Learning Leadership

Leadership Take Away's from Nehemiah ch. 6

Last Friday the guys and I studied chapter 6 of Nehemiah looking to learn some leadership principles.  Here's the links to what we learned in chapter 4 and chapter 5.

Protect Your Time - In verse 6:3 (NLT) Nehemiah says, "I am engaged in a great work, so I can't come.  Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?"  Man, I love that statement.  The evil political leaders of the land are trying to meet with Nehemiah because they claim to want to work out their differences.  But Nehemiah refuses, he was a busy man and didn't want to stop what he was doing.  The work he was doing was the most important thing, and meeting with political leaders who had their own personal agenda didn't match up with his vision.

Beware of People with an Agenda - As discussed in the principle above, Nehemiah constantly had local leaders who were trying to pull him away from his work.  The local political leaders had their own personal agenda they were trying to push and advocate for.  The liked things the way there were in Jerusalem, and they didn't want Nehemiah to do anything that would change that.

When you seek to do great things people gossip - Nehemiah received an open letter (verse 6: 6-7) where one of the political leaders mentioned that he heard rumors about Nehemiah wanting to become King.  This was far from the truth, and Nehemiah knew it.  But in the letter this political leader said that he heard the rumor, and he talked to a friend about it to see if it was true.  Clearly, there some serious gossip going on about the work Nehemiah was doing.  Kind of reminds me of Junior High School!

Don't answer your critics; silence them - It was clear that Nehemiah had many critics of the work he was doing.  His "sacred" work for God was seen as a threat to many of the leaders and influential people of that time.  When they accused him of having impure motives to want to be King he often did not reply or answer.  He only worked with more determination (v 6:9) to complete the wall.

The more work you do, the more you'll notice your errors

More work you do, the more you'll noticed your errors.

Last year while leading A Day of Hope I noticed this "error principle" in our Charity Food Bag Drop.  A  major part of our donated food collection comes from our Charity Food Bag Drop.  We drop off empty paper grocery bags on Saturday to homes in our city, and we return the next day to pick them up filled with food and other items that homes would like to donate for our food distribution. This is an event spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Then it's repeated a second time the next weekend doing the same thing in different neighborhoods of our city.

It's a pretty intense event.  Like most events and projects, it starts very small its first year, but grows larger and larger as time goes on.  After four years of doing the project, we were delivering grocery bags to over 10,000 homes in our city.

What I found is that every year we found mistakes that we were making (big surprise, right?).  However, the mistakes were being found based on the same way we did the event the year before.  The year before we hadn't experienced the mistakes and errors.  It felt odd because the mistakes felt like they were coming out of no where.

What we realized is that as we delivered more grocery bags to more homes every year, our number of errors and mistakes would enlarge, not because we were making more mistakes, but simply because we were delivering more grocery bags.

Here's an example: Let's say we deliver 1,000 grocery bags to homes.  And 5 out of every 1,000 grocery bags has a flyer stapled incorrectly to the bag. So we had five errors.  Then the next year we deliver 10,000 grocery bags to homes.  Except now instead of 5 bags stapled incorrectly, we now have 50 stapled incorrectly and that can be a real problem.  5 errors can easily slip through the cracks, but 50 is a problem.

When leading projects, remember the more work you do, the more you'll notice errors.

Learning leadership from dancing?

I seem to have a knack for finding leadership principles in the oddest places.

Jen and I went dancing this past Friday in Sacramento, CA with some friends.  It was a unique experience and was my first time dancing in a "real" dance club/studio.

Here's a few principles I learned while dancing that are transferable to leadership:

• Someone has to lead - Whenever we danced, I was expected to lead.  I was expected to take charge and lead us to where we wanted to go, and to guide my partner along with me.  When you lead a team, they expect you to lead.  Usually the vision is birthed inside the leader, so your team is usually looking to you for insight and certainty about where to go.

• Someone has to follow - My partner usually knew she was supposed to follow me.  She needed to listen and feel what I was doing and allow me to lead her.  This meant anticipating my movements to allow me to lead her gracefully and safely.  Loyal followers need to do the same, they need to know what their leader wants to do, anticipate his next steps the best they can, then follow him as he leads the way.

• Practice in a safe environment - Anytime new music came on for a style of dance that I didn't know, Jen would take me off the dance floor to the carpet (which was where all the newbies were) to teach me the movements.  She would practice with me a little, then when I got the hang of it, we would head back out to the dance floor.  Leaders need to practice in a safe environment if possible.

Leadership from Jesus

Friday's leadership focused bible study was a little different than normal.  We took a break from studying the book of Nehemiah (you can read my notes from Nehemiah chapter 4 and chapter 5) to have one of our guys tell us about some Lead Like Jesus content that he learned.  Much of the Lead Like Jesus content has been developed by well known management expert, Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges.

