The strongest argument Nancy Beach makes in her book, Gifted to lead (Zondervan, 2008), is if God has given you the gift of leadership, He expects you to use it – regardless of your gender, race, or age. When God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost, He made no distinction between male and female, young and old, servant and free (Acts 2:17-18). Therefore neither should we. God didn’t make a mistake when He gave women the gift of leadership.
Much of the material in Nancy’s book, she covered at the Gifted to lead conference which I attended in Adelaide at the end of May. At the conference and in her book, Nancy talks about the importance of character, particularly focusing on humility, self-confidence, humour, and integrity. She mentions the helpfulness of self awareness and recommends leaders do some work discovering their own leadership style. However the topic I found most helpful and most challenging was on finding your voice as a leader. Nancy talked about the value of attentive listening, asking perceptive questions, looking for teachable moments, and the need to speak your mind boldly at the appropriate times.
Nancy concludes the book with an expression of gratitude for the multiple options that women have these days. There is no one model that all women must fit into. As women, it is our responsibility to encourage other women to fulfil their God given role, irrespective of the fact that it may be entirely different to the role God has for us.
