VisionWhen vision becomes a cliché (President Bush-the-first once famously referred to it in an off-the-cuff remark as “the vision thing”), it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When yesterday’s vision no longer aligns with today’s brutal facts or tomorrow’s possibilities, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When vision becomes first and foremost an act of congratulating ourselves for what we or our predecessors have accomplished, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When “vision” becomes the mandates of mountaintop or ivory-tower elitists who have no clue what life in the cubicle, the pew, the kitchen or the stew is like, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When vision becomes the stuff of detached, bored, or mechanical position holders, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When vision is no longer met with resistance from the mediocre majority or the limits of human ability or imagination, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When “vision” is presumed to emerge from the latest committee meeting, conference, book or fad, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When vision no longer bridges the gap between what is and what should be, it’s time for a new vision – or a new leader.

When “vision” is here today and gone tomorrow, it time for a new (true) vision – or a new leader capable of seeing beyond his/her own attention deficit.

When “vision” no longer needs the God who holds the future in order to create the future, it’s time for a new (true) vision – or a new leader.

Exceptional leaders are first led themselves.  By their vision – and by the source of their vision.

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The Time Capsule

by Andy Wood on June 25, 2008

in Life Currency, Love

Okay, one last swipe at sentimental stuff, and I’m moving on…

The year is 1983.  President Ronald Reagan has proposed to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles called Strategic Defense Initiative — nicknamed “Star Wars.”  McDonald’s has introduced a new product called the Chicken McNugget.  “M*A*S*H” has ended after 10 years on CBS TV, the first longest running TV series ever. Over 125 million Americans tune in to watch the final episode.

Microsoft has developed a word processing software product called “Word.”  Sally Ride is flying (actually floating) high – the first woman in space, aboard the Challenger.  Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is opening in box offices across the country.  Nintendo is introducing a new video game called Super Mario Brothers.  India – that’s right, India –will shock the cricket world on this very day by winning the Prudential Cup.  I know, I know!  Can you believe it?

“I.O.U.” by Freeez is the #1 dance tune in the country.  “Flashdance:  What a Feeling” by Irene Cara is the number one pop hit.  Mickey Gilley’s “Fool for Your Love” is atop the country charts.

The New York Times Bestseller List features Return of the Jedi as the #1 fiction best-seller.  In Search of Excellence is the #1 non-fiction book.

We pay $3.15 to see Return of the Jedi.  We fill up with gas that cost an outrageous $1.16 a gallon.  We also mail a few letters for 20 cents apiece.

And in a little farm and oil town in West Texas called Brownfield, I stand with my fiancé and repeat these words:

I Andy, take you Robin, to be my wedded wife.  I promise to be honest and true to you always.  I will make whatever adjustments are necessary so that I may genuinely share my life with you.  And as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

With the exception of grandparents, the family is still all here, on both sides. That’s cool.  The friends in the wedding party have scattered across the country – to California, Arizona, Canada, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and who-knows-where.  Three kids, twelve houses, eight churches, eight dogs, five cats, two hamsters, innumerable fish, one grandkid, and more friends than we can count later, we are greatly blessed.

So where was God when I made those vows?  Giving gifts.  Hearing every word.  Making Himself available when times got tough.  That’s why He says,

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” (Psalms 50:14-15).

May I tell you from 25 years of experience that God’s promise and offer are true?

And so on this most unique of anniversaries so far, I offer to God thanksgiving for the gift of my wife.  I remember (again!) those vows I made, which are as relevant today as ever.  And I am reminded today that whatever trouble we may encounter is an opportunity to experience God in ways that are as new as the sunrise and fresh as the morning dew.

Happy Anniversary, Robin!  I love you more than ever.

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From Pleaser to LifeVestor

by Andy Wood on June 24, 2008

in LV Alter-egos, Pleasers

People PleaserI have a confession to make.  It won’t come as a big surprise to those who know me best or work with me closest.

Deep breath – here goes…

I have a hard time saying, “No.”

