"Lead Me out of Dysfunction"

In a perfect world:

• I know the goals and purpose of my organization


• I know my role and how it fits within my organization
• Based on the organization goals, I collaborate with my team to create my initiatives
• I identify the tasks, calendar scheduling, and priorities to carry out these initiatives
• While keeping these initiatives visible to myself, I execute my objectives
• These newly completed projects are made public to key stakeholders within my organization
• I'm updated with other initiatives completed by my team
• I realign with the goals and purpose of my organization and leadership and repeat the process

In the real world

• Organizations don't have clear goals or a concrete vision of who they are and why they exist
• People are operating without a clear job description or clear measurable objectives of how they fit in the big picture
• Their team doesn't have defined roles either, so people really focus only on what they do
• People fill their days with tasks that keep them busy and they feel as if they are productive
• People continue to react to the day to day demands and feel like they are doing a great job because of how busy they are
• When asked what was accomplished, managers don't understand why "nothing is getting done" and why things take so long
• Edicts come down from management, people are frustrated and hate their jobs, organizations spin their wheels, there is no growth
• People realign with what perception they need to maintain to keep their jobs, get a paycheck, and wish they had other options

No matter what character you are in the story, as leaders, we must do better. We can lead up, lead down, lead across, and lead ourselves. How are you doing?

2009 Spur Conference: Leaders Collide

On October 1-2, 2009, I will be attending the 2009 Spur Leadership Conference...a unique opportunity to listen to a collision of thought leaders from the church, government, business, technology, and the military. Why?

I am an Operations Manager of a technology firm and just recently am the Online Church Director for Granger Community Church. Everyday my worlds collide with real challenges, how to have faith at work, providing leadership to a team of 58 people, strategizing growth plans, and there are no boxes to compartmentalize. I wouldn't have it any other way.

As leaders:

• Churches struggle to tap into the strengths of leaders in their communities... what could the Church learn from the expertise' of industry that sit in their seats every Sunday morning?
• There are leaders in your church waiting for a mountain to climb. Are you working to find BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) opportunities for these entreprenuer leaders to jump in with renewed purpose?
• There are business men who struggle with how to effectively apply their faith into the culture of their organizations. Paralysis can set in...what's appropriate? What's too much? What's effective?
• As a business leader, I need to be reminded it's not all about profits and growth. My pendulum can drift into spreadsheets and away from real people with real lives and needs.
• Business leaders cringe at the inefficiency of many churches and would naturally seem wired to think, "why would I want to invest resources there?". Note to non-profits/churches: effectiveness, excellence, and great management of gifts matters.
• Marketplace leaders need to be reminded that "to those who much has been given, much is expected..." While building your organizations, have you given as much focus to your "give back" initiatives? What might you be able to do in your community to make a real difference?

Straddling the blend of marketplace and ministry can be daunting. I need tools to help me manage on the front lines... There are only a few events a year that offer this unique mix, I hope to meet you there!

You and your team can register here.

Session 6: David Gergen Eyewitness to Power

David Gergen
Book: Eyewitness to Power

• Leadership is a journey, each one of us needs to take our own path… but people can help you along in your journey


• A teacher of leadership cannot produce a leader, but you can make people aware of the principles of leadership and introduce them to role models


• Can you create a culture within your organization to serve and lead each other?
  BH: How does a leader get better?


• What are you doing to improve your leadership? We have to do it…


• Reflective practice: Where you learn leadership is in the doing it and continually reading


• Harry Truman only President that didn’t go to college but he worked to be self-educated…. Was one of the most educated Presidents in the 20th century


• Not every reader is a leader, but every leader is a leader- Harry Truman


• Leaders need to take time to reflect on what’s working , not working, digest, discuss


• Leaders confuse motion with progress… doesn’t mean you’re leading well


• Great leaders choose their big goals and go after them tenaciously…. And get feedback along the way…


• What do you hope to accomplish in 6 weeks? After 6 weeks, reflect and evaluate how you did….


• 1940 election, Roosevelt, rather than have meetings, he went fishing… It gave him time to think… Out of it he came up with Lend/Lease plan for World War 2…


• Our best leaders have enough self confidence to take time away to think, reflect, and clear their heads…
  Most Admirable qualities of:


• Richard Nixon- Best strategist, could look into the future 20-30 years… someone who can look farther back can look farther ahead… Understanding the past opens up the future
  Weakness: There were people that appealed to his bright and dark side…. Nixon had demons he could not control that eventually brought him down….


• Gerald Ford- Most decent President, can you be too decent and not effective leader? Nice guys don’t finish last… We seem to prize people who are decent because they are so rare…. Ford looks better and better as we look back on history
  Weakness: A little naïve, sometimes people took advantage of him.


