Friday, August 7, 2015

24 Things Successful Leaders Are Thinking

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969 Leadership Quotes

Brian Dodd on August 1, 2015 in Performance

The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is how they think. This is the premise of Dr. John Maxwell’s incredible book How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. Dr. Maxwell has been a mentor in my life for 25 years and I consider him the premier leadership expert in the world today.
Last week, Dr. Maxwell was gracious enough to offer free online coaching to help leaders improve their thinking skills. His session centered on Focused Thinking, one of the 11 thinking skills all successful leaders have.
To know learn the other 10 thinking skills, click HERE or on this image above to order his book.
The following are 24 Things Successful Leaders Are Thinking – specifically in the area of focus. All quotes are from the incomparable Dr. Maxwell unless otherwise noted.

“Unsuccessful people go in too many directions. Successful people focus on the main thing.”
“If a goal is worth pursuing, it’s a goal worth telling others about. There’s no such thing as a silent dream.”
“Houston Chronicles indicates professionals lose 2.1 hours every day in distractions.”
“Leaders have a bias for action…This means we do not make enough focused thinking time.”
“Who fills our calendar? If you fill it, I’m on your agenda.”
“You can’t reach the future successfully unless you’ve touched the past.”
“The Iceberg Thought – the more you see on top of the water, the more you know there is below the water.”
“A lot of people are not iceberg thinkers. They are ice cube thinkers.”
“Focused thinker. I think longer than anyone else.”
“Think until you think your thought through.”

Dr. Maxwell goes on to add 10 ways to think a thought all the way through:

“Think the thought. Schedule time for thinking. 90% of my material is the result of my scheduled thinking time.”
“Write the thought. I capture the thought. There’s a visual component to your thoughts.”
“Rethink the thought. This is the incubation period. I will get clarity to the thought.”
“Verbalize the thought. Talking enhances thinking.”
“Table the thought. Get people around the table and ask them questions. I’m a feedback fanatic. My best thinking has been done by others. Great thougths aren’t birthed in a vacuum. You either sit at the table or I’m going to put you on the menu. You know if you have the right people at the table when they take your ideas and make them better. One is too small a number to achieve greatness.”
“Practice the thought. 99% of great ideas never become a reality. They just stay in the mind. It’s not the thought you have in the shower. It’s what you do with it after you dry off. An iceberg doesn’t become an iceberg quickly.”
“Think the thought some more. This is where a lot of people miss it. If you are a focused thinker, you’ll never be satisfied with yesterday. You appreciate it. But you don’t want to stay there. When you’re a focused thinker, yesterday doesn’t excite you so much.”
“Launch the thought. The greatest test of a thought is the launching of it. ‘Don’t tell me what you’re going to do. Show me what you’re going to do.’ – John Wooden. The world is full of small thinkers.”
“Land the thought. Landing dramatically changes the outcome of any score. What do I want them to know? What do I want them to do?”
“Upgrade the thought. All is well that ends well.”

The following are just four of the many additional thoughts Dr. Maxwell gave on where to put your focus:

“I give 100% (of my time) in my strengths, on the main event (top priority), and key people.”
“The only thing a player can control in golf is his own game.” – Jack Nicklaus
“Problems are things I can fix. Facts of life are things I can’t control.”
“Plan while others are playing.”

Dr. Maxwell closed the session by announcing they are producing training material to help all leaders in the area of their thinking. I cannot recommend enough you take advantage of this offer when it becomes available. Click HERE for a link to The John Maxwell Company for more information.
Dr. John Maxwell is largely responsible for my development as a leader. My family loves him dearly on a personal level and I hope have honored him with my leadership.

10 Symptoms of the Unaware Leader

By Ron Edmondson

“As a leader, you may not know all the facts—and you don’t need to know everything—but you will keep an organization very small and very controlled.”

A couple of years ago there was a consistent problem in one of our areas of ministry. It was something that I would have quickly addressed, but no one brought it to my attention. Thankfully, I’ve learned the hard way that what I don’t know can often hurt my leadership or the church the most, so I’m good at asking questions and being observant. Through my normal pattern of discovery I encountered the problem, brought the right people together, we addressed the problem and moved forward.