There, I said it.  I like making people happy, and for as long as I can remember, I couldn’t stand to disappoint people or hurt their feelings.

In balance, that can be a good thing.  Helps with the whole relationships and people skills thing and all.  Out of balance, it can lead to some bad choices at work and some really unhealthy life choices as well.

In its ultimate expression, people-pleasers become codependents.  Originating from our understanding of the behavior of the spouses of addicts, we have since learned that you don’t have to be involved with an addict to manifest that type of behavior.

Like the other three LifeVesting alter-egos – consumers, hoarders, and gamblers – pleasers twist a virtue into a vice.  In the area of their life resources, they use their resources to buy love or approval.  Often cloaked in an illusion of responsibility, these people give out of an unhealthy desire to “fix” someone they love, or rescue them (often repeatedly) from a crisis.

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The Kindness of Strangers

by Andy Wood on June 20, 2008

in LV Stories, Photos

ball-game.JPGRandy is the president of a major water pump business located in Fort Worth, Texas.  A few months ago he was on a Southwest Airlines flight and struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to him.  She was on her way home from a DFW visit to her daughter.  A wedding shower trip, she said.  As the conversation progressed, the lady somehow got to talking about her daughters and their love for the Atlanta Braves.  For their sixteenth birthday, the one thing the twins wanted was to fly to Atlanta for a game.  Then when the Braves were coming to Arlington a couple of years ago, it happened to be just before one of the girls’ wedding, so that didn’t work out.

And wouldn’t you know it?  Here they were, an hour flight away, and again, they were here during the week of a the second twin’s wedding and the only dates they could go were taken up with wedding stuff.

Well, let’s just see, says Randy, as he pulls out a Baseball magazine and flips to the Rangers’ schedule.  Actually, there was a way, and there was a day.  Oh, and I have six season tickets to the Rangers Ballpark at Arlington, says he.  He offered them as a wedding present.

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CCJ 3Not once did the thought occur to me.  Not once.

We knew at 10 weeks we were having twins, courtesy of those dandy new ultrasound machines.  And we were excited.  Fresh out of school, still using wedding dishes, living in our own home, and picking out not one, but two sets of names. 

Two boys?  Joel Andrew and Jeremy Adam. 

Boy and a girl?  Joel Andrew and Jessica Leigh.

I was pretty quiet as we headed home from that latest ultrasound.  The images were beginning to form in my mind for the first time.

Two girls?

Cosmic shifts started taking place in my little brain.  And they all culminated in a wedding.

Since I was old enough to understand what fathers were, I wanted to be one.  I was blessed to have a dad who loves being a dad, to this day.  In whatever ways I have failed to live up to his example, I caught the whole load on that one.  And in doing so, three deep convictions emerged:

  • I would be the first representation of the nature and character of God to my children.
  • We were called to raise adults, not children.
  • Mommies build nests, but for daddies, children are arrows in their hands, and my job was to launch them.

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Generations

by Andy Wood on June 18, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Legacy

Mamma and LouThis Saturday will be the next step in a season of some pretty intense generational shifts for us.  More on that tomorrow.  I wrote the following article ten years ago, during another such season.  It only seems like yesterday…

The voice on the phone was tired and quiet – not unusual for a hospital room at 9:20 pm.  They’d just gotten Lou (my grandmother) settled down for the night when I’d made my untimely call.  The occasion, other than to check on Lou, was to wish Mamma a happy 60th birthday.  A little ironic that I had to track her down at Providence Hospital where she was watching her mother edge closer to death. 

Life is filled with choices and changes, and my mom has seen her share of them.  But perhaps never with the magnitude and frequency of change she faces now.  Her mother has cancer, and is losing the battle.  Her son lives many hours away.  And up the highway a couple of hours, her daughter prepares for the Big One.  She’s preparing to leave the country for the mission field.

On this night, I enjoy a feminine family reunion by telephone.  I speak briefly to Lou, to tell her I am thinking of her, loving her, praying for her.  I hear the pain, the despair, the fear in her voice.  That growing sense of hopelessness that says, “I don’t feel good and I probably never will again.” 