• Ronald Reagan- Best leader in the White House since Roosevelt… very principled, contagious optimism on life…. If you’re around leaders like that…. “We can make it…” …. It’s exciting to be part of…
  Weakness: Detachment, sometimes let others put their hands on the wheel… if he had a good team all was well…. His second team wasn’t so strong… Don’t entrust to a mediocre team…


• Bill Clinton- Quick mind, tactical…. Would pick up a NY Times crossword puzzle in the middle of conversations… Was resilient… Always willing to get back up… He’s back…
  Weakness: Cracks in his character… he should have come clean and asked for forgiveness … he should have been straight with the American people


• “Sometimes the right hand does not know what the far right hand is doing”- Ronald Reagan


• “Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 commandments, CNN now here with the top 3”


• Great leaders with flaws…. Maturity is coming to grips with your flaws and being self-aware… We need to be realistic that your flaws can’t “derail” you…. Kept in check…. Expectations on leaders can unrealistic


• Martin Luther King was a great moral leader but had a chaotic private life… How do we reconcile? However, he never claimed to be a saint… he was trying to be better….


• We should be more forgiving about people…. Press should be tougher on people in their public lives but less invasive in people’s private lives…


• Leadership does not need to be lonely. The days of the Lone Ranger are over… Great leaders should be engaged with a great team of other leaders… Leaders should be collaborating with other leaders outside their group… “We build things together”


• If you want to go fast…go alone, if you want to go far…. Go together


• Leadership is working with others to achieve shared goals…. It’s increasingly about trust and communication.


• Symbols matter to people. “V” for victory – Churchill


• Speakers... Who the speaker is speaks as loudly as anything they say... listeners are trying to figure out who matters and who they should be listening to... are they being straight with me?


• Aristotle understood public speaking, 3 elements: ethos (personality, believability) logos (logic of what is being said) pathos (ability to appeal to emotion)


• Great speeches should be 15-20 minutes... only about 25% of the audience is still paying attention after 30 minutes...


• Should be a rhythm to a speech, appealing to emotion with a call to action


• Personal habits of leaders: self discipline, regular habits, physically fit helps...leadership can be grueling, reflection time in your day, time in your day with people you cherish


• People in loving relationships at age 50 tend to live longer


• What DG hopes for from a church: Find inner peace/quiet, not about you but something Larger, wants to learn something from pastor or reading, and an anchor in life


• Whether your a Christian, Jew, Muslim... spiritual make-up helps you find your moral compass in your leadership

Take time to reflect. It's about a building a team.

Session 1: "Leading in a New Reality" Bill Hybels

Rogue waves can be as high as 80 feet tall, captains look ahead to sea forecasts and will not travel if these conditions exist...

• We've been hit by an "economic" rogue wave... we're all leading in a new reality as it's nearly impossible to predict what the future holds
• The "old normal" may not come back for a long time if ever
• Rough patches force new levels of courage and creativity, it's not optional anymore
• Prioritization and resource allocations get very focused
• Leaders were created for times like this, teams can form their strongest bonds in the hardest times
• What is coming out of you in these tough times that calm seas never bring?
• October, 2008, stock market dropped 1800 points, people starting losing their jobs in droves- When the wave hit, strategies had to change on a dime.
• In the hardest of times, what a great opportunity for the church to step up and step in to the crisis. Do we still believe the local church is the hope of the world?
• "Some of you have never been on the receiving side of giving... you may need to humble yourselves and be willing to be served."
• Is your church "being the church"? Are you stepping into this opportunity?
• As individuals and leaders of business, are we rolling our sleeves up to help more now than even?
• Willow has created margin before and after their services to help people relieve the added tension and stress they are feeling through worship, the arts, prayer... an added 5-20 minutes before and after the service
• Financial planning when revenue is going down while needs are rising is tough, the numbers don't add up...
• Jack Welch, "In a crisis, cash is king." All organizations need cash reserves to help buy "time" to make adjustments. 25% of annual needs in long term cash reserves, individuals 6 months of earnings
• Make 3 buckets, A/B/C... C- If your revenue dropped 50%, these would be the initiatives to go, Bucket B- 75% of revenue lost, what would go? Bucket A- The thing we would never stop doing...
• When cuts are made, try to give people to give months notice, not days... be generous in severance packages
• Willow budget standards: 50% of revenue to staff, 10% given away, 10% "wins of the spirit" flexible planning for budget changes mid-course , 15% ministry budgets, 15% facilities/utilities/debt service.... adjust accordingly
• People will still give money to a white hot vision... How's your vision? How are you communicating it?
• People will still be incredibly generous if you teach them, lead them, and cast the vision
• 2 Chronicles 16:9 God is looking for people that are "fully" for Him... He wants to use us and pour out His plan through us
• Are we creating working environments to fully allow our people to soar?
• "How the Mighty Have Fallen"- Jim Collins book..... How many absolute key leadership seat positions in your organization? What % of those key people are filled by those key people? What is our plan for filling the rest of those seats with those key people? Are we developing back-up positions for those key seats for those key people?
• How are you managing this new reality? Are you taking care of you? Can you sustain yourself at the current pace and pressure? How are you replenishing yourself?
• "The pace at which I'm doing the work of God is destroying God's work in me"- BH 20 years ago in his journal
• Romans 8:6 When you're in sync with the Spirit, you're full of life and peace.... Are you filled up?
• The more your tank empties, the more fallout that's happening to the people around you
• Who fills you up? Who depletes you? Fill your tank, hang out with "fillers"....
• "When I listen to God more slowly, he speaks to me more clearly"- BH devotional time
• The best thing you can bring to your team, company, organization, and family is a "filled up bucket"... What are your followers seeing from you these days?
• God is not done. Hold on to Him... he wants to do great things in our day and through your leadership.

