LeadershipConneXtions

Why Do You Lead?

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. 

Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four minute mile, May 6, 1954.  (pictured to the right)

I run. In the distant past I ran a lot, but for many years I have not been serious or dedicated about running. But I am running once again.

I run, not as Roger Bannister ran. He ran out of joy. Eric Liddell ran because he felt God's pleasure (pictured to the left).

When I run, I do not feel joy and I certainly do not feel God's pleasure. (Perhaps I feel God's pity, but that is about it.)

I run because I need to run. I run because I need to lose weight, improve my cardiovascular system, and strengthen leg muscles. I run for the benefits.

But I have to make myself run. Every now and then, (now that I am running longer distances and for longer times) I hit the zone that runners love. Suddenly running is easier. The breathing flows. The legs have a rhythm. Brain chemistry is doing wonderful things (having to do with endomorphins and pleasure).

But most of the time, running is just plain hard work. I do it because I have to do it and I have to make myself do it.

But I am a bit wistful about Sir Roger Bannister (joy) and Eric Liddell (glory) and Wilma Rudolph (pictured to the right, who ran for the dream). They ran and could not stop themselves from running.

I wonder . . .  Why do I lead?

For the joy set before me? 

Because I feel His pleasure?

Because of the dream?

Because I cannot help myself?

Or just as a mercenary, for the benefits . . .

Leader as the hired hand or good shepherd?

So whether you eat or drink (or lead) or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Brian Rice

Control Freaks

If you've been to an AA meeting, you know the routine for introductions.

"Hi, my name is Amy and I'm an alcoholic."

"Hi, my name is John and I'm an alcoholic."

Sometimes I think we should start our leadership meetings by saying, "Hi, my name is ___________ (insert your name) and I'm a control freak.

Control and leadership.

It is a real issue and a painful one.

We hate it when things are out of control. We don't like not being in control. We hold on to control (power and authority) way too much. We are slow to give away control to others. We are quick to take control if we don't have it.

Being "out of control" is certainly a problem. Lindsay Lohan is out of control. So is Kate Moss (hanging out the window upside down!!!). British soccer fans are out of control. A child throwing a temper tantrum is out of control.

Self-control is a virtue and one that needs careful development. But the control we are talking about is different. It is the kind of control that seeks to solely possess power and authority for decisions. It is the kind of control that seeks to hyper manage reality by our own efforts. It is our attempt to force reality to "be" according to our will.

Here are some of our reasons (justifications, excuses, rationalizations, etc.) for being control freaks.

ONE:  I'm afraid to lost control because something might go wrong.

TWO:  Someone might take advantage of me if I share or give away some of my authority and control.

THREE: What if I appear weak to others if I am not in control?

FOUR:  If I give away power and authority (control) to others and they fail - then they will look bad and the organization will suffer, and I WILL LOOK BAD.

The reality for control addicts/freaks is that we will always have a rationale for keeping control.  And we will keep control and that will hurt us, our colleagues, partners, team and ultimately the organization.

The irony for control addicts/freaks is that control is an illusion. Life is messy and mysterious. People are complicated (they have layers, like ogres and my friend Mike). Choices are rarely black and white, but come in multiple shades of gray. And only God is the sovereign God who is in control.

Time for some reflection:

• How are you doing on this control thing?
• To whom are you giving true power and authority (control)?
• What are your preferred "excuses" for keeping control?
• What are some of the next steps you can take to let go of some control?

Many years ago, I came across the picture below with an interesting caption. The caption said something like this:

Contrary to popular opinion, stress is not a 20th century phenomenon.

Brian Rice

Fully Alive Leaders Who Change the World (or their little pocket in our world)

Don't ask what the world needs.

Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Howard Thurman

This is leading from heart passion and soul wisdom.

May you know what makes you come alive and go do it. And as you go do that thing, may you discover God is creating a pocket of greatness through you to bless the world He loves.

