How to Kill a Movement

Sam Metcalf at UnderTheIceberg posted the following list on How To Kill a Movement:

1. Require education for the leadership

2. Demand conformity of methodology

3. Refuse to provide administrative help and let it suffocate under it’s own weight

4. Get spooked by supernatural phenomena outside your paradigm

5. Make no room for younger, less experienced leadership

6. Be obsessed by theological purity

7. Put the safety of the people involved as a higher priority than sacrifice

8. Centralize the funding

9. Punish out-of-the box thinking

10. Manage it by goals and strategic plans

11. Reward faithfulness rather than entrepreneurial ability

12. Get tied to property and buildings

13. Let your critics define you

14. Be threatened by giftedness that’s not like you

15. Create an endowment

16. Treat creativity as heresy

17. Refuse to exercise discipline for the right things

18. Make sure you are related to existing institutions for credibility

19. Promote on the basis of seniority and longevity

20. Insist that decisions be based on policy instead of values

21. Make nurture and conservation of gains a focus

22. Don’t be intentional about leadership selection

23. Be risk adverse under the guise of stewarding your people

24. Justify your reluctance to raise money

25. Have a big need for approval and affirmation

Above all else, control it, if God forbid, he actually shows up!

2 responses to “How to Kill a Movement”

  1. Justin Powell Avatar

    This is a great list and gives me some great things to think about. I hope it’s ok that I copied it on my blog! (if not, let me know and I’ll take it down.) Thanks!

  2. Tomas Avatar

    Hi. Nice list. As not being native english reader I do not exactly understand point 18. What does that mean? My opinion is that not being related to a well known institution makes you suspicious in my eyes. Well, unless you have earned you a good reputation by yourself.

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