End of story.
If only that was the end of the story every time. I’ve missed problems equally as much.
It reminds me—the leader is often the last to know when something is wrong. I have consistently told this to the teams I lead. You only know what you know.
And many times, because of the scope of responsibility of the leader, he or she isn’t privy to all the intricacies of the organization. Some people, simply because they would rather talk behind someone’s back than do the difficult thing of facing confrontation, tell others the problems they see before they share them with the leader. Without some systems of discovering problems, the leader may be clueless there is even a problem.
Not knowing is never a good excuse to be unaware.
It’s not a contradiction in terms. I’m not trying to play with words. I’m trying to make an important leadership principle.
As a leader, you may not know all the facts—and you don’t need to know everything—but you will keep an organization very small and very controlled. I spend lots of energy on this blog denouncing that type leadership. But you should figure out how to be aware enough as a leader to discover the facts that you need to know.
Unaware leaders have some commonalities among them. (By the way, I’ve written this in a general sense for all organizations, but it’s equally true in the church context.)
Not certain if you are an aware leader?

Here are 10 symptoms of the unaware leader:

Not knowing the real health of a team or organization.
Clueless as to what people are really saying.
Unsure of measurable items because they are never measured or monitored.
Not asking questions for fear of an unwanted answer.
Not dreaming into the future; becoming content with status quo.
Preferring not to know there was a problem than that there is one.
Ignoring all criticism or dismissing all of it as negativity.
Not learning anything new, relying on same old ways to consistently work.
Making every decision without input from others.
Assuming everyone supports and loves your leadership.

Those are just some of the ways a leader remains unaware. There are possibly many others.
Some things the leader will never know. That’s OK. There are issues within the life of an organization, however, that while the leader may not know readily, or even want to know, he or she should explore continually.
One of my rules of thumb in determining what I need to know and what I don’t: If it has the potential to impact the long-term health of the organization then I need to know about it. It could be a change we are about to make, a mistake we made or just perceptions that people have within the organization. But if I’m eventually going to hear about it anyway, I want to hear about it as early in the process as possible.

Want to test your awareness?

Try this simple experiment. Send an email to a fairly sizable group of people you trust—key leaders, staff members, friends—people who know your organization fairly well. These could be from the inside or outside depending on the size of the organization. Make sure there are some people on the list who you know will be honest with you. In fact, tell them you want them to be. Tell them that you are trying to be more aware as a leader and need their help.
Pick some or all of these questions and ask people to respond to them:
What am I currently missing as a leader?
What do you see that I don’t see about our organization?
What should I be doing that I’m not doing—things if you were in my position you would be doing?
Do you think we are changing fast enough to keep up with the needs of the people we are serving?
What are people saying about me or our organization that I’m not hearing?
Would you say I am generally aware of the real problems in our organization?
Who on my team is keeping from me how they really feel?
If you really want a challenge from this experiment, let them answer anonymously. You trust them, right? We set that in the parameters of who you asked to answer. Set up a Survey Monkey account and let them respond without having to add their name.
See what responses you receive.
Not ready to do that?
You could simply address the symptoms above and see how that improves your awareness as a leader. Whichever you choose.
What other symptoms are there of an unaware leader?

Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he's been helping churches grow vocationally for over 10 years. More from Ron Edmondson or visit Ron at http://www.ronedmondson.com/

16 Leadership Quotes From Albert Tate

Live Blog: 2015 Leadership Summit – 16 Leadership Quotes From Albert Tate

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969 Leadership Quotes

Brian Dodd on August 6, 2015 in Church Leadership

In an effort to add value to pastors and church leaders, INJOY Stewardship Solutions has dispatched me to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. During the next three days, I will be bringing the top leadership lessons from the incredible faculty the WCA has assembled.
As a special gift to everyone reading these posts, INJOY Stewardship is offering a complimentary downloadable Ebook Discipling Financial Leaders. Click Here to Download this Free Resource!
The first day’s final session was conducted by Albert Tate. Albert is the senior pastor of Fellowship Monrovia (CA), one of the fastest-growing multiethnic churches in the United States.
The following are 16 Leadership Lessons And Quotes From Albert Tate from the Global Leadership Summit:

Who to believe – Lies in truth’s clothing or the naked truth?
We’re not supposed to leave it all on the field. We play on the field. We live at home. We must have something left for home.
Live not for your resume. Live for your eulogy.
There are times Jesus wants you to do the math so you will know it can’t be done in your strength.
As a leader leave room to bring a dumb idea because you never know when God’s going to use a dumb idea to do something great.
Dumb Idea + God’s hand = Life Transformation
Jesus specializes is using dumb ideas.
You never know when God is going to put His hand on a dumb idea.
Jesus uses what you bring to do a miracle.
Some of us try to instruct Jesus along the way.
When you get out of the way you discover the awe and wonder of God’s hand.
When was the last time you were blown away by what God did in your church, in your company?
What would it mean to have something left at the end of the day for your family, your children, your church?
Empty is not a sign of a great work ethic. It is a sign of a missed opportunity to see the abundance of God’s work in your life.
We’re not limited by what’s in our hands.
It’s not about my name being great. It’s about His name giving us full access.

