Purpose Over Productivity in Leadership

In this episode, the Brave Cities crew explores a different kind of organizing principle: shared desire. Rather than building around outcomes, metrics, or even vision, we ask what happens when a community is rooted in a mutual longing — for Jesus, for justice, for neighbor love, for the poor, for the way of the Kingdom.

Drawing on influences from René Girard to Walter Wink, and from 12-step communities to monastic orders, the conversation shifts the frame from performance to formation, from hierarchy to mutuality, and from strategic goals to embodied longing.

Key Themes

• Desire as the organizing principle of spiritual community

• From top-down vision to decentralized invitation

• Girardian “mimetic desire” reframed through the lens of Jesus

• Why formation happens in process, not performance

• Creating culture that pulls people up instead of pushing down

• The difference between triangle leadership and circle community

• Inviting others into a life of desire without over-planning the path

Notable Quotes:

“You don’t need a plan — you just need a desire worth living out.”

“Fall in love with the process, not the outcome.”

“If you stop walking, Babylon pulls you backward.”