Brian Rice

Life is Calling, How Far Will You Go?

In the last few weeks I have heard radio advertisements that encourage graduates to set aside the "fast-track" of personal career and do something that matters and makes a difference to the less fortunate around the world.

The catch phrase or slogan is:

Life is Calling, How Far Will You Go?

And the organization is the Peace Corps who are looking for recruits.

They are great advertisements appealing to the highest motivations of denying the self, paying a cost, making a sacrifice to do something for the well-being of others.

I think we can borrow this phrase and make a slight adjustment.

Jesus is calling, how far will you go?

"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  (Matthew 4:19)

Brian Rice

On Calling (John Ortberg)

Here was a very good thought on "calling" by John Ortberg.

"A calling is very different than a quest for fulfillment. A calling, though we glamorize it, is not glamorous. It is a response to a summons. It is a kind of surrender. It is a willingness to die to the past and move to the future. C.S. Lewis wrote, "To follow the vocation does not mean happiness, but once it has been heard, there is no happiness for those who do not follow."

Brian Rice

On Practicing by Artur Rubinstein

Artur Rubinstein was/is one of the great pianists of the last century. He is renowned for both his artistry and his technical competence. But it was not always that way. Here are Rubinstein's words about practice.

"When I don't practice for a day, I know.

When I don't practice for two days, the orchestra knows.

When I don't practice for three days, the world knows.

I must confess with sorrow that I was not very proud of myself. The dissipated life I was leading . . . never allowed me to concentrate on my work. I prepared my concerts using the large repertoire I had accumulated but without the urge to play better, without referring to the text, relying entirely on my fine memory and my cleverly acquired knowledge of how to use certain encores to arouse the audience to the right pitch of enthusiasm.

To put it in a nutshell, I couldn't boast of one single piece which I played entirely faithful to the text and without some technical shortcomings . . .

I knew I was born a true musician but instead of developing talent I was living off the capital of it."

At the time of this realization, Rubinstein then devoted himself to excellence through practice. Afterwards, he maintained a high level of performance through his 70's and 80's leaving a legacy as one of the greatest pianists of recent times.

Check out this website for a very nice introduction to Rubinstein.

Click here for a video of Rubinstein playing.

I am struck by several things:

ONE: If the secret of success in real estate is location, location, location, the secret of success in life and leadership is practice, practice, practice.

TWO: It requires discipline and devotion if one is to sustain a commitment to practice.

THREE:  Natural, raw talent is not sufficient. I think God gives us gifts/talents and then expects us to multiply/develop/enhance them. Practice is the only way to do this. Without practice, we squander what God has given us.

• If you are called to preach and teach - you need to be constantly developing your skills as a student, a preparer of the message and then as a communicator.
• If you are called to lead - you need to be constantly increasing your strengths to new levels, and when possible, adding new ones to your toolbox.

FOUR:  It is never too late to begin a new devotion to practice.

FIVE:  If you need to - get a mentor. A mentor will know how to help you develop practice routines so you can grow from average to good and from good to great.

Brian Rice

Four Signs of Leadership "Anxiousness"

Rabbi Edwin Friedman (now deceased) wrote a paradigm changing book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of Quick Fixes. Friedman also wrote the ground breaking, Generation to Generation.

The theme of A Failure of Nerve was to talk about the importance of the "differentiated self." Now, this is a pretty complex psychological topic that I really can't cover here. But one of the things Friedman addresses is that of anxiousness on the part of leadership and the need for leaders to have a "non-anxious presence" as they engage in their calling.

I found this book very insightful, although not quite as practical as I had expected.

Here are five signs of LEADERSHIP ANXIOUSNESS.

1. Reactivity to problems and crises.
2. Blaming kinds of behaviors.
3. Victimization on the part of the leader and creating a victim mindset in others.
4. Quick fix solutions that do not address the problem but which alleviate the anxiety of the leader.
5. Triangulated relationships.

