Leadership

Leading Broken People

by Andy Wood on September 8, 2008

in Esteem, Leadership, Life Currency, Love, Words

A couple of weeks ago David Hayward, a pastor and gifted artist/cartoonist, posted this picture on his blog site, in a post titled “How I’m feeling about the church lately.”

(Used by permission)

(Used by permission)

I can relate.  For more than 30 years, it has been my privilege, my headache, my joy, and my nightmare to work with broken people or broken churches.  Prior to launching Turning Point Community Church in 2003, three of the four churches where I was senior pastor had experienced major divisions, open conflicts, forced termination of my predecessor, or some other kind of grief or pain.  Some had lived with the crud for so long, they’d arrived at the conclusion that this was somehow supposed to be normal.  “I’m sure it’s like this everywhere,” they’d intone.  “Oh, no it isn’t!” I’d scream inside, all the while smiling on the outside.

The brokenness isn’t limited to the organization.  David’s cartoon reminded me of something we used to proclaim loudly here.  Underneath the doorway leading into our rented facility, our church used to hang a banner that represented a passion and sense of calling for us.  Every Sunday, every worshipper at Turning Point walked under its message:

A Place to Begin Again.

I roughly estimated that for a long season, 80 percent of the people who arrived at Turning Point for the first time came here to heal.  Some came from broken marriages; others from broken lives of addictions or economic messes.  Many came bleeding from the most insidious wound of all – the church wound. [click to continue…]

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Could You Follow a Governor Like That?

by Andy Wood on September 3, 2008

in Executing Your Plan, LV Cycle

Stage 1:  Allocate your resources.
Stage 2:  Explore the possibilities.
Stage 3:  Follow your passion.

Stage 4: Execute Your Plan

“Okay, people, settle down.  This meeting will now come to order!  You guys in the back, keep a lookout for tax collectors and terrorists.

“We’ve called you out today because we have a new arrival in town.  This young man says he’s come from Persia, from the King’s palace.  Says he’s one of us, but has an important message.  Sir, you have the floor.”

“New governor, you say?  I never knew we had an old one.  No disrespect, sir, but you look a bit young to be a governor.  How much government experience do you have?”

“Okay, so let me get this straight.  You’ve never held public office.  You’ve never been a governor, mayor, or even a public defender.  You’ve never commanded an army or even seen a fight.  Your one job has been to serve up wine to the king.”

“Well, okay, I’m impressed.  It seems as if the Lord’s been opening up some pretty impressive doors.  But again, with all due respect, sir, this dump ain’t Persia.  Heck, we’re not even a city.  And I appreciate the fact that you’ve been doing some crying and praying for us.  But you’re not the first guy to try to rebuild this wall.  We’ve been trying this for 40 years.  So why don’t you scurry on off back to your cushy job?  I’m sure the king’s a bit thirsty by now.”

“Wow.  You’re serious about this, aren’t you?  I’ve never seen anybody stand up to the entrenched politicians like that.

“You really believe, don’t you?  I’ve never seen anybody with that kind of confidence in God, except ole’ Ezra, the priest.

“You’re going to actually do this, aren’t you?  I’ve never seen anybody hold a weapon in one hand, and a building block in another.

“Governor, could you hand me one of those bricks?  I’m in.” [click to continue…]

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Seven Ways to Tell Who the Leader Is

by Andy Wood on August 15, 2008

in Leadership, Life Currency

“Who is the leader?” Dad wanted to know.  His son was watching cartoons, and Erwin McManus was asking him to explain the characters and tell him what was going on.

The boy, with great delight, began to tell all about his cartoon heroes.

Erwin thought he’d ask him a simple question about who the leader was, and his son gave him an astonishing explanation.  Pointing to one of the characters, he said, “Well, that’s the leader.”

“How do you know?”

He said, “The leader always stays in the back and only gets involved when everyone else is about to die.”

There you have it:  what McManus describes as the Marvel Comics Theory of Leadership (more here).

True, leaders are often perceived that way.  But that’s not how leaders emerge, or how they last in the world where characters actually breathe.  If you’re looking to:

  • Hire/elect/promote a person to a place of leadership,
  • Strengthen your own leadership abilities,
  • Identify the extent to which you or someone else are actually leading people, or
  • “Find the parade and get in front of it,”

then consider leadership from the front.  Here, from followers’ perspectives, are seven ways to tell who the leader is.

