There seems to be a for Dummies book for everything – over 1,600 titles and growing. They must be doing something right. For 20 years, Wiley has published “a reference for the rest of us” covering such far-ranging titles as running a bar, acne, Windows, and wikis. There’s one for Christian prayer and yes, one for leadership. The premise for each of the books is always the same: keep it simple and clear, offer cheat sheets, keep it light-hearted, and give easy-to-comprehend “get in, get out” tips.
With all due respect, maybe it’s time for a different approach. Maybe instead of presuming ignorance and moving up from there, somebody should presume that he or she is writing to geniuses.
They just may not know it yet.
Nowhere is that more real than in the area of leadership. Often both leaders and non-leaders approach the subject as if becoming a leader is a power we gain to overcome weaknesses, information we gather to overcome ignorance, or favor we gather to overcome anonymity.
But what if you already had the power, the understanding, or the favor? What if you’re already a leader, but just didn’t know it because nobody ever seems to recognize your unique genius? What if you’re beating your head against the wall trying to get better in an area where you routinely stink it up – all the while ignoring or running from areas of your greatest power and influence?
Maybe it really is time for a different approach. How about Leadership for Geniuses? [click to continue…]
I was going to write something about America or the lost art of Independence or something like that today. Then I heard that Andy Griffith died. What – or who – could be more quintessentially American than that?
Andy and his neighbors in Mayberry came into our home weekly when I was a kid – and daily through syndication for years after that. And there was a reason. Yes, he served as a reminder of a simpler time. After all, can you imagine anybody but Opie having a secret password – much less a dozen of them? But he also reminded us of the values and wisdom we’re capable of, even today.
Nobody ever actually lived in Mayberry. Yet vicariously millions of us have. There wisdom wasn’t reserved for ivory tower elitists or political think tanks. Lifetime lessons were readily available from places like the Sheriff’s office, Floyd’s Barber Shop, or Gomer and Goober’s Service Station. The cast of characters, always good for a laugh at ourselves, also reminded us of somebody we knew.
Everything I ever needed to know, I could have learned in Mayberry. So could you. Here’s just a sampling… [click to continue…]
You can’t.
You can walk it out. You can stand there and look humble while people tell you that you’ve got it. You can make corrections when you stand convicted of the need for some changes. You can use it to plead with God or The Man (whoever that is) for justice or a raise or something. You can even dare to mention it when you run for political office.
But you are not equipped to be the architect or builder of an integrated life – yours or anybody else’s.
This is no self-improvement process, friends. You can’t build integrity into your life by getting more information, imitating somebody else, or rigidly keeping a code of conduct. You can’t get it with an extreme makeover, a friendly takeover, or a cosmetic rake-over.
Integrity is an inside job. It’s the result of a transformational process that takes your dis-integrated self and changes you through and through by a power that is not your own.
That said, just as an office building is designed and constructed according to a set pattern, so your Master Designer and Builder follows a blueprint for building wholeness in you. And while you don’t have the power to do this yourself, your faith and submission to His work can help speed the process.
Each of these stages builds on the other, and I believe the order matters. And yet, these are all lifetime pursuits that we’ll never perfectly achieve this side of heaven. Designing and building a life of integrity involves: [click to continue…]
Friday I was on my way to Virginia to make a presentation at a Servant Leadership conference. So I guess it was safe to say I had leading-by-serving on the brain…
I walk up to the ticket counter of the Dallas-based airline that will remain nameless (though I will point out that they don’t advertise that bags fly free).
Next to me is a fellow traveler who was trying to check her two bags. Here is the gist of the conversation… [click to continue…]
Pssst.
Over here.
I have something you need to see.
I’m not showing it to anybody else yet because I wanted you to be the first to take advantage of it. But next week it goes public. And this won’t be a secret for very long. This is a once-in-a lifetime…
(wait for it…)
…yeah, that.
