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.

Things Necessary for Leaders, part 6

Merry Christmas!

This will be my last entry until after my sabbatical ends on February 25, 2009, Ash Wednesday. 

Although this entry will be published on December 25th - the first day of my sabbatical - I've written it earlier. Also note that I may not be able to publish comments during these two months. Feel free to leave them for me though, as long as you're willing to wait to see them posted. 

There's something poetic here. The last of four things necessary for leaders I'm writing about is survival. Survive success. Most people don't have to face this one, because, frankly, most people do not know success in their lives. (Sorry if this stings.) My suspicion, however, is that almost everyone knows that there is a problem with success. Success is a type of death. You could see it in the Olympics this summer. An Olympian who despite all odds wins the gold and stands on the podium is also someone who no longer has a reason to live. Victory is a funeral of sorts. To survive requires intense concentration and change. The unconscious awareness of this may in fact be the big block to success in many peoples' lives. Who wants to see their dreams die? Yet this is what happens when one succeeds. 

If all your life you've wanted to climb to the top of Mount Everest, and you do it, now what? By far, most deaths on this tallest of all mountains occur on the way down from the summit. People die on the way down. They get careless because, compared to the ascent, the descent is pointless. The key to surviving success and not dying on the way down is to constantly redefine your goals. Once you reach the top, now your goal is to get down. It must be your new goal. The old one has to almost be forgotten - forsaken even - in order for you to bring your best to your next steps. Even if you don't think you have ever been successful, in order to take things to the next level in your life, you have to "delete" all your old success files from your memory. (Sometimes these are based on others peoples' lives or sheer fantasy.)

Leadership success is a funny thing. It requires balanced celebration. If you don't celebrate it, you hamstring your heart; you won't have the strength to do your best in the future. If you overcelebrate it, you steal from it and your future. May God give you these problems and the character to navigate them effectively! Nehemiah had them. I'll let you read those later chapters in Nehemiah. They are interesting. His personal success was definitely on his mind. And we still refer to it today! Wow. His is truly an inspiring and informative account. May God bless you in 2009 and make you into the leader He's called you to be.     

Things Necessary for Leaders, part 5

Do the big thing. Big is the word. The big thing you do flows from your big gift. Your big gift, the biggest thing you are able to do, lights up your big dreams. The big expectations you have in life are rooted in your big dreams. By big gift, we mean here that thing you really have the talent and training for. Note the ongoing reality lesson of "American Idol." People with big delusions do not make it. If you can't sing well, you won't go far in a singing contest, no matter how much you "believe" in yourself. So, by saying "do the big thing" we are saying:

1) Know God. He wants our lives to matter. He puts in each of us a unique mix of potential, abilities, and experiences, which, if He is invited in faith to help Himself to, He can make much of. 

2) Know Yourself. What are you good at? What are your REAL talents and abilities? Have you developed them at all? Has your life prepared you? Nehemiah lived and worked in the presence of the highest grade leaders of his day. When the problem found him and he dared to pray, God had already immersed him in years of a certain type of leadership school, having been the cup bearer to the king. What about you?

3) Know Life. Do you understand that nothing replaces hard work and discipline? Or do you believe the commercials that say you can get 6-pack abs from pills or an electric belt you wear around your waist? If you haven't worked hard so far, you're in trouble. If you're not willing to do the hard work, you're going nowhere. If you are looking to others to open doors for you, they will remain shut. If you are blaming your lack of success on a lack of help from others, no one will help you. You get the picture. If you don't, then nothing more I write here will help. 

4) Know People. Nehemiah was not a jerk. This is important. I've encountered many people over the years who mistreat other people and expect success in life to follow. Theirs is a strange form of math. It doesn't add up. If you send nasty e-mails to someone, you won't win them over. If you lie to people, they won't trust you. If you take credit for the work of others, others will not want to continue working with you. If you disrespect leaders, you won't get their help or support. Nehemiah even treated his worst enemies with a certain grace. Read and you will see; he knew people. He knew how to rally the frustrated, recruit the help of kings, resist the attacks of foes, and reassure all that his was a mission from God. He didn't get mired in the petty. No one doubted that he had come to do the big thing!

