How Leaders Lose Their Way

And How to Make Sure It Doesn't Happen to You

by Peter Greer and Jill Heisey
Foreword by Chris Horst

Personal & Professional Development

Paperback

$18.99

Length: 192 pages
Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.5 in
Published: September 16, 2025
Imprint: IVP
ISBN: 9781514013540

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Stay True to Your Mission for the Long Haul

How Leaders Lose Their Way is a powerful and reflective exploration of the pitfalls that can send leaders off course—drawing lessons from the life of King Solomon and thetimeless wisdom of Ecclesiastes. This book serves as a cautionary tale, equipping leaders to recognize personal and spiritual drift while providing actionable steps to maintain their mission-focused leadership.

Authors Peter Greer and Jill Heisey masterfully blend Scripture with modern-day insights and practical case studies, making this book a compelling guide for pastors, ministry leaders, and organizational leaders aiming to avoid distractions, pressures, and temptations that pull themoff course.

This book will help you:

Admit vulnerability: Every leader is susceptible to losing their way. The first step in avoiding personal drift is recognizing that it could happen to you.
Stay disciplined: Staying on mission requires daily discipline, a reoriented understanding of success, and a balance of priorities to reach the finish line faithfully.
Build a support network: Create accountability by building a community of trusted mentors and peers.
Remain faithful: Regular reflection and confession can help you remain on the path of long-term faithfulness.

How Leaders Lose Their Way positions King Solomon as both a biblical hero and an antihero. By examining Solomon's wisdom and his ultimate failure to live that wisdom out, readers gain deep insights into avoiding similar pitfalls. Each chapter includes actionable reflection tools and modern case studies designed to equip leaders with practical strategies for staying "mission true."

This book is essential for Christian leaders who are ready to pause, reflect, and realign with their spiritual and organizational missions. Pursue a life of integrity, inspire the next generation, and build a legacy rooted in faithfulness. Stay on the path of mission-true leadership with How Leaders Lose Their Way.

REVIEWS

"Organizational leadership is a distinct privilege, but it also sets traps for the human heart. In their book How Leaders Lose Their Way, Peter Greer and Jill Heisey do a wonderful job of illuminating these traps and pointing the way towarddealing with them. Their approach invites leaders to reflect on how they are drifting and sets out practical steps forward. It's a refreshing and much-needed reminder that leadership isn't just about what we accomplish but who we become in the process."Mike Bontrager, Square Roots Collective founder and CEO

"No author outside of Scripture has contributed to the culture of our ministry more than Peter Greer. The lessons in How Leaders Lose Their Way are critical for all Christian leaders who are seeking to create lasting impact for the kingdom. What a wonderful gift to the church!"Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy

"We're all devastated when leaders don't finish well. But how often do we hold up the mirror to see that we're all at risk of drifting and do something about it? Thank you, Peter Greer and Jill Heisey, for revealing the common warning signs of leadership drift and for challenging us with wise strategies rooted in humility to help us finish well."Michael Martin, president and CEO of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

"We've all heard too many stories of leaders who've lost their way. We long for a different story; this book shows us how to live it. To ensure we finish well, we must face drift head-on, recognizing it and rowing against it. If you're in a season of transition, if your passion is growing stale, if you're pursuing purpose, if you want to finish well, then I'm glad this book is in your hands."Chris Horst, coauthor of Mission Drift, from the foreword

"This book offers a perfect pairing of timeless wisdom and timely truth, all wonderfully told. It reminds that leadership is not only a matter of strategy and skill but foremost about our longings and loves. Though often unnamed, these deeper currents set our trajectory far more than our claimed values and mission statements. They inevitably shape the organizations we lead and the people we become. So we do well to search out these matters of the heart, as this slender volume helps us do, asking God for the unmatched gladness that comes only as double-mindedness is turned to purity of heart."Jedd Medefind, president of the Christian Alliance for Orphans

