A Journey Toward Surrender

About the Book

A Journey Toward Surrender is a memoir describing how my view of leadership has evolved over fifty years. It’s a story in understanding a different and more freeing meaning of surrender. From leading teams in government, business, and the non-profit world, I have developed an outlook that works. The biggest challenge in leading comes down to one key necessity—managing the ego. If we could relinquish our ego investment, the world would be a better and much more effective place. I argue that there is a dynamic continuum or tension between responsibility and surrender that evolves throughout life and that to live well within this continuum, one must realize that God is in control of the outcome. In the end, I contend that without a change of heart, policy reforms are futile. Without a deep assessment of one’s moral character, our actions will be based on what Scripture refers to as shifting sands.

About the Author

John Horan-Kates has more than forty years of leadership experience in business and community organizations. He received an undergraduate degree in business from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1967 and subsequently became a Distinguished Naval Graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School. Following this training, he served aboard the USS Jennings County in Vietnam. After departing the Navy in 1972, he came to Vail and served as vice president of marketing for Vail Resorts, founded the Vail Valley Foundation, helped build the Vilar Center for the Arts. In 1994, John was named Vail Valley Citizen of the Year. In 1997, he helped launch the Vail Leadership Institute where he served as president until 2013 and subsequently served as board chair. He is the author The Leader’s Journal and The Making of a Community – The Vail Way. He has lived in the Vail Valley with his wife Pam since 1974.