Reframing

​West Point classmate Paul Mango shared about an address delivered by the Israeli Prime Minister to a group of McKinsey partners. “Leadership is NOT about being on top; it’s about being out in front.” This observation reframed the audience’s perspective on leading. Paul went on to note:
This metaphor unlocks a leader’s thinking in that it absolves him of the burden of having either all the answers or having to always know more than his team. Instead, the leader “out in front” ensures his team has the resources, information, and support needed to develop breakthrough ideas with guidance and input from the leader. Giving the team the combination of resources and accountability energizes and liberates the team and leads to superior outcomes.

Meditation
Acts 17:22-24--Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 
           
The Apostle Paul was troubled by all the idols he saw in Athens. Many leaders might have despaired at sharing about Jesus in a city rampant with gods but not Paul. He saw an opportunity. He reframed the problem and found a creative solution through their altar “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” Via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he presented the gospel using an altar that the Greeks recognized and respected.  

Spiritual reframing is understanding that what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle is, in truth, an opportunity to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a course of action He knows will work. Andrew Murray wrote in The Two Covenants, “As long as we expect God to do for us what we ask or think, we limit Him.” Sometimes, reframing means getting out of our way so God can work His way. Life gets very exciting when this happens.

Leadership reframing is understanding we don’t have to be on top, we just need to be out in front. Author Byron Pulsifer wrote, “To adapt is to move ahead.” We can reframe when we operate from humility and adaptability. Something to think about . . . in reveration!
 
Inspiration
Reframing allows leaders to see possibilities where others see dead ends; it offers us the tools to break the imaginative gridlock of our situation by considering alternative perspectives . . . This reframing or “ability to think about things in more than one way” is perhaps the most critical skill for adaptive leadership.—Tod Bolsinger in Canoeing The Mountains, p. 208.
 
©2025 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.     
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)