LeadershipConneXtions

Hard Work: Lessons From the World of Bass Playing

 

We are the culmination of all our influences.  

James Booker  
New Orleans Jazz piano player

 

I'll just add one ammendation to this. We are the culmination of all our influences and the hard work we do to integrate those influences. In the world of bass music, this is seen in players like:

Hutch Hutchinson bass player for Bonnie Raitt (and everyone else).

Jazz, funk, soul, pop, rock, groove, blues, rhythm and blues

A "select discography" has 50 different MAJOR artists he has recorded for on albums. You can read a brief profile of Hutch here.

Artie Reynolds who is the bass player for the American Idol Band. This band has to be able to play ANYTHING and in any style.
 

 

Mark Kelley who is the bass player on the Roots Crew for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. While the Roots Crew tends to lock in on a narrower style, Kelley's background had him ranging over a wide terrain of musical styles.
 

Incredible versatility, amazing skill, innovative, and a unique voice they have crafted.

That comes from a wide variety of influences and a lot of hard work.

I'd like to suggest that what is true for musicianship - is true for leadership.

Read widely, learn from diverse sources, experiment outside your areas of familiarity, innovate, make your way and find your voice.  

And to do this - it just takes (I'll say it again) a lot of hard work.

So who is influencing you and what hard work are you going to do this week to benefit from their influence?

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Seize the Day

Carpe Diem.
Seize the day . . .
Made famous by actor Robin Williams in The Dead Poets Society.

Seize the day . . .

For life is

beautiful
magnificent
wonderful
flying by

and 
irretrievable once it is gone. 

At the end of every day, every one of your days, the deeds are tallied and books are closed.

You don't EVER get that day back (unless you are Bill Murray in Ground Hogs Day).

You don't get a second chance on THAT day.
No mulligans on THAT day.
No do-overs for THAT day.

Moses knew this, that is why he said:

The length of our days is seventy years-
or eighty if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:10, 12

The Apostle Paul knew it also:

Be very careful then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is . . . be filled with the Spirit.    

Ephesians 5:15, 16, 18 

Leaders seem to be those who have a passion to really seize the days. Lots of them, most of them, all of them... and do something with them.

One of my great influences is Ignatius of Loyola and he was passionately committed to "mas" or "magis" which is Spanish and Latin for "more."

Ignatius always wanted more of Christ and his missional purposes. So he lived full and robust and attentive to each and every day. Looking for the graces/gifts of the day, looking for the presence of God in each day, and looking for his missional opportunities every day.

He numbered rightly his days.

May you and I, today, begin to more intentionally - number of our days and in doing so, seize hold of each one.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Causing Happiness . . .

To borrow and slightly paraphrase the every flamboyant Oscar Wilde:

"Some (leaders) cause happiness wherever they go, other (leaders) whenever they go."

Which is your main way of causing happiness in others?

I think I'll just be going now . . .

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Vocation: A Brief Reflection on Work and Life

Siddhartha Gautama (the one who came to Enlightenment and thus became known as the Buddha) said: 

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
 

I am a little confused at how this fits into a Buddhist worldview, but it sure does so for a Christian approach to life.

Social activist, contemplative and author, Dorothy Sayers knows the centrality of work in the Christian framework."Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do."  (For more on this amazing woman, click here.)

We are created to work… to work well… to work lovingly… to work carefully… to work as stewards who develop the creation around us. All that potential that has been downloaded into our wonderful world, it is our privilege to "tease it out" and by grace, move it to fullness.

Here is a beautiful thought (source unknown to me, although it is reminiscent of Martin Luther) that inspires me as I do this work.

If it falls your lot to be a streetsweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say,'Here lived a great streetsweeper, who swept his street well'.
 

We will spend an enormous part of our life working. How vital then, that we learn to do this work as "contemplatives in action." That is, those who discern the Presence, Work and Word of God in these contexts and respond fully.

So today… what is ONE THING you can do toward this end?
 

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

 
 

 

 

 

 

Ubantu Time

Here is a great African proverb:

If you want to travel fast, go alone.
If you want to travel far, go together.

North Americans, we like to travel fast. We are those strong, independent, self-willed individualists. And we can go fast. We can get to places in a hurry.
 

But how far can we go and how long can we go at this pace?

And is it worth it traveling super-sonic-solo?

Some time back I read a book on Mandela and of course, his idea of UBANTU was discussed.  

Ubantu is the African way of community.

It means we become our best through others.

We need others to become a real human being.

The Zulu proverbs is: 

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, which translated means, "A person is a person through other people."

It is not much of a step to say, "A leader is a leader through other leaders."

We need to find those people with whom we will do life and ministry and leadership together and grow up to become real people.

So - who are you doing life with?

Who are you doing UBANTU with?

Make sure you have some Ubantu Time today

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

p.s.  If you want to read a lot more African Proverbs, click here.

 

You Won't Find These Words About Love and Marriage on a Hallmark Card (but you should)!

No, you really won't find these on a Valentine's Day Card from Hallmark - but you should!

Here are three wonderful paragraphs from Kathleen Norris's little booklet, The Quotidian Mysteries. I really encourage you to get this book and enjoy it the way I did.

