LeadershipConneXtions

Take Any Risks Lately?

Hmmm?

Good question.

I'm not inclined toward risk taking. That also means I am not inclined toward faith or courage.

I am inclined to safe... stable... doable... achievable... 

Yes the fruit is out on the end of the limb and so is a broken neck.

Like I said, I'm not exactly the most famous risk taker there is.

And that is a real weakness. 

  

For life itself is risky.
Love is risky.
Relationships of any kind are risky.
Leadership is risky.
Change is very risky.
Believing passionately in a vision - that's risky too.
BHAGs are risky, by definition.
Trying something new - you guessed it, risky.
Taking up a cross...
Confronting injustice...
Going against the crowd with its conventional wisdom...
Following Jesus...

The list could go on and on and on...  RISKY!!!

Risk means that the possibility of failure is real. Danger is real too. Loss is hovering around as an option. 

Not every one or every leader will be as willing or able to live on the edge, live adventurously, live courageously, live with faith and hope . . . but occasionally you are going to have to go to those places. And when you do, vaya con Dios.

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

 

Initiate or Respond (and the Distortion Bias)

You would think that leaders spend most of their time initiating new ideas, plans and strategies, implementing the next phase or program or event that will lead to great results.

You would think that and you would be wrong.

And if you, the leader, think you spend most of your time initiating, you are wrong also.  This is a case where reality is far different than our perception of it.

We have a distortion factor (my language, I haven't found it said this way) that kicks in on this and which leads to flawed self-assessment. 

It is kind of like when people are surveyed as to how much TV they watch on a daily basis. Almost everyone "under-estimates" how much daily TV they view by one to two hours.
 

It is the same thing in action as when leaders are asked how much time they spend working. Almost everyone "over-estimates" how many hours they work per week, by 5-10 hours!
 

It is the same thing at work when "preachers" are asked to evaluate themselves as a preacher. Almost every preachers scores themselves as "above average" when it comes to preaching. You ask their congregation and their congregation gives them an "average" at best and often, a below average score.
 

There is a distortion bias that minimizes our weaknesses and (well let me say) quite generous, when it comes to assessing our strengths.

The same thing comes into play when leaders assess how much time they spend initiating and how much time reacting/responding.  The fact is, the vast majority of time for the vast majority of leaders is spent reacting to needs, problems, crises, urgencies, etc.

So, just take it as so that you spend much of your week in a response/react mode. One of the best things you will do for your family, your team, your organization, your personal ministry is to be highly intentional about initiating.

In the words of the Men's Fraternity core ideas:  reject passivity and in this case, the passivity of responding and not leading.

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

Another Leadership List (this one a la Drucker via Krames)

I sometimes wonder if lists are even useful?  Are they just the abbreviated, sound-bytes we prefer over a more substantial dig into a topic? Perhaps . . . 

For me, the nature of blogging is to deliver the "bytes" with enough suggestion on how to go further and deeper if one is so inclined.

Jeffrey Krames is the one who provides this short list of leadership skills from Drucker. It is found in his book, Inside Drucker's Brain, pps. 77-80).

ONE:  Leaders can place people in the right position where they can make the greatest contribution.

TWO:  Leaders can hire and fire people without becoming emotionally upset. Organizational success requires having the right people in the right spots who can make contributions that generate results. If they can't generate results then the question is why keep them in that spot? They are hurting the organization (and themselves).

THREE:  Leaders excel at establishing and maintaining priorities for self and others. It is the focusing on and achieving of these priorities where results are generated.

FOUR:  Leaders constantly ask themselves and others - how can I/you maximize your contributions? This is getting at the issue of continuous improvement and strengths based functioning.

FIVE:  Leaders have the ability to discern reality and then ask the right questions. Few things are as bad as coming up with answers to the wrong questions!

SIX:  Leaders have a bias for action, especially in times of difficulty. When the going gets tough, leaders do not call for meetings. Meetings are so often the anti-thesis of action. Leaders require action.

SEVEN:  Leaders build culture and pay attention to morale (i.e. Goleman and resonant leadership). Create the right environment which is highly positive and encouraging (i.e. Kouzes and Posner) and people are empowered for productivity.

