meeting greatness

In just a few hours, I will be picking up and meeting for the first time Dr. Robert Louis Wilken, a 1955 graduate of Concordia who will serve as our fall commencement speaker tomorrow morning.  Dr. Wilken is a world-renown expert in the discipline of patristics, the study of early church history and the early church fathers.  His most important work is the book The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity published by Yale University Press in 2012 and already translated into several different languages and used in colleges, seminaries, and universities across the world. After having read his book over the past several weeks I am more than ecstatic to meet him in a few hours and begin the process of asking questions and learning from him.

So let me be clear - this is not a blog about Dr. Wilken, or early church history, or even my upcoming meeting with him.  It is about what it means for leaders to brush shoulders with those who are considered to be the best in their fields and what they might be able to learn as they engage with these experts.  Serving in a leadership role makes multiple demands on people - they are engaged with strategy; they are engaged with financial health; they are engaged with multiple publics and entities demanding of their time; and they are engaged with people.  This is why I believe that leaders should consistently be putting themselves in contact with those who are considered to be great...people who are considered to be experts...people who are recognized as world-renown...and people who are a whole lot smarter than themselves.

What do I hope to learn today as I interact with Dr. Wilken?  And what might other leaders learn from those they meet who are considered to be great?  Here are a few of my ideas on this Friday morning:

• new ideas...great people are often deep thinkers who are constantly testing out new ideas with others.  Whether those ideas and thoughts are directly related to my field or discipline does not matter; their thinking will get leaders thinking and new ideas will start to flow
• a different frame through which to think...Dr. Wilken is a historian and theologian, so his frame of thinking will be different than mine.  Having a new frame through which to view issues just might give me some new insights into current problems
• new questions to consider...great people, being deep thinkers, are always asking questions and their questions might easily be translated into similar questions leaders should be asking about their own organizations.  
• a little more knowledge...experts love to talk about their discipline and their field of study, and I plan to know more about the early church than I currently do after spending time with Dr. Wilken.  That knowledge may or may not prove helpful to my vocation as a leader...it will increase my knowledge of a part of history which is not currently fleshed out in my mind
• a greater appreciation for greatness...in their roles leaders have to wear many hats and spread themselves thin.  Those who study a discipline deeply and over time become very knowledgeable and are great in their field of study.  That greatness is and should be recognized by everyone, something of which I am in awe
• how to lead better...the wisdom, the maturity, and the experience of Dr. Wilken will give me insight into how I might think and behave differently.  Those who are considered to be great bring that wisdom, maturity, and experience to everything they do. By merely watching him over the next two days, I hope to learn from him just by being present

One of the roles of leadership is to be a constant learner, getting better and better in our leading over time.  One way to learn is to hang our with people who are considered to be "great."  Which great person will you be meeting with over the next month or so?