And Happy Valentine's Day to all who read these words... and ponder them.. and perhaps live into them a bit more.

"In seeking any covenantal relationship we must be willing to say "yes" long before we have a clear idea of what such intimacy will cost us. Marriage is eternal, but it's also daily, as daily and unromantic as housekeeping" (pp. 53).  This beautiful image may be found here.
 

". . . the lows of an adulterous affair are low indeed and romance is not love. A short-lived fascination with another person may be exciting - I think we've all seen people aglow, in a state of being "in love with love" - but such an attraction is not sustainable over the long run. Paradoxically, human love is sanctified not in the height of attraction and enthusiasm but in the everyday struggle of living with another person. It is not in romance but in routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest. And that requires commitment"  (pp. 62-63).  I found this image at this site.
 

"In our life of faith, this, as well as in our most intimate relationships with other people, our task is to transform the high romance of conversion, the fervor of a religious call, into daily commitment; into that sort of friendship that transcends infatuation and can endure all things. Our desire is to love God and each other, in stable relationship that, like any good marriage, remains open to surprises and receptive to grace" (pp. 78).

May God give us the grace for this kind of love and marriage.

 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

What are the chances . . . ?

This is a really different theme for this blogsite, and the thoughts come right from Dick Staub's book, About You and can be found on page 26-27.

Staub is commenting on the "unreasonableness" (my word) of mechanistic evolution and borrows from a number of authors.

Harold Morowitz is an atheistic physicist who calculated the odds of life just happening as:

1 in 10^{100,000,000,000} !

That is ten to the one hundred billionth power. Now, that does not mean you multiply ten times one hundred billion. It means you multiply ten x ten, 100 billion times. The resulting number is so VAST as to be incomprehensible. But to put it in perspective . . . this atheistic physicists says, you would have a BETTER CHANCE of winning a state lottery every week for the next million years, purchasing one ticket each week!

Mathematicians tells us that any event that has an improbability greater then

1 in 10⁵⁰ . . .

. . . is now in the realm of metaphysics, not physics. In other words, a MIRACLE.

The Christian faith has nothing to fear from atheistic science when people have enough courage to state the facts. (Morowitz to the right)

Okay, tomorrow, back to our regularly scheduled thoughts on leadership and spirituality.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Unreasonable People

George Bernard Shaw, was by any assessment, one of the colorful figures of the 19th and 20th centuries (living to be almost 100 years old).

He was insightful and witty and a wordsmith to boot. Here is one of my favorite Shaw'isms.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

NOTE:  Shaw wrote in the time before gender awareness, so women, please feel free to see yourselves as an "unreasonable woman".

The unreasonable person has a different way of seeing the world. It is a minority position. They see what could be, not what is? As such, they are disturbers of the status quo. They are naysayers to what is so they can say yes to what might be.

As such people, they are some of the "Crazy Ones" who push human history forward. When these Crazy Ones have offered their hearts, minds, soul and strength to the service of Christ, they become God's vehicle for moving the Kingdom of God forward.

So, once more, "here's to the crazy, unreasonable ones." May their tribe increase.

Brian K. Rice  

Leadership ConneXtions International  

www.lci.typepad.com

p.s.  This means that if you are not at least mildly irritating or annoying someone today, you are, maybe, perhaps, possibly being a bit too bland, boring, nondescript, part of the woodwork. So stop what you are doing and go out and be unreasonable... in a good way fo course...

Simplicity and Downward Mobility (Part Four): Lisa Amspacher

I have been friends with Lisa Amspacher for many years. In recent years, Lisa has been on a deepening journey into the heart of God and in to the world of leadership development. Lisa is a part of the Leading Edge team at LWCC, a part of our monthly Leadership Community and a good friend. This is her first post for the LCI blogsite.  Many thanks Lisa.  -bkr-

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Simplify...Simplify...Simplify...

Those words are from Thoreau.   I find they are becoming part of my life daily.  As I have been taking time to explore the things to which God is inviting me, I realize that I must prepare for these new things.  

I was reminded of this recently when my youngest daughter and I were having one of our many discussions about "cleaning her room".   You see, I usually adopt the approach of "close the door," however,  because of the scent of dirty gym clothes and dirty socks,  I had to modify my policy.   So I  made suggestions,   and gave her  a list to help her navigate the room, but   the job just seemed so big to her.   Finally, one day we agreed to do the task together.  

We started in the corner of the room and sorted dirty laundry in the basket, another container for donations, another for garbage, and another for keeping.   I found it was easy for me to look at her "stuff" and decide what went where.  She did too UNTIL we came to one of her "projects." 

You see my daughter is very artistic and loves to create things.   She has many knitting projects and crocheting projects, and beading projects, and painting projects, ....you get the idea.   When I suggested we start sorting those into the various categories, she became very protective of them.  She struggled giving them up.  As we moved around the room the process became a bit more fluid for her.   Except those projects.   She really struggled, she just could not see that by keeping all of them she would not be able to have her room in order.  