"Hey Leader, Just Give Up."

Proverbs 29:19 "Where there is no vision the people perish..."

Hey leader, just give up. Throw in the towel, raise the white flag, just quit trying so hard... After all, is this really worth it? Aren't you simply tired of taking arrows in the back from your own team? Hasn't it been long enough to try to change their minds or ways? For all the hard work you've been doing to try to help your organization with no one recognizing your efforts, really... just relax, go with the flow... you'll have less headaches and your days can be so much easier.

This emotion or a flavor of it enters my head weekly (or in tough weeks multiple times a day).

As I look at the leaders around me, addressing this thought in our minds head-on is one of the most critical components in our development as leaders. I believe this starts with wrong thinking.

Change from:

• I can control when people will change or "get it"
• Eventually if I say and do the right things, everyone will come around and align with the vision
• I'm right, they're wrong
• People will rally around me because of my title or position
• I should only implement ideas that people agree with around me
• I'm going to have a lot of encouragement along the journey
• It's my job to correct people every time they say or do the wrong thing
• It's just common sense
• I should just fire people that don't get in line

To:

• I'm going to simply keep doing the right thing and make the best decisions I can
• I may not get encouragement (even by those closest to me) and that's OK, the mission is worth it
• I'm not always right, there's probably more to the story- seek first to understand
• Normal is for people to care only about themselves, my role as a leader is to keep making it about others and to have my actions back up my words
• Negativity, sloth, and status quo will always be a drag if I allow it, accepting it simply comes with the territory can allow me to keep my expectations in check
• I can't control how or when people will change, I'm going to simply keep encouraging, lifting people up, and reminding them we are all meant for more
• I can learn from everyone.... even the biggest challenges on my team
• Common sense is not so common
• Everyone needs grace, give it
• Strong vision with right actions and words= More people (not all) getting it over time

And sometimes, we simply need a good meal and some sleep. Right thinking and perseverance... is it in your arsenal or is it a leadership lid? God has given us a vision and has put us where we're at with our current team. What thinking will we choose?

10 Ways I Want to Lead

1. I want to be a servant leader, remove hurdles and obstacles so my team can soar

2. I want to push the envelope, be willing to step out on the plank, make mistakes but go after educated, BHAG’s (big, hairy, audacious, goals)

3. Filter out the noise, the naysayers, the critics and be a leader of laggards

4. Be real about my weaknesses, mistakes, with humility

5. Solution oriented, if individuals make mistakes, just correct it and move on- take care of the client, offer an apology to a team member, encourage, fall forward

6. My team will know I am for them

7. I want to be candid, matter-of-fact, but with the goal to help people take steps and speak to the elephants in the room

8. Be in the trench with the team, roll my sleeves up, be willing to do what I’m asking my team to do and more

9. Understand and create the vision, then cast it- over and over and over to individuals, teams, and organizations... Make what we do significant, life-changing, industry changing, world changing

10. Model focus and hardwork- energy to simply keep getting things done

There's more.... what would you add?

Don't Be That Couch- Andy Stanley

• A couch was purchased to have a place to sit- It becomes an emotional attachment over time that lingers around even when it becomes outdated and irrelevant. We keep it around too long.... how does this apply to your church, business, team.... ?


• Leadership styles are going to vary, there is no cookie- cutter- don't spend all your time trying to mirror other people's style- press into your own God-given flavor-
• If we were to start completely over, would we still choose to be doing the things we're currently doing?
• Church programming is created to meet a specific need-
• As programming begins as an answer to a question, over time it becomes part of a church's organizational culture- (makes them difficult to change but may not be needed or is no longer effective any more)
• As culture changes, the methods will need to change but the questions tend to stay the same
• As leaders we're called to lead people to see things the way we see them- otherwise we'll never be able to get them to do what needs to be done to make a difference-
• If we institutionalize an answer, the day will come that it will no longer be an an answer
• "I want to help you think differently"- we need to see the "couch" in our ministry/business differently
• We need to be more committed to our mission than our programming or model. Programming and models can become old, outdated couches we get emotionally attached to...
• Over time, sustaining the model becomes the mission... When you fall in love with anything other than the mission- you can quickly lose focus on God's original mission for you
• The model can begin to work against the mission- as leaders we need to monitor this- when we see this beginning, we need to lead our team/organization back to the mission-
• What have we fallen in love with that's not as effective as it used to be?
• Where are we manufacturing energy? Having to pretend or manufacture enthusiasm for something that just isn't that good...
• If a new person came into our church or organization, what is it that they would scrap and get rid of because they're able to see it for what it really is? No emotional attachment... Do you have the ability to stay objective and pull the plug on things that need to be over?
• What are our organizational assumptions? Leaders must bring these assumptions in alignment with changes in the external environment. The world changes... our assumptions become wrong over time...
• Don't try to tweak things that are broken...they'll still be broken.
• The assumptions a team have held the longest or deeply are likely to be the things that become its undoing- Why churches don't change- What are the things that are "off limits" for debate? Beware....
• What assumptions are false?
• :Example: We assume people want to sit in rows and listen to a speaker.
• Example: We assume Christians love to worship by singing songs they don't know that well.
• Which assumptions are true but are not being fully leveraged?
• To reach people no one else is reaching we need to do things no one else is doing...
• How do you get rid of couches when people aren't on board yet? You need to lead them through the process, may take time.
• Fresh eyes are needed at times to come in and point out the couches in our life, ministry, or organization...

