Inside Job

I feel like I'm learning it all over again. It's what inside that counts. I've been watching things go well at church for weeks now. Better than ever, I would say. It's been busy, as you can tell from my lack of postings, but it's been good, very good. For me, so much of what has been working flows from my attitude toward people. Books like "Leadership and Self-Deception" by the Arbinger Institute and "It's Not My Fault" by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend have helped me considerably. They contain nothing revolutionary, but, still, I feel as if I have experienced a little revolution this summer, albeit a revolution of the obvious. So much depends on what we think about others. If you're with someone and you think, "what a jerk" or "what a bother," there is no way you can do anything of value within range of your relationship with this person. A bad attitude toward others is like bad smell in the air; it reduces your influence on others and, if you're in leadership, reduces the possibilities for whatever environment or group you're responsible for. There's no way around this principle. There's no set of leadership techniques or skills that can smooth over your inner disregard for others. Whatever you feel about someone deep in your soul is running the show. Emotional toxins, whether they seem hidden or not, will always surface. You can bank on it. If you can't stand people, you can't lead them. If you love them no matter what, you can lead them no matter what. It really is this simple. I know both sides of this truth. Simply being aware of it changes everything.