Opportunity. It’s an often-used, sometimes over-used concept. Americans throw it around as if we own the copyright to the term. You can see and hear it everywhere… [click to continue…]
(Subtitle 1: Nine signs of an integrated life)
(Subtitle 2: Nine things to look for in a prospective leader)
(Subtitle 3: Why you love your representative but hate Congress)
Year in and year out, it’s the number one answer to what people want in their leaders, regardless of the arena. It’s more important than technical competence, talent, or even being nice. “It” is integrity.
In election years integrity is rolled out as the reason you should hire Candidate A over Candidate B. And yet who hasn’t shuddered at the extremes to which people in the high-profile political, business or ministry realm are examined for any cracks in their moral foundation or skeletons in their closets?
Hardly a season passes where we aren’t wagging our heads at another icon of power being exposed; Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino is the latest, but hardly the last. Soon we’ll be hearing some new cautionary tale about how someone laden with talent and brains lost their moral compass in the magnetic field of leadership power.
Hey, I get it. Both sides of it. I understand why integrity is so vital from a follower’s perspective, and so elusive from a leader’s perspective. I’ve also learned the hard way how difficult it can be to restore once you’ve lost it.
But it’s important to go beyond buzzwords and stop crowing about hypocrisy. When we’re talking about integrity, what, exactly, are we looking for? When you are about to select a leader in the making, what evidence are you looking for that he or she is a person of integrity? Or when your integrity has, um, “hit the ditch” (sorry, Coach), where do you start rebuilding it?
Here’s a place to start. Here are nine signs of an integrated life. No one lives this perfectly. But people who value integrity in their lives and leadership will be pointed in this direction: [click to continue…]
Sometimes the most profound truths come expressed in the innocent, joyful, and delighted forms that no theory or “best practices” can top… [click to continue…]
There’s a well-known philosophy in some leadership circles that leaders never admit their mistakes. This being an election year, you can expect to see that in full force.
The problem with that philosophy is that being in a position of leadership – formally or informally – puts you out in front of people where they can see your mistakes loud ’n’ clear. So when you pretend you don’t have any, you look worse than proud. You look rather stupid.
The biggest issue with mistakes in leadership is not whether you make them, but whether you repeat them. Show me a politician, a corporate executive, a pastor, or any other form of “leader” who dodges the issue of failures, I’ll show you a leader destined to repeat the same mistakes.
On the other hand, if it’s true that being a leader means being “first learner,” then one of the best places to start is with your own lessons learned the hard way. Here are 10 lessons I learned by getting it wrong before I ever got it right: [click to continue…]
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil” (2 Chronicles 18:7).
If the guy who’s always right is also the guy who’s always talking about repentance or judgment, here’s a thought: repent and avoid judgment.
The solution is NOT to find a different collection of advisers who only tell you what you want to hear. [click to continue…]
It’s a common subject of conversation I’ve had with countless people.
If you’re ever more than toe-deep in Church World, eventually the conversation will make its way to the pastor of whatever church.
Your pastor.
My pastor.
You-the-pastor.
He the pastor-wannabe.
And so it goes…
- I don’t like my pastor.
- I love my pastor.
- My pastor’s a jerk.
- I’m not getting fed by my pastor.
- My pastor just resigned.
- I wish my pastor would resign.
- We’re looking for a new pastor.
- We have a new pastor coming.
- My pastor can’t preach.
- My pastor isn’t very organized.
- My pastor left under a cloud of suspicion.
Hey, I get it. I’ve been on both ends of those conversations and have had all of that and more said about me, and often for good reason. People a lot smarter than I am have done quite a bit of research about members of the clergy, and they have made some startling discoveries. Care to guess what the most shocking of them all is? [click to continue…]
There seems to be a for Dummies book for everything – over 1,600 titles and growing. They must be doing something right. For 20 years, Wiley has published “a reference for the rest of us” covering such far-ranging titles as running a bar, acne, Windows, and wikis. There’s one for Christian prayer and yes, one for leadership. The premise for each of the books is always the same: keep it simple and clear, offer cheat sheets, keep it light-hearted, and give easy-to-comprehend “get in, get out” tips.