I then had an idea to help her move through this.  I suggested to my daughter that maybe this was so difficult to keep clean and make the decisions because we have never really "decorated" the room since we moved to our new home.   I shared with her the ideas of painting the room, getting a new quilt, refinishing her hand-me-down dressers.  We could create the style of room she has always wanted, but we needed to sort through all the stuff in order to have the room prepared for the "make-over".     She was struggling, she wanted the "room make-over" but she didn't want to "give up" some of her stuff.   She said it (the stuff) made her feel comfortable and it was part of "who she was". 

That was when it occurred to me that my daughter's room was much like the "stuff" in my life. 

I have said yes to so many things that I can do (projects).   I am kind of a techie, so I find myself doing tech projects for people.   I am love gadgets (especially for the kitchen) and I have collected too many.  I could list so many things that are currently in my life.   They really aren't all bad but are they really helping me to accomplish the desire of my heart?  Are they helping me to accomplish the purpose I feel I have in life?   The last few years have been a time where God has been helping me "clean my room".   We have worked on getting rid of the "dirty laundry",   sorting through the "keep" and the "give away" projects of my life in preparation for some life changes.

Recently some of those life changes have become more clear.   I know for certain I want to work as an executive director of a non-profit organization that empowers people.   While this is still a bit vague, there is a definite direction to it.   One of the things I know I need to do is to get my "house in order" so that I can make a career change such as that.   I have decided not to apply for some positions which seem to be logical career decisions.   It is difficult sometimes.  There is a lot of prestige in the positions, but they do not lead me to the place I believe God is asking me to go. 

While I certainly live in a modest house by most standards, I want to have my finances in order so that I can make a career move which will likely also include a financial change.  As I am moving in this direction I am discovering some dissonance in my response to simplifying life. 

Sometimes I find I hear myself saying, "I deserve these nice things," or "This is not nearly as extravagant as ____________(insert your nearby "Jones' house").   Other times I am able to make the adjustment rather naturally.   What I have discovered is that it sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is.  Making the little decisions (like not buying a Coke Zero from the machine after lunch or not getting the latest gadget to make really good coffee in my kitchen)  are really difficult.   I find myself much like my daughter....wanting the "life makeover" but struggling with giving up my stuff.   

Lisa Amspacher
York, PA

Simplicity and Downward Mobility (Part Three): Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson (Walking) shares a part of his journey into simplicity and the Mindsets that help him walk that way.     -bkr-
 

Mindsets for Simplicity

In my office, near my desk, is a copy of Thoreau’s Walden, perhaps the quintessential treatise on living a simple life.   The book spoke to me and has been fodder for lots of day dreaming over the years.  Even though I had thought about a simple life, I lived one far from simple or even remotely resembling Thoreau’s great experiment.  (Thoreau's Cabin)

I had moments where a decision or two were altered by the concept, but generally, I have lived a life of small margins, compulsive consumerism and wasted time and energies.  Over the last few years, and more specifically through this last year of my Walk for Grace, simplicity is working into my life, my convictions, and my actions due to a few key mind sets that I am working on implementing as my filters for thinking. 

Simply put, simplified living can be accomplished by becoming aware of what is most important in your life, and eliminating everything else.  Though simple, the journey to simplicity for many of us, including myself, is a true struggle.   

We need a model that provides structure for the journey that filters out those things that would distract us from our goals.  The model that has shaped my thinking for the last five years are the key mind sets of leadership:   

1) being self aware, 

2) highly intentional, 

3) wisely strategic,

4) deeply surrendered. 

If we are to become aware of what is most important to us, we must journey into our self, becoming aware of how we are wired, what stirs our passions, what motivates us, what our personality traits are, what is the baggage we carry, what are our strengths and weaknesses, what gives us purpose, what is the orientation of our hearts??  

This discovery process is perhaps the greatest gift we can both give to ourselves and receive from God.  Out of this process, we can identify our values and goals and even create a life vision and/or mission statement.  That mission statement is the beacon, our true north, or our centered focus for our life.  It is the filter through which our decision process passes.  

After becoming self aware, we then can focus on being highly intentional and wisely strategic to accomplishing our vision.  Does buying the latest …. (You fill in the blank) fit into your purpose, vision, mission statement?  If not, then you can be wisely strategic and say no to the urge.  Does this subscription, book, sweater, or time spent watching tv, twittering, IMing, emailing, texting, web surfing etc, bring you closer to vision or does it serve to distract, delay or take you further away from it?   

Use your vision as a filter, being highly intentional on decisions, wisely strategic on when to say yes or no, we can make great strides along the path to simplifying our life for the purpose that we each have before us. 

In my Walk for Grace, I have encountered many who live on the margins of existence, with little to their name, living lives that most of us can’t even imagine.  The more I walk among them, talk to them, share with them, and speak of the message of God’s love for them, the more I am drawn to living with less so that I might live more.  

I have said many times, the more I walk, the more comfortable I become with just my staff.  I am becoming deeply surrendered to the vision and to my God’s work he has put before me.  May you each find your vision and focus and may you become wisely strategic, highly intentional and deeply surrendered to it for the glory and praise to God.  

Blessings.

