Tweet Years ago I was working in retail. I was in college, but serving in a junior management for a large department store. I was responsible for ordering the basic…
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Tweet In my leadership experience there are two kinds of leaders. There are those who are willing to lead leaders. And there are those who will only lead followers. Some…
Inactivity rarely produces anything…
Waiting on God doesn’t always mean doing nothing…
Jesus said, “My time has not yet come†(John 2:4)… He was in a time of waiting…yet He continued to act on what He could do…
Do what you know to do today…
Take initiative towards change you know you should make…
In Joshua 3 they had to get in the water before it started to part…You may have to get in the water first, before you start to see results…
Create action…it is often then God begins to reveal the destination He is taking you towards…
What action do you need to take today?
You are a leader. You worked hard, experienced some sense of success and now you like where you are in your career. You have finally figured out the system, got the right staff or team, and there are no current problems. Life is comfortable.
Frankly, finding that balance has always been difficult for me, and at times in the life of the organization, one area does require greater attention than other areas. The key for me is to always keep the big picture in my mind of what we are trying to accomplish, while recognizing the individual contribution, each area needs to bring to that success. I can never allow one area to cloud out my perspective of the other areas.
Have you ever tried to lead someone who didn’t want to be led? The same children that were labeled “strong-willed†by their parents often grow up to be strong-willed adults. Perhaps you know one…perhaps you are one.
I once wanted to be known as the life of the party. I’m funny, quick-witted and actually kind of silly at times, but these days people seldom see the real me. My family does, and often the people I work with gets to see who I really am, but except for occasional bursts of randomness the rest of the world thinks I’m always serious, always thinking about something purposeful or profound. (Social media has helped with that some.) I had to come to the realization that I’m an introvert and, in crowded settings, I most often shut down the wild side.
Knowing who you are is the first step to becoming a person of influence.
Tweet The WHAT Test. Over the years, I have found numerous uses for this simple strategy of thought. The WHAT Test is an acronym of steps to force you to…
I’ve been having a problem with my youngest son lately. He isn’t reading all the emails he should be reading. In fact, we almost missed paying some fees he had due for college, which could have made him miss some deadlines for school. You see, Nate’s a busy college student. He’s consumed with school work, church activities, and a host of social activities. If you want to lose his attention quickly…send him a really long email.
I can’t complain, because he’s wired like me. He is always busy doing something, hates unproductive time, and some emails, if they tend to ramble, simply don’t capture his attention. I realize it’s ultimately our problem, not the sender, but it almost seems a waste of time to process an email that could have been written with the same information in a much shorter form. Just being honest…I don’t read all the long emails I need to read. Sometimes I miss details, because the email was too long to process.
That’s my honesty….I’m working on it…but lately it seems I’m getting a ton of chapter length emails and it prompted me to think through this issue. If you want me to read your email…and people wired like me, here are some suggestions. In fact, if you simply want to make sure your emails are read, regardless of who you email, consider these thoughts.
Here are 7 ways to ensure your email gets read:
I was talking with a 25 year old pastor recently. He is frustrated with his church. He was brought to the church because they wanted him to help the church grown again, but they see him as too young to make decisions on his own. They won’t take his suggestions. They consistently undermine his attempts to lead. They expect him to speak each week and visit the sick, but they won’t let him make any changes that he feels need to be made. It has made for a very miserable situation and he feels helpless to do anything about it. He’s ready to quit and the situation is negatively impacting every other area of his life.
It wasn’t the first time I have heard a story such as this. I hear it frequently from young leaders in churches and the business world. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him, but I didn’t want to mislead him either. The bottom line in this young pastor’s situation: