Leadership in Unknown Waters: Liminality as Threshold to the Future

An imaginative exploration of how an understanding of liminality aids those in leadership roles in adapting creatively to change.

Leadership in Unknown Waters invites organizational leaders and their teams to engage powerful questions amidst ambiguity and uncertainty as they move from the-way-things-were to an emerging future. This liminality, a threshold in space and time allowing for transition from something old to something new, is fraught with both difficulty and opportunity. Leaders, teams, and individuals who navigate this space skillfully will land in surprisingly dynamic places, encountering stories, metaphors, and inspiration for traversing the threshold not only competently, but with curiosity and confidence. In this way, futures are created that are not possible with fear-based planning or "quick fixes".

Withrow's method intersects the human imagination through a visual, living metaphor (water), with attention to space (liminality, or transitional space), and focus on role (leadership development) for powerful engagement with what organizational learning theorists call "the emerging future". Here, the theoretical meets the practical and research informs the "how to" and "why". Diving into unknown waters with tools and wisdom can create a better future for all who face change, whether within corporations, not-for-profit organizations, faith communities, family systems, or interpersonal relationships.

Lisa Withrow is the Dewire Professor of Christian Leadership at the Methodist theological School in Ohio, and has published work on Church Leadership, pastoral care and women's studies.