Mike Johnson 
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Thoreau's Walden Pond and an Urban World


  
 

  

Simplicity and Downward Mobility (Part Two)

My Friend John Hilliard and his wife have made some significant decisions over the years for simplifying their lives... and this continues. I am always inspired as I listen to John's reflections about his personal journey on this matter.  -bkr-

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Wendell Berry, in the anthology 'Fidelity', presents the world of the early 20th century agrarian United States.  People live in community bereft of the technology we have now they support each other, care of each other's needs and live a life that builds each other up and provides a foundation for living well. It is a world long since gone but looking back shows the price we are paying for what we call 'progress'.

For most of my life I have been a good disciple of the school of getting everything out of life that it has to offer. ' Work hard',' pull yourself up by the bootstraps',' keep your nose to the grindstone' (whatever that means),  'if it's meant to be, it's up to me' and a host of other trite sayings which lead us to more and more stuff, titles, accomplishments, and toys.  Much of the goal setting experiences were around temporal things that usually rust, rot or deteriorate.  

As I sail into the autumn of my life I am finding that many of these goals I have achieved have filled my life with lots of stuff.  The problem I am finding now with the stuff is that it takes a tremendous amount of time, money and energy to sustain all of these things. Where do I put it all? If I haven't used it in the past 2 years or it is in the same box it has been in for the past 15 years does that make any sense?

It also goes into the realm of time.  If I have cable, cell phone, internet, and social networking where do I have time to have a one on one conversation with someone else without the intrusion of some other distraction? What is the ultimate price for all of these distractions in terms of intimacy in relationships, sensing a person's emotional state because I can look in their eyes and see the pain.   

I have decided to be intentional about simplicity by giving up cable and it's 100 options to distract my time. We are now going through the menagerie of our stuff and giving much of it away. In a unique perspective a friend of mine is teaching his children the concept by having them donate 3 older toys for every new toy they purchase. What a great way to teach the concept of simplicity early in life. 
 

(By the way, this is not John's "menagerie of stuff"... just an illustration of what it looks like for many of us."

  

John Hilliard 
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Simplicity and Downward Mobility (Part One)

I have asked a number of friends and LCI partners to provide some of their thoughts about simplicity. A number of us wrestle with questions of consumption, how much do we need?, how can we simplify our lives and what does "downsizing" look like in a culture of accumulation?
 

This image can be found here.

These are not questions that are easy to answer. None of us claim to be doing GREAT on these matters. But we all think about them, try to be faithful (i.e. resistant to the cultural ethos, and maybe a little subversive as well), and we know we have a lot of work to do. 

I also want to say that since most of us struggle with this, we will certainly have some feelings of guilt and initial tendencies to strongly argue against this. I recently told my spiritual friends group that in some ways I feel my wife and I do "pretty well" on this issue, but....what is my standard of assessment for this.

There will be some critical assessment of our culture's direction and of our "captivity" to that culture, but ultimately, this is just an issue worth the time for personal reflection.

Some of these posts will be the story of a person's journey. In my case, I want to give you a little bit of my reflections on the theme. Originally this post was written for my other blogsite: Evangelicals on the Ignatian Way. So it has that language about it. I take a few short sentences to set the context and then I move in to my reflections about simplicity... and critique the Prosperity gospel. I also illustrate the way of Jesus as our model. Finally, there are a few resources for you to check out.  -bkr-

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From time to time I talk about Ignatian spirituality as something different from Jesuit spirituality.

Ignatian spirituality is the spiritual methods and content that is generally contained in the Spiritual Exercises. These methods and this content provide one of the most substantial spiritually formative approaches ever developed. And they are capable of being used by a wide variety of people who come from diverse backgrounds.

Jesuit spirituality presupposes Ignatian spirituality, but to that, adds many other dimensions of spirituality that together, define the Jesuit way of proceeding.

One can practice the Spiritual Exercises and ignore many of the Jesuit distinctive. However, I have found many of these Jesuit distinctive to be very moving and deepening of one's spiritual journey. And, these distinctive are at least, hinted at, if not openly prescribed in the Spiritual Exercises.

One such theme is the Jesuit theme of simplicity and downward mobility. In a culture that is relentlessly consumeristic and pursuing of upward mobility, this Jesuit theme has much to teach us.

I believe it is a fair question to ask - can we truly say we are about the Imitation of Christ (Ephesians 5:1 and 1 Thessalonians 1:6) - if we are not intentional about the practice of simplicity and the downward mobility we need to embrace simplicity?

This question is almost "anathema" in our culture. For one of our most ingrained values is that of prosperity, getting ahead, getting more, moving up the ladder of success, status, financial well-being, possessing, accumulating, acquiring… all of this is just "the American Way."

And to suggest that is is NOT the way of Jesus, is to say the least, troubling. Our main strategy is to simply ignore it.  

The strategy of the Prosperity Gospel (a pretty strong element within conservative Christianity) is to reverse this biblical teaching and say that Jesus wants you to be wealthy, to be upwardly mobile, to have and possess more and more, to live with as much comfort and blessing as you need and want.  

Can I take just a moment and say - the Prosperity Gospel is not the Gospel and in fact, it is the anti-Gospel. And it is a testimony to our spiritual blindness that we don't see this immediately.  And it is a testimony to the hardness of our hearts that we don't WANT to see it.  (Okay, I worked a one paragraph Rant and Rave into this post! Now back to our regularly scheduled thoughts...)

