Author: Max De Pree

Review by WELD Intern: Jim Conley

In "Leading Without Power", author Max De Pree distills a lifetime of leadership experience into an easy-to-read book that should be on every Extension Agent's bookshelf.  In less than 200 pages, De Pree cites numerous observations and illustrations that he's gathered in his role as leader of both non-profit and for-profit organizations.  His insight is canny, his views honest, his wisdom deep.  He jumps right in with his vision of leadership, built on the Biblical example of servanthood rather than power.  I found this vision particularly applicable to our roles in Cooperative Extension. 

His first chapter explores the concept of realized potential which he describes as open to change, to contrary opinion, to the mystery of potential, to involvement and to unsettling ideas.  He lists other characteristics of an organization of realized potential, for example: offering people the opportunity to learn and grow; offering the gift of challenging work; shedding obsolete baggage; encouraging people to decide what needs to be measured; heals people with trust, caring and forgetfulness; understands that organizations are social environments; and finally, organizations of realized potential celebrate!  These concepts are particularly applicable to Extension in today's world.

De Pree distinguishes between organizations and movements.  Organizations are simply a collection of people and assets, movements illustrate new ways of working together, set standards for effective function and enlightened contribution.  Movements understand that they create their future, not simply endure it.  How does an organization morph into a movement?  It requires spirit lifting leadership that enables, enriches, holds the organization accountable, and in the end lets go.  Movements are committed to substance over bureaucracy.  Movements suffer when common sense is hailed as innovation; when job descriptions replace expectations; when risky choices become diluted into no-risk decisions, when poets are terminated and bureaucrats promoted. 

Particularly applicable to Cooperative Extension is the chapter titled, "What Shall We Measure?"  For-profit organizations have a much easier job or measuring inputs and outputs, profits and losses.  Non-profit organizations have a more difficult task.  He suggests that it's easy to fall into the trap of measuring only what's easily measured.  Our real job is to figure out what's significant to the organization and find ways together of measuring what's significant.  He states that as organizations, we need to understand who we are, define and communicate a vision, and accept the vision.  Only then can we be true to a mission and begin a transition to a place of realized potential.

Leaders must be good communicators, but most communication is unconscious and unintentional.  Body language, intuition, presence, accessibility and behavior are all forms of communication that are unconscious and unintentional.  He used an illustration of a set of questions posed by a leader to ascertain whether the organization was moving toward realized potential.  These questions will serve any Extension Agent well, serving both our clientele and our respective Extension organizations, particularly in these times of turbulent change.  Here they are: Do you know the organization's mission?  Do you understand the supporting data regarding this mission and do you understand it as a compelling need to change?  Do you accept what we as an organization are embarked on?  Are you willing and able to change and to own your share of the problem?  What are you going to bring in terms of competence, commitment and contributions to this project? 

I found one statement in chapter six particularly interesting, and applicable to Cooperative Extension.  De Pree states that one of the most serious needs in any organization is to continually prepare for the future.  I'd suggest that in CE we celebrate our heritage to the point of being mired in the past.  If we can be faulted in any way, perhaps it is because we have neglected to prepare for the future.  That lesson strikes me as one of the most significant in this book.

De Pree speaks to vital organizations.  He describes them as exuding health, energy and enthusiasm.  Like vital people, they're full of hope and anticipation of things to come.  He speaks of the attributes of vital organizations, and states that these attributes move the organizations toward their realized potential as opposed to goals.  They allow people to realize their own potential.  Some of those attributes are truth, access, discipline, accountability, nourishment for persons, authenticity, justice, respect, hope, workable unity, tolerance, simplicity, beauty and taste, and fidelity to a mission.

A short chapter on vision is full of wisdom for organizations.  He states, "Organizations without vision remain mere organizations, surviving but not living, hitting temporary targets but not moving toward potential."  He also explains the difference between sight and vision.  With sight we see things as they are.  With vision we see things as they can be.

Leaders and followers both covet trust.  When trust permeates a group, great things are possible.  Trust must be cultivated, and continually earned.  Trust doesn't hold tenure.  Earning trust isn't easy, cheap or quick. 

De Pree put a new spin on risk, even poking fun at the way we speak of risk avoidance, spread the risk, risk management, etc.  For most of us, and most organizations, risk is a four-lettered word.  He suggests that by avoiding risk we really risk what's most important in life.......reaching toward growth and our true potential, both as individuals and organizations. 

Hope isn't typically included in the vocabulary of organizations.  Organizations plan and execute....where does hope fit?  Neither people nor organizations can live without hope and remain healthy.  De Pree argues that of the many attributes of non-profits, particularly, hope is the most fleeting, the most fragile.  Non-profits, more than any other organizations, build hope, restore hope, and exemplify hope.  I found this concept of special significance for CE.

The author discusses the legacy or organizations.  He believes that realizing our potential, either individually or collectively, requires us to think purposefully about the legacy which we leave behind. 

De Pree closes with a chapter on moral purpose that is particularly descriptive of CE.  He says that moral purpose causes people to reach outward to serve others and inward toward their own potential.  This should be our individual and organizational goal. 

I found De Pree's book very worthwhile reading.  Every chapter was thought-provoking.  His ideas are very applicable to anybody working in Cooperative Extension.  He admonishes us to not focus simply on goal achievement, asset management or quantifiable growth.  Rather he suggests that our society needs organizations and people that move relentlessly toward realizing their potential.  His practical wisdom, logic, wealth of examples and encouragement can serve us well as we seek to move toward that goal.