How about you? 

Things Necessary for Leaders, Part 4

More on step 2: "Let the problem find you." If you have eyes to see a problem, you are already qualified to do something about it. Maybe that something is prayer. Maybe it is prayer plus action of some kind. How do you know the difference? The prayer will tell you. Actually the Lord will tell you through your prayer. If you pray and get peace about your response to a situation, the something you're supposed to do about the problem is pray and no more. Do not underestimate the power and importance of prayer. If, however, you pray and something stirs within you, you get more upset, you have to rush to find paper and pencil to write things down - this sort of thing - then God may be calling you to pray in order to take action concerning this problem. Nehemiah prayed. Action followed. If his task was to pray and no more, he would have remained a cup-bearer to the king. The minute he prayed his job was doomed. From one perspective, his life was over. The same thing can happen to you. They're right to say, "Be careful about what you pray for." Be sure you're prepared for life as you know it to end. Seriously.

Things Necessary for Leaders, part 3

This isn't a complete list, just a round up of Jesus-unique leadership insights that seem especially wonderful to me. There are four I'm interested in writing about. The first involves our work within. My first two entries in this series focused on this first insight. Here's the list of four insights:

1) Judge yourself.

2) Let a problem find you.

3) Do the big thing.

4) Survive success. 

We're on the second insight: letting a problem find you. Let the problem do more than find you; let it hunt you down. You won't take significant action unless something really bothers you. It's the Nehemiah principle. Read the first few chapters of Nehemiah. Nehemiah didn't just do the right thing. He did not merely do what should have been done; he did what he felt unbendingly compelled to do. He had a nearly pathological focus on his mission. So did Moses, David, and Paul. So did Jesus. 

Popular leadership literature often features vision as a driving force. I love most of what I've read, but I notice that until I understand how Nehemiah felt as he rode through the ruins of the walls of Jerusalem, and why he did this, I don't really understand what needs to stir in me if I am to truly lead. 

Notice that the problem found Nehemiah. It came his way. He received it, and then he responded. I think one of the most overlooked aspects of the story of Nehemiah's success is his initial reaction to things in the first handful of verses of chapter 1. He was AVAILABLE to be bothered by a combination of news and knowledge of what God wanted. He wasn't too busy. He didn't blame anyone else or point fingers away from himself. He entertained no excuses. Passion for action consumed self-interest. He wept, mourned, and prayed. He took the whole tragedy on himself, which is not something to do lightly. In fact, his own sense of being bothered was always greater than the bother of any people, friends or foes. What a key to effectiveness this is!

What's bothering you today?  

Things Necessary for Leaders, part 2

Self-examination is the key to all action. We all have the gift of a critical eye. The word "critic" is rooted in the word "judge." Judgment is the key to intelligent decision making. Such decision making begins best at home. It's not the other people in my home, either, it's me. If I don't like something about the world (or any specific arena within the world), I can only change it if I find the reason for it in myself. This is what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 7. This is what so many people seem to miss. It's a shame too, because this teaching of Christ's is among His most powerful and liberating. I'm not limited to cursing the evil in the world when I can find its source within myself and submit it to the cross of Christ. If I don't like how something is or isn't done, I first have to figure out my own role in it. We return to football. Notice the coaches. They yell. They criticize. They encourage. They discuss and dispute. The difference between them and people sitting 100 feet higher in the stadium is that they have taken responsibility for the outcome of the game. I know many people who have yet to take responsibility for their own lives, yet have much to say about others. Jesus teaches that this is backwards. If you want to change the world, or anything in the world, now, thanks to Jesus, you know where to start. It can be a pretty exciting adventure. And notice that the one who starts judgment at home, then has a voice in this world as well. Jesus was teaching us how to judge, not that we shouldn't judge. And, yes, leadership is certainly about judgment and having judgment.   

