Jesus directs disciples onto a boat to “cross to the other side.” They run into a difficulty, “A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat.” While “Jesus was in the stern, asleep” the disciples were afraid, “Do you not care that we are perishing.” Jesus woke up and said to the wind and sea, “Quiet! Be still!” “There was great calm.”
The turbulent blowing of the wind sets fear into the disciples. Jesus does not fear the wind and steps into it, into the difficulty, the risk. What is the manner of leadership that guides the average person to step into difficulty, into risk, and thus effect such social change? Numerous studies link leadership to personality types. For example, Carl Jung in his 1921, Psychological Types, distinguished between the introvert, “an inward turning of the psychic energy” who tends to relate via thinking, and the extrovert, an “outward turning” person who tends to relate via feeling. Jung’s theory is diagnosed through the Myers-Briggs personality test. But studies show no person is exclusively either an introvert or a extrovert and neither necessarily lead. Both may just as likely attend primarily to their own needs and not step into the wind of turbulent times. Another personality descriptor is the high-achieving, even over-achieving, Type A personality. It was first suggested by Andrew Goldsmith in the 1950’s. Type A personalities lead as organized, driven, high stress, rigid, perfectionist, and workaholic types. Both introverts and extroverts can fit the Type A personality. In Effortless, which bears similarities to his previous work, Essentialism, Greg McKeown is addressing the high-achieving Type A personality. In particular he does so when he advises readers to learn the “art of doing nothing” (l’arte di non fare nulla). Doing nothing is hard for the Type A personality. It means they are not in control. It may also mean, for them, that they are not leading. Is it possible that it is the Type A personality who leads others into difficulties or stirs up storms? Mr. McKeown has not advised the ‘art of doing with.’ That art is the art of communion and it has not always been acknowledged or operative in leadership, for example, by Type A personalities. We may be influenced to consider leadership as lone control over others instead of as communal power with others? Leadership of empowerment converts average people, introverts and extroverts, to effect social change. It leads introverts to step out of the shadows and into the storm. It leads extroverts to step out of the sunshine and into those same storms. Some do so under greater risk than others. Taking that risk socially can describe whistleblowers. Whistleblowers find themselves in a storm of social significance and they step into the wind. They face the challenge and take on the difficulty, the risk. It was difficult for government intelligence specialists Reality Winner (recently released after 3 years in prison), Brian Murphy, and Michael German to each step into the wind of this white supremacist Empire’s war against people of color. Their ascent within the U.S. Empire may have been due to their having a Type A personality. Their recent stepping into the storm being a departure from it. Their conversion is just beginning and may be temporary. Even so, it is worthwhile. They help us reckon with the U.S. Empire’s white supremacy. Some want to claim it is a past attribute. Others, like African American community leaders such as Rev. Michelle Higgins, Rev. William J. Barber, and Trillia Newbell know it is a core characteristic. Each, on a daily basis, deal with this Empire’s white supremacy as its own social level Type A personality; organized, driven, high stress, rigid, perfectionist, and workaholic. Each, also on a daily basis, step into the wind, into the difficulty, the risk that is white supremacy. Doing so takes more than personality – it takes character. It takes what is strong and deep in us to step into a storm and be a leader within a storm. Empowered people of character, together, step into adversity and change the world, becoming stronger each and every time. We shape the character of our era, of our society. We can do so now as there are many fascist personalities attempting to shape this ever-expanding fascist empire.
“Though scientists had prepped Biosphere 2 to reflect nature, wind was one part of nature they didn’t (or couldn’t) account for. One commentator stated, ‘the lack of wind created trees with much softer wood than that species would normally make in the wild. The trees grew more quickly than they did in the wild, but were harmed in the long run as a consequence.’” They did not have the fiber strengthened from growing into the wind. “Wind is necessary for creating strong trees!” (Mike Kim)
Prayer: Spirit, inspire us as empowering leaders, stepping into the storms of life.
Question: What is the substance of my character?
June 20, 2021 Gospel Mark 4:35-41 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time