Leadership

Building a Championship Team: What You Can Learn from the Big Leagues

by Andy Wood on March 23, 2010

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Enlarging Your Capacity, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle

The boys of summer are back.  You’ll find them hanging out in Florida and Arizona ballparks, getting those winter cobwebs cleared out, and setting out to prove they’re worth all that money (or should be paid all that money). 

But while it still has to be worked out on the field, and the first word to start the proceedings is still, “Play,” make no mistake about it.  The 2010 version of this game got started as soon as Mark Teixeira caught the last out of the ’09 World Series.  And it was all business.  That game is played by General Managers on telephones and at conference hotels and in corporate offices throughout North America and, in some cases, in island Caribbean nations or the Pacific Rim.

They were about the business of building a team.  And not just for 2010.

Your payroll may be slightly less and your personnel decision may not involve as many people.  But wherever you connect with others to get things done, you or somebody is building a team.  And the decisions you make today can affect the quality of your team(s) for years to come.

Just ask Bobby Cox, who is retiring this year after 50 years in the game.  Cox has the distinction of hiring his own boss as the GM of the Atlanta Braves and “demoting” himself back to the field manager in 1991.  Between him and John Schuerholz, the Braves reeled off 14 consecutive division titles – a feat unmatched in professional sports anywhere.

So what can we learn from the likes of Cox/Schuerholz, or the New York Yankees, who won their 27th World Series title last year? [click to continue…]

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Leading and Loving “Bent Nail” People

by Andy Wood on March 21, 2010

in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers

(The Law of the Nail, Part 2)

In the previous post I introduced you to The Law of the Nail.  A corollary to the Law of the Hammer (“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”), the Law of the Nail says,

If you are a nail, and especially if you’ve been pounded a time or two, everything (and everybody) looks like a hammer.

That’s even true when you’re a light bulb, not a hammer.  Just watch the video:

Everybody gets banged up by people or by life sooner or later.  But sometimes we are faced with situations in which we must work with, lead, or love people who, in nail terminology, are really bent up.

Because you are on the same planet, much less in the same building or  room, they don’t trust you.  Doesn’t matter whether you have earned their mistrust or not.  They perceive, speak, and reason through their woundedness.  And as far as they’re concerned, you’re just another hammer, waiting for your chance to pound away at them.

So what do you do with these people?  Make their fears come true?  Write them off?  Get offended?  Ignore them?

I’d like to suggest that you have an opportunity to both get the job done (whatever “the job” is) and be an instrument of healing.  Here are some ideas: [click to continue…]

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Creativity, Thinking, and the Box

by Andy Wood on March 13, 2010

in Exploring the Possibilities, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Okay this post is interactive, so get a pen and something other than your outgoing mail to write on.  Or do what I did and pop up your word processor.

Here’s the challenge:  Watch the 46-second video below and see if, based on that, you can think of at least one adjective that begins with each letter of the alphabet.  (Confession:  I had to watch about five times, but I got it.)

Why this video?  Only because I saw it the other day and thought it was way-cool.  Here’s the back story:  A missionary had distributed Gideon Bibles to a village in Malawi, Africa.  These people were so happy to get their hands on their own Bibles, they spontaneously broke out into song and dancing, worshipping God in gratitude.  (When was the last time you did that when you got a new Bible?)

So click on the “play” button and start listing adjectives.  See how many plays it takes for you to get a full list.  I’ll show you my list after it’s over and you have yours.

[click to continue…]

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God Never Says “Uh Oh”

by Andy Wood on March 10, 2010

in Ability, Consumers, Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Abundance, Waiting

(What to Do When Your Brook Dries Up, Part 2)

In the last post I shared some ideas based on the experience of a prophet in the Bible named Elijah about what to do when we try to draw from familiar sources of support, provision (income), encouragement, or direction – only to find that they simply aren’t there anymore.  In the two days since then, I have talked to

  • a man who needed counsel and didn’t have a pastor,
  • a missionary who has seen a significant decrease in support,
  • a former lay leader in churches who is struggling to find a church home,
  • a pastor whose congregation is struggling both financially and in attendance,
  • a student whose marriage engagement has broken off,
  • a church member in another city whose pastor was terminated, then abruptly died.

What they all have in common – in the language of Elijah’s experience, their “brooks have dried up.”

I fully expect that nearly half the conversations I have tomorrow will be in the same vein.

Bottom line:  there are two kinds of people in the world [click to continue…]

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Fish for Breakfast: What Jesus Did With a Disgraced Leader

by Andy Wood on February 7, 2010

in Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Protecting Your Investment

I think I’ve found another reason to identify with Simon Peter, that famous-for-so-many-reasons disciple of Jesus.  I can already relate to the fact that I feel like I’m supposed to be the first to show off when I think I know the answer to a question.

I can so relate when it comes to answering supernatural statements with in-the-natural answers or observations.

Most of all, I can relate to wanting so bad for my screw-ups to be the secret kind, only to have them aired out for the whole dang world to see.

But there’s another characteristic I see in this impetuous, impulsive, impassioned fisherman that I totally understand:

His randomness.

You just get the idea that Peter’s mama must have had a time trying to get him to do his homework.  The very image of Andrews’s brother planning ahead for anything is laughable.

Ready.  Fire.  Aim.  Uh oh.  Sorry.  Shutting up now.

Resurrection Randomness

So get this scene.  Jesus has been crucified and risen from the dead.  Peter, having denied the Lord publicly had become a reproach and embarrassment to the Lord, himself, and his companions.  But he had also met the risen Christ and experienced the wonder of being forgiven by Christ.