On the other hand, here are  signs of a WELL DIFFERENTIATED LEADER.

1. An ability to not get lost in emotional processes that are swirling around in the workplace.
2. The ability to be separate from the anxiousness of others and still connected in healthy ways.
3. The ability to be both non-anxious and yet challenging of others who are anxious.
4. The ability not to react to the reactivity of others.
5. The ability to take a stand that displeases others without becoming anxious or remote.

Of course the prime time when all this surfaces is when conflict and criticism are present in the organization (or team, or family).

I'm not sure that I would recommend the book. It is difficult reading.

Yet the non-anxious leadership presence is vital. You may want to do some personal assessment work on the signs that are mentioned above and get some good input on these things from one or two peole who know you well.

Brian Rice

Questions (Asking the Provocative Ones)

One of the great mentoring skills is that of asking really provocative questions.

Questions launch the exploration process.

Questions pull others into the learning/growth process.

Questions stimulate analysis and reflection.

Questions shape the direction in which we move.

Have you asked anyone some really provocative questions lately that have launched a growth journey?

And has anyone asked you a really, really good question that continues to rumble around in your heart and mind?

Brian Rice

Strengths Finder 2.0 at the LWCC Staff Retreat

I am back home after a Tuesday - Thursday LWCC Staff retreat.

It was a very good time.

One of the sessions was taking a look at how eleven of our senior staff line up with our STRENGTHS. We did this using Strengths Finder 2.0.  This is a very useful test. It is one of the tests I now use when I do the Leading Edge "Self-Leadership" section.

This was only the second time that I had used this to look at an entire team. This is a very useful tool at both the individual and the team level.

If you are not yet using it, I highly recommend you get it.

When you buy the book, it will have an access code in a sealed envelope in the book. Just follow the instructions.

Brian Rice

"Be Prepared"

I grew up in a Boy Scout family. My dad was a scoutmaster, my brothers and I earned Eagle Scout. The Scout motto, as you might know, is "Be Prepared."

Good motto, don't you think? So why is preparation so difficult for me??? The "other" Brian (Rice) is the King of Preparation, especially when it comes to leadership development materials. He is amazing, cranks out high quality training materials in record time!

I'm another story! I spent last week preparing my teaching material for Cuba. Truth be told, I got the materials to the folks in Cuba about 4 days late. (Confession is good for the soul!) But, at last, I got them what they need, so I'm just about set for my trip.

- Brian Newman

Authentic Leadership, Appropriate Vulnerability

I have had quite a few individuals who have significantly shaped my spirituality (and my spiritual theology). On the Protestant side, Eugene Peterson, Brennan Manning and Gary Thomas have been very significant. On the Catholic side, Henri Nouwen, Ronald Rolheiser and Peter Kreeft have been influential.

Through several of his deeply insightful devotionals, Charles Ringma has had an enormous impact on me in recent years. (Pictured)

I am currently using his book, The Seeking heart: A Journey With Henri Nouwen as a devotional resource and I do a "lectio divina" on a devotional several days a week.  What follows are some of Ringma's thoughts reworded through my own reflections.

WE STRUGGLE WITH AUTHENTICITY AND VULNERABILITY.

We live in a culture and a Christian sub-culture that wants its leaders to be always strong, always competent, always right, always victorious, always confident, always successful (and in the  Christian sub-culture) always godly, always holy, always prayerful, always in contact with God, always spiritual!!!

If we are not these things, then we are afraid (in some cases rightly so) that we will disappoint those who follow us and depend on us and they will leave us for another leader or teacher or Christian personality who is more of those things.

So we pretend!  I know I have. We project an image that is not real, but which it is impressive and it is what others want.

Ringma (along with Dan Allender) give us counter-cultural leadership wisdom at this point. True leadership comes from humility, honesty, vulnerability, weakness, and appropriate authenticity about these things.