I can’t wait for Day 2 tomorrow. We’ve got a lot to process from today’s teachings. And if you have not already, don’t forget to click the image below for your free resource from INJOY Stewardship Solutions.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

What Is Greatness, How Churches Will Reach The Next Generation And 8 Other Things I’m Thinking About

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969 Leadership Quotes

Brian Dodd on August 2, 2015 in Performance

The following are 10 Things I Am Currently Spending A Significant Amount Of Time Thinking About:

What Is Greatness – American Pharaoh ran the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the triple crown, in quarter mile times of 24:06, 24:77, 24:58, 24:58, 24:34 and 24:32 seconds. It occurs to me greatness is excellence compounded over time.
Do Not Confuse Outliers With Staples – When I wrote the post 18 Thoughts On John Luke Robertson’s Visit To Perry Noble And NewSpring Church, I made sure not to focus on the church’s production values. If I did, pastors and church leaders could potentially write off the lessons provided because NewSpring’s production is an outlier. However, the staples of their ministry – expecting visitors to show up, an enthusiastic parking ministry, hosts instead of greeters, best seats for visitors, VIP section for visitors, attention to detail like camouflage cupcakes, and timely follow up. These are things any church, anywhere and any size can do. If you are someone looking to take their church to the next level and have not read my NewSpring article, click the link above today.
Are The Youth In Your Church A Priority? Really??? – Speaking of NewSpring, this past week they had over 5,000 students and over 1,000 adult volunteers attend their summer camp in Daytona Beach called Gauntlet. I asked a group of NewSpring attenders, “Other than Easter, what is the one thing on the church calendar everything else points toward? What takes the highest priority?” Their answer was Gauntlet. I wondered how many church’s top priority for the calendar year is student camp. Maybe this is why their church is so successful. It is also interesting to note that over half of the employees for their nine campuses came up through Gauntlet.
Who Is Going To Reach The Next Generation – Thursday night after watching Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, my daughter asked my wife and I to join her at 10:30 PM at a shaved ice company called Bahama Buck’s. The establishment is poorly located with limited visibility and did I mention we were meeting at 10:30 PM? When we arrived we shockingly discovered over 100 students there. Bahama Buck’s had become a hangout for young people. I asked the manager with so much seemingly working against him location wise, how was his business attracting so many students? He said, “Word of mouth. I did some boosted Facebook posts but it was young people who started talking and inviting their friends. And this is the result.” So if a church creates a fun environment where students are valued and not judged, where food and games are provided, where community can be developed, where there is excellence, and where things are worth students inviting their friends to, is it possible hundreds of students will flock there at all hours? The people who are going to reach the next generation are NOT the previous generation. The people who are going to reach the next generation are the next generation.
Do Not Confuse A Good Decision With A Bad Outcome – Many decisions leaders make do not turn out well. This just comes with being a leader. Sometimes the decision process was done well. All the right questions were asked. All the research was done. All the right people were included. It just did not turn out well. I bet if you did the same process the next time around you may get the desired result you are looking for. Never confuse a good decision with a bad outcome.
I Have Learned To Elevate Trust Over Agreement – I have a number of millennials on my team. As a 49-year-old, millennials think, act and approach their work differently than I do. Candidly, this is why we hired them. We needed new and different thinking. On a recent project we worked on together, I said, “I don’t agree with this but I trust you.” And as it turned out, they were right and we had a great outcome. I have learned to elevate trust over agreement. Our team and the churches we work with have been the benefactors.
Personal Freedoms Have Become Elevated Over Personal Holiness For Many Christian Leaders – Don’t believe me? Go to Facebook or Instagram on a Friday or Saturday evening. Many Christian leaders need to return to prioritizing their personal holiness above all else.
The Church And Its Business Leaders – With the Global Leadership Summit taking place later this week (look for live blog posts from the event), I am reminded of the importance for churches to equip their business leaders to be successful in that which they will spend more waking hours doing anything else away from church – their job. Click 14 Things Churches Can Teach Business Leaders To Have A Competitive Advantage In Their Industry for the reasons why.
The Tape Don’t Lie – Isaiah Thomas said the approach to performance evaluation during his days with the two-time defending champion Detroit Pistons was, “The tape don’t lie.” When comparing the performance between two or more individuals, just watch the video.
When Are Decisions Made About Your Future – Decisions are made about your future when you are not in the room. For more on this topic, click The Top New Leadership Lesson I Learned In The Last Month.

What things are you currently thinking about?

The Crucial Difference Between Managing and Leading

By Rick Warren

“As a senior pastor, my job is to keep us on track with the original New Testament purpose of the church.”

