Cheering for the Good - Karen Lueck

In times of great change and turmoil like these, people often feel helpless, hopeless, and afraid. They don't know what to do to make things better. Too often they fail to trust themselves and their neighbors enough to search for answers collectively. Instead, they cede their power to a strong leader to save them. They want the leader to show his/her power with a war-like stance, where there's no room for compromise, where there's only one correct way, and where everyone blindly agrees with this so-called leader.

Cheering for the Good: Leading When It Matters urges all of us to step up and be the change. People are hungering for a different view of leadership, one where they can embrace hope. And that's what we've seen lately. Many leaders have come to the fore during the COVID 19 crisis. They have put the common good ahead of their own comfort and safety. They have spread the message that we are all in this together and that we must look out for everyone. They have used their creativity to serve the needs of the whole. When the COVID 19 pandemic is behind us, we will need to make decisions about who we want to be as a people. Will we go back to who we were before, or will this challenging time have been a point of transformation for all of us?

Using the metaphor of cheerleading, the author urges readers to exercise leadership in their own corner of the world, using their unique gifts, collaborating with others, embracing our oneness, and focusing on what's right with the world. Good leaders inspire us to be our better selves. The models of leadership which can do this call for much more collaboration, compassion, inclusion, humility, and integrity.

In order to become leaders, people need first to believe in themselves as good, with unique gifts and wisdom. Throughout the book, the author cheers for the readers to claim their power. She gives examples of good leadership in today's world, and provides reflection questions at the end of each chapter to help the readers further delve into their own call.

Then the author cheers for them to use their gifts to influence the world for the better, not through solving its perceived problems, but in recognizing and revealing what's already right with the world. This revolutionary stance of goodness will bring about the change we all seek.