Okay, it is a list. 

It is not a definitive list. 

But it is a decent place to launch a little self-assessment. 

How are you doing on these leadership skills and functions?

And do you see any problems in your areas of life and responsibility because you are not doing well on some of them?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Power of a Good Idea Strikingly Framed in the Best Words

Here are two leadership axioms from Bill Hybels that resonated with me. I morphed them together since they already seemed so closely connected.

First is:  The Power of a Really Good Idea.

Second is: The Way You Say It Matters (or Words Count)

Both "axioms" are great by themselves, but put them together and you have explosive potential for influence.

So, leaders make the time to pray and dream and strategize and come up with a Really Good Idea. Not a pretty good idea, but a Really Good idea, perhaps even an Amazingly Good Idea. Such ideas do not just drop from heaven into our laps (okay, occasionally God does this, but it is the exception and not the rule).

Really good ideas are the result of lots and lots of prayer, of searching, of dreaming, of learning, of thinking, of conversing with others, of brainstorming, of out-of-the-box exploration, of pursuing any and all leads . . .  They come to those who are willing to invest the time and energy to become an Idea Entrepreneur. A really good idea may gradually unfold, or it may dramatically appear in an 'aha' moment.

But when the idea is there, one more thing is necessary. What is the best way to communicate the idea, to describe its essence, to cast it forth to others, to grab their hearts and passion, to make it come alive and remain as a beacon. That's where Hybels says - words matters.

Leaders have to wordsmith and edit and re-edit until the really good idea can be said in a really powerful way.  A slogan, a well coined phrase, a catchword, a metaphor/image.  More work, but work that is infinitely worth it.

Leaders invest the time and energy to figure out the best way to communicate the best ideas.

SO:

What is your most up-to-date Really Good Idea?

And have you figured out The Best Words to Communicate it?

And if you don't have a really good idea that is on the front burner, go out and find one.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Good Quote Worth Thinking About

You can't talk your way out of something you behaved your way into. You have to behave your way out of it.  Douglas Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup

Here is a second good quote by Benjamin Disraeli speaking of William Gladstone (the two were fierce rivals as British Statemen of a previous century).

He (Gladstone pictured to the right) is "inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity." (Disraeli who is pictured to the left.)

Even those leaders who are exuberantly verbose (and proud of it) are not able to talk themselves out of something they behaved themselves into.

Is there anything you need to "behave your way out of?"

Brian Rice

Bold, Persistent Experimentation

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: if it fails, admit it frankly and try another.   Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is a great thought and a major tool for a leader. Bold change initiatives. The best leaders can make them and implement them.

Still, some of the most challenging and lasting change initiatives are not unilateral, from the top down. But they come about in the "vigorous interaction" between leaders and followers.

Are you pursuing any change initiatives?

If so, are you doing it on your own, or through conversations with those who look to you for leadership?

Brian Rice

Delegating

Delegating.

Leaders know it is a necessary skill, yet many of us don't do it very well. One of the very first books I read on leadership (way back in the early 1990's) was by John Maxwell - Developing the Leader Within You. Wow, was this ever balm for a struggling leader-wanna-be. I later read his follow up volume - Developing the Leaders Around You. In that book, Maxwell gives some reasons why leaders don't delegate very welll or very often.

• Insecurity (afraid that someone else will do the job better than you do)
• Lack of confidence in others (believing they won't do a good job)
• Lack of ability to train others to do the work that you want to delegate to them
• Personal enjoyment of the task (just because you enjoy doing it does not mean you should do it)
• No one else around who can do what should be delegated (often the problem with small organizations)
• Lack of time (sometimes we just think... I can do it more quickly if I do it myself rather than try to explain it to someone else)
• The "I do it best" mindset (which may or may not be true, but even it if is true, failure to develop others and to give them opportunities will hurt the organization)

Here are a few other thoughts I have about delegation.

Sometimes when we delegate, we are really just dumping unwanted tasks onto another.

Sometimes when we delegate, we give responsibility for the task but fail to give the necessary authority or resources needed for success.

