Tried and True: The Countercultural Virtues of Christian Leadership, By Shirley Mullen and Margaret Diddams alt

Tried and True

The Countercultural Virtues of Christian Leadership

by Margaret Diddams and Shirley A Mullen

Tried and True
Ebook
  • Length: 240 pages
  • Published: August 25, 2026
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • ISBN: 9781514013915
Other Formats:

Recovering Timeless Leadership Vision for Contemporary Challenges

Successful leadership needs more than top-down strategic plans and lofty vision statements. Real leadership happens at the intersection of a leader’s inner life with the outer expression of care for their organization and the communities it serves. To find sustainable paths of leadership, we can look to reliable guidance from those whose legacy has stood the test of time.

Tried and True offers a unique convergence of the decades of leadership experience and scholarship of authors Margaret Diddams and Shirley Mullen with a historical exploration of John Wesley’s life and leadership. Informed by their personal and professional journeysin both higher education and the corporate world, Diddams and Mullen provide a comprehensive, scholarly, and practical study of John Wesley’s leadership practices that shaped not just the church but the entire society.

In Tried and True, Diddams and Mullen

  • speak to today’s leadership fatigue with a focus on sustainable, character-driven leadership;
  • revive John Wesley’s timeless leadership practices for modern challenges; and
  • integrate inner character with outward institutional impact for a vision of sustainable leadership.
  • offer a hope-filled vision for today’s leaders and the institutions they serve.

The three attributes of surrender, stewardship,and servanthood provide a dynamic framework for leaders as they navigate the tensions and paradoxes of leadership. As leaders seek to be faithful to their calling, they will find that even as God is inspiring them to lead, he is also using the work itself to form them more closely to the image of Christ.

This book doesn’t offer the latest leadership fad or a “silver bullet” solution. It calls leaders back to what has stood the test of time—a sustainable, countercultural path of leadershipthat not only transforms organizations, communities, and cultures, but also opens leaders themselves to the Spirit’s deep work of transformation.

"Though slight in stature physically, John Wesley towers as a leader in church history. His shadow continues to shape the church and its mission centuries after his death. This book thoughtfully unlocks leadership principles from Wesley's life, offering insight for pastors, educators, and more."
"Tried and True offers a hopeful, accessible, and stirring Wesley-shaped vision of Christian leadership rooted in formation rather than performance. Through their formation trellis of surrender, stewardship, and servanthood, Margaret Diddams and Shirley A. Mullen give leaders a wise, countercultural framework for resisting the cult of charisma and leading with integrity amid the many disruptions challenging leaders today. This is the kind of book that can steady a leader's soul and, overtime, reshape the culture they serve."
"Tried and True invites us to walk with John Wesley as a guide for today's leaders. Margaret Diddams and Shirley A. Mullen weave together solid scholarship and practical leadership experience, painting a vision of leadership shaped by surrender, stewardship, and servanthood. Rather than offering a formula, they call us to embrace these virtues in healthy tension, reflecting the heart of Christ in how we lead. By drawing from Wesley's life and connecting it to the realities leaders face today, they offer a resource that grounds leadership in both spiritual depth and practical action."
"A brilliant, fresh word on leadership with spiritual formation practices through the eyes of a triune framework of surrender, stewardship, and servanthood, all leaning on the life and teachings of John Wesley. I was captured by the findings, the first person accounts, and the compelling practices in integrating the teachings of John Wesley and applying them to twenty-first century issues. A book for all, whether a beginning leader or one who has been leading for years. This is a powerful and critical book for twenty-first century leadership."
"Tried and True offers a countercultural vision of leadership rooted not in charisma but in character—surrender, stewardship, and servanthood. Through John Wesley's story and their own, Margaret Diddams and Shirley A. Mullen invite readers into the paradoxes that form mature leaders: strength in weakness, courage in humility, hope in exhaustion, vision in vulnerability. They show that leadership is not something we perform but something God forms in us. A rare leadership book that speaksto both mind and heart."
"Margaret Diddams and Shirley A. Mullen are thoughtful, battle-tested leaders who have a heart for helping other leaders fulfill their divine calling to sacrificial service for their communities. In Tried and True, they draw on their shared Wesleyan heritage; their broad expertise in history, psychology, and theology; and their faithful, sometimes costly leadership experience to develop a practical Trinitarian framework for Christian leadership. The dynamic dialogue they carry on across these pages will inspire other leaders to offer God their very best in deep dependence on the Spirit of Christ."
“Written by two exceptional leaders who hail from Christian higher education and the corporate world, Tried and True envisions John Wesley in the role of leadership consultant, one who is uniquely usable for today. Wesley’s posture of countercultural servanthood provides profound counsel for contemporary leaders, and his optimism about God’s grace provides hope for those engaged with the formidable responsibility of stewarding institutions. While based on deeply thoughtful theological description, this book also offers an abundance of practical guidance.”
“Most leadership books seek to present a new idea or a new paradigm. Margaret Diddams and Shirley A. Mullen, however, look to the past for an example of a powerful and effective leader in John Wesley to demonstrate the highs and lows of leadership. Weaving together historical insight, leadership research, and practical experience, Diddams and Mullen provide wisdom for leaders, even those outside the Wesleyan tradition.”
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Read an Excerpt

