Book Response

Leman, Kevin, and William Pentak. The Way of the Shepherd: 7 Ancient Secrets to Managing

Productive People. Kentwood, MI: Zondervan, 2009.

Josías Ortiz González

PRS6520.HYBR: The Pastor and the Preaching Ministry

October 3, 2021
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Summary

The Way of the Shepherd: 7 Ancient Secrets to Managing Productive People is a book

written by Kevin Leman and Bill Pentak; both speakers, writers, and business consultants. In

this story, the writers take the reader into an interesting narrative that portraits the way by

which a leader can lead those who are under his responsibility. Throughout the story, the

authors intend to extract leadership principles from the Bible, specifically from the image of a

shepherd, and apply them to the corporate world. The way that they do it is through a story of

a young journalist that interviews a well-known CEO to understand the success of his company

and how was he able to achieve it.

The principles or secrets to get the success of the company of the story (General

Technologies) are known as the way of the shepherd, and the authors compare how a good

shepherd takes care and lead his flock extrapolating them to the environment of a company,

specifically to a department that the main character (Theodore McBride) should implement in

his new position as a “Manager in the finance department.” (p.16), he’ll be in charge of nine

people, and he does not know “Where to begin.” (p.17), on that particular moment McBride

decides to get in touch with his MBA professor, Dr. Jack Newman, and they commit to meet

weekly so that Dr. Newman can teach McBride “The secrets of managing people.” (p.17)

The seven secrets are: Know the condition of your stock, discover the shape of your sheep,

help your sheep identify you, make your pasture a safe place, the staff of direction, the rod of

correction, and, finally, the heart of the shepherd. The book covers each of these principles

through an interesting narrative where Mr. McBride tells the reporter of how his mentor taught

him the principles.

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Key Principles of the Book

There are two key principles in the book. The first one is the value of trust, and the second,

the value of relationships. Throughout the entire narrative, the authors make much emphasis on

how the leader needs to the trustworthy to his sheep. The analogy he takes to present the principle

of trust is the way a sheep behaves. As an animal, the sheep can be seen as not skilled nor the

cleverest of the animal kingdom; however, because of its vulnerability, and fragility to the

predators, its most valuable asset is trust. If there is no trust for the sheep, then that sheep would

be in a constant state of distress due to all the threats it can be found in the wilderness. Taking the

trust factor into consideration, then the only way to follow a shepherd is if he is trustworthy and

can lead them to the green pastures. The reason for the trust is because “The flock must be free

from fear.” (p.56) and it is the responsibility of the shepherd to “Eliminate uncertainty.” (p.57) and

the only way to accomplish this is by being trustworthy. Therefore, a true leader can be trusted by

those he leads.

The second key principle is the value of the relationship. Dr. Newman makes centers his attention

on the value of getting to know each member of the team as an individual because each person

who responds to the leader will want the leader to treat him or her not as an employee or a statistic,

but as an individual. (p.25) so then he, as a leader, can see the results of these connections to his

sheep. To achieve good relationships, the advice is to get to know each of the sheep individually,

showing interest in their lives, and caring for them. Letting them know that their lives are important

to the shepherd and that he will do, all that is necessary to keep them safe and sound in a world

full of threats.
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Critique

The way of the Shepherd is a very interesting book about how to manage a team. The main

strength of the book is that it catches the attention of the reader because it is easy to read and,

dynamically, can provide some practical guidelines to whoever is in the position of leadership.

Each of the principles targets the relationship between the leader and the one who is lead; making

a great emphasis on the responsibility of the leader of making everything function according to

what is planned within the work environment. The authors do provide good arguments for the

principles, based on the fact that trust is the main asset of a leader, because “The mark of a great

leader is trust.” (p.48) and the only way to do it is by approaching each one of the team individually;

for this, the authors argue that is not possible to make a mark on the people unless the leader gets

“Close and personal.” (p.49) Therefore it is the responsibility of the leader to engage with his

subordinates to get the best results.

This book is in the same line of argument as The Servant written by James C. Hunter, where

the author uses a narrative to tell leadership principles extracted from the Bible as well, however,

neither can be defined as religious books. In that regard, the main weakness of the book is the way

that those principles can be executed, the reason this weakness is that the author handles the

department as a detached part from the company as a whole, in other words, it does not take into

consideration the vision and mission of the company.

I disagree with the way it uses the principles of the Bible without referring to the Bible as

the source of those principles, and how those principles are extracted out of context, eliminating

the meaning of the Gospel that they represent.

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Application

In chapter 7 the authors center their attention on the heart of the shepherd or leader, making

a great emphasis that shepherding should be taken as a lifestyle they argue that “The way of the

shepherd is a lifestyle of leadership that places great value on the worth of the flock.” (p.99) in

other words, shepherding is not a switch to turn on or off, it is something that is embedded in the

life of the leader. Applying it to my future ministry means that I am a pastor in church and out of

the church. It is a high price but “Those who do it well, do so because they are willing to pay the

price.” (p.99) and the great example for that is Jesus himself “Who, though he was in the form of

God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the

form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled

himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2: 6-8)

Conclusion

The way of the shepherd is a great resource for managing people, knowing that it all comes

down to relationships and those are to be built on trust. This book accomplishes the goal of

providing tools to assemble teams and leading them successfully. Regarding this matter, the

authors end the book stating, “What distinguishes a great leader from a mediocre one is that a great

leader has a heart for his people.” (p.100) in other words, it is the willingness of the leader that can

make the difference in the success of a team.

This provides great information about the relations in the church regarding the time a pastor

must invest in his flock, building significant relationships for the glory of the Gospel; and I would

use this book as an illustration for Jesus as the one who sacrificed all for the flock, and we as His

under-shepherds should follow His example.