Creating Spiritual Momentum- Craig Groeschel

• How to Develop Personal Spiritual Momentum- Craig Groeschel
  "I will do today what I can do today to enable me to do tomorrow what I can’t do today."
  
  4 Things You Can Do Today:

Identify my leadership dark side and do something to combat it today

• Too competitive, prideful, hesitant?
• Fear of lack- not having enough- Then give more.
• Nervous about a neighboring church: Drop off an offering
• Nervous/insecure? Ask 3 people to speak bluntly into your life
• God’s key blessing in your ministry/life may come through your dark side

Create Artificial Deadlines- put limits on time

• Ex: Video team- can spend 100’s of hours on a project- tell them they have 15 hours
• Shorter, purposeful days can be more productive
• Can create white space, think time- spiritual growth

Delegate what someone else can do

• Don’t delegate responsibilities- delegate authority
• Responsibilities creates followers, authority creates leaders
• If you don’t delegate authority, you won’t attract great leaders
• High control- low growth Low control- high growth
• A little bit of chaos is worth it

Do something only You Can Do

• You’re the only one who can:
• Care for yourself
• Recharging activities
• Take time off
• Spending time with God
• Eating right and exercising
• Honoring God in private ways
• Be a husband to your wife or a Dad/Mom to your kids
• Pride leads to thinking I’m the only one who can do something
• Poor leadership leads to inability to delegate and build new leaders around me
• Balance is not realistic- but plan recovery time on the backside of a stressful period
  
  “Most people want what others have but aren’t will to do what others did.”

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes: Craig Groeschel

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes: Craig Groeschel

• Similar to when you have kids- your mindset changes
  5 Mindset Changes:
  · Think Differently About Our Church/Organization Culture
• Complaint: “Our People won’t _______ “
• SOLUTION: We have not led them to ________ . We have not led them to the desired results.
• Pray, God make me _______- whatever the leadership quality needed to break out of the stuck culture…. Lead by example.
• Think Differently About Programming
• Evaluate “true” effectiveness- what is actually creating spiritual growth?
• What is actually creating profit and positive customer experiences?
• Do less, do what you can be the best in the world- Reach more by doing less.
  · Think Differently About Your Mission
• Are we about our mission or guarding people’s feelings?
• We can’t allow someone to hold back the mission of the church.
• On our staff- who is it that is a blockade to the mission?
  · Think Differently About People Leaving the Church
• We can grow when people leave
• We can make it difficult for the wrong people to leave
• Allows the gripers and grumblers to leave
• Churches need to be confident in who they are like a dating relationship- that culture is attractive
  · Think Differently About Limitations
• Many times your greatest blessing is going to come from your greatest limitation
• Great leaders see opportunities while others see limitations
  
  ACTION ITEMS:
• Find someone a few steps ahead of me and find out how they “think”- How do they think/process? Value understanding how one thinks over how they “do” something
• Identify one painful decision that you’ve been avoiding and commit to making the right decision no matter what the short-term effect may be
• Lead by example. Am I modeling what I want my team to be doing?

