Leadership Lessons

"If you do not pass the people test, nothing else matters. Promotion without connectivity is destructive. I often share with church leaders that most of the churches in the United States should not promote themselves. Why? Simple. If your current membership is not actively inviting people or visitors are not staying, there are reasons why. If you do an advertising campaign, you are asking people to come in your doors only to realize why no one wants to invite anyone to your church. They never come back and leave to tell all their friends what they did not like about your church. This is not good marketing. The heart of marketing is people. Don’t start with mailers. Start with people. Ask yourself, “What am I doing this week to learn how to reach people more effectively? It's time to evaluate. Are we creating an atmosphere that fosters growth or are we ministering unto ourselves?" http://www.beyondrelevance.com/index.cfm/PageID/913/blog_year/2010/blog_month/2/index.html...

“If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.” Dr. Seuss Although this quote has been used by many, my favorite is Dr. Seuss.  Another one that I enjoy is "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose." Dr. Seuss actually wrote some very profound thoughts.  I love how these two quotes go together. The first speaks to doing the same things and expecting different results.  When you make the same choices, whether jobs, habits or people, your results will tend to be the same (or even worse).  And yet, don't we sometimes hope that something will change? The second quote speaks to what you can do about it.  You are smart and you have choices.  You don't always have to analyze "why" to make a change.  You only have to realize that you need a different direction.  The analyze part comes in choosing a direction.  Look at where you've been (your hist...

"Mind your p's & q's."  Have you ever heard the phrase?  This expression, meaning "be very careful to behave correctly", has been in use from the 17th century on. Theories include: an admonishment to children learning to write; an admonishment to typesetters (who had to look at the letters reversed); an admonishment to seamen not to soil their navy pea-jackets with their tarred "queues" (pigtails); "mind your pints and quarts"; "mind your prices and quality"; "mind your pieds and queues" (either feet and pigtails, or two dancing figures that had to be accurately performed). I recently saw an entry from http://www.jenfongspeaks.com/ that reminded me of this phrase.  Jen addressed those who publicly (on Facebook) trash or complain about their companies.  Isn't that just common sense?  You work for (or you're an independent contractor representing) a company, and you trash talk?  Publicly?  In front of poten...

Today I am in the home stretch of a super challenging week.  2 years ago, my siblings & I decided that we wanted to give our parents a really cool trip for their 50th Anniversary.  Knowing that we would need a healthy budget, we opened an account that we all contributed to monthly.  3 months before the big gift presentation, my mother's 88 year old uncle came to live with them.  Their lives changed dramatically as he needs 24 hour care.  When the gift trip was presented, my parents loved the idea, but thought it would be a long time before they were able to go.  This trip for them was important, so I decided that I would come and take care of Uncle Joe and Grandma Blanche.  Since this requires "personal care", it is WAY out of my comfort zone.  But what I wanted (for them to go on their trip) was more important than my comfort. Lots of things are that way... When you have a goal, it often requires going outside your comfort zone.  When ...

Picture yourself on a road trip.  Are you the meticulous planner, with detailed maps, all stops planned and hotel or campground reservations made?  Are you more of a free spirit, where you stop when you see something interesting?  Are you someone who drives or flies straight to your destination, with as few stops as possible?  Even though there are many ways to travel, there is still a direction and a destination.  Your personal style may be this way.  You may be a checklist person, where you need to write down all the small steps to your goals.  You may fly by the seat of your pants to get where you're going.  You may be single-minded and driven until you get there.  The thing to keep in mind with leadership, is that you are driving a bus to your destination.  You have responsibilities to your passengers.  Even though you have a preferred mode of travel, it doesn't always work for the rest of your group.  You need to look...