Beach, California spent many deeply fulfilling weeks studying your book. Your examination of the Beatitudes was always instructive, unique, bold, and thought provoking. You provided us with so many worthy examples of evidentiary material exploring the ways in which business people of faith are utilizing Christ’ most profound text to improve the world by offering greater trust and transparency in all transactions and better products and services in the world. Your book turned out to be just that for our small but diverse study group. Our group, which includes retired teachers, workers, business people and a former international corporate vice-president, was able to open-up and really set to know each other in ways we had never thought possible. Many thanks, Dr. Ebener for a truly inspirational work. "
- Jacquelyn Nicholson