Gaining & Sustaining Momentum- Andy Stanley

• Gaining and Sustaining Momentum
  
  Momentum:
• If you have momentum, you need to identify why you have it- otherwise you’re one stupid decision away from losing it
• Businesses that lose momentum immediately have meetings, planning to try to get it back, churches will allow years to go by to not identify it as long as they’re paying the bills
• Churches with momentum need to consider that there are particular systems and decisions that are creating it- "I don't know, God is just blessing us" is an incomplete analysis.
  · New, Improved, Improving- 3 Elements of Sustaining Momentum
• “New” triggers momentum
• Momentum can be positive OR negative
• Negative event/negative momentum .. think 9-11
• Negative event/positive momentum ....People give, heroes appear
• Negative circumstances are the great soil for positive momentum- Negative economy…=
• Positive event/positive momentum- New sports stadium
• Funny: When a pastor leaves it can create negative or positive momentum
  · Organizational Triggers to momentum: New leadership, direction, or product
  · If an organization lacks momentum, ask:"do we need new leader, direction, or product?" Churches tend to go right to new leader….
• Momentum is never triggered created by tweaking something old, it’s about launching something new-
• NEW must be a NOTICEABLE improvement- New AND improved- You can’t just name something different to create momentum
• Is this a significant improvement over what we did before? SIGNIFICANT- ask the questions… If it’s not SIGNIFICANT…. Don’t do it.
• You would rather have 2 things with momentum over 10 without momentum… Gets back to what we can do really really well….
• Even significant improvement has a shelf-life… Never feels new & improved forever
• Momentum is sustained by continuous improvement… THINK New products… “New and Improved” I stick with a brand when I believe they’re going to be continuously improving…they’re on the cutting edge always improving their product…
• Continuous improvement requires systematic, regular evaluation
  · Work to continuously improve not because you got complaints… it’s so you never get complaints…
  · Unfiltered evaluation- Nobody and nothing off-limits for potential improvement
  · Let’s make Sunday better on Sunday! After first service filtering…
  · New personel, programming, season, series, look, venues
  · Look for ways to upgrade presentations
  · Attend other organizations
  ·
• MOMENTUM STOPPERS
• Disengaged leader
• Overactive management
• Managers want to take chaos into predictability
• Leaders break all the rules
• Don’t put managers in leadership, don’t put leaders in management (types)
• Momentum requires margin and un-predictability- managers can’t be allowed to kill momentum by working to keep things predictable-
• Complacency
• Complexity- (one reason why there’s success in church start-ups…) Older organizations add complexity that sometimes needs to be stripped away-
• Breach of trust- moral failure
  Q & A:
• The "creators" of what is being evaluated need to be in the evaluation and guided through the "why" of the changes being made or programs being cut
• Life-cycle of programs/seasons- the younger the audience the shorter the cycles, high school, singles, etc Ask How long can we run it before we need to shut it down?
• We gave God credit for everything, anything bad was always the devil- we were left with no principles to find what God was blessing
• We pray for wisdom- God works through people, Noah still had to build the ark, the disciples still had to go out and preach
• Much more resources are needed to get initial momentum than sustaining (flywheel concept)
• Complexity: When there’s a great idea you can’t do because of “us”- then your/our organization is looking complex-
• Systems create behaviors…. What system is required to yield the desired behavior?

"Open Letter to Mr. Wealthy Banker"

Mr. or Mrs. Banker:

You've been receiving an increasing amount of bad press for the millions you've earned in salaries and bonuses despite the meltdown of the very entity you led. Millions of us who are part of the "have much less" masses don't understand the lifestyle afforded to you while "Main Street" is suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, and their retirement accounts.

I believe this is a time of great opportunity for you. Our expectation is that you know the "system" much better than any of us, that you'll continue on in amassing piles of fortune for your years on this earth, and if you did participate in some type of wrong-doing, you're going to get away with it. What an opportunity to do the unexpected.

Give 80% (or greater) of the earnings you've made over the past 5-10 years directly to the situation at hand. Too little of a step would risk being simply "trite" or even more insulting. If you've made $100 million in the past 5 years:

• Purchase 500 homes that are listed in foreclosure or are upside down in value for $80 million, rent these homes to the original owners for a substantially discounted rate so they have the opportunity to get back on their feet.


• Provide $4,000 in funds paid directly towards the mortgages for 20,000 homes from your institution to help people catch-up on their payments that are behind. 20,000 families could be helped!


• Or some other alternative that would best help the situation, there would be several options. You could form a great team to come up with a creative plan.

Would this make sense financially for you? No. Might your lawyers warn against this concept as a potential for an appearance of guilt? Yes. In fact many or all of your closest advisors will tell you you're crazy. Will there be millions of skeptics rolling their eyes at you thinking you're "up to something" and it's not enough? Unfortunately, yes.

But, you will be leading. Despite the naysayers, millions also will regain hope in people and will be forever inspired by your actions (myself included). Thousands of families will have a glimmer of hope rather than being faced with desperate, hopeless choices. You may inspire others to take similar actions which will only lead to more hope and changed lives. And while pundits may question, you will know your real story.

Will it be you? Will you take this courageous step? Your life forever will be changed and I would challenge to say it would be the greatest financial achievement in your life.

I am watching with anticipation.

Sincerely,

Mark Meyer.... and I suspect thousands or millions of others....

"Do What You Fear"

This picture was from Thursday of this week at the Innovate Conference at Granger Community Church. When I'm in a drama, here are my typical emotions and thoughts that come in my head:

• When I have an upcoming drama, it's a feeling of pressure, anxiety, and "I'll feel a lot better when I get this over with..."
• I obsess about practice. I practice facial expressions in the mirror, I'm doing my lines in the car on the way to work, at lunch, home from work, before I go to bed, and any other white space of opportunity to run them...
• The day of the drama, I don't like talking to people much... Whatever I can do to maintain some sort of concentration, I try to do it...
• The moments before the drama backstage, I'm praying to God that I don't bomb my lines and trying to tell myself to have fun and actually enjoy it... all the while my heart rate is escalating, and I'm experiencing shortness of breath as I'm creeping into character...
• While actually delivering the lines, I often have other thoughts in my head that have nothing to do with the drama at all- "Huh, I wonder if the Cowboys have the early or late game today?" That's a scary reality when standing in front of 1000 people...
• I'm afraid of blowing my lines, letting down my team, letting down my church, how I would look, being bad, doing it for the wrong reasons...and on and on...
• Until the final drama is done... I'm usually not having much fun, each service is a small win.

