Leading Together: Mindfulness and the Gender Neutral Zone

Diversity and equality are terms swamping social media news outlets and campuses these days. While the desire for diversity may be sincere it is also superficial. With genuine diversity there is a profusion of perspectives. Yet when ideas and arguments are limited to tweets forgotten to another fleeting proclamation any hope for reasoned reflection is lost. How do leaders keep up and effectively lead? Nicole Oliver Snyder describes how mindfulness and spiritual practices are both in the DNA of Christian tradition and are powerful to unite. Intentional time to consider divergent ideas makes space to recognize the ideas for what they are--and see their value in addition rather than contrary to ones own. Encountering limited traction due to the inherent reality of information overload in our super-connected daily experience makes applying these practices all the more imperative. This book describes research and a possible way for leaders to lead together collaboratively with equity and unbounded diversity. Here Dr. Snyder explores what it means to live Gods image as a leader drawing from scripture and theology neuroscience and the behavioral sciences. This book is academic and practical and the start of a discussion about what good and successful leadership might look like. I am convinced that wholeness and maturity will continue to elude the church until we at last take seriously the need to fully legitimize and activate the God-given agency of women alongside that of men. In Leading Together Nicole has made a brilliant case for real partnership and collegiality in the Body of Christ. Bring it on! --Alan Hirsch Author; Founder Forge Mission Training Network 100Movements and Future Travelers Dr. Snyders research offers a window into Christian leadership development that has not been assessed before now. Her research supports local church embodiment of true servant leadership which follows a Galatians 3:28 paradigm. --Virginia T. Holeman Professor of Counseling Asbury Theological Seminary Mindfulness has become an important but widely misunderstood concept. Nicole Oliver Snyder has served us well by giving definition and application to this trait and she shows how it can be used not just for self-awareness but for the common good. --Marshall Shelley Director Doctor of Ministry Program Denver Seminary Snyder calls us to a new leadership that breaks through the ceiling of stereotypical male and female roles to authentically lead together as our true selves and challenges us to model Trinitarian harmony in our communities. Her respectful and critical use of being connected by new technologies is matched by her invitation to learn how to be attentive to God ourselves and each other in a powerfully creative Christ-mindedness. --Keith Meyer Author of Whole Life Transformation Nicole S. Oliver Snyder is founder and senior pastor of just church an on-line and local community blending spiritual practices and action in the greater Chicago area. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and teacher with Advanced Certification in Formative Spirituality (Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality) and Ordained Elder (Free Methodist Church USA). Nicole lives in Aurora Illinois with her youth-pastor husband Howie and two youngest children (of four) Clark and Lysander.