Most of us are adherents of that Prosperity Gospel, whether as full fledged devotees, or just culturally conditioned followers of the American Way.

Jesus shows us the way of Downward Mobility in the Incarnation and the Cross. If you haven't read this recently, read the magnificently disturbing passage of Philippians 21-11.

Jesus shows us the way of Simplicity in Matthew 8:18-20 where he describes himself as a homeless, wandering itinerant who does not even know where he will sleep that evening.

Jesus shows us the way of living and serving with minimal encumbrances when he gives missional instructions to the twelve in Matthew 10:5-10, which we usually just ignore as a culturally limited way of witness, appropriate only for that time.

Jesus warms about the dangers of wealth and the spirit of accumulation and possessiveness in story after story, teaching after teaching (to see just a few, read Matthew 6:19-24;  6:25-34;  19:16-30).

Jesuit spirituality understands that this is a HUGE spiritual issue, and they make clear choices on behalf of simplicity and downward mobility. I believe that spiritual formation must at least bring these themes to our attention and that we must wrestle with whether we will listen or not.  

Challenging matters indeed!

I want to recommend three very good resources for you. These are evangelical resources and not from the Jesuit world. This is so important that it is worth some serious study and equally serious reflection on this issue.

Rich Christian in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider. This classic is MUST reading. It is a comprehensive study of the themes of wealth and poverty and justice and shalom through the entire Bible.

The Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster. This is not one of him more famous books, as you can imagine (nuff' said), but it is extraordinarily insightful in thoughtful explanation and devotional reflection.

And finally, Tim Keller's excellent exploration of our contemporary culture's idols and the idols of our heart, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex and Power and the Only Hope That Matters. Keller pastors a large church in one of the most affluent and upwardly mobile city on earth - New York City and he interprets well, both the culture and our heart.

Now, these studies will inform your mind and begin to touch your heart. 

The Way of the Ignatian Exercises will help take these lessons deeper into your heart and help you as you make choices. As I am contracting my own version of the Exercises, I am giving some additional place for these themes.

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

Surprise (Journal Entry)

Surprise.

A scene of unexpected beauty.

A full moon

rising.

  

Dusk

waves of color

pale reds flaming to orange above

misty blue below.

The pale orb hangs in the sky even with my sight

not above but

across, beside.

It was there for a long moment...
glorious
lingering
summoning
waiting!
Gift. 

I almost missed it, but
a gentle whisper
from behind,
look. 

  

Then

dusk turned dark night

the pale orb brightened white

rose, ascended

above the blackness

lifting my gaze

higher.

And on we flew

over Africa, vast

greater the expanse of sky

and greater still the Presence that holds and sustains all things.

Journal entry

Sunday 28 February 2010

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

The Rhythms of Your Life

Work Hard, Rest Well, Play Often

Leaders who are making a difference, and for that matter, anyone who is really productive, are most likely busy. Very busy. Constantly in motion. Ambitious. Wants to get the job done and done well. Moving full speed ahead. And always thinking you have more to do.

I know I feel like this much of the time.

Now, there is nothing wrong with working hard and working strong… unless you don't have rhythms of rest and recreation in place.

When I read a biography about Winston Churchill the other month, this was a quality that was emphasized by Paul Johnson. Churchill believed in conserving energy. He would never stand if he could sit down. He would never sit if he could lie down. He often spent the mornings, in bed, reading, writing, receiving visitors!!!  (By the way, in our world today, I DO NOT recommend this as a viable leadership strategy.)

Churchill also loved to have fun. He had numerous hobbies to which he gave considerable time and they in return gave him considerable nourishment.

We don't rest or play so we can work longer and harder (although that is a side benefit). We rest and play because those things are important in and of themselves.

It is definitely worth your while to do some self-assessment on this.

How are your rhythms?

Where do you need to make adjustments?

Where are you finding nourishment and replenishment?

Are you having any fun?
Do you have time for hobbies?

Are you feeling more and more tired, or pretty rested?

How is your physical health?

How long can you sustain your current pace?

Sit down with your journal and spend time reflecting on each of those questions. 

I did not, in this post, include the obvious need for good rhythms of spirituality...

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com  

Loss Aversion

Our aversion to loss is a very powerful motivating factor for most of us.

The authors of SWAY: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior say, 

"We experience the power associated with loss, much more vividly than we do the joy of experiencing a gain" (pp. 18).

"We overreact to perceived losses" (pp. 19).

"The more meaningful a potential loss is, the more loss averse we become" pp. 22).

In other words, we all work real hard to avoid losing something and we are less motivated to gain something.

What are you afraid of losing?

What triggers your "loss aversion" mechanism?

I think this is part of why failure is so painful for us. For in failure, we lose something. We lose confidence, we lose esteem, we lose reputation, we lose options.

 What are you avoiding right now because you fear the loss that will come with failure?

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

Adding Value

Here is a real short, real simple, and EXTREMELY important post.

You are placed on earth for this purpose:  To add value to the lives of others.