So why do I put myself through the misery? One reason among many is that it forces me to do something I fear. I once read, "Do what you fear and you control fear"- I believe that was Tom Hopkins in "The Art of Selling"...

I've really reflected a lot on my fears and how they limit and/or derail me in pursing the purposes God has put me here to carry out. There is a direct correlation to our leadership capacity and our ability to deal with fear in our lives.

Here are some of mine that I deal with:

• I will over-analyze a decision to avoid a fear of making the wrong decision.
• I will not speak my opinion in a meeting, conference call, or conversation for fear of looking dumb or worrying about what others may think.
• I fear being wrong, sounding wrong, looking wrong, and will do what I can to avoid it.
• I won't introduce myself to strangers for fear of what they may think.

There are so many more... In my past, I've blown my lines and it was awful. But greatness in this life will not come without screwing up, tough struggle, and the perseverance to keep on keeping on... How do you deal with your fears? Are you able to look inward and know what they are? If we can free ourselves from our anchor's of fear, what might God do through us?

"Doing the Splits at Work?"

If I did this, I would have a completely different look on my face.


There are times when our roles may shift at work... If done too early or without the right process, you or people on your team can end up in this position...

Have you ever felt this way at your organization? Here are some observations of doing the "splits" at work:

• If you begin doing a role at work before you have any authority to do the role, you may feel some pain for taking it on too early.
• You can fake it for only so long... this guy has a determined look on his face now... I'd like to see him in an hour...
• With growth comes change. With change comes some pain.
• Not everyone can do the splits at your organization, there comes a need to have people that are flexible for a short period of time.
• Leaders, managers... are you doing this to anyone on your team? If so, don't leave them "exposed" too long.
• Are you doing the splits currently? It's better to have a conversation with the decision maker(s) and manage one post well than to drown trying to hold on to both...
• Clarity is important as roles shift- those impacted need to understand the changes and what adjustments they may need to make.
• Leaders, when you have done all the analysis of the changes, commit to it, support it, and keep casting the vision to your team. When you're the one doing the "splits", it just confuses your people and well, let's just say you don't look like this guy...
• Have both feet in with change, don't keep one foot in the past.

Session 9: Bill Hybels- "Relentless"

re·lent·less Session 9: Bill Hybels- "Relentless"
–adjective
that does not relent; unyieldingly severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting:

• God searches the whole world looking for hearts fully committed to Him.. there He sends His strength and power...
• Mother Theresa decided to "refuse Him nothing"... What does it look like in my life to give God cart blanche' authority in my life?
• Takes steps to move time and resources out of day to day worldly pursuits and more into His work...
• Embrace callings from God without delay- Lives are lived with regret with "If only I had listened", "If only I had acted"... reflections in life...
• Every leader can tell stories about how their dream almost died... It should come as no surprise when this happens to you (obstacles beyond your control, overwhelming circumstances)
• How do I know when I hit obstacles if I missed what God called me to do or when God is working on His own time line? Be very careful when in this era....
• Mother Theresa was amazingly relentless... just to be allowed to "start" her calling...
• Outlast the problems, the obstacles, the people in the way- Who knows what God may do if you hang onto the calling- We must endure... Sometimes the calling may only come once in a lifetime...
• Be relentless about becoming a Godly leader... be relentless to be someone worth following.
• Mother Theresa: "I will seek to love Him as He has never been loved"- said in one of her "dry" times in her life...
• Much of life can be lived without feeling the "presence" of God. Mother Theresa felt this... Hybels is honest about the same feelings..
• Very powerful video.... "Here am I, send me..."-
• "What life are you waiting for to finally step up and step into God's call for your life?"-BH

Thoughts:

• Am I living in a way that will allow me to hear God's call for me and His purpose in my life?
• There are some phenominal "causes" I've seen in this summit... yet I don't feel any nudging to jump into them- When do you know a trigger has been pulled in your life? When do you know when it's YOUR calling?
• I think one of the hardest challenges of a vision/call/idea is having the persistance to go on while many people close to you are telling you all the reasons why it doesn't make sense...
• Why does God's presence seem absent so much of the time?
• God.... "Here am I.... send me...."
• So... is it us? Do we sit back waiting for God to just do stuff, say stuff, and take care of stuff....or... are we really His plan?