Sometimes when we delegate, we do so having neglected to do the necessary empowering and training, so we set people up for failure.  This then reinforces the mentality that delegation is a waste of time.

Sometimes our delegation fails to include follow-up post assignment reflection and assessment time.

It might be worthwhile for you to take some time and reflect a little on your own approach to delegation.

How are you doing with this leadership skill and where can you improve?

Brian Rice

Creativity: Just Connecting Things That Aren't Normally Connected

"Creativity is just connecting things."    Steve Jobs, Wired Magazine

I like this idea. It makes sense to me.

Creativity is when you connect "things" that haven't previously been connected.  The iPhone is an example.

Some of the best "wordsmiths" are those who are great at connecting words that are not normally associated with one another. When the wordsmith makes the connection (or in some cases - collision) the result is a synergism that is greater than the parts.

How about:

• A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken.
• Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning
• The Beautiful Fight, Gary Thomas
• A Grace Disguised, Gerald Sittser

Len Sweet is a master of wordsmithing. So is Eugene Peterson. Read their books (Sweet's especially) for endless examples of creative wordsmithing.

Servant Leadership is one of those creative connections. This one has been around for awhile, so the power of surprise has been lost, but still, it is a creative connection.

It helps to have a variety of diverse experiences and think about ways to connect them.

Brian Rice

The Leader as Imaginator (Creative Imagination)

One of the graduate courses I team in Latin America is Emerging Paradigms of Leadership. It is a course that looks at the emerging culture and the Christian engagement with that culture and the new kind of leadership needed for serving the purposes of God in our historical situation.

I will be teaching that course this fall at Lancaster Bible College and Grad School and I am doing some re-reading of key texts to be covered in that course. It hits me again that so many of the emergent authors give a central place of importance to imagination. Tim Keel (Intuitive Leadership) and Alan Roxburgh (The Missional Leader) are just two of these voices.

Now, I guarantee you, that if you work through the standard texts on leadership, you will be hard pressed to find imagination listed in the top ten leadership skills needed for today (for example, check out Kouzes and Posner, the Leadership Challenge) unless the author sneaks it in when discussing visionary leadership. But even then, it is not being used the way the emergent leaders talk about imagination.

I think Keel and others are on to something important.

We live in a post-modern world and in that world, rationality and logic, while still important, are not enough.  Imagination, creativity, intuition and more are just as vital. Leaders will have to cultivate their creative side in the season of life that is ahead of us.

The Leader as Poet, Leader as Artist, Leader as Story-Teller and even Leader as Fool are all useful metaphors for the new kind of leadership in a "post" world.

With that said, here is a great thought from Jeffrey Sobosan in Romancing the Universe:

My increased years have taught me that, like competence in all other things, competence in imaginative effort also takes deliberate and focused attention. The listlessness of mental effort that often characterizes our behavior, the refusal to attend to anything that is not immediately apparent or useful - the narcissistic temperament - can give way to intellectual passion only when the mind is diligently and carefully exercised over a wide variety of experiences.

This challenges me. Like everything else, I can practice imaginatino. When I practice and exercise the imaginative aspect of life and leadership, it can grow.

In the last two months, I have posted several times on practice.

What are you doing these days to practice being imaginative?

Brian Rice

Redefining the Questions (and Vision as an Example)

Many times we are stuck on an old problem or a long-standing question. We don't normally think to reframe the question.

Questions are always more important than answers, because it is the questions that frame and direct the conversation. A question always (to some extent) predetermines the range of solutions and answers.

Creative leaders find ways to ask new questions, unexpected questions, paradigm-shifting questions.

I believe that mentors need to offer the GIFT of asking new questions to those they mentor.

***********************************************

EXAMPLE:

Here is an OLD QUESTION:  How do I, the leader, get the people to follow my vision?

And of course, there are endless workshops, articles and books (including Andy Stanley's) on new and improved, better than before vision casting! But somehow vision continues to leak. Maybe our need is to find a new question.

Here is a POSSIBLE NEW QUESTION: How do I, the leader, help people discover and pursue their own visions?

