Who Are you as a leader? A TOP GUN observation
It was a heated debate.
The implications: cosmic.
The year: 2000.
The setting: Honors English class senior year.
The topic: What is the greatest film of all time?
My friend Ben and I, 18 year old film buffs, squared off for this eagerly anticipated debate that would reveal who was the king of thought. I don’t recall who won. Likely Ben, as he was a more impassioned communicator. I do know that he argued for Apocalypse Now and I professed 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Ben would go on to study film at USC and I would go on to get a history degree with an emphasis in film & culture.
Movies captivated me in my youth. Their succinct portrayal of good and evil helped in my gray world of confusion. Their exaggerated emotions helped me feel emotions I couldn’t quite experience in the day to day. The very best movies raised philosophical questions that would fill my thinking for days. Those were simpler times where escaping into the entertainment of film didn’t feel negligent.
In the passing 20 years I started adulting more than debating films. Marriage, family, executive leadership, etc. Now in my 40s I’m rediscovering some fun insights in movies. These insights seemingly come from left field but they are helping me explain leadership, my emotions, and what I see on the horizon, as they did in my youth.
In the past 18 months I’ve been going through a transition. When I’m honest, this period of disruption has been essential to the Divine work of refining my heart. As part of this journey I went on a spiritual retreat and woke up one morning with clarity on our leadership moment in the Christian West. This particular moment of clarity came through an illustration God used from Top Gun.
Wait, can God speak through Top Gun?
That doubt passed quickly as I recalled Balaam and his talking donkey.
Here is what became clear.
Three characters from Top Gun (1986) function as archetypes of leaders in American Churches post pandemic. (A little background- During those 20 years of adulting I spent 98% of them working with hundreds of churches, their leaders, and volunteers to collaborate for Christ centered missions in neighborhoods around the country).
Ok the three characters/types:
Maverick, Iceman, and Slider.
Maverick and Iceman look very similar at least externally. They have a natural skill mixed with charisma and boldness. They are barrier breakers, great speakers, and high achievers. These individual traits stand out and cause us to point the finger and say “Now that guy is a leader.”
Its harder for us to see how these leaders are also a byproduct of our cultural values. Our consumerist ideals of success demand efficiency, quick production, and solo hierarchical leadership. Any reader who has concerns about leadership in the Church must be willing to ask how their own priorities and expectations cultivate and elect leaders of this type. We are faced with a “chicken or the egg?” question at times when we look at leadership right now in the Church. That's for another paper another day.
The third archetype is represented by Slider. He knows what the system cherishes and what it spits out so he postures him/herself for survival. This is readily accomplished as a mimic.
Here is some brief context if you are unfamiliar with the original Top Gun. Slider is Iceman's RIO (radar intercept officer) and he is also Iceman's “mini-me” in social settings. He is the character (common in other 80s movies- think Karate Kid) who eggs on, sticks with, and reflects the posture of the key antagonist. He sees in Iceman solid bold leadership so he copies and simultaneously hides behind it. Slider is skilled but he isn't a Maverick or Iceman.
Iceman and Slider Top Gun 1986
Something tells me along the way if Slider had tried to be the best version of Slider he would’ve been amazing.
Nevertheless, in my experience, at times many leaders (including yours truly) have reflected Slider in a culture that platforms a few Mavericks and Icemen. We try to mimic because we are drawn to images of success. We try to parrot back the brilliance, replicate the programs, and digest their never ending stream of content. We are tempted to co-opt success metrics without question. This reality was exacerbated by the pandemic. Uncertainty in leadership causes us to cling to bold answers wherever they may come from.
But who are Maverick and Iceman? Natural born leaders who people follow. Both are willing to stand up to systems and burst through difficulties, but they are drastically different on the inside. The key difference is suffering.
Maverick suffered through doubt after the death of his best friend and RIO (Goose). He struggled to get back in the cockpit. He was filled with doubt, panic, and even quit for a season.
Suffering is a thing we all avoid and yet we all need for the deeper work of the heart. We can’t manufacture it and can’t predict it. It is essential for us to get from here to there. Maverick would never become the pilot he became without the suffering.
Romans 5:4-5 is central to this reality.
“suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
In Henri Nouwen's beautiful little book, “Can you Drink the Cup?”, he wraps up a chapter on sorrow by saying, “The cup of sorrow, inconceivable as it seems, is also the cup of joy.”
In the midst of the suffering the feelings of isolation, worthlessness, and doubt are crippling. Why does God seem more distant at the time of greatest sorrow? These feelings and questions don’t fit the demands of an efficient put together leader therefore they are often ignored or shoved deep. Maverick had to walk that path.
On the other hand, Iceman is unafraid and skilled, but he is likely to hang his wingman out to dry when the shot at glory presents itself. He sees himself as better than others. He has not suffered (until you meet him in the sequel 20 years later ;). This archetype of leadership seems high above everyone else. They are doing great things for a great cause and they are “called” so don’t get in the way. Somehow there is an aura of being untouchable or uninterruptible. This archetype is not foreign in our churches of the west.
As I sat there that morning pondering this strange download from the Lord I realized there are tons of Sliders, very few Icemen, and even less Mavericks. As we lead a post-pandemic Church in a post-pandemic world the temptation is to cling to Icemen. To equate boldness with rightness because uncertainty is close at hand. This would be an error not worth repeating. But its also erroneous to follow the cultural trend that discredits strong leadership as though boldness equals oppression.
We need bold leadership. Leadership and power are not the problem. Bad leadership and misuse of power are the problem. The key is discerning the difference. One litmus test is how leaders have journeyed with suffering. That is a difference between a Maverick and an Iceman
Where are the leaders who have humbly suffered?
Who are those among you who have doubted? They were attacked on the left or the right by friend or foe for their decisions during COVID and social unrest. They doubted their abilities to such an extent that they fell to their knees crying out to the Lord. Are you a leader who experienced panic, quit or wanted to quit? Are you a leader who found the old problem solving tools ineffective in this quickly changing culture?
Don’t be so quick to bury yourself. Suffering, walking, doubting, and getting up again might just be the resume you need….we need. My experience affirms what is true in the biblical narrative: the resume of doubt, failure, and grief doesn’t disqualify. In fact, that resume seems to be the best resume for what the Lord commissions you to: “feeding the sheep,” “equipping the saints,” and “loving one another.”
I don’t know the answers, the programs, or the 5 steps for leadership in the future. But I know it when I experience it. There are some common denominators -
Love is essential, suffering plays a role, and we each need a few “wingmen/women” because there is a shared sense that the isolated platformed leader model is passing away.
I believe God is doing a work to shift leadership culture. Recalibrating what it means to be a leader in the Church, elevating biblical postures and subduing egos, and inviting us all to better reflect the triune God we worship.
There are endless adventures into God’s triune nature and the implications for your leadership. I invite you to stick your pinky toe in the water by reading John 13, John 17, and John 5 and ask:
“How does the mutual love and submission amongst Father, Son, and Holy Spirit inform your posture as a leader?”
