Johnny@TheBOD.tv

Leadership: Past, Present, Future

 
PAST:  Remember to celebrate where you’ve been.  It’s so easy to move ahead and fail to pause long enough to soak in the wins.  It’s a journey enjoy the ride.

PRESENT:  Be where you are.   Live in the moment.  I’ve spent way too much of my life planning to live when this or that happened…  I imagined there was a magical threshold I would cross with a big sign that read “YOU HAVE ARRIVED”.  The reality is, NOW is the best time of your life.  Live it with everything you have.  Be there, not only physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well.

FUTURE:  Keep an eye on the horizon.  It’s your job.  Those traveling with you deserve it.  They are giving you the most important resource they have… TIME… and that word falls short because ultimately they are investing a chunk of their one and only LIFE in your vision.  It’s on you to study the maps, chart the course and see into the future.  Most aren’t called to see what doesn’t exist.  It’s on you.  You owe it those minding the ship to point in the right direction and make adjustments when needed or hand off the controls. 

We all lead at some level.  Maybe it’s your family, friends, department, a fortune 500 company, or … a church.   Although the stakes are higher for some, the principles are the same.   Live well and lead well.  DON’T BLINK!       

Be On Time

This is a post by Deadly Viper.  Good stuff.  A lesson for anyone who wants to Lead anything.  The cartoon CRACKS ME UP!

 
What is the most effective, career/life altering, and most simple secret to success?
BE ON TIME!!!
When you keep people waiting for no good reason, you undermine your relationship with them.
When you are late to a meeting, you lose the advantage and edge in the conversation.
When you show up late to work, your boss puts you in the slacker category.
When your company misses a deadline, your clients remember.
When you’re late with your mortgage, you toast your credit and borrowing power.
I have a simple philosophy. There are only 2 reasons for being late.
1. You’re dead.
2. Or you wanted to be late.

My point is simple: Be on time.

Instant success

Love this quote from C. Swindoll... "... the circumstances and events that led to greatness in that person took place in the hidden years when few were looking and no one cared." 

I work with lots of young people these days.  Most are ready to have impact, recognition and position... RIGHT NOW.  Only the ones who endure countless failures and service behind the scenes have a shot at greatness.  Less than 1% will be fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of their greatness.  Most truly "greats" will be long gone before their greatness is realized.  The really great ones will be so humble that only others will fully appreciate their greatness.  The great one will still be faithfully, humbly serving.  Greatness begins in the trenches when no one is looking and certainly no one cares...  Do you still want to be great?  

The Servant's Entrance

"The fastest way to the throne will always be through the servant's entrance." W. Cordiero

I don't even know how to begin.  So... I'll shoot it straight.  It's Biblical truth.  It's been proven throughout history.  It's tough for young men to get.  But... here it is... you don't start at the top.  It begins with with a towell not a throne.  The scripture to support the principle are too numerous to list.  It's at the very foundation of what Jesus taught.... "I came to serve not be served..."  Want to do amazing things?  Want the world to know just how much you love Jesus?  Want him to use you to change the world?  Pick up a towell and wash someone's feet... again and again and again... just about the time you think you've paid your dues... you'll just be getting started.  In the process maybe... just maybe... God will have transformed you enough to use you... to serve someone... DON'T BLINK.

LUKE 14 ⁸"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Integrity

This is not a political statement... rather an indictment on the horrific condition of ethics in our country as displayed by our leaders.  When leadership cannot be trusted chaos and rebellion lurks around the corner.  Confession, and some cases denial and blame placing elsewhere...  only when you are exposed rings empty.  The economy is NOT our biggest problem.  

  Blagojevich... enough said.

Your new Treasury Secretary approved.... failure to pay taxes.

Dashle... Health Secretary nominee... failure to pay taxes.  $120,000... filed amendment after he was caught.... Obama and others still standing by his nomination.

 $50,000,000 Wall Street investment fraud.... 

Psalm 7:8 (New International Version)

 8 let the LORD judge the peoples.  Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,
       according to my integrity, O Most High.

Living on the edges....

As usual Seth is brilliant.  Creativity isn't about grabbing and using the latest greatest... it's about blazing the trail.  To do that you've got to be willing to drop the dead weight and move on.  When it's broken... kill it.  Dream on the edges... BODers... let's see if you can raise a few eyebrows... DON'T BLINK!

Seth writes:

What does it mean to be creative?

You could watch the most non-creative, linear-thinking, do-it-by-the-book cop work to solve a crime and you'd be amazed at how creative her solutions seem to be. Creative for you, because you've never been in that territory before, it's all new, it's all at the edges. Boring for her, because it's the same thing she does every time. It's not creative at all.

For me, creativity is the stuff you do at the edges. But the edges are different for everyone, and the edges change over time. If you visualize the territory you work in as an old Boston Bruins sweatshirt, realize that over time, it stretches out, it gets looser, the edges move away. Stuff that would have been creative last year isn't creative at all today, because it's not near the edges any more.

This gives you two useful tactics for problem solving:
1. If you want to be creative, understand that you'll need to get to the edges, even if the edges have moved. Being creative means immediately going to the place the last person left off.

2. If you are "not creative," if you are the sort of person that gets uncomfortable being creative or has been persuaded you're not capable, don't worry about it. Just stretch the sweatshirt in your spare time, watch the creative things other people have done, keep up with the state of the art. Then, when you do your "not creative" thing, most people will think it's pretty creative indeed.

Busy or productive?

"Is the work you're doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy?" Seth Godin

Permission to speak 2

One of my three study partners decided that since there are four of us he felt left out in the last photo, sure he wasn't one of the three monkeys.  So I promised to include him with his own special post.  This is a shot of him when I suggested to the group that we, as individuals, have a goal of reading TWELVE books in 2009.   I'm like.... Dude.... what's the big deal?

Permission to speak?

 

I've recently started meeting with three guys with a very intentional purpose of developing our leadership skills.  I can promise you that this group is already having huge impact in my life.  I look forward to it, and miss it if I'm out.  It's taken some time, long before we even started meeting, to develop trust & transparency.  I've stepped out on a limb with these guys and have confidence that they won't cut it out from under me.  I'm confident that this type of  relationship is the only kind of relationship where real growth can take place.  We've already had some challenging conversation but the "brutal" truth is coming.  To hear the brutal truth from anyone you have to give them permission to speak into your life.  Permission means more than simply saying it's OK... Permission comes through time, honesty, trust, integrity and an intentional commitment to truth.  Over time your team will understand that when you say "give it to me, I can take it" you mean it.  Knowing that what is said is in love and pure motive.  If you are committed to growing YOU MUST HAVE A TEAM OF FRIENDS with "permission to speak"...  DON'T BLINK. 

Destiny

Bold leadership comes with a price so remember:

“Your destiny is not forged in those willing to walk away from you.”