"Peter Greer and Jill Heisey have written a timely and highly relevant book that is a must-read for Christian leaders. In How Leaders Lose Their Way, they illuminate the motivation and intentions of the heart and the never-ending pull on them. This book is a clarion call to wake up, search your heart, repent, and return to the center of God's will for kingdom calling and service. The ongoing challenges remain to start, sustain, scale, and grow the impact of Christ-centered nonprofits.But it is only possible if we faithfully follow God's way to accomplish the task. This book will guide you!"Tami Heim, president and CEO of Christian Leadership Alliance

"I devoured this book. How Leaders Lose Their Way is both a sobering warning and a hopeful guide—an invitation to finish the race of leadership with integrity and joy. Peter Greer and Jill Heisey have given us a masterpiece of clarity, conviction, and grace, showing that drift is subtle, but faithfulness is possible. Page after page left me convicted, encouraged, and—most importantly—anchored to the One who keeps us mission true."Jordan Raynor, author of The Sacredness of Secular Work and Redeeming Your Time

"When leaders drift, mission drifts. Grounded in Scripture and case studies of biblical and contemporary leaders, How Leaders Lose Their Way equips leaders to recognize potential areas of drift, while providing practical tools and practices to stay focused on priorities and purpose. This book is a must-read for ministry leaders and organizational leaders who are committed to finishing well!"Tom Lin, president and CEO of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

"Too many leaders drive by feel through life, mistaking inertia and intention for direction and destination. Legacies are lost when not lived. How Leaders Lose Their Way is a lighthouse in the night shining needed lights to prevent unforced errors and disasters on the predictable hazards. It's not if we will struggle with drift but how we will respond. The insights, resources, wisdom and case studies of this book can change the win rate of leaders. May it be so!"Mike Sharrow, CEO of C12 Business Forums

"Cogent, clear, and convicting! How Leaders Lose Their Way is a must-read for leaders in churches and Christian organizations. This is a vital sequel to Mission Drift (by Peter Greer and others), as it probes the personal drift that so easily occurs in positions of power. And significantly, it points not just to the problems but provides spiritual resources for amending our ways."Dennis Hollinger, president emeritus and senior distinguished professor of Christian ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Foreword by Chris Horst
Introduction: When Mission Drift Becomes Personal

Part One: Drift Is the Default
1. The Danger of Drift
2. Meeting Our Mentor

Part Two: Misguided Pursuits
3. The Allure of Achievement
4. The Mastery of Money
5. The Pursuit of Pleasure
6. The Problem with Power
7. The Quest for Control

Part Three: Strong Currents
8. The Need for Speed
9. The Island Effect
10. Self at the Center

Conclusion: Few Finish Well

Acknowledgments
Notes

The Pastor as Midwife

Pastoring for Monday

Connecting Across Differences

Mission Design

The Art of Asking Better Questions

You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone

Formed to Lead

Front Porch Wisdom

Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus

Beyond Church and Parachurch

ABOUT Peter Greer

Peter Greer is president and CEO of HOPE International, a global nonprofit working to alleviate physical and spiritual poverty in 29 countries around the world. Peter’s favorite part of his role is spending time with the remarkable entrepreneurs HOPE serves. A graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School, Peter has co-authored over 15 books, including Lead with Prayer, Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, and How Leaders Lose Their Way. While his sports loyalties remain in New England, he lives with his wife, Laurel, and their four children in Lancaster, PA.

ABOUT Jill Heisey

Jill Heisey is a writer who is passionate about helping leaders and nonprofits share their stories. She has collaborated on the books Lead with Prayer, Rooting for Rivals, and The Gift of Disillusionment; written the children's book Keza Paints a Bright Future; and authored articles featured on Christianity Today's Better Samaritan blog. Jill graduated from Messiah University with degrees in politics and Spanish and resides outside Washington, DC,with her husband, Bryan, and their two daughters.

How Leaders Lose Their Way

And How to Make Sure It Doesn't Happen to You