Followers of Christ morph this and say:  To add value to others in the name of Jesus, for their greater well being and for the glory of God.

Okay… that sounds real good, I like it… but now… it is time to get down to the hard, brutal facts.

What did you do yesterday that added values to the lives of others?

You have to get specific and concrete on this.

Who did you add values to?

What value did you add to their lives?

What was the kind of difference you made?

Right now, pull out a piece of paper, write down the names of the five people you did this for yesterday. Be specific. What value did you add to their lives.

Look at what you wrote…  

What do you think? 

Did you add much value?

Are you satisfied with your contributions?

Are you being intentional enough… strategic enough about doing this?

Do you have enough substance in your "self" so you can actually add value to others?

 

On that same piece of paper…

Who are you going to add value to this day?

What value are you going to add to them?

How will you do that?

It is this simple.

It just needs your intentionality and focus, your desire and a plan.

So, get out and have an incredible day adding value to others in the name of Jesus, for their greater well being of their lives and for the glory of God.

Discover what Jesus meant when He said, "It is better to give than to receive."

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

More Reasons Why We Irrational Stuff

We are not nearly as rational and logical as we think we are. Pascal said it this way, "The heart has reasons which reason cannot know."  

We could also say, "The mind has reasons that the mind doesn't understand!"

[By the way, do you know that your brain finds the picture of Pascal more attractive because he is facing his quote? If I had put it on the right side of the column, facing away from the quote, it would not be as appealing.]

Here are a few more "biases" we all have.
 

THE PRIMACY EFFECT: One of the first things they teach you in communication class is that the first things you say are among the most important. So work real hard on the first things because that is going to be remembered AND it will influence what people will think about the rest of what you say. This has a corollary bias of FIRST   IMPRESSIONS DISTORTION. Once we have formed "first impressions," even if they are terribly amiss, it is hard to reframe our impression of someone.

 

THE RECENCY EFFECT: Okay, here is the other half of what they teach you in public speaking. People will also remember the last thing you say and give it more weight than most of the other things you say. I have watched movies and liked the movie (except for the ending) and therefore, not liked the movie. I've felt the same way about certain books. I really enjoyed the book (except for how it ended) and therefore, I didn't like the book.  Combine this effect with the previous one and you come up with principle:  The First and the Last are the most important for creating impressions. And people will be biased accordingly.
 

 ROSY RETROSPECTION:  The good old days are remembered more positively than they actually were. In fact, they weren't really the good old days at all. We remember things positively. So an average vacation, years later, turns out to have been a really great time. When Jacobs reminded me of this, I actually took a little time to revisit some past experiences and sure enough, I found that I was remembering rosy. I had to work a little to recall that it was not quite that rosy. Maybe this is why we wind up doing the same old dumb thing that we did before. We give the previous weak or bad experience a better spin that it really was.
 

SELF-SERVING BIAS:  You decide that your successes are due to your own personal qualities and your failures are due to outside, situational events. Of course....  By the way, there is a corollary to this one and it is . . .
 

 SUPERSTAR INFATUATION BIAS:  We are over-impressed with the exploits of the star and underplay the work of the team. Research has been done that shows when superstar leaders or producers or performers are hired away and out of their team situation, they DO NOT perform up to expectation. It turns out that it wasn't just the Great Superstar, but a Great Team. But our bias trips us up on this one all the time.

Okay, just two more . . .

SPONTANEOUS TRAIT TRANSFERENCE:  I never heard this one until A.J. Jacobs explained it... but it sure made sense. "People will automatically associate what I say about the qualities of other people with my own qualities. So if I told Jean that Pat is arrogant, unconsciously, Jean would associate that quality with me."  (pp. 221-222) This is why you should avoid trash talking!!!!  Ruh Roh...  
 

And finally . . .

UNIT BIAS: We have an irrational urge to finish an entire unit. Jacobs mentions a plate of food. I had a bad one. If I started a book, I had to finish the book. Even if it was not a good book. Even if I didn't enjoy it. Somehow it felt immoral to not finish a book.  I worked real hard a few years ago and I finally overcame this one. I can now actually read only parts of books and ransack through others. 

The human mind is a fascinating, mysterious, messy place. And that is on the good days. So the moral of the story is - "self-awareness about your biases is a good thing, but a good thing that is hard won."
 

And the last thing I'd like to say is that, you the reader of this blog, you are a marvelous and wonderful example of intelligent humanity and a rare gift to those around you.  You are simply outstanding in your leadership. A true treat and treasure to all.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

And tomorrow, speaking of irrational behavior - Tiger Woods!

 

Why Leaders (and all the rest of us) Do Dumb Stuff

Earlier in the year I read a fascinating study of "irrational behavior."
(Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior).

Why do we do dumb stuff?
Why do we make such poor decisions that upon a little reflection, we realize where bonehead decisions?

One of the really fun chapters in A.J. Jacob's, The Guinea Pig Diaries, was his month long attempt to act in fully rational ways. That meant he had to become aware of his irrational thinking that led to bad decisions. So he studied what psychologists refer to as cognitive biases.

Today and tomorrow, I'll mention a few of these reasons we do dumb stuff. (Jacobs lists about 60 of them in one of the Appendices in his book.)
 

