At first glance of the title, you might not be sure that you’re up for a book on “unleashing clout.” Clout isn’t a frequented word these days as we aim to “garner influence,” “build a platform,” or “target our potential” through social media, blogging, marketing, and flashy leadership techniques.
However, Jenni Catron’s book falls into a unique category of Christian leadership books that can apply to everyone from homemaker to CEO, from musician to accountant.
When I first heard that Jenni Catron’s book, Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence, was due out, something in me knew that it would be a book that would resound deeply within me. Just from watching her from afar via blog and social media, I knew we’d be friends if we knew each other. I’m similarly cut from the same cloth – driven, motivated by internal direction, and sometimes filled with “clout killers,” as Jenni’s coined phrase could easily be deemed “spirit buster” or “self-defeatist attitude.”
One by one, she tackles seven “Clout Killers” that include fear, comparison, jealousy, scarcity, insecurity, pride, and control. She approaches each with truths from the Bible, real-life examples, and looks at how each impact the influence we can have, then gives us questions at the end of each chapter to ponder our own journey.
Clout will also challenge you to face the fears that impact your influence:
- Fear of not measuring up
- Fear of not being enough
- Fear of not having enough
- Fear of not being good enough
- Fear of weakness
- Fear of losing control
If you’ve breathed, you’ve wrestled with some of these fears for sure.
Jenni has a wonderful way of highlighting the evidence of our brokenness—price, jealousy, insecurity, scarcity, fear—without being at all condescending,” adds Patrick Lencioni, who also provides the book’s insightful forward. “This book show be given to every high school student, college student, career-stalled employee, frustrated executive, and unfulfilled human being who deep down inside doesn’t know what their mission in life is.”
Get out your highlighter, people. This book will change the way you think about yourself as a leader as you move through each chapter and delve into your inner self to uncover your weakness and be rebuilt by Christ. Jenni gently leads each reader through the process and is sincere in her desire to help you reach your full potential as the leader God has created you to be.
From the conclusion of Clout: “We all have excuses or reasons for why we can’t be who God is calling us to be, but when we throw aside the excuses and resist our enemies, we begin to see our creative best birthed as we live from our God-given influence.”
Go ahead, find your God-given clout. I dare you. You’ll never be the same again.
