Review of THE CATALYST LEADER by Brad Lomenick

I've been a follower of the Catalyst movement for some time, though I've never been to one of their conferences. Brad Lomenick is clearly a capable and competent leader, and he distills much of the principles that have lead to his success as a Christian leader and developer of leaders in his new book THE CATALYST LEADER. I was excited about this book when I first heard about it, and I couldn't wait to dive into it.

Lomenick shares his beginnings and the journey that led him to becoming the leader of Catalyst. I didn't even know that Catalyst started out of John Maxwell's leadership group. Lomenick begins to break down the qualities that really effective Christian leaders have in common, and these are qualities based on research. The qualities of effective leaders are:

Called
Authentic
Passionate
Capable
Courageous
Principled
Hopeful
Collaborative

Really, I get the sense throughout the book that being an effective leader is about being a person of strength of character. Lomenick gives plenty of personal examples that illustrate the qualities he's proposing throughout. The only negative I found with the book is that with all the personal examples Lomenick gives, it often felt a little like he was putting his own back for his accomplishments. I suppose that's the nature of sharing your story though if you've been successful, and I should say that he did share plenty of personal leaderships failures as well.

Overall, I believe this is an excellent leadership book designed to equip leaders to be change-makers. Lomenick clearly knows what he's talking about, and I'm grateful he's taken the time to put his leadership insights into this book.

Review copy provided by Thomas Nelson

Photo Credit: Thomas Nelson