So what now to do? [click to continue…]

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So Change It! Eight Steps to Making a Difference, Beginning Where You Are

by Andy Wood on February 5, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Increase, Principle of Legacy

I want to take you to a place where, frankly, we aren’t invited.  For just a minute, let’s be one of “those” people we often gripe about – those rubberneckers on the highway, who seem fascinated with somebody else’s messes.  

In this case, we’re creeping up to a closed bedroom door, where on the other side, we can hear muffled sobs. 

A man’s sobs.

A few days ago, somebody from home had rocked his world.  The news was bad, and every ounce of optimism he once had was crushed.

You should have been here yesterday.  He was really blubbering then.  And he will be again tomorrow.  Fasting, too.  And praying.  Lots of praying. 

But as he cries and prays and cries and fasts and cries some more, something happens.  [click to continue…]

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Bread in My Oven: Seven Half-baked Ideas I’m Working On

by Andy Wood on February 3, 2010

in Half-baked Ideas

No telling how many times I’ve said to someone, “Put this in your oven and let it bake for a while,” or “I don’t have this all sorted out yet – it’s still in the oven.”

I thought I’d share some of the “bread” that’s in my oven right now.  Here are seven half-baked, half-raw ideas I’m heating up.  I may toss ‘em.  I may cook ‘em up.  Put them in your oven too, and let’s see what comes out.  You can help, if you’d like, by sharing your thoughts in the comments below.

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There is no such thing as a porcelain healer.  There are expert healers, wounded healers, bloody healers, spiritual healers.  But if your goal is to look pretty on a shelf or remain detached from the broken, the sick, the wounded, or the dying, you aren’t much use.  For God’s sake, stay out of the way of those who are.

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“The Lord has made everything for its own purpose…” (Proverbs 16:4). If God is purposeful, He must be faithful to complete His purpose.  Otherwise, He’s an idiot or impotent, a scoundrel or attention-deficit, careless or passive.  In other words, if He is purposeful but not faithful, He’d be created in our image.

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Even my dog hates closed doors.

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The Ultimate test of a leader is whether he will “lay down his life for his sheep.” In other words, will he say no to his instinct toward self-preservation and do what is best for the people he leads?  If you must maintain your position, your salary, your perks, or your title at all costs, you are no leader.

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“Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions?  Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.”  –Andy Andrews, The Noticer.

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Having a wallet that’s an inch thick is NOT a status symbol.  (Wait for it… wait for it…  Here it comes… What’s in YOUR wallet?)

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Overheard on “Criminal Minds” a few weeks ago:  “Scars remind us of where we’ve been, but they don’t have to dictate where we are going.”

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Life’s a Mystery: The Truth Story of Aunt Ruth

by Andy Wood on November 2, 2009

in Uncategorized

Aunt Ruth 2Aunt Ruth was neither my aunt, nor was she named “Ruth.”  Through a set of circumstances I don’t have time to relate, “Aunt Ruth” was what I wound up calling her. 

Aunt Ruth had eyes that danced long after her feet were unable to.  She defied aging – said she didn’t have time or sense enough to grow old.  She detested religiosity and people who took themselves too seriously.  “Fuddy Duddy Christians,” she called them.  Aunt Ruth was wise.  Through her sometimes-sharp exterior, she loved me.  And she taught me one of the most important lessons I ever learned. 

“Life’s full of mysteries,” Aunt Ruth said.  In fact, she said it a lot.  Aunt Ruth loved mysteries.  Not the murder-type, but those principles in life that defy logic.  It always amused her to get me in an argumentative mode and throw out one of her “mysteries.”  

Like the time I was angry because someone had been spreading lies about me.  “I’m gonna find out who started it, and set them straight!” I informed her.  

“Forget it,” Aunt Ruth said.  “Get to the bottom of it, and all you get is some stirred up mud and a mad catfish.”  [click to continue…]

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What to Do When the Leader Screws Up (And the Leader is You)

by Andy Wood on October 7, 2009

in Gamblers, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos

JerusalemJust across from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is a small mountain called Moriah.  Today the Dome of the Rock stands as the old city’s most visible landmark.  But there was a time when, on that very site, one of the most striking ancient structures of all time stood, calling the people of Israel to worship God.  I’d like to tell you why the Solomon’s temple was located there.

It all started with a colossal failure in leadership that left 70,000 people dead.

And the leader?  Israel’s wonder-boy, David.

You remember David, right?  [click to continue…]

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Help! My “Leader” Isn’t Leading!

by Andy Wood on September 14, 2009

in Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, Pleasers

bad leaderLast week I was having a “what do I do” conversation with a youth pastor in another city.  Seems he found himself at an impasse with his boss – the senior pastor of the church – over what leadership was supposed to look like.  His take on it:  the “leader” isn’t leading anybody.  Not him, not the others involved in the problem.  Nobody.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a frustrated children’s pastor about a supervisor who was repeatedly letting important details fall through the cracks.  It got so bad, the  entire church leadership team was hindered in getting their work done.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve counseled or consulted with employees or constituents – inside and outside Church World – who are crying out for visionary, heart-based leadership.  All they get instead are insecure emperors, oilers of the machinery, or absent-minded trips down memory lane.

Whenever I hear yet another story of position holders who are failing the people they’re supposed to be leading, I have two knee-jerk reactions.  First, I want to take up the constituents’ offense.  I want to bark and growl and roll my eyes and look incredulously and fuss and fume.  Second, I wonder if anybody could issue the same complaint about me if they were completely honest.

Just for laughs, why don’t we stick out necks out and try on an idea.  Leadership failures aren’t the result of somebody setting out to ruin an organization or to make your life or work miserable.  (Hey, I said “try it on”… if it doesn’t fit, we can fuss and fume some more later.)  Assuming that’s true, then, where do we go wrong?  How do leaders begin to suck the life out of people or organizations?  Here are 10 things to watch for: [click to continue…]

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