The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. Peter Drucker
Making a Change at Church: Eight (not so) Simple Steps
In a previous post I quoted John Maxell who observed that older and “insecure leaders view change as a threat rather than an opportunity. ” But what if you have to change.
Many small churches are facing declining membership because their traditions have not changed in decades. The prevailing belief is worship traditions are Biblical and any deviation must certainly be a sin. Even though largely attracted to the spiritual (review the popular movies today) , younger generations are increasingly turned off by what they see as rigid and irrelevant. (more…)
Change: Threat or Opportunity?
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck asserted, ‘It is the nature of man as he grows older to protect against change, particularly change for the better.’ By its very nature, empowerment brings constant change in that it encourages people to grow and innovate. Change is the price of progress. Insecure leaders view change as a threat rather than an opportunity. – John Maxwell
Leading from the Outside
Unless you are prepared to see things differently and go against the current, you are unlikely to accomplish anything truly important. And to go against the current, you have to be something of an outsider, living on the edge, a member of a small but vibrant counterculture. You must free yourself from habitual ways of looking at things, cultivate an independent and questioning perspective, and be ready to embrace alternative and counterintuitive points of view.
Dove Frohman in Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can’t Be Taught – And How You Can Learn It Anyway (J-B Warren Bennis Series)
Management Since 1800
I’m a proponent of leadership over management as the primary course of study to improve one’s ability to influence people. Management, however, seems to have reigned as a subject in books since the 1800s. The google Ngram below charts the usage of the keywords “manager,” “leader,” “management”, and “leadership” in books since 1800.
I notice a couple of interesting things about these trends:
- Leadership subjects did not appear until the mid 1800s (perhaps as a result of the American Civil War)
- Management subjects decreased during the America’s Great Depression
- Management subjects skyrocketed during 1970-1990 (the rise in the economies of industrialized countries)
- All of the keywords dropped in usage after 2001 (Influenced by the attacks on September 11?)
Humility, the Basic Leadership Virtue
Benedict believed the basic leadership virtue was humility. Leaders had to demonstrate competence and ambition, but their passion was to derive from a desire to improve and contribute to the health of the organization, not from individual ego. He believed that true humility was a skill one had to learn and practice.
John Mount, in a Forbes.com review of the book The Benedictine Rule of Leadership: Classic Management Secrets You Can Use Today
by Craig and Oliver Galbraith
Greenleaf on Servant Leadership
The great leader is seen as the servant first. – Robert K. Greenleaf
Kotter: Great Leaders Have Emotional Impact
Great leaders tell stories that create pictures in our minds and have emotional impact. Martin Luther King Jr., had a dream, not a strategy or a goal, and he showed us his dream, his picture of the future. People change when they see something visual (the vision) that touches their feelings, challenges their thinking, and incites actions. People may realize the need for change, but not do anything differently because they lack the passion to break out of the routines or habit patterns. The momentum of ‘how we’ve done things’ tends to make our future look like our past.
The ability to move people emotionally is a special gift. Few of us are born with it, but we can learn it. John P. Kotter
Leadership Lessons From A Janitor
The following leadership lesson was circulated around our organization today. I’ve read this before, was inspired, and moved on to the popular leadership theories and acronyms of more “modern” leader training. But this is a story that deserves to be revisited often, it teaches lessons lacking in today’s leaders. In an article published in the Warton Leadership Digest James E. Moschgat (at the time a Colonel in Command of the 12th Operations Group, 12th Flying Training Wing, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas) writes about the squadron janitor at the Air Force Academy who was discovered to be a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. The janitor was William John Crawford who earned a Medal of Honor while serving in Italy with the 36th Infantry Division but went on to become a leadership inspiration to Colonel Moschgat. (more…)
Bible Class: The Blessings of Christ Part 2
Before you begin this study read Matthew 18:21-35
Servants who have approached the master with a poor spirit, acknowledging how broken and unrighteous we are without him and mourning over the sins we have committed, will have the master bring them into his kingdom and comfort us. Only in this state can we with meekness bring our power under his control and crave the righteousness which he has promised to fill us with. What a joy for the servant who is comforted and filled, who possesses a share of the master’s present kingdom and all things on the earth becomes his.
But the question that has vexed forgiven servants for centuries is this: What do you do once you are free? What do you do with this new freedom? How do you respond to when your master has made you a co-owner in the kingdom?
Jesus not only meets us where we are… he showers us with blessings. He gives us citizenship in the kingdom and makes us rulers over the earth. How do we respond to such great mercy? (more…)