I have run this one past a lot of "visionary leaders" in the last year and for some of them, the lights go on, they have an "aha" moment and a new way begins to emerge. If you re-read those two questions, it is quickly obvious that they will lead to very different "ways" of leading!

The old question simply tries to find a better way for the leader to be a Vision-Caster.  The new question suggests the leader may be better as a Vision Multiplier or Vision-Releaser.

For the old question - the leader will function in highly directive leadership ways that motivate others on the leader's vision. For the new question - the leader will have to discover empowering styles of leadership that enable the others to discover and move into their vision.

What are your troubling old questions that may need to be reframed? Get out a piece of paper. Write down the old question. Now try writing at least three or four new questions. This is not a skill that is immediately learned. It takes time.

Check out this website for some help on asking new questions.

And even though it is a long and difficult (at places) read, check out Senge's The Fifth Discipline if this is an area of interest for you. Senge tries to help organizations learn how to become learning organizations who think in new ways, in part, by asking new questions.

Ron Martoia also did some really good stuff on this. I have it buried in my files someplace and I'll try to find it and make it available to you sometime.

Brian Rice

The Power of Communication (Illustrated in the Primaries)

I am very interested in communication.

Creative communication.

Informative communication.

Biblical communication.

Practical communiction.

Motivating, inspiring, empowering, engaging, firing up, turning on, educating, uplifting . . . this is what all good communicators want to do when they speak.

While I haven't watched "tons" of the primaries, when I do, I enjoy it as much from an assessment of communication styles as a consideration of the political stances.

click Here to Read Great Observations About Political Speeches in the Primaries and Showing the Power of Communication!

This is a link to another blogsite that is a political site.

A friend of mine sent me this link due to its EXCELLENT observations about the power of communication and how the candidates are communicating.

I want to STRESS that I am not sending this out with any political motivations at all. This is simply an interesting assessment of communication styles.

By the way, this is an issue that we are not covering in this year's course.  But the best leaders know how to communicate and reach their audience, whether it is an audience of five or five thousand.

After you read it, let me know what you think.

And, perhaps most important - how are you at communicating? And what are you doing to get better at it?

Brian Rice

One final disclaimer...do not think that the size or placement of the pictures has any preference on my part. In fact, one might even say that if picture placement was important, I am pretty confused since I have the top two Democratic contenders on the right of the page and the top two Republicans on the left!

Leading in Times of Compulsive Anxiety

All great leaders have had one characteristic in common. It was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.  John Kenneth Galbraith (pictured to the left)

Eddie Gibbs is a professor in the school of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has written two books that I really like. One is ChurchNext and the other is the follow-up book - LeadershipNext.

You can tell a lot about a book by reading who writes the blurbs on the back and on the inside. Pick up this book and you will see that it is the emergent community that is resonating with this book. Gibbs is an older voice who is in well in touch with the emergent culture and the kind of missional churches and missional leaders needed for faithful and fruitful ministry in that culture.

The point of this post is a very thoughtful assessment of the "pain" of the post-modern culture in which we live. Here are Gibbs' comments.

The challenges that tomorrow's leaders face are as complex as they are compelling. People are increasingly vulnerable and disoriented in these confusing and uncertain times. Their personal liberation has produced more compulsive anxiety than boundless freedom. Consequently, with a future too uncertain and terrifying to contemplate, the overwhelming tendency is to focus on "now."

Change and flux are normative and endless. Unassailable truths have been reduced to mere collective hunches. There is no solid ground, but simply a restless sea. Such is the postmoderns' sense of inadequacy; they have to constantly reinvent themselves in order to survive from day to day.

Dominic Crossan captures the postmodern predicament with the following lines.

There is no lighthouse keeper.

There is no lighthouse.

There is no dry land.

There is only people living on rafts made from their own imaginations.

And there is the sea.

Galbraith believes that the essence of leadership is helping people deal with the major anxiety of their times.

How we do church, how we communicate, and how we lead this way in this kind of culture requires Spirit-inspired innovation. One thing we do know is that old paradigms of church, communication and leadership won't cut it anymore.