[click to continue…]

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Leader or King? The Answer May Surprise You.

by Andy Wood on August 5, 2008

in Leadership, Life Currency

CrownIt was one of the most significant turning points in Israel’s history.  A day when elders behaved like spoiled children – deciding what they wanted, then fitting the problem to their solution.  A day that set their course for hundreds of years.  An event that, prompted by fear and ambition, abandoned the character and calling of a nation.  And yet, compared to other great events in the family-nation’s remarkable history, this day is seldom remembered.

In a time when influence was wielded by men and women who knew and walked with God, Israel’s leaders wanted more.

They wanted to be like everybody else.

“Give us a king,” they said.

Samuel didn’t like it, and took it personally.  “Relax,” God says.  “They’re rejecting Me, not you.  But now you know how I feel.”

Human nature tends to swing between two extremes:

[click to continue…]

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When Leaders Become Dangerous

by Andy Wood on July 24, 2008

in Leadership, Life Currency

I haven’t said anything about the current political scene for a variety of reasons, but this scares me.  I haven’t seen fawning like this since I escorted W. A. Criswell into a Baptist pastors’ meeting.

Something’s wrong when the same people who want to make sure terrorists get equal time and a “fair and balanced perspective” do this kind of drooling.  And something is even more wrong when the people whose vocation is to report the facts and to ask the tough question lose their calling to a thrill running up their leg.

Good grief, Chris, have some dignity.

But this isn’t about politics or the press so much as it is about healthy leadership.  I’ve seen the same kind of crap surrounding pastors, business leaders, and celebrity-types who never had to give an account to anybody for how they influenced people.

When leaders create or inherit an environment where nobody asks the tough questions, they are setting themselves and their organization (or nation) up for their own demise.

[click to continue…]

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Empowerment – You Want Strawberry or Cinnamon?

by Andy Wood on July 16, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, LV Stories

River Smith 3Hungry?  A couple of years ago a local institution here decided it was time for a second location.  River Smith’s Chicken and Catfish had been serving up good food since 1976, and built a second restaurant on the south side of Lubbock.

Even though I grew up on the Gulf Coast, seafood isn’t usually on the top of my culinary agenda.  In fact, I can count on one finger the number of times I craved seafood.  So you can imagine my wife’s surprise when I said, on a Friday no less, “Let’s get seafood.”  Then I remembered that River Smith’s had opened their new location, so I suggested we check it out.

I’m sure that wherever you live it’s probably the same way, but when a new restaurant opens in Lubbock, you may as well get ready for a wait.  But it was after 8:00, and I figured maybe the movie crowd would have left by then.

Wrong.  The place was packed.  But we were pretty leisurely, and decided to go ahead and brave it.  At River Smith’s, you order at the counter, and they give you a numbered buzzer that you place on a rack at your table so the server knows where to bring the order.  I should have known there might be a problem when the lady that took the order had run out of buzzers and grabbed one from a different register.  Nevertheless, we took our drinks and buzzer and somehow found a seat to wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Again, we weren’t in a hurry or even frustrated.  But I did catch a server passing by and asked her if she could check on our order.

Impress me #1:
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Together Has Power

by Andy Wood on July 9, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Lone RangerIt’s not enough to be a team player.  To get things done, to be a leader, you’ll have to be a team builder.  Together has great power, and an isolated Christian has a fool for a companion.

A Stanford Business School study bears that out.  Researchers examined the qualities that companies look for in promoting young managers toward senior executive positions. The study concluded that one of the most important qualities required for great success in leadership is the ability to put together a team and function as a good team player. Since all work is ultimately done by teams, and the managers’ output is the output of the team, the ability to select team members, set objectives, delegate responsibility and get the job done, was central to success in management.

That’s bad news for all the Lone Ranger types.  But hey, even he had Tonto!

Together has power in four dimensions:

1.  Synergy.
Synergy is the concept that one plus one equals three.  You can do the work of one, and so can I.  But together, we can do the work of many times more.  That flies in the face of conventional wisdom.  Maybe you can do it better by yourself in the immediate circumstances, but in the long run, it’s always more productive to go together.

You’re probably not going to hear this at church Sunday, so let me go ahead and tell you now:  [click to continue…]

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Time for a New Vision (or a new Leader)

by Andy Wood on June 26, 2008

in Exploring the Possibilities, Following Your Passion, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Waiting

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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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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Exceptional Leaders Ask Exceptional Questions

by Andy Wood on June 12, 2008

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

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.

[click to continue…]

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