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Upside Down, Inside Out: John Wesley's Faithful Leadership for a Modern World
2. Meet John Wesley, the Host of Our Leadership Tutorial: Welcoming Our Guest Tutor to the Conversation
3. A Triune Model of Leadership: Surrender, Stewardship, and Servanthood: The Countercultural Virtues for Today's Christian Leaders
4. Wesley as Exemplar of the Triune Model of Leadership: Does Our Tutor Fit the Model?
5. Charisma: The Idolatry of Leadership Without Surrender
6. Surrendered Charisma: The Gifts of God in Service to His Kingdom
7. Stewarding Shalom: Cultivating Flourishing in God's Mission
8. Servanthood: Prophetic Love amid Organizational Brokenness
9. Putting Wesley to Work for Twenty-First-Century Leaders: Finding a Usable John Wesley
10. Shirley's Final Thoughts: Reflections on the Gift of the Wesleyan Alternative for Culture: Participating in God's Redemptive Re-Creation in Our Own Time
11. Margaret's Final Thoughts: Hope Restored: The Eternal Call of Triune Leadership in the Spirit of John Wesley

Acknowledgments

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Margaret Diddams

Margaret Diddams (PhD, NYU) is an industrial-organizational psychologist, former provost and chief academic officer of Wheaton College, and a former senior manager at Microsoft. A sought-after consultant, she has worked closely with Christian leaders navigating the challenges of leading teams, using power wisely, burnout, and organizational development. Her writing—rooted in scholarship, professional experience, and hands-on consulting—focuses on redemptive leadership, vocational calling, virtue ethics, and the formation of Christian character in the workplace. Margaret is the editor and regular contributor to Christian Scholar’s Review and has held faculty roles at Columbia University, Seattle Pacific University, and Wheaton College. She offers deep insight into the crucibles of leadership and is committed to helping leaders lead not just effectively, but to develop their faith through leadership experiences. Margaret and her husband Stan live in Seattle. They have four children, three grandchildren, and a Boston Terrier.

Shirley Mullen

Shirley A. Mullen (PhD, University of Minnesota; PhD, University of Wales) served as president of Houghton University for fifteen years. She spent four decades in the work of faith-based liberal arts education in various roles, including professorof history, provost, director of residence life, and president. As president emerita, she continues to write, speak and consult on themes related to her recent publication Claiming the Courageous Middle. Mullen’s earned doctorates in history and philosophy reflect her life-long interest in the Enlightenment and its complex impact on the modern world, on liberal learning, and on the intertwining of Christian calling and the legacy of humanism in the Western tradition. In addition to herwork in the classroom and as an administrator, she has served as president of the Conference of Faith and History, chair of the board of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, and chair of Jericho Road Community Health Center in Buffalo, New York. She currently serves as chair of the board of Fuller Seminary, and is a member of the boards of National Association of Evangelicals and First Amendment Partnerships.