Session 8: Brad Anderson- "An Uncompromising Focus on People"

Brad Anderson, Vice-Chairman/CEO Best Buy

"An Uncompromising Focus on People"

• He worked in one of the stores for 2 days last year- he's willing to get on the front lines
• At one point, they told employees what to do and told stores how to operate- they hoped they were actually doing it-
• Feedback, 11-12 questions, twice a year from employees- they're able to measure engagement level- typically this produces a direct correlation to store sales and profitability...
• How do you increase engagement? Leaders are needed to raise the engagement levels of their team/employees for the store to increase profitability/sales-
• People are looking for affirmation of themselves- True leaders get a true, higher level of achievement by seeing others grow/succeed than out of their own personal success....
• Human capital- Are we building people or destroying people? It's one or the other-
• Geek Squad- They took the stereotype over-the-top... they knew, "Yeah, we're nerdy..but you need us..." They brought in their own culture into Best Buy...
• Much of what he does is simply working on the relationships within the company and with clients- he gets complex puzzles- (human beings) scheduled every day- So much of what he does it building into the people around him, handling their needs, pains, frustrations...
• He sees problems/issues in the eyes of his leaders usually well before it starts hitting the bottom line.... He tries to spend his time with the people with the biggest need/impact.
• 85% of his time is leading down, 15% up (to the board).... self admitted problem...
• Many times there aren't "villians" in the problems at hand...it's simply driven by the realities in the work at hand...
• To motivate: How are they "coding" what they're doing- helping them find the motivation with the reminder of the "why" behind what they're doing....
• Financial incentives work to an extent but they are "thin", they're not complete...
• ROWE- Result Oriented Work Environment.... You get the work done, you can have the flexibility you want.... currently, they're seeing better results from those who have more freedom-
• He feels he can share faith when given "permission" with employees/colleagues-

Thoughts:

• How often do we work so hard to be cool when we'd progress much better being the unique geek we really are?
• How difficult it seems to balance how to share faith in the position of leadership like Brad's and trying to measure and listen to the Holy Spirit-

Session 7: Risk Taking, Barrier Breaking, Bold Leadership: Catherine Rohr

Session 7: Risk Taking, Barrier Breaking, Bold Leadership


Catherine Rohr
Prison Entrepreneurship Program

• Was earning 200K a year at age 25... got an invite to see prisoners, saw potential in them, began teaching business to them, creating business plans, and helping them in their next steps...
• Simple prayer...."Bring it on God"...
• Emptied 401K to fund the ministry, moved to Texas, car got broken into, and started with nothing. She had the "opportunity" to be cleared out...
• "I've benefited from 'ignorance is bliss'"- CR
• "God has better plans for me than I do- I just need to chill out and give up control"- CR
• 1 of 15 in US go to prison...
• Society contributes to it by labeling them as "Ex-con"- Christians are Grace-junkies...yet today it seems like we don't want to have anything to do with them
• They recruit prisoners, break down barriers, and put them through a business boot camp..
• They've achieved a single-digit return rate compared to over 50% nationally...
• 70% of graduates are doners to the program after they're out...
• Don't put all your eggs in one relational basket, get exposure, visibility to the mission
• "We're not trying to take a dope dealer, give them business skills, so that they can become a better dope dealer"-CR
• Handling Criticism: Don't let my emotions get in the way of my business... yet, be honest if it's valid feedback... Invite feedback- seek it out...
• Self-leadership- She lets someone actually manage her life closely- Sacrifice privacy for accountability.
• PEP is working hard not to get too spread out (like to open up to new markets, the homeless, women, etc)... Staying focused... Waiting to find leaders prior to expanding...
• Deep level of ownership, they hire from within... they get what it means to be willing to die for something..
• They do a great job of speaking vision into these prisoners lives, they strongly respect and ask a lot of these men... they challenge them and raise their bar....
• Catherine has got "IT".

Thoughts:

• Several testimonies from this minsitry just remind me again.... how can one deny the incredible life change Christ brings?
• Jesus.... "Bring it on."

Session 5: Craig Groeschel: How Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT

How Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT


Craig Groeschel: Life Church TV

When you walk into certain churches, some seem to just have a different feeling... they have "IT".... life... growth... something special...anticipation...expectation... God was present... power, motion

• Same elements at each location they have (13), however, the output was very different... How could there be different results with so many of the same factors/systems/processes?


• What is IT? Answer: "Don't know"


• God makes IT happen... it's from Him, by Him, and for His glory.... we can't make IT, or manufacture IT....
  
• It's rare for one person to bring IT.... yet one wrong person can kill IT
  
• IT attracts critics.... "You could say IT happens"... if you have IT, it doesn't mean you're going to keep IT, if you don't have IT now, you could get IT later
  
• Acts 2:42-47.... People were saved "daily"... do we want IT?


• 4 Qualities present when IT is present:


• 1- Laser focused- Better ministry is better, not more ministry- What can we be the very best at? In order to reach people that no one is reaching, you'll have to do things no one is doing.... Less is more...


• 2- They see opportunities rather than obstacles- You have everything you need to do what God has called you to do- We waste too much time whining about what we don't have... Do what you can with what you have.


• 3- They are willing to fail. Those without IT tend to play it safe... Failure is a NECESSITY! Peter experienced Jesus in a new way in his failure... Need to shake off failure... shake off what people are saying about you... blogging about you...
  
• 4- Led by people who have IT. You need to have IT for your ministry to get IT. Ministry can kill IT... when we focus on building our ministry rather than His Kingdom- we can start losing IT. Leaders that have IT seem to draw people because they want to be part of IT.