It’s been said many times by many different people that everything rises or falls on leadership. I don’t think that’s ever truer than in ministry. Charles McKay, a former professor at California Baptist College, used to tell us if you want to know the temperature of your church, put the thermometer in your mouth. That’s a good statement. You can’t ever take people farther than you are yourself, spiritually or any other way.
I remember when I was interviewed on the Acts television network by Jimmy Allen, and he asked me about starting new churches. He said, “How important is location?” I said it’s very important, the second most important thing. But the most important thing is not location, but leadership in a church. I see churches in great locations that aren’t doing anything and I see churches with good leadership in poor locations doing great things.
Leadership is the key.
You don’t have to be a charismatic leader (in the emotional sense) to be a great leader. Some of the greatest charismatic leaders of this century were also the worst—Stalin, Mao, Hitler. They were all very charismatic people, so personality has nothing to do with dynamic leadership.
Leadership and vision
It’s not the charisma of the leader that matters; but the vision of the leader. Whatever your assignment may be in your church, no matter what your ministry concentration may be, your number one responsibility of leadership in that area is to continually clarify and communicate the vision of that particular ministry. You must constantly answer the question: Why are we here? If you don’t know the answer, you can’t lead.
As a senior pastor, my job is to keep us on track with the original New Testament purpose of the church. That gets much more difficult as the church grows larger and larger. When we were very small, the only people who wanted to come were non-Christians. We didn’t have a lot of programs. We didn’t have a children’s ministry or a music ministry or a youth ministry. The people who wanted all those things went to churches that had them. Now I meet people coming over from other churches every week. This new dynamic presents an acute problem. Every one of these people carries in a load of cultural baggage. They expect Saddleback to be like the church they left. The first words off their lips can be, “At our old church, we did it like this …”
How can I politely say, “We don’t care how you did it at some other church”? I don’t mean to be rude, but the vision of the church someone just left isn’t the key issue. Our vision in this church is the key issue. Therefore, I must continually clarify and communicate Saddleback’s vision to everyone who walks through our doors. I must make clear what we are doing and why we are doing it. No one can be left in the dark to the question of vision. At Saddleback, we constantly communicate our vision through the membership class, through social media, and in any way we possibly can. Our purpose for being is always out front where everyone can see it. Everyone needs to know why we are here and catch our vision.
Leader or manager
Vision is the main difference between leadership and management. Management consists primarily of three things: analysis, problem solving and planning. If you go to any management course they’ll be composed of those three things. But leadership consists of vision and values and the communication of those things. If you don’t clarify the purposes as the leader, who’s going to?
Most churches are over-managed and under-led. Your church needs to be managed, but it also needs to be led. You have to have both. When you only have management in the church, you get the problem of paralysis of analysis. It’s like “Ready … Aim … Aim … Aim …” And they never fire. Management without leadership results in constantly analyzing and looking, but never actually doing anything. Don’t get me wrong. You need managers within the church as well. Without them you end up with a church that says, “Ready … Fire!” without ever taking the time to aim. You need both.
The power of vision
Some people have dreams, but not vision. There is a difference. A vision is a pragmatic dream. Lots of people have great dreams. They have grand ideas of all they would like to accomplish, but they can never get their dreams in a concrete form where they can do something about it. A vision is a dream that can be implemented. It’s specific. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific.
Every Easter Sunday I stand back and marvel at all God has done in our church. We started on an Easter with a handful of people. Now, every Easter we have even more than the year before as thousands upon thousands gather together. That’s incredible to me when I think how it all just started with a little vision. And from that we’ve watched a movement happen. That’s the power of a vision.

Dr. Rick Warren is passionate about attacking what he calls the five “Global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy/poor education. His goal is a second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in churches, and civility in culture. He is a pastor, global strategist, theologian, and philanthropist. He’s been often named "America's most influential spiritual leader" and “America’s Pastor. More from Rick Warren or visit Rick at http://www.rickwarren.com/

8 Leadership Quotes From Bill Hybels

Live Blog: 2015 Leadership Summit – 8 Leadership Quotes From Bill Hybels Pre-Summit Session

Download my latest ebook!

969 Leadership Quotes

Brian Dodd on August 5, 2015 in Church Leadership

In an effort to add value to pastors and church leaders, INJOY Stewardship Solutions has dispatched me to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. During the next three days, I will be bringing the top leadership lessons from the incredible faculty the WCA has assembled.
As a special gift to everyone reading these posts, INJOY Stewardship is offering a complimentary downloadable Ebook Discipling Financial Leaders. Click Here to Download this Free Resource!
The conference started out Wednesday evening with a time of celebrating the impact of this incredible event.
The following are 8 Leadership Lessons And Quotes From Bill Hybels Pre-Summit Session from the Global Leadership Summit:
When leaders change, families change. Businesses change. Entire countries change.