Things Necessary for Leaders

This may end up being a series of postings. Leadership is a much talked about thing. Beyond the talk are those who actually lead and the realities they must confront. This is where the interest is. To get to it, we first have to realize that "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" are not quarterbacks at all. Many people have opinions about what the quarterback (the leader) does after he (or she) does it, but this is radically different from actually being the quarterback. Being the quarterback is all that matters. Here's where the first problem exists for many who might have potential to lead; all "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" know that they are not on the field. They are not part of the game. They don't matter to the game. Few things are more discouraging to someone who cares about football (or whatever other analogy one wants to use for any area of life) than not mattering and having no influence on the outcome of the game. Imagine now, being someone who might actually have some talent for the game still sitting in the bleachers. This is what we have in America and in the church: many people who could do more are doing nothing ... and getting sore about it. Notice the responses left after news stories on the internet. Everyone has an opinion and many are very angry. Some of the anger, I think, stems from the frustration of insignificance. People who believe they don't matter are in pain. At its worst the maxim applies: hurting people hurt people.  

There's good news, though. There is a way to turn the frustration of insignificance around without letting it eat you up on the inside. It's a simple thing to observe in the lives of those who do take action and make a difference. Instead of evaluating the world, successful people evaluate themselves. They turn this energy inward. It's one of the lessons of Paul to the Corinthians framed by two verses:

1st Corinthians 11:28 - A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

2nd Corinthians 13:5a - Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith ...      

An honest self-appraisal is one of first things necessary for leaders because it's one of the first things necessary for everyone. This is a tough mountain for some people to climb. Insecurity and pride block self-honesty. People who fear their insignificance tend to be dishonest with themselves in order to protect themselves. Insignificance, then, breeds and feeds on itself. If you know someone suffering like this, pray for her or him. Jesus words in John 8:32 apply here: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." What an encouragement this is.

A New President

Whether you know it or not, whether you accept it or not, a new president will bring change to your personal life. The questions surrounding this are questions of degree only. Leadership creates environments. History has us at a strange juncture due to the downturn of not just the world economy, but human culture itself. This means that the environment created by a new president and all those who fall in under him will be that much more immediate. A few of the things I think you will notice changes in:

1) What is on your televisions and computers. Everything media, from situation-comedies to blogs will be different. In the case of this election, what amounts to drama will shift from stories about individuals to stories about groups and communities at a higher rate than we're already experiencing. There will be less about conflicts between people and more about conflicts between people and climate, poverty, disease, and the like. In other words, the human story itself will change in narrative content from Cain vs. Abel stories to Noah vs. the flood stories.

2) What you find on the shelves of your stores. The buying habits of America flow from the leadership habits in Washington. If this recession is teaching us anything, it is that government and business are really one and the same. It doesn't matter anymore if one philosophically objects to this. Conservatism is dead at the hands of those elected as conservatives. Every purchase is a vote and every vote has a price tag and is for a product. The green movement will show up in our homes and on our tables like never before. People will forego items that promise luxury for items that promise survival and - the new big word - sustainability.

3) What is preached from all pulpits of all monotheistic religions. The messages of faith will turn from self-actualization to community authenticity. Christians, I think, will especially notice the trend away from personal development spirituality toward community involvement spirituality. In fact, I wonder if some of our giant personal development ministries will have to close or retool. I think difficult times will do two things to "name-it-and-claim-it" preaching and theology: 1) make it more offensive to more people and 2) make it more audacious for those who stick with it. I've seen both first hand in Africa.

I'm not sure how good or bad such changes are. Many of them may be better in hindsight a century from now than they are to live through in the next years. I'm not certain about how my thoughts here will match up with the actual future, but I am certain that change - so promised in this election cycle - is, in fact, exactly what we're going to get with a new president.