• "I became a full-time pastor and a part-time follwer of Christ"- CG


• If you've lost IT- getting back to center/core is part of the process to get back-

Thoughts:

• If I truly believe what I believe... am I giving my life to it? Am I giving my life to what I can do best


• What am I doing that I need to stop doing?
  
• What is God trying to show me through my greatest limitation?


• What has God called me to do that I'm afraid to do?
  
• If I don't have IT, what do I need to do get IT?

Session 4b New Cultural Realities: Efrem Smith

Session 4B: Efrem Smith: New Cultural Realities

• It seems like the more diverse we get... the more divided we get in race, religion, and culture...
• 1:19 childred in US born as a "mixed" race- Red and Yellow, Black and White will no longer be a relevant song..... :)
• To lead in this multi-cultural world, we need to be beloved... one that is able allow God to love others through us...
• Until Jesus comes with ultimate Justice...for now...it's just-us...
• If you can't love across race or class- You're going to have a hard time leading in this new era..
• "I think I heard God say"- (God to Efrem) what do you think about this? A multi-culural church...this is what the Church should look like...
• If the church is to be where the "pain" is... we would see more churches planted in urban, poor areas where there is a high level of brokenness- Down and Out..
• When High Pressure of what God wants to do in the world hits the Low Pressure of what "we" want to do- storms erupt...
• Create environments where multi-cultures can collide, interact, and create community...
• Efrem brought it.

Thoughts:

• The church should lead the multi-cultural revolution of change and the battle of racism...

Session 3b: Stand Up and Lead: Wendy Kopp

Session 3b: Wendy Kopp


Teach for America

• Where you're born really does have an impact on your educational level


• 13 mil kids live below the poverty line, by 4th grade- they're already 3 grades behind those in better communities- over half won't graduate high school, when they do, it's at an 8th grade level


• 5-10% of college seniors aspiring to be teachers are agreeing to teach in a low-income school for two years through her organization, 25,000 students.... She shamelessly gives the "big ask" at college campuses to give them the "opportunity" to help lower income kids


• Passion for what we do will draw others to the cause.... am I passionate about what I do and what I lead- is it contagious? Wendy is clearly drawing people with her passion...


• Had to create a "movement" on campuses, not just a thing to sign-up for....


• Lack of management can be the pitfall to your vision or calling- Crazy ideas ultimately will need some structure and organization to reach its potential.


• She chose leaders over teachers to teach in the low-income schools...


• When times get tough- look back at the core of your mission and get back to the basics


• When there is a Big Dog problem that's "solvable"- it's our moral imperative to work to make that happen- in this case, our public education.... we can do this...

Thoughts:

• Wendy's sense of the front lines- her knowledge she has of her cause- exudes confidence and makes me want to go campaign for funds with what she does... Am I doing the hard work to truly understand the problems at hand, the sense of mission, and acquiring the information needed to be a trustworthy leader and someone worth following?


• There are a lot of "spinsters" out there that are are talk, all look, but many people can see right through it...


• Connecting the dots from some of the other items discussed at the conference...again... am I involved in a cause that's BIG, from the heart of God, and am I exercising my gifts and talents in it?

Session 3: Finding Your True North- Bill George

Session 3: Finding Your True North- Bill George

• The Spirituality of Authentic Leaders
  
  

• Only 10-20% trust our political and business leaders, 48% of pastors/clergy
• Our talents and what we're capable of is our greatest fear- we tend to shrink back
• We have a pattern of choosing leaders that have charisma and style, not integrity- it's no wonder we're disappointed in our leaders...
• Leadership is not money, fame, power- it's responsibility (Peter Drucker)
• We have knowledge workers- people smarter than the leaders of the company- give them the opportunity to lead-
• Help people find meaning and significance in their work- Be creative about how to remind our team of this- (Customer testimonials, how are we adding value?, making people feel value? etc... what does that look like in your organization?)
• Align people around mission/values of the organization- the hardest to do in a organization.
• Empower- Leaders empower people, helping others step up to their role and mission
• Serve- Leaders serve.
• Collaboration: 21st century leaders will be able to bring together organizations to solve some of the world's toughest problems...
• Our life stories can shape us to be empowered to carry the mission/purpose in our lives- don't let it get wasted...
• The goals we have can be misguided and actually change us into a person we don't want to be and off-mission of who God intends us to be-
• "Follow your Compass not your Clock"- We can try to push our time lines and can become frustrated-
• Self awareness: Get feedback from people close to you, sometimes will be hard but valuable...
• Get in the front lines- do something, get your hands on the task/organization at hand...
• Values: Uh...got to have them- he's flying through this talk...
• Follow our motivated capabilities (stengths)-
• Build a good team around me- starts with one person you can be totally open/honest with- people we can do life with and be intimate
• Lead an integrated life- You'll never be balanced but you can be the same person in all environments you're in- don't put on a mask- be authentic-
• When you're 90- will you be able to answer the question, "What did I do to make a difference in this world?"
• Most leaders that fail did not fail their people, they failed themselves, lost their "way" and priorities... trying to be different than who they really are...

Thoughts:

• It's easy to get knocked off course by the world's standards of success- keep the course and be consistant with