Henri Nouwen was one of the most transperant leaders who shows us the way on this. When it came to his vocational calling, his need for success in ministry and his desire for "upward mobility" he describes his life as:

". . . so filled with desires to be better than others, so marked by rivalry and competition, so pervaded with compulsions and obsessions, and so spotted with moments of suspicion, jealousy, resentment and revenge."

In his courge and humility to reveal his own dark side and only partially complete spiritual transformation, Nouwen shows us the way.

In this, he is much like the Apostle Paul when he wrote 2 Corinthians, a powerfully authentic display of his heart and soul. (If you haven't read that epistle recently, it is a good place to revisit soon.)

Ringma says this.  "All the saints of the church have experienced an unveiling, a stripping down, and an exposure leading to a cry for mercy. No cry can be more healing and more freeing."

May you move into new depths of forgiveness, healing, freedom and transformation by His GRACE.

Brian Rice

On Being Prepared

Ben Hogan said, "Playing a tournament is almost an anticlimax. Tournaments are won and lost in preparation. Playing them is just going through the motions."  (quoted by Lou Holtz in his autobiography).

We feel pressure and anxiety when we have to perform and we are not prepared to do so. I almost  always have a little bit of nervousness when I step up to preach on a Sunday morning or to teach a class to a group of leaders. But in a minute, the butterflies are gone and the sense of confidence is there, because I know I have prepared well and that God will bless that preparation.

I've been in several somewhat new situations in recent months where I would normally have had some nervousness, but I didn't. And I believe it was because I knew I was prepared and that I had something worth saying and being listened to.

Sometimes when we get too busy, we take shortcuts on the preparation. DON'T.

I always got a chuckle at the preacher who wrote in his sermon notes "Weak point, shout louder."

Paul's words to his protege Timothy is still timely.

"Be prepared in season and out of season . . ."

Brian Rice

On Good Work (Yo-Yo Ma Shows the Way)

Howard Gardner (of multiple intelligence fame) asked renowned Cellist, Yo-Yo Ma what he considered to be good work. Here is the summary of Yo-Yo Ma's answer.

(1)  To perform the repertoire of music as excellently as possible.

(2)  To be able to work together with other musicians easily and quickly develop the necessary common understandings and trust (especially important since he travels so much and works with so many different orchestras).

(3)  To pass on his knowledge,skills, understanding, and orientation to succeeding generations so that the music he cherishes can endure.

This is Yo-Yo Ma's standard of excellence (or good work).

Do you have your own standard mapped out and are you highly intentional about it?

Brian Rice

Determination

A determination to succeed is the only way to success that I know anything about. William Feather

Well, there may be a few ways.

• Chance (luck, fate, etc.).
• Accidently being in the right place at the right time (chance/luck again).
• Knowing the right person who opens an otherwise closed door or makes success possible for you.
• A gift you are handed that you didn't deserve.
• Okay, I'm running out of possibilities.

The American proverb has it right. Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

Scripture has it even more right.  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might . . . (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

How are your levels of determination these days? Especially if you are facing some adversity and hard going - how determined are you?

Brian Rice

Discipline (quotes and a few thoughts)

Here is a "hodge-podge" of quotes and observations on the issue of discipline. I found these in Rock Solid Leadership: How Great Leaders Exceed Expectations by Robin Crow. I've been thinking about the issue of discipline for the last month since it is the fourth part in a series of messages I am doing this summer.

In The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck says there are four components of discipline.

1. the ability to delay gratification
2. the acceptance of responsibility
3. dedication to the truth
4. balancing

"Discipline is all about cultivating habits that become part of your lifestyle."  Robin Crow

"You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life." Herbert Bayard Swope

"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we can become."  Charles Dubois

"No life can ever grow great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined." Harry Emerson Fosdick (a great preacher at First Presbyterian, New York City, pictured to the left.)

Spend some time reflecting on these quotes and also considering your own personal levels of discipline.

Brian Rice