Here are a few take away's from the teaching given by my friend Rick and some discussion topics we spent time on:

• Most leadership today is driven by ego - Very true.  Leadership these days is driven by leaders who want the benefits of being the leader.  They want to reap the rewards of being a leader for their own benefit, instead of seeking to be a leader to reward others.  The goal of a leader should be to make the lives of other people better.
• Jesus led out of a relationship of love but with a really clear purpose - It was clear that Jesus really loved the people around him.  The 12 disciples, his family, lepers, tax collectors and anyone else.  He loved them all, and that love was the basis for his leadership with people.  It's what drew people to him and allowed them to follow him.
• Jesus sought to honor God and advance the kingdom - While here Jesus did everything he could to honor God in everything he did (which he succeeded in by living a perfect life).  He advanced the kingdom by preaching and laying the ground work for Christianity to be created and led after his death.

Note - Special thanks to Rick Fritzemeier for sharing his thoughts for this post.

The beatings will continue until moral improves

A ship captain once uttered, "The beatings will continue until moral improves."  A friend of mine who owns a local car dealership shared this quote with me. 

Both of us are leaders working with people on a daily basis, so we found it to be pretty comical.  We found it comical because we know it's totally untrue, but often tried by leaders (and we've probably been guilty of it in the past too).

Sometimes leaders are pushing so hard to achieve that goal or see our vision be realized, that we will do anything to get there.  And when the people on our team (or in this case, sailors of a ship), don't come through, we have a tendency to beat them over the head a little bit more, thinking it will help them perform better.

When leading people, if you need to improve moral or improve productivity, the necessary steps doesn't include beating people over the head.  You've got to slow down, listen to the needs and cries of your people, then take action to support and serve them.

So when you're sailing ahead towards your vision or whatever else you're working on, don't continue the beatings until moral improves, take time to listen and act!

Are you a writer who speaks, or a speaker who writes?

2009 was a big year of communication for me. I made 109 presentations to live audiences. Most of the presentations were to small groups of 20 - 40 people to ask them and encourage them to donate to United Way.

I've learned a lot about communication, both in writing and public speaking over the past few years. As I think back on 2009, there is one thing I learned about communication that had the most profound impact.

I learned that there are speakers who write, and there are writers who speak.

I learned this from Charlie Wetzel when I read an advanced copy of John Maxwell's newest book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.

It was eye opening when Charlie talked about how anyone who writes and speaks naturally does one or the other more easily. You can't be both a speaker and a writer. You have to have one as your primary and most natural style of communication.

I realized that I'm totally a writer who speaks. Even  though I love people and want to help people, I'm extremely introverted. Much more introverted than many people would guess who know me. Back when I was a single bachelor one of the most enjoyable things I would do was go on long runs by myself, have a Sunday at home to watch TV and read by myself, and to sit at my computer and write alone.

Now that I know I'm a writer who speaks, I know that before I speak I always have to write out my entire speech. I need to have taken the time to write out my speech, read through it, revise it and clearly know exactly what I want to communicate and how. I'm terrible at "winging it."

How about you? Are you a writer who speaks or a speaker who writes?

A Wrinkled Shirt

A few days ago I wore three shirts: an undershirt, a long sleeved button up shirt, and a sweater.

Under the sweater was my super wrinkled button up shirt. Because I knew I was wearing a sweater, I didn't bother ironing my shirt, cause I knew no one would see it. The only person who would know it was wrinkled was me.

Similar to my shirt, some leaders have this same perspective to their integrity. They know that very few people see the small decisions they make, the paper they take from the office for home use, the coffee they buy for their own benefit, but they bill it to the credit card.

They are the only ones who know what really is underneath the public picture of who they are.

One of my core principles I live by, is that if I'm doing something I would try to hide from someone, I probably shouldn't be doing it. If I'm leaving my work building in a different route to avoid my boss seeing me leave 5 minutes early, then I probably shouldn't be leaving early. If I'm leaving early, then I should only be leaving early if it's ok for my boss to see me and know about it.

As we've recently seen with Tiger Woods, leaders shouldn't have any wrinkled shirts. Because when it gets hot, and the sweater comes off, everyone will see the wrinkled shirt.

Leadership Take Away's from Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman

Recently I finished reading the book, Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman. This is one of the most well written books I've read in several months. I was amazed at how well George Foreman and Ken Abraham pieced together lots of great insights on business and leadership.

Here are a few take away's from the book I thought were significant enough to share with you:

• Answer the bell - When the bell rings, it's time to get in the ring and fight! So when the bell rings for us leaders (ie, the meeting begins, someone comes to our office, a presentation starts) we've got to be ready. Because once the bell rings, it's too late to start to prepare.
• Keep your word and don't walk away from a deal - George shared some great principles on keeping your word and being a person of integrity. According to George, you become a person of integrity by keeping your word and not walking away from a business deal. You stick to your commitment, and only leave if you feel the people on the other side of the partnership are failing to keep their promises and prearranged agreements. That's the only way you walk away from the deal.
• Have good people in your corner - I liked this teaching. As leaders we've got to have good people in our corner. If we're going to have success and make a difference long term, we can't do it without good people supporting us.
• Keeping getting back up - When you're a leader and you put yourself on the line, you're going to take some hits. You're going to take some punches and they're going to hurt. But as a leader you've got to keep going, you've got to get back up after you've been knocked down.

