Editor’s note: Eli Spector is the Jr/Sr High Principal at FRCS.
A Book Review & Recommendation
Canoeing the Mountains
To Captain Meriwether Lewis.
The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, & such principal stream of it, as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean … may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce.
-Thomas Jefferson in a Letter to Meriwether Lewis dated June 20, 1803
This week, a parent gave me a book because he knew I would be interested in the topic (it’s all about Rembrandt and the intersection of art and faith – it’s just a fascinating book). This was such a kind gesture, and it was really meaningful to me. It made me realize that I wanted to use this post to make a book recommendation.
I like the idea of letting the community know what I am reading and what authors have been influential in my thinking. It might be true that the book I reference below could be an applicable and valuable resource in many of your own circles, and I have certainly benefited from the individual who was kind enough to introduce me to this author and thinker. Tod Bolsinger is a teacher and leader at Fuller Theological Seminary, and he specifically works with developing leaders in churches and other Christian ministries. He has several books that have influenced me, but Canoeing the Mountains was the first one that I read. In this book, he uses the story of Lewis & Clark to capture the type of resistance and obstacles that leaders commonly face.
Lewis & Clark were genuinely skilled explorers. They were adept and well versed at charting and navigating waterways, and as they embarked on their mission to move westward, they were well prepared to find a waterway that brought them all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They were not prepared to find the Rocky Mountains. As they came face-to-face with the harsh reality that they would need to trade their canoes for mountaineering equipment, learn how to navigate our 14-ers, and embark on an entirely different type of exploration, they faced what many in leadership contend with: resistance.
To be clear, the Rocky Mountains did not pose the most difficult or devastating resistance to Lewis & Clark’s expedition. The Rockies were just the beginning of what would turn into a grand adventure. The real resistance came from within their own crew. Those who followed Lewis & Clark followed them as river explorers, at least initially, and learning to follow them as mountaineer guides required a wholly different level of trust—which some were unwilling to give.
This is my fifth year as the JRSR Principal at FRCS, and as I moved from the classroom into administration, I think I have felt some of the very things that Bolsinger specifically addresses. He argues that leaders are typically ready to adapt to external resistance and challenges, but we rarely see internal resistance coming—and it is often much more devastating. Good leaders must be equally willing to adapt to the different and changing needs of their own people from within their own communities. They must be intentional about creating platforms to continually do work alongside others, and they cannot make assumptions that since trust was once given or established that it still remains.
Canoeing the Mountains is truly a worthwhile read. It is a book about leadership and culture, written from a perspective that is steeped in Christian theology and hope, and it highlights the types of problems that our Church leaders (and maybe school leaders) face on a regular basis. I highly recommend it as a read for anyone who is interested in becoming a better leader.
If you have a book recommendation that you would like to pass my way, then please email me at espector@frcs.org (or just bring me a book!). I love to read, and I am always just waiting to find the next great author to add to my collection.
