Leader Like No Other by Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC

During four years of doctoral studies, we read textbooks packed with theories and models of leadership, studied scholarly articles on every conceivable contour of management, scoured websites and videos to learn the insights of effective leaders, and applied all that in papers and practice. I loved it! There were so many fascinating lessons and so much to apply to real life. We were open to learning from all teachers: generals or rank-and-file soldiers, business tycoons, elected officials, founders, civil rights leaders, and even off-the-wall religious practitioners.

Yet as my studies came to their culmination, I couldn’t shake a nagging sense that we were missing something. Or someone. We’d covered every industry, every leadership paradigm, and most time periods. What was missing?

And then it dawned on me. Not once had we examined Jesus Christ. Not even a mention. This man drew mass crowds before the advent of modern media or transportation; he riled up authority and power brokers of his age; he inspired a host of followers ready to die for him; he’s had more written about him than anyone else in history; and he achieved even more after his earthly life than during it by unleashing a religious movement unparalleled in world events. And we’d ignored him. Though I had followed him with the entirety of my life as a missionary Catholic priest, even I had glossed over him during doctoral studies due to a gaping blind spot in leadership literature. In modern academia he has become a taboo which scholars are afraid to mention, lest they be written off. Jesus has been ignored, forgotten, and excised from the company of modern leadership research.

This strange blind spot of academics sparked my curiosity. These leadership paradigms were created apart from him, but what insight could he give into them? And even more importantly, how would he stack up against these leadership models?

Hence was born the idea for this book: Using leadership paradigms developed devoid of religion and apart from Jesus, we’ll better appreciate how distinctive and remarkable a leader he is. In the pages ahead, we’ll explore how Jesus Christ measures up to modern secular scholarship on effective leaders.

Our expedition will travel through three levels, like scaling a mountain. In part one, at base camp, we’ll get equipped to understand notions of leadership and get a sense of the trek ahead. In part two, we’ll climb through ten formulations of leadership, examining them all from the summit, Jesus Christ. In part three, we’ll bring the mountaintop vision back down to the fields of application in our own lives in the 21st century.

This book is intended for three types of climbers. First, it can be utilized by individuals interested in honing their understanding and practice of leadership. Second, it also holds interest for those pursuing a deeper understanding of the unique leadership of Jesus Christ.1 Finally, this book could serve as a resource or textbook for students in college courses on leadership.

Gear up! We’ve got a great climb ahead.