So - what are you doing right now to learn how to become faithful and fruitful in this "Anxious New World?"

Brian Rice

Saying No to What is Wrong and Evil

My Global Ministry colleague and good friend, Andy R. alerted me to an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal. He gave me the article and I read it, liked it and put it in my blog file to write about later. Now, six weeks later, I have pulled it out again. It was from the WSJ, May 17, 2007.

Jenkins and Gilchrist was a Texas law firm of about 600 lawyers. They had ambitious plans for growth. They hired Chicago tax lawyer, Paul Daugerdas, who worked on tax shelters and told them he could generate $6,000,000 in revenues a year.

Some people in the firm had concerns about legality and going over the line in way that would bring IRS scrutiny. They ignored those voices, hired Daugerdas. They did go over the line and did get IRS scrutiny. This March, after signing a non-prosecution agreement with the federal government, Justin and Gilchrist closed their doors.

William Durbin, the chairman of the Board for Justin and Gilchrist had these powerful words to say:

"The task of leaders is to say no to what is wrong and evil. I wish I could have been more courageous . . . I played a very large part in bringing about the demise of a firm that I had been a large part of for 23 years, and that I loved."

Leaders need to have their moral radar finely calibrated. Leaders need to have their sense of discernment highly attuned to what is going on in their organizations. If you think something is close to the line of being proper - pay attention to it. It probably is. It is much better to be safe than sorry. An ounce of prevention is much more palatable than the pound of cure. (Sorry to our non-American readers who have to endure the truisms and proverbs of North American culture).

Live out of the courage of your convictions and be quick to say a strong NO to what is wrong and evil.

Brian Rice

Dreams

Poet and author Anais Nin had these great words to say about DREAMS. "The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle."

Thoreau said, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

If Thoreau's words inspire me to be highly intentional about my dreams (and visions), then Nin's words echo the mystery and wonder of being able to be a part of something that is vitally important.

Here is an old poem that hit me as a teenager. So much so that I put it up on the door to my room, memorized it and have never forgotten it, though the author's name has long since been forgotten.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained,

don't be afraid to try,

So dream big dreams, reach for the stars,

and set your standards high.

Leaders are both dreamers and the dream releasers (for others who dream also).

Brian Rice

Emails!!!

Ron Carucci says, "Most of the senior executives I work with these days average about 150 emails a day - and this is after everything personal or trivial is weeded out."

Even if you spend only two minutes a day reading the email and then responding wisely to it, that adds up to about five hours of time a day!

Many leaders are ALWAYS plugged in, wired, and connected. They are ALWAYS at work or thinking about work.

What are you doing to guard your time, guard your heart and pay attention to the most important things while those 150 emails are calling for your attention?

Brian Rice

Risk Taking and Leadership

Risks!

Taking risks!

I have to admit that I admire those individuals who engage in the eX-treme Sports and wow us with their mind-boggling displays.

I am wired as more of a play it safe kind of a guy. I can enjoy my comfort zone for long periods of time. Faith is not one of my greatest virtues.

Yet, a faith that is willing to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom of God, is requisite for leadership in the name of Jesus.

Max De Pree says this about risk:

• Risk involves ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Risk results in a certain kind of learning that is unavialble in other ways.
• Risk may entail a loss of control and acceptance of vulnerability.
• Risk on the part of an individual is the only way to improve the world.
• Risk requires humility.

Bobby Clinton talks about "faith checks" as vital in the early formation stages of those who will move into leadership influence for Jesus. There is certainly fool-hardy, adrenaline soaked risk and then there is visionary, faith-initiated risk!  Leaders are called to the latter.

So my question is - what are the "current risks" you are taking for the sake of Jesus? What are you currently doing that is beyond your ability and which requires the supernatural presence of Jesus? What are you currently involved in that regularly sends you to your knees in prayer, because apart from the intervention of God - it just won't happen?

Brian Newman and I are well aware that Leadership Connextions is one of these risky, faith requiring endeavors. We greatly appreciate your prayers on our behalf as we seek to resource the least resourced leaders around the world.

Brian Rice