If we care about anything, we better care about leadership.
Vision makes the present experience unacceptable.
Visions are powerful things.
When I travel to the developing world and seeing what some leaders are up against, I feel like a real lightweight.
The local church is the hope of the world. Christ-centered leaders bring hope.
When leaders change, governments functions better. Schools function better.
When leaders change, there is hope on the horizon.
I’m really grateful for Willow Creek Community Church…I’m so proud of you as a church…I love it that you understand the world is complicated.

I can’t wait for tomorrow’s sessions to begin. Check back throughout both days for live blogs and updates. And if you have not already, don’t forget to click the image below for your free resource from INJOY Stewardship Solutions.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

17 Practices Of Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure

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969 Leadership Quotes

Brian Dodd on August 4, 2015 in Uncategorized

Have you experienced failure lately? Have you done things you wish you could do over again? Have you made some recent bad decisions? Are you missing goals and objectives? Are people leaving your team? If so, you are in good company.
Many people call Malcolm Butler’s interception of the Russell Wilson pass show above the worst call in Super Bowl history. Rather than giving the ball to Beast Mode Marshawn Lynch on the 1-yard line, the Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called a pass play instead. The results were devastating for the Seahawks. The public’s evaluation of Carroll’s decision has since ranged from bewilderment to outright hostility.
In the August 3rd edition of Sports Illustrated, writer Greg Bishop does a fascinating case study of Carroll and how leaders should deal with failure and disappointment.
The following are 17 Practices Of Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure I gleaned from the article. If you are a pastor, coach, parent, teacher, or business leader and have recently experienced failure, these points will help you.

Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Have Short Memories – Carroll did not dwell on the mistake. It would not change anything. He grieved for one evening and then moved his focus toward the 2015 season. He added, “If you hope I’m going to cry over the deal, I’m not. I’ve moved past that.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Believe In Their Approach – This gives Carroll perspective when failure and disappointment take place.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Do Not Confuse Decisions With Outcomes – Carroll stills believes in his decision to pass the ball rather than giving it to Lynch. He says, “Worst possible decision? (No) worst possible outcome.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Focus On What They Can Control – After February’s Super Bowl, Carroll then began re-focusing the Seahawks on their tempo, energy and attitude.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Have Grit – Angela Duckworth, psychologist from Penn U. and frequent TED Talk speaker, says of Carroll, “I’m interested in how culture influences grit. And Pete has very deliberately created a culture that encourages passion and perseverance – the two components of grit.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Put Good Systems In Place – When Carroll became head coach at USC, he began writing down everything that happened during his tenure there. Carroll’s system was created. His coaching then became more about a process than winning. Pete’s system is detailed in his book Win Forever.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Are Unselfish – During his initial head coaching job with the New England Patriots, he noticed players who were late to meetings soon began not showing up at all. He discovered selfish acts unravel seasons.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Are Competitive – Carroll says, “It always came back to competitiveness.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Do Not Treat Everyone The Same – The Seahawks have a myriad of strong personalities. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and friend of Carroll says, “(Pete has a) celebration of uniqueness.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Bring Out The Best In Others – Carroll says, “We’re developing the human properties by reaching into people and bringing out whatever the best is they have to offer.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Are Unshakably Positive – Personal friend Ben Haggerty says, “Pete is one of the most vibrant, positive people I have met in my life. He never turns it off. There’s a definite rhythm to how he moves about his day.”
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Personalize Their Approach To Those On Their Teams – Not everyone is motivated by the same things. Pete personalizes everyone’s development.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Prioritize Mentoring – Intentional investment in people reverses negative momentum. By studying elite U.S. Army forces, Carroll discovered people perform better the longer they remain in your program and under your tutelage.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Trust Others To Help Them – Carroll allows approximately a dozen Seahawks to address concerns from within the locker room.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Simplify – After the Super Bowl loss, Carroll eliminated all activities other than his charity work and football.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Make Necessary Changes – Carroll learned an interesting lesson. Winning a Super Bowl required changes. Losing a Super Bowl requires even more changes.
Successful Leaders Who Bounce Back From Failure Give Hope To Others – Carroll concludes, “I want us to demonstrate resilience, which is one of the foundations of grit…We know how we’re going to do this. Here we go.”

With the resigning of many of the team’s top players and the incentive they now have, the Seattle Seahawks are my pick to win this year’s Super Bowl. Pete Carroll would certainly agree with me.