Connections

Setting the Cultural Thermostat

I was talking to a former school teacher and an artist in our church yesterday.  She made a statement concerning her assignment years ago to teach in an inner-city school.

Here's the quote:

Change the climate, you change the culture.
Change the culture, you change the results.

Culture isn't created over night.  It's easier to create than to change. 

Climate, by definition is "the prevailing condition or set of attitudes."
Culture by definition is "the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns."

Leaders change the climate, those following leadership change the culture.  This teacher knew her job was to change the attitudes and conditions in the classroom....then a few students would change the culture over time.  Makes sense to me!

Authority {part 1}

One of the things that stuck out to me MOST at Catalyst was Andy Stanley's talk on Moral Authority.  He defined Moral Authority as the authority that is gained when "deed and creed" come together.  

When what you say and what you do are n'sync...there is an authority in your life.  

This is why the nation of Israel was in the the business of "Giant Slaying" when David was king.  Not because he commanded the nation to kill giants....because he killed giants.  It's easy to follow someone who leads in deed and not just creed.

This is why Payton Manning can command 110% from his team.  When the rest of the Colts are icing their legs, playing XBox and watching "My name is Earle"....Payton is watching film and quoting the playbook in front of the mirror!

This message hit me in the face!  There are some areas that I need to synchronize regarding my "deeds" and my "creeds."  

What about you?

The Feedback Loop

"The world is one big feedback loop. For example, when your CPA hands you your financial statement, he's giving you feedback on how smart (or stupid) you are as an entrepreneur. When you step on your bathroom scale, you're also looking for feedback. Many people don't step on a scale or look at their financials for the same reason: They don't want the feedback. They want to pretend everything is just fine." Robert Kiyosaki

Read the rest of the article here in the latest Entrepreneur Magazine.

Suited for the Niche

I love niche's!  Here's the defintion of a niche:

• a position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it

You can't lose with the niche.  Marketers use it, churches use it, businesses use it and you use it.

When we play to our strengths and find our niche, we succeed.  

For instance....not everyone is a Steve Jobs (eventhough from blogs, it appears that he has become the hero of the contemporary pastor...I'm guilty). When I try to be Steve Jobs, lead like Steve Jobs and write Org. charts like Steve Jobs, I find out shortly that I am failing at being Steve Jobs.  

Why?  Because Steve Jobs is wired to be himself and I'm wired to be me!

I truly believe favor envy and/or success envy both stem from a failure to discover your niche.

There is a niche "out there" for everyone that is well suited for them to occupy! 

Stewarding a Dream

Regardless of what you think about Rick Warren or the "Purpose Driven" movement, no one can deny that this man is stewarding his affluence and influence well.

When you have some time, read this article in Time about Warren.

I heard Warren speak at Catalyst last year about his P.E.A.C.E. plan and his global ambition.  When I was listening I was inspired and depressed all at the same time. 

I was inspired by Warren's relentless pursuit of global change and depressed because I couldn't think that BIG!

I can't steward a global PEACE plan, but I can steward my influence in my city, neighborhood and family.  We are not help accountable for accomplishing a DREAM, but we ARE held accountable for how we STEWARD that dream. 

What key do you possess that is uniquely yours to use?

Authenticity and the Scary Church

I read this post from Ben Arment and it got me thinking about authenticity.

People know when your authentic and they know when you are not. While in Barnes and Noble a random dude comes up to you to ask why you are looking at business books and about your family, but before you can respond he launches into, "Are you satisfied with your monthly income?"

Have you been there before?

I'm thinking: "Wait a minute....I thought you really wanted to know about my heart for business and my family."

Authenticity builds a bridge for folks to embrace your ideas. If you are not wanting to become BFF's then don't pretend to become one in order to sell a multi-level marketing start-up kit.

Rant Over!

The White Board Grew Feet

We often talk in our staff meetings about the importance of moving our conversations from the white board to the implementation stage for people that sit in the seats on Sunday mornings.  It's easy to get lost in "brainstorm land" and "innovation realms" and forget that the purpose of it all is to present the concepts to people in a way that can be applied.

One such issue that rarely makes it from the conference to the streets is the issue of "Church Unity." There have been many books and conferences in recent years on church unity and mobilizing "city-taking" initiatives just to end up as dusty books, along side our church growth strategy manuals on our church office shelves. 

My cynicism has been demolished over the last 12 hours as I have encountered other pastors in the city while engaging in the the "everydayness of life." 

Last night while at Cracker Barrel, I ran into BrookWood's Pastor and we sat on the rocking chairs outside with our wives and talked about reaching our city and supporting each other as pastors for over 30 minutes.

This morning I received a phone call from a local Baptist Association leader about learning from each other concerning how to build a House of Prayer for our cities.  We talked about the need to work together and learn from others who are not just like us.

I feel like the white board just developed feet and walked through our city.

Hunger that Drives

"A laborers appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on." Proverbs 16:26

How many times do you hear someone say, "I'm overcommitted?" The problem with commitment arises when you have no values that drive your commitment.

What we value (hunger), we commit (work) to.

It has been an interesting task to make a list of my commitments, then make a list of my values. I am finding that sometimes these don't match up. We all have things in our lives that we need to commit to, but the majority of our commitments need to be reinforced or driven by our values.

Just some food for thought.... Thanks John Maxwell for messing with my mind today.

Huge Investment....Small Return

As I was checking out in a local grocery store this weekend this is what I saw. Are you kidding me?

What I learned:

1. You can waste alot of time repackaging something in order to get a tiny return.

2. You can manipulate people who have kids in the check out line by showing them a clear container with blow pops.....jack the price up and give parents no choice but to soothe their screaming kids.

3. You can just sell the product for the retail price, get twice the candy and not have to pay someone minimum wage to (re)package an item that has no problem selling on it's own.

Including labor, the candy at the counter probably cost $4.50 to package and sell. So if you look at it like that, you would be saving $3.00 or you could just pay the $3.00 and get a months supply of blow-pops.

How often do we waste our time and resources trying to reinvent the wheel, just to receive a "small return" on the investment?

I may be over-reacting to this, so excuse me if I am. I guess our daughter could be the one screaming for a $2.00 sucker in the future. I'm thinking for the parents out there who read this blog. There's a leadership principle in there somewhere, but not sure where.

Catch Me if You Can

Just fininshed leading our staff meeting today and talked about VISION. Alot of my points were taken from Scott's post on the Exponential Conference. I took my Leadership Community through this on Sunday as well.

I asked the question, "Who have you seen at CRCC living out the VISION of CRCC?"

The names began to fly. Many of the same names were mentioned. They all were different, had different gifts and different stories. They were all authentic. They all were CAUGHT living out the vision and not trying to be recognized.

If the vision can't be incarnated, then it's just a vision and not reality. You know your vision is sticky, when you catch people living it out and not even realizing it.

Ask a Chik-fil-A worker what their vision is. They will probably respond with, "My pleasure"....just like they do when you ask them for anything. Hmmm....could be a part of their vision?