Tweet Recently in Costa Rica I saw a tradition that’s common in my country too. A child was placed in time-out… For a certain amount of time, a child is not allowed…
Read More
Recently I was speaking with someone about their experience with a controlling leader. My friend said, “He’s just one of those humor him and move on kind of guys.” I thought to myself, “What a sad commentary to be said about one’s leadership!”
It reminds me of a similar experience I had with a controlling leader…
You see, I once had an idea…
It was a dream…a big vision…
I knew it would require risk, extra energies, and the assistance of others, but I was confident this was something worth pursuing…
I even felt it was a call of God for my life…
I was a volunteer for the organization, not an employee, but I had been given a certain amount responsibility and authority…
The only problem…
The leader of the organization was a controlling leader…
That fact alone changed the way I approached (or didn’t approach) the opportunity…
Many controlling leaders receive that kind of attention…
I’ve noticed from my own experience and watching others, that we tend to respond to controlling leaders by:
The main battle for your organization’s long-term success doesn’t exist where you are…it exists where you are going…
Regardless of how great something may be now, this moment will pass. The successes created today will soon fade.
Take writing for example. Unless you are Rick Warren or a handful of others, the best selling authors have to continue to create new stuff to stay on the best sellers list for long. In the business world, the hottest products are only as hot as the next great update or until another “greater” product is introduced.
The fact is momentum dies. People lose interest. Motivation for what you are promoting fades. That’s more true now than ever before. If an organization wants to be successful over time, then it must be winning the battle for the future.
Here are three aspects or planning for future growth every organization must have:
I was talking with a doctor recently. He said increasingly physicians are deciding not to attempt private practice. They are choosing to work only for guaranteed salaries at a hospital, afraid to take a risk of self-employment. In his opinion, it’s changing the way healthcare is done in America. I can’t speak with authority about the field of medicine, but I have noticed the same trend occur in other fields. I talk with people regularly who are settling for security rather than take a risk in this economy.
In a way, it’s completely understandable….
What’s your opinion?
Since 9/11traveling has become much more difficult and time consuming. Our government has assumed new responsibilities as we travel. I am thankful for the diligence of people involved in keeping us safe. Their work should never be taken for granted.
The most active story on my radar this week, however, has been that of the new TSA restrictions on travel.
Recently I had the opportunity to meet with a group of my Sigma Chi fraternity brothers from college. Some of them I have seen, but not really connected with in twenty years. It was fun, good to remember old times, and reminded me that they had made positive impacts on my life. I was a crazy college student sometimes, but the experience has since been used for good many times.
Right after that hang out time, I Tweeted that I should write a post about what I learned in my fraternity days that helped prepare me for ministry. I got lots of reaction, but one in particular appeared to be it’s own post.
Ky Bishop is currently Pastor Of Ministries at Woodlands Church in Houston Texas where Kerry Shook is Senior Pastor. He’s been married 25 years to Terri and they have 3 sons ranging from 16 to 20 years of age. Ky lists his fraternity experience as Delta Tau Delta – UTA – 81
Here are 7 ways Ky’s fraternity experience prepared him for ministry:
Part of being a good leader is not taking opportunities even though you can. Sometimes letting your staff do something you could do, maybe even would like to do, is a better for the entire team.
When we launched our church eleven couples took a risk on a dream we felt God was leading us to pursue. We empowered this core team to do things the way they felt best doing them, as long as they were achieving the vision we knew God was calling us to achieve. We encouraged them to explore new ideas, become experts in their field of interest, and then released them to dream and build. It became part of our DNA and we are still allowing people to explore new opportunities.
For example,
The two extremes of leadership I see that drive me crazy are the controlling leader and the hands off leader.
Have you noticed these extremes?
I love a good bad idea…don’t you?
The truth is…in a healthy organization…there are no bad ideas…at least not in the organizational sense.
Here’s what I mean…
Over the years, I’ve heard differing opinions on the use of the word balance. I’ve learned there are many who actually hate the use of the word. For example, some say the life of a Christian is never balanced because God wants all of our lives. I couldn’t agree more. Others say it’s impossible to balance between work and home because one of them deserves our greatest energy (our home), and yet the two extremes will always compete for our best time and energy. I completely agree. In those contexts, I agree balance should not be our goal. We should prioritize our life around the extremes of life, ensuring that those things we value most receive our greatest attention.
Balance, however, doesn’t always mean things are equal. I prefer to use the term balance to…