I am a big fan of Dave Gibbons. I don't know Dave well, but am really excited about him speaking during the Origins Day at Catalyst West, and also speaking during Labs at Catalyst in October in Atlanta. He is doing some great things, is a great leader, and has incredible respect among his peers. He has some really fresh insight on leadership and culture.
His recent release Monkey and the Fish is the buzz right now among church leaders. And rightly so. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book.
Dave was gracious enough recently to answer a couple of questions I sent over to him regarding the book. Today he is virtually "touring" the blogosphere by answering questions from 13 other bloggers. You can see the entire list of bloggers tied to the tour.
BL: "Is there a difference between a third culture church and a third culture Christian? Should there be?” DG: "There isn’t a difference when it comes to the basic mindset, ethos, knowledge and skills. However, when it comes to the sacrificial extent of our (those who follow Jesus) extravagant love, faith and hope there should be a difference especially as it relates to how we engage the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed. Those who know Christ, take third culture to the next level. They take it from adaptation to Painful adaptation with a willingness to die and choose obedience over passion. BL: "It seems that this principle of third culture leadership can also apply into the business world. Can you give an example or two of businesses or business leaders that are putting these principles into practice?” DG: "Definitely. We just launched a consultancy with several global leaders who have worked or are working with groups like Deloitte, Mckinsey, Bain and Accenture. They said that global companies are actually looking for third culture leaders. The East is trying to find leaders in the West who can run companies in North America. The West is trying to find third culture leaders for their companies in the East. Companies or Business leaders who are putting these principles into practice are Tesco/Lotus; TacoBell/KFC/YUM; Toyota; President Obama; Sam Oh, executive with Tesco; Atul Tandon, former Executive wth Citibank Global and currently Exec. VP of World Vision; Paul Kim, One of the best commodity traders in the world; and Mike Wang, CEO of Venquest. The most successful future global and local leaders will have these third culture adaptive skills."