John Townsend - Leading from Your Gut: How You Can Succeed by Harnessing the Power of Your Values, Feelings, and Intuition

CONTENTS

In Leading from Your Gut, John Townsend builds on the vital leadership ingredients of smarts and vision and the ability to motivate others with the more intangible quality of gut, which is essential to actually accomplishing change that lasts. Hands down, my new favorite leadership book.

Elisa Morgan, MDiv, speaker; author,The Beauty of Broken, ThePrayer Coin; cohost, Discoverthe Word, www.discovertheword.org; President Emerita, MOPS International, www.mops.org

I meanhonestlyreading what Dr. Townsend writes gives you a totally unfair advantage over everyone else. In Leading from Your Gut, Dr. Townsendonce againhelps us optimize our lives for personal and professional success. Read this one, now, and all of it because you need it.

Johnnie Moore, founder, The KAIROS Company; recipient of the Medal of Valor, Simon Wiesenthal Center

John takes the leader to a new level of performance by demonstrating there is more to leadership than traditional thinking would suggest. Johns principles take you to your logic and your gut, and they work; apply them, and you will become a more impactful and fulfilled leader.

Greg Campbell, former executive vice president, Coldwell Banker

Learning what motivates your leadership decisions from your gut will help you make the good ones and, just as important, avoid the bad ones. This book is an intriguing and thought-provoking analysis of effective leadership.

Gary Daichendt, former executive vice president for worldwide operations, Cisco Systems

Just another leadership book? Not hardly! John Townsend challenges us to look beyond the usual sources as we develop leadership skill. Describing the key tools in producing exceptional leaders, John presents a compelling case for going beyond reason to acquire all the essential components of a good leader. His thorough assessment of the importance of values, thoughts, emotions, relationships, and transformation is productive and thought provoking. Why would we settle for anything less than a complete toolbox?

Bill Yingling, former chairman and CEO, Thrifty Corp.

Dr. John Townsends new book, Leading from Your Gut, debuts at the perfect moment, amidst the bedlam of our turbulent times. It presents a magnificent challenge to both seasoned and aspiring leaders to approach leadership from a fresh and redemptive perspective, pivoting on the too long glossed over intangiblesvalues, thoughts, emotions, and relationships.

Allan O. Hunter Jr., cofounder, Rent.com

John reminds us we are in the people business. Many in leadership roles tend to ignore their emotions or assume their influence is negative and a threat to their effectiveness. John presents a compelling case for learning to recognize, integrate, and leverage our emotions for greater leadership results.

Fred Gladney, owner, Trinity Consulting; and former director and general manager of services, Compaq

Other Books by Dr. John Townsend

Boundaries

The Entitlement Cure

Whos Pushing Your Buttons?

Handling Difficult People

How to Have that Difficult Conversation Youve Been Avoiding

ZONDERVAN

Leading from Your Gut

Copyright 2018 by John Townsend

A completely revised edition of Leadership Beyond Reason

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition May 2018 9780310350125

ISBN 978-0-310-35011-8 (softcover)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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All names, places, and circumstances have been changed or partly fictionalized to protect privacy.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, www.yates2.com.

Art direction: Curt Diepenhorst

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

First printing April 2018/Printed in the United States of America

To my parents John and Rebecca Townsend, who both

passed away during the writing of this book. There is

no way to thank you enough for the many years of love,

nurturance, and development you built into my life;

and

To everyone who aspires to be the best possible leader.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T hanks to the following people who helped, in many ways, to bring about this book:

Sealy Yates and Mike Salisbury, my literary agents: You helped create the big picture of a leadership book that dealt with the internal world and partnered with me in its formation. Thanks for your help in pushing the envelope.

David Morris, vice president and publisher for Zondervan: I have so appreciated your can do spirit and all your negotiating efforts in helping this new book become a Zondervan product.

Sandy Vander Zicht and Christine Anderson, editors for Zondervan: Thanks for being partners in the process of crafting and honing this book to be engaging and helpful.

The team heading up the Townsend Leadership Group: Karen Bergstrom, Dennis Del Valle, Pamela Flores, Christine Ledet, Elaine Morris, Leah Nelson, and Patrick Sells, including each of the directors, consultants, and coaches, as well as the current and alum members of TLP. Thanks so much for your character and competencies in what you do as leaders worldwide.

Scott Makin, Doug Grove, the faculty, fellows, team, and all of the students and alums at the Townsend Institute for Leadership and Counseling: You are all so inspirational in your consuming quest for holistic excellence.

Maureen Price, executive director of Growth Skills Foundation, and her team, Jodi Coker, Lisa Leets, and the workshop facilitators: You continually shepherd and improve the workshops in ways that create growth and change for so many leaders.

Dr. Henry Cloud: It has been a great experience conceptualizing and working on the issues of leadership and the psychological world. Thank you for who you are as a person and as a friend.

Christine Ames and Vanessa Sedano, my assistants: Thanks for keeping me as organized as much as I will allow it .

The Tuesday mens group: for being there with and for me for all these years.

My advisory board: for providing many hours of high-level grace and truth to keep me focused and targeted on the goals.

My clients and friends in leadership who have provided so many case studies of how to Lead from Your Gut: what examples you are of how to do it right!