Leadership Reflections's Weblog

Commitment

jwo20j — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:08:10 +0000

I had dinner with Dr. John Perkins the other night, and he gave some very interesting advice. He said that the best way to develop someone’s leadership and sense of self-worth is to call them to a high bar of commitment. This is entirely counter-intuitive to what we usually choose to do. We think that we just want to get people in the door, and that a low bar lowers the barriers to get people in. But what Dr. Perkins was saying was that we’re not in it to just get people in the door. It may be good enough if we’re just trying to get people to go to church, but for those of us really in it for leadership development, we’d rather have the few who really want to be there, than lower our standards for those who are probably not ready to be leaders now anyway.

He was saying how commitment is also inherently a good thing, that people are actually looking for something to commit to, something worth committing to. If we don’t offer them something of value, they will simply go look for it elsewhere. We need to continue developing our skills of passing on vision and ownership to those we lead so that they don’t become disinterested, and decide our something isn’t worth it. But once we can get people to really come on board with our vision, then we work at helping them develop ownership, and eventually, what work we’ve pioneered, we can pass on to those we’re leading.

Developing our Giftedness

jwo20j — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:58:23 +0000

Lately, in many of our conversations, there has been a good deal of emphasis on walking alongside God in the work He is already doing. I highly agree…believing that no matter how gifted we are, if we are not partnering with God, our efforts are fruitless. And this warning comes with great wisdom, as in our culture, and maybe more particularly in our group dynamic, the tendency can be to take all the responsibility on our own shoulders, to place ourselves at the center of the success or failure of any given task or goal. However, with that said, I also believe it to be very biblical to spend time developing our giftedness. God gave us giftings for us to be wise stewards of His gifts, not to hide them, thus wasting them.

I guess this is a follow-up on my quotes from Tiger Woods, and also in reaction to him winning his third tournament in as many starts this year. Let’s just say that going 100% in winning percentage in golf is crazier than a batter having a 1.00 batting average. The stat that is most impressive is that Tiger Woods is 11.12 points up on 2nd place Phil Mickelson. To put that in perspective, Phil Mickelson only has a total 10.12 points. He’s not just 100% this year, he has won his last 6 of 7 tournaments worldwide, with his only loss being a 2nd place finish. I mean, talk about seriously ridiculous…we’re seeing the best player to ever play the sport right now.

But what makes him so good? It is his determination to never settle. I mean, how many players at his level would say, alright, I’m winning everything in sight, time to sit back and coast. Yet, coming off this win, Tiger simply talks about how there is always something to get better at, always ways to improve. This is a man who knows no bounds to his athletic greatness because he will never stop pursuing perfection.

Now I’m not sure many of us pursue our Christianity like this. Now obviously, there is a delicate balance in that we are not meant to become God, we are not to place our value in our ability/inability to be proficient and able…but I think we do need to have a Tiger-like work ethic in how we do pursue our refinement of ourselves and development of our giftedness. Just as Tiger says that there are so many parts to his golf game, his long game, short game, putting…there are likewise as many parts to our spiritual development – character, leadership, evangelism, service. These are all things we need to be actively working. To be active in how to grow as evangelists, as servants, as leaders. I think it’s easy to take the passenger’s seat in life with God, taking life events as they come and learning from them. But how do we get active and pursue our growth? To make our growth a real issue, not just letting it come as events dictate. I know this is something that we do think about, but I would venture to say that it’s different to have a thought about it once awhile while we’re reading a book, or when someone else mentions something…but how do we live this paradigm of constantly striving to be the best we can, to never settle for the good.

Exhortation

jwo20j — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:10:35 +0000

Last night, we studied Acts 15, where the church has its first real skirmish with theological debate. They were debating whether or not Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the laws of Moses in order to be saved. The apostles thoroughly disagreed with this, arguing that man is saved through God’s grace alone. In the chapter, Peter stands up to make an argument against the Pharisee believers. What struck me about his response is that while it was clearly a rebuke, it was also very gently corrective and very gracious.

As we think about leading others, there are always going to be times where we will have to offer corrective instruction. Now, in that, we have the option of whether to respond out of our frustration and maybe even anger at why people still don’t “get it,” or we can have the best interest of their growth in God in mind, and offer correction as Jesus did. He never backed away from letting His disciples know they were wrong, nor was His rebuke usually so difficult to swallow that the disciples walked away in shame. He knew how to have a firm hand, but with grace that allowed His disciples to change and grow, but not get stuck sitting in the extent of their sin. This type of rebuke serves to be incredibly empowering and good for one’s long-term growth, and the kind of correction I want to be able to give on a consistent basis.

Quotes from Golf’s Best

jwo20j — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:28:16 +0000

“How are you going to get it there? If you don’t get it there, what went wrong, so you can apply it to the next one? That’s how I play the game of golf. I pick apart a golf course from the green back, factoring pin location, trouble, iron play, then ultimately the drive, and chart my way back from the green. “It’s weird that it happens so quickly now. If we went through the whole process on one hole, it would sound really complicated. But now, I just understand how to deal with it.”

“In the last three years he’s picked Hank’s brain and totally trusted him with his golf swing. But in the maturity process that a golfer goes through, he doesn’t want to get too reliant on a coach, because it can cause a loss of feel, and golf is a game of feel. Hank remained his guide, but ultimately it was important for Tiger to find his own way.”

“That’s something that all my instructors I’ve ever worked with believed. They can teach you whatever you want, but ultimately you have to pull the trigger. No one can tell you inside the ropes what you’re doing wrong; you have to figure it out. And then figure it out on the fly and adjust, and make the change and trust the change, that’s the ultimate.”

“You know how to work hard, so you’ve got the toughest part down. Keep learning and keep grinding. And see how far it will take you.”

“I view my life in a way … I’ll explain it to you, OK?” he told his small audience in Florida. “The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today. And that’s how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That’s the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better.”

Affirmation

jwo20j — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:55:50 +0000

I’ve been reminded recently how important it is to affirm people – in who they are as God’s beloved, in how much they mean to us, and in the good work that they’re doing. I’m recognizing that all 3 of those types of affirmation are important, as any affirmation needs to be rooted in the fact that our value and identity need to be grounded in Jesus. We can’t simply affirm, so people feel good that we like them or begin to look to us as their barometer of success – we need to remind them of who they are in relationship to God. However, it is also important, that once we have established who they are in Jesus, to affirm the blessings they are to us, and the ways they have followed Jesus in obedience in their actions. As leaders, if we can speak into all of those aspects, we can often bring a new level of healing and affirmation that people didn’t even know they needed.