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Hospitality

by Andy Wood on June 17, 2008

in 100 Words

Coon in a BoxToday the convergence begins.  People from across the country will start heading this way for my daughter’s wedding Saturday.  And I’m feeling a bit like my masked friend here. 

Come on in!  If all goes well, the decorating will be finished, the yard cleared of New Mexico dust, the housework completed, and the shelves lined with food and drinks. 

It matters not if you’re impressed, so long as you’re served.  What’s ours is yours, and we’re your servants.  Make yourself at home.  Really.

And even if you find us peering out of a cardboard box, mi caja es su caja.

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Sticks and Stones

by Andy Wood on June 16, 2008

in Life Currency, Turning Points, Words

(A Turning Point Story) 

Angry teenager“I never thought the doors of a church would be locked,” said Danny Kincaid.  But locked they were.  So Danny spent the night on the church bus.  It was the only place he could find to put a roof over his head.

Danny was in his early 20s; I was in my early college years.  I met Danny after some other people (who weren’t exactly thrilled about his accommodations) met him first.  They introduced him to our youth pastor, who led Danny to faith in Christ.  He also offered Danny a place to stay – his own home – until he could get on his feet.  That’s where I came in. I was a youth ministry intern, and got to know Danny as he hung out with Willard and the rest of us.  Way too old for the youth group, Danny was a fixture around the youth staff as we practiced a version of “discipleship by hanging out.”

One day Danny and I were driving around town looking for him a job and place to live, and he told me a story that haunts me to this day.  When he was very young, through a series of circumstances beyond his control, he came to live with his grandparents.  I don’t remember why.  Maybe it was a divorce.  Maybe his parents died.  At any rate, Danny wound up growing up in South Carolina with a grandmother he still referred to as “Mommy.”

As Danny became a teenager, he went through the typical rebellious stages that most adolescents encounter – made all the more extreme because his generation gap was times-two.  He had a temper.  And a mouth.  And he knew how to flex both.

One day Danny and Mommy got into an argument, and it got pretty heated.  She said some things.  He said some things.  They got madder and madder.  Finally, Danny screamed out, “I wish you were dead!”  And he stormed out of their mobile home and slammed the door.

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Politics and Statesmanship

by Andy Wood on June 13, 2008

in 100 Words, Leadership, Life Currency

A Picture and a Hundred Words

PigA little reminder, with conventions approaching:

Politics means gaining the favor of the people.  Statesmanship is executing the will of the people.

Politics is getting something said.  Statesmanship is getting something done. 

Politics is doing what it takes to win.  Statesmanship is making the other side glad you did. 

Politics is finding the parade and getting in front of it.  Statesmanship is leading the parade to a desirable place. 

Politicians sit and promise.  Statesmen stand and deliver. 

Politicians campaign for the rights of the pig (or pig owner).  Statesmen clean the stalls, feed the pigs, and have bacon for breakfast.

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LeaderLast month Penelope Trunk, writer for the Boston Globe and the Brazen Careerest blog, wrote about her relationship with her favorite mentor, Chris Yeh.  It’s a great read (here) about the importance and cultivation of mentoring relationships.  When Penelope started her company, she asked Chris to be an advisor.  He agreed and told her the best way to use advisors:

  • Call at times you know are easy for them to talk, 

  • Keep them up to date, and 

  • Ask them what you should be asking them about.

Read that last one again.  Chris understands something about leadership, productivity, and guiding people toward personal and professional excellence:  Exceptional leaders aren’t the ones with all the right answers; they’re the ones who ask the right questions.

Want an interesting study?  Check out the lives of great leaders, past and present.  Find their guiding questions.  Go beyond what Churchill, Ghandi, Dr. King, Golda Meir, Jack Welch, Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, Colonel Sanders, or General Patton said or did. (How’s that for an eclectic bunch?)  Look at the questions they asked.

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