It’s one thing to lead people or a team. It’s another thing to lead leaders. What do you do if you’re in charge of an organization and have developing leaders who answer to you? It’s the difference between leading people directly and leading through others. And often those leaders have great potential and are in the process of development.
One thing that is helpful to me is to see examples of this in scripture. Jesus, for example, did more than lead disciples. He developed them to lead others as He prepared them to advance His kingdom.
Another great example is the way the Lord prepared Joshua to advance into the Promised Land. After 40-plus years of floundering and wandering, it was time for a new day. But before the Lord prepared the nation, He prepared the leader!
In the Lord’s instructions to Joshua, He addressed issues every leader needs to succeed. Some of those issues are personal; others are organizational. Take a look:
That’s what the text read at 11:00 one night last week. My son-in-law, Curtis.
Yes, I replied, and soon the phone was vibrating.
What do your kids or in-laws or whoever call you about at 11:00 pm? This one got interesting very quickly.
“Hey man, I was sharing this with Cassie about this and she said I should call you.”
Cassie also said later I should blog about it. So there. You’re welcome.
“This” was an insight into something that dates all the way back to Eden. It’s been rocking my world ever since. The implications of this idea are poignant and tragic, yet dripping with possibilities. [click to continue…]
The Twelve Pathways to Christmas, Chapter 7: The Way of Warfare
(This is a reprint from a previous post and a chapter in my book The Twelve Pathways to Christmas. See below for how you can purchase the book and help support missions.)
December 23
The first thing Ryan Fisher felt when he awakened was an obnoxious cold wind, pelting his face with sleet. The searing pain coursing down his legs and across his chest further aroused him. Opening his eyes, he saw movement outside, but the angle of his SUV in the ditch made it difficult to tell what was happening. One thing was sure – the distant siren and flashing lights were for him.
Another thing became certain pretty quickly. Assuming he lived, Ryan Fisher would spend Christmas alone. There’d be no plane to catch, and nobody boarding a plane back to Birmingham. Not in this storm.
It was the end of the day from hell, punctuating the week from hell, capping off the year from hell. And now, freezing and in shock, Ryan Fisher closed a mental door. He was done. [click to continue…]
Not literally; behind me right now is the back of a chair.
Metaphorically speaking, look behind you, and you’ll probably find somebody following you. They may be following your instructions, following your example, or even following your dreams. They may be following your words and images on social media, but that’s not the same thing.
Look beside you and guess what? You’ll find people following there, too. They may position themselves more as friends or colleagues, but they make sure to stay in your orbit. In NASCAR they call this “side drafting.” And people are probably side drafting you, whether you realize it or not.
Let me pause here to roll my eyes and tell you – again – that even if you don’t think of yourself as a leader, you are. Everybody influences somebody. Somebody looks to you as the person to obey, the example to follow, the partner to collaborate with, or the sense maker in their times of uncertainty or confusion.
That leads to the Big Question then… Where are you leading them?
All you need to do to find the answer to that question is look ahead. [click to continue…]
Someone once asked General Norman Schwarzkopf the secret of his success. His reply was simple: “I never walk past a problem.”
That’s the difference between a leader and a politician. Between a leader and a poser. Between a leader and a follower. Between a leader and a talker.
Leaders – those who influence people to take massive action to accomplish a goal or mission – expect problems. But rather than moan about them or wring their hands over how complex they are – rather than kicking the can down the road with Band Aid fixes so a future generation can deal with the real issues – leaders approach problems with the expectation and commitment to solving them.
Anybody can point out problems. Influencers – real leaders – produce solutions. Better still, they challenge others on the team or in the organization to solve problems. So how do you recognize a problem-solving leader or potential leader when you see one? Here are five ways to tell – even if you’re looking in the mirror to find one. [click to continue…]
It was a funny exercise. The memory-making type of thing that happens randomly when you spend time hanging out with kids. Or in my case, grandkids.
Laura Kate and Shepherd (#1 and #3 of 9 if you’re keeping score) were in the back seat and we were headed home from a VBS family night. With everybody’s schedule crossways on this particular night, I got to be the “family.” We’d had the program, topped off by some awesome brain-freezing shaved ice. They had played in the bounce houses some, and now we had escaped the Alabama humidity and were back in the truck headed to their house.
We got to talking about different sounds that animals make, and I was asking them if they could imitate them. Then, on a whim, I asked, “Can you imitate Fischer?”
Fischer is their four-year-old little brother.
Laura Kate popped up: “Mama, Shepuhd and Sistuh huht my feewings.”
You just had to be there… It was dead-on and hysterically funny.
We went from that to others, like their parents, but the first one was the hit of the night.
Who doesn’t love a good impression – especially a funny one? And it’s true, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – even to an 8-year-old.
It’s also a raw demonstration of leadership at a very fundamental level. [click to continue…]
I’ve been listening to a lot of professional communicators lately. I’ve also been seeing a lot of people in the public eye, for better or worse. Politicians. Preachers. Entertainers. Protesters. Prophets of doom. Leaders, or leader wannabes. Victims or those pretending to be victims.
I’ve had some thoughts about all that. Wildly accurate thoughts, of course, because hey, they were mine. But rather than blather on about my forgettable opinions, I thought I would share some real wisdom.
As I have mentioned in previous posts like this one, I get a front row seat to some amazing writing, all sent like these with the hopes of earning an A on a paper or discussion forum.
(I get plenty of bad writing too, but I’m saving that for another day.)
So I’ve been keeping a file of my favorite student quotations for quite some time now, and today I would like to share a powerful collection with you. All of these are about something to do with living in the public eye, either as a leader or as a public servant or communicator. Sooner or later this could be you in your 15 minutes of you-know-what.
Read on (it’s a quick read) and brace for impact. You will be impressed and blessed by these insights. [click to continue…]