EXTREMENESS AVERSION:  We don't like extremes on either end, so we choose an option somewhere in the middle.  This one just influenced me when I was at a restaurant looking over the menu. I looked at the cheapest items, saw the most expensive ones, and went somewhere in the middle. The other thing that influenced me was my craving for meat and lots of it, so I got the Triple Special of pulled pork, beef brisket and wings....
 

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR:  When we explain the behavior of another person, we tend to "attribute" their behavior to their character and not to the situation. And guess what, when we explain our own behavior, we make the opposite mistake!
 

 The LAKE WOBEGON EFFECT:  We think we are all smarter, better looking, and so on, than we actually are. Uh oh. You mean I am not really qualified to be on the cover of Men's Fitness.... 
 

OVERCONFIDENCE EFFECT:  Now this one applies to everyone else BUT ME.  This one simply means, you are correct far less often than you think you are. Hey, guess what happens when two people who are married happen to believe they are correct and the other person is wrong? Would someone please tell me, because I have NEVER had that experience.

 

  

I'll be back tomorrow with a few more good ones.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Creative Job Titles (What Could Yours Be?)

Every now and then I am reading an article and I notice the title of the person who wrote the article. Sometimes these titles/positions are real boring.  

Director of HR... Blah...
CFO... Double blah...
Consultant... Stick a needle in my eye, I am falling asleep

Here is a fun (and useful) little exercise. You'll need a piece of paper to do this well.

First - write down the title of the job position in which you spend the most time. You may have several positions.

Now - write down about a dozen phrases (short ones) that describe the core of what you do in that job position.  Look them over. Which ones grab you? Do you see any creative words that describe what you do? Play around with them... combine a few of them together.

Finally - out of this, come up with a Brand New Job Title that you think would perfectly describe your current job in the way you would like to do it.  And this title should be cool and energizing. And accurate as well.

For Example:

The Old  and  The New

Housewife (becomes)  Director of Domestic Experiences

Event Planner (becomes)   Fun MeisterBergerMeister

4th Grade Teacher  (becomes)  Creative Learning Architect

This is just a fun little exercise to see what you do in a different way. And this way be more energizing than your currenty title/position.

Here is one article that lists some creative job titles.

I have a friend whose team sometimes calls him The Woo Master (a reference to one of his To Five Strengths in the Strengths Finder test).

If you know this test, use one of your top strengths and see how you might define your position using one or more of those key words.

If you come up with something good, send it to me.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

Good Stewards of Words and Ideas

Marilyn McEntyre's book,  Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies is a wonderful contribution to the reclaiming of language and literacy. The chapter titles give you a good sense of the strategy she has to care for words.

Love Words

Tell the Truth

Don't Tolerate Lies

Read Well

Stay in Conversation

Share Stories

Love the Long Sentence (a hard chapter by the way)

Practice Poetry

Attend to Translation

Play

Pray

Cherish Silence

This book is probably not for most people. It is not a "how to" book. It is a well written series of essays that explore the what and the why of caring for words and using words.

Communicators may be interested in it. We should at least be interested in the subject.

For most of us, here is a simple "how-to" program.

• Watch less TV every day.
• During that saved time - READ.
• Interact withthe book - write, underline, jot down observations (in the book, or at the back of the book where there are often several blank pages).
• Look up words you don't know.
• Reflect on anything that grabs your attention.

If you are not a reader, set a goal to read one book a month. This is a very doable goal. If you spend 30 minutes a day, you can do this . . . easily!

Choose a book that is of interest to you.

Make sure it is not too difficult or too long.

You want to get several "wins" and "successes" before you start trying harder books.  Reading several basic books will help you strengthen your reading muscles.

And here is a huge idea. Get a notebook or a journal of some sort and keep track of your "learnings" as you read.  Write down interesting words, phrases, quotes, illustrations.

It will take some effort for us to care for words and use them well.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Idea of Primacy and Recency

Primacy and Recency

All this means is that people are mostly likely to remember the first thing and the final thing. Whether it is in a personal encounter with you, whether they are listening to a speaker, whether it is in a team meeting . . . the first and the final are what is most remembered.

So . . . we need to work VERY HARD at the first impression and the final impression. The introduction and the conclusion. The lead in and the take away. This is what is remembered. Unfortunately, we often tend to neglect both.

It is not that the middle, the in-between is unimportant, it is just that it is not the most remembered.

So, whether you are meeting a new customer, presenting a seminar, making a speech, leading a team meeting . . . put a lot more effort into the first and the final if you want others to remember.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions Interntional

Messy and Mysterious

Messy!

Mysterious!

These are two of my favorite words. I've been using them (often) for about ten years now.  They became my friends during the time of my renaissance as a Christian and as a leader. That was the time (1999-2001) when I was in transition from the world of modernity to post-modernity (or I used to be modern but now I am not quite sure what I am becoming, but I know I'm not in the Evangelical-Kansas-anymore phase of life.)

Messy and mysterious were the two words that defined my life, my emerging spirituality, my developing theology and an increasingly complex understanding of life. Pretty soon I began to feel comfortable using these words in my teaching and I found they were resonating with a lot of (but not all) people.

