February 1, 2022 (Jackson, Miss.) - Declared “one of the most radical and thought-provoking books I've read in a long time,” Jordan Raynor, Executive Chairman of Threshold 360, along with a host of significant Christian leaders, are praising a new book released by Belhaven University President Dr. Roger Parrott.
“Opportunity Leadership: Stop Planning and Start Getting Results” was released this week by Moody Publishers through nationwide booksellers in paperback, Kindle, or Audible formats. The book is also being released in Korean.
“This is an incredibly important book that flies in the face of almost everything you've been taught about the importance of strategic planning,” said Richard Sterns, President Emeritus, World Vision US. “Roger wants you to forget for a moment all of the tedious and all-consuming planning that leadership gurus want you to do and cut yourself loose to see and embrace the opportunities right in front of you.”
Dr. Parrott challenges leaders to develop an “Opportunity Leadership” mindset, in which they see God-directed results like never before. In plain language, he guides readers in developing traits to focus their leadership outlook on untapped opportunities. Further, he provides a step-by-step plan for ministry organizations and churches to create organization-wide tendencies that enable them to respond to opportunities with expediency, adeptness, and energy.
Crediting the Belhaven University trustees, faculty, and staff, Dr. Parrott said, “The insights shared in 'Opportunity Leadership' are due to the gifts of a marvelous university that has learned to abandon traditional planning to capture God's best future.”
The book defines opportunity leadership as “being grounded in anticipation of God-given opportunities that mesh seamlessly with our mission, gifting, and capacity-propelling us to destinations that are heavenly ordained.” The book provides a detailed path for creating a ministry culture focused on capturing new opportunities and paradigm-shifting challenges, such as:
• Leading without a plan is the plan
• Making decisions that don't just solve the problem
• Practicing future-focused evaluation
• Emulating baseball managers instead of football coaches
• Embracing speed
• Getting comfortable with risk
• Learning to love roadblocks
“During my 33 years as a university president, the most important decision I made was to let go of traditional long-range planning and instead create a culture and outlook prepared to capture God-given opportunities,” said Dr. Parrott. “After too many years of wrestling with the inflexibility of planning structures, I found that the best plans we could imagine around conference tables pale in comparison to what God would like to do through us.”
Former President of Krispy Kreme, Jim Morgan, reflected on the book saying, “During my time at Krispy Kreme, I would have loved having Dr. Parrott's 'Opportunity Leadership' as a guidebook for our 2008-2016 corporate turnaround. If we bury our heads in planning, we are likely to miss the greatest of God's opportunities! At last, someone has written a leadership book for both today and tomorrow!”
About Dr. Roger Parrott
Dr. Roger Parrott is one of America's most experienced university presidents, leading Belhaven University, a doctoral level institution, and one of only 36 schools in the world working at the highest level of collegiate Arts programs. Belhaven was named in 2021 to “Best University to Work For” by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Parrott was recognized as one of “The 10 Most Visionary Education Leaders of 2021” by Education Magazine.
For a quarter-century he served in board leadership roles with Lausanne Movement and The Mission America Coalition and was chairman of the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization. This is Dr. Parrott's second book, with royalties donated to Christian education. His first book was entitled “The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders.”