Overall this was a great book that I highly recommend to any leader or business entrepreneur. George Foreman has surely done some great things in the business world. One of many amazing stats he shared in the book is that he's sold over 100 million George Foreman Grills! That's a lot of grills!

Mr. Foreman's got some great lessons to share, and Knockout Entrepreneur is the place to learn them!

Leaderships Take Away's from Nehemiah ch. 5

Last week some guys and I studied leadership from chapter 5 of Nehemiah (a book in the Old Testament of the Bible).

Here's some of our thoughts and leadership principles we learned from the chapter:

• Great leaders ask for sacrifices from their people - This became obvious when the people cried out to Nehemiah because they had mortgaged their land and sold their daughters into slavery. Nehemiah was making a great sacrifice by feeding over 150 men a night at his dinner table, and was also asking the people to make great sacrifices too. Great leaders ask for great sacrifices, but only after they've first sacrificed themselves.
• Leaders need to help their people take care of their basic needs - Nehemiah had to take action is chapter 5 because the basic needs of his workers were not being met. So Nehemiah acted against the nobles and city officials to make sure the debt was forgiven against the people, so they could have their basic needs taken care of. If a leader doesn't help take care of the basic needs of his people, he will soon find the people worrying about their own basic needs instead of the work which needs to be done.
• Have a private meeting, then hold a public meeting - When Nehemiah found out the city officials and nobles where taking advantage of his people, he became angry. Nehemiah expressed his anger to his inner circle of people, then called a meeting with the people to tell them to get right with God. Leaders should always have a meeting to prepare for the meeting. They shouldn't shotgun everyone with the same information at the same time. Different people need to hear the information at different times in the organization.
• Ask everything from your people, not for yourself, but for God - Nehemiah asked his people to make great sacrifices of mortgaging their fields and family, not for his personal benefit, he asked it for God's benefit. He asked for nothing for himself. Leaders should ask for great things from people people to help meet the vision and purpose of the organization, not for fattening the coffers for the leaders or to satisfy his ego.
• Be in touch with the "burdens" of your people - Nehemiah was in touch with the needs and burdens of his people. He heard of the burdens of his people, how they were feeling pain, and he took action. As leaders we have a tendency to get a vision of what we want to see created, then we go for it, and stop for no one under no circumstances. Leaders need to listen and act on the needs and complaints of the people they lead.

You can read more leadership thoughts from Nehemiah on this posted entitled, Leadership Take Away's from Nehemiah ch. 4.

Leadership Take Away's from Nehemiah ch. 4

Here's a few thoughts I learned from my weekly bible study focused on learning leadership from the Bible. Last Friday we studied chapter 4 of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is the story of how a cup bearing servant to a King led men, women and children to rebuild a massive wall in the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

Here's what I learned:

We can do everything we can, but ultimately God is the one doing it - We might give our best effort as leaders, but we need God's help too!

Time and time again, Nehemiah proves himself to be an incredible planner - This is evident in so many passages in Nehemiah. Mainly when the King asks him for his vision of the holy city.

It's ok to be angry when God's cause is challenged - Appropriately displaying anger is tough to discern, but there seems to be several times where Nehemiah became angry. Nehemiah was often angered when the local political leaders of the city tried to challenge his vision and discourage his people.

At times you're going to need ditch diggers -  At times while building the wall, Nehemiah had to request certain men to do building, and others to be warriors to defend the wall. I think this showed that at times you have to summon your team to do things that they don't want to do, and to do things that they know aren't in there "strength zone." But there will be seasons in life where you're just going to have to ask your team to be "ditch diggers" and do the hard work for a limited time.

Momentum can disappear fast - Chapters 4, 5 and 6 all seem to reveal lots of problems, issues, and challenges arising. The worst part is that most of them happen pretty close to the same time: when the wall has barely halfway completed. Lots of problems arriving at the same time can cause momentum to stall.

Every Friday morning I meet with five men for coffee. We work through books of the Bible to draw out leadership lessons and leadership principles. As a way to share with you what I'm learning, I hope to share more of my Leadership Take Away's from those meetings.

50 Lectures for Humanitarians

A reader recently sent me this list of the 50 Fascinating Lectures for Homantarians.

I looked at the list and began watching a few videos and was blown away at the amazing collection of great lectures from special people.

A few of my favorites are Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, Mother Teresa's Nobel Peace Price acceptance speech, and Billy Graham's talk at TED in 1998.

Thinking & Reflecting

Everyone needs to take time to think and reflect. Especially leaders

Thinking is about focusing on the future. It's about finding strategies, plans and ways to make your vision as a leader reality.

Reflecting is about looking at past experiences in an effort to learn and grow for benefit in the future. It's about gaining insights and discernment which would allow you to do great work in the future.

As a leader, take some time to think and reflect today.