The formulaic approaches to the Christian faith that were largely over-simplified, mainly pragmatic how-to's, were over for me.  The days of reading about 21 Irrefutable Laws and 21 Irreversible Maxims and 21 Inevitable Problems and 21 Irresistible Formulas were over as well. 

God... life... spirituality... leadership... love... people... sin... the heart... the journey... suffering... all this and more could only be described as messy and mysterious.

This didn't mean I stopped trying to understand these things. Of course not. If anything, I was reinvigorated in revisiting everything. But the attitude with which I approached everything and the "findings" of all my visits - now this had definitely changed.

This was the time when I came across Winston Churchill's words describing the Soviet Union for the first time.

Soviet Union foreign policy  is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

I liked this (a lot)! Just take away the first four words and insert anything else you wanted and you were good to go . . . off exploring in fresh, wonderful ways.

 

God is . . .

 

Life is . . .

 

Spirituality is . . .

Above all, I came to understand that  Brian is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

More on this manana.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Reunions

About a week ago, I was at the memorial service for an old friend who had tragically died. Our paths use to cross a lot, but in recent years, not so much.

At his service were many friends from long years ago. Though the occasion of our reunion was sad, there was quite a bit of joy at seeing one another and having even some brief conversations to catch up on the years that had gone by.

Feelings of nostalgia, fondness for old friends, some sadness at saying goodbye... were all there.

As I was driving home, I realized that this was just the teeniest, tiniest taste of what heaven is going to be like. Then we will have all the time we need to reconnect with friends and be joyful together.

I think this hit me all the more since I have re-read several times now, the final chapters of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Those words of early explorations of heaven and the reunions that are taking place are beautiful.

I agree with N.T. Wright that the hope of heaven is more than the future restoration of all things, surely it is never less than that.

As the old Phil Keaggy song said, "Oh what a day that will be."

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

On Perspective

Someone has said: Perspective is worth at least 50 IQ points!

I agree.

Perspective matters.

One problem is that most of us, most of the time have a short-term perspective (maybe this is hyperbole, but maybe not!). The immediate is what counts for us. We have limited patience and minimal ability to wait. The delay of gratification is anathema to our attention deficit, waiting deficient souls (ADWD). We live preoccupied with the present and absorbed in our experience of the moment. Right here, right now, right away.  That's us.

Which is why suffering is so difficult for us (or one reason why). It is happening to us right here, right now and it hurts. It is uncomfortable. We want it over right away. The pain of the moment overwhelms the possibilities of tomorrow.

I believe that God has wired the world with the need for a long-term vista. We must have that long term view to embrace the short term inconveniences, hardships, anomalies and hurts.

I don't like the short-term pain of exercising (my muscles hurt when I do) or dieting (my cravings for sugar and salt and MSG scream at me when I do). But I do want the long term benefit of being healthy. (Being buff is impossible so I am now content with reasonable health.)

I don't like the short-term pain of conflict but I want the long-term benefit of patience in relationships, the heart of forbearance with those with whom I disagree and the joy of reconciliation.

Most women (usually) don't necessarily enjoy the short-term problems of pregnancy nor the pains of labor, but they do look for the long-term joy of children. (Now teenagers is another matter altogether.)

I want wisdom, maturity, grace, love, the fruit of the Spirit, the character of Christ, the power of God... I deeply desire these things in the long haul of life. So, I endure the actual living of life that will bring those things to pass.

How's your IQ these days?

And if you want to increase your spiritual IQ by at least 50 points, perspective is the way to go.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Stuck on Stupid

Two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.  Who said that? To find out, see the end of this post.

Sometimes I am just a mystery to myself. Sometimes the messy side of my humanness really wins the day. Sometimes I just get "stuck on stupid."

Does that ever happen to you?

You know what I mean don't you?

You hear yourself saying something, and as you say it, you are thinking - well that's stupid. But instead of saying that out loud, now you kick into a "stuck on stupid" mode. Now you begin to justify the stupid thing you just said, because you don't want to look stupid. You start piling up the hapless arguments to justify your position - because you are "stuck on stupid."

Or you do something stupid. Bad judgment call. Wrong decision. Out of character behavior. However, no matter... you did it. But now - what do you do? Chances are you move into justifying, explaining, defending, supporting the stupid thing and as soon as you do, yep, you guessed it - you are "stuck on stupid."

People get "stuck on stupid."

Families get "stuck on stupid."

Teams get "stuck on stupid."

Churches get "stuck on stupid."

A nation can get "stuck on stupid."

STUPID HAPPENS.

(I think I am going to copyright that phrase.)

But "Stuck on Stupid" doesn't have to happen. Get unstuck by using this real simple tool. Just say out loud - well that was stupid. Sorry. Acknowledging stupid, confessing stupid, owning up to stupid, renouncing stupid . . . do that and you won't get "stuck on stupid."

In fact, maybe you need to give your friends, your family, your team, your organization permission to say whenever it is needed.

Hey, we're Stuck on Stupid. Let's get unstuck.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  it was Albert Einstein who said the quote at the beginning of the post.