Vision is Crucial

The current sermon series at Cornerstone Church where I am a member and leader is all about the ministry's vision for 2011. Associate Pastor Rick Cochran has taken it upon himself to do as the Amplified Bible directs in Habakkuk 2:2 to "write the vision and engrave it so plainly on tablets that everyone who passes by may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by." Pastor Rick did not literally carve the vision into stone tablets, but he did spend hours tediously mapping out the details and describing each aspect of the vision. He compiled the information into individual folders for each leader of the church. He held a meeting for the leaders to inform them of the details and compel them to take part. Finally, he took the vision public, making it available to the entire congregation via Sunday morning service.
Pastor Rick understands that people follow clear and precise vision. People want to know that the person leading them has foresight to see what is ahead and a map to guide the way. He knows that in order to lead others he must first have a precise map and second, clear sight or vision.
I went on a trip to St. Louis last weekend with my two best friends. The whole weekend the GPS that was supposed to be guiding me efficiently about the city kept redirecting every two seconds and they quickly lost faith in my ability to get them where they wanted to go. My map was not precise, so they were cautious and questioned before they were compelled to follow my lead. On the way home that Saturday night, there was  a torrential downpour and I could barely see the car in front of me, let alone the road. Because they are my best friends they recognized that I was probably more stressed and worried about the dangerous conditions and my ability to navigate safely through than they were. My vision was compromised. Had I been in the passenger seat in this situation, I might not have been so trusting if I looked over and saw the driver leaning forward with his/her face inches from the steering wheel straining to see what is ahead.
Proper vision casting is a crucial part of being an effective leader. It is incredibly difficult to get people to follow you if they catch on to the fact that you have no idea where you are going!

The Five Myths of Leadership

John Maxwell's book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, covers the common myths of what leadership is all about. Maxwell notes five myths, which I have explained below:

1. The Management Myth – no matter how many people say it's truth, leading and managing are not the same. Managing is a maintenance mentality. It is all about maintaining the status quo and repeating the systems and process that are already in place. Leading on the other hand is focused on taking others with you on a journey to best. It is about influencing them to better themselves and in turn, better the team.
2. The Entrepreneur Myth – an entrepreneurial knack for discovering opportunities and taking the necessary measures to bring them to life is an important quality for a leader to have. However, it must be coupled with a talent for effectively communicating the vision to the followers. Unfortunately, many entrepreneur-minded people are lacking in the vision-casting department and followers, if there are any, are left to blindly wander through.
3. The Knowledge Myth – "people don't care what you know until they know that you care." Just because you went to an ivy-league school doesn't mean people will automatically do whatever you say. You must first prove that you care about them and care about the cause you are asking them to put their own efforts into.
4. The Pioneer Myth – just because you are the first one out of the gate doesn't automatically make you a leader. You can be the first person to do, have or say anything. But if you are the only one that does it, has it or says it then you do not have the influence that is required to be a leader.
5. The Position Myth – so many people believe that because they have a certain rank or title that they have the authority to lead, however many followers are not impressed by position alone. Again, in order to be a true leader there must actually be people following. As you begin to earn the respect and trust of others and they begin to see through your actions and attitudes that you are someone worth following.

First Rule of Leadership...

EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!!! I know it sounds harsh and it may seem like the jaded rant of a cartoon villain, but it is truth. To be considered a trusted leader to those that work under your guidance, you have to be willing to accept fault that may not technically be yours to take. If you throw them under the bus and point the finger at them every time something goes wrong, pretty soon you will have nobody working for you at all.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't reprimand someone that consistently does wrong or make it clear to the group that better is expected of them in the future. The bottom line is that as their leader you are responsible for them. You get to celebrate their victories knowing that you played a role in helping them to achieve it. On the opposite side of things, you must also share in their failures knowing that you also played a role and most likely could have improved your methods to help keep them from it.
The gist is this: You are a part of a team. You win as a team. You lose as a team. As the leader of that team, you are ultimately responsible for the winning and for the losing.
When you take a hit from your boss (because we all answer to someone) for mistakes made by a member or members of your team, you assure them that you are worthy of their trust. People will work hard and with a strong sense of loyalty and dedication for leaders they know they can trust.

Organization Shmorganization

Originally I had a grand plan for this blog being a well organized, flowing, step-by-step guide to leadership. In my head I began to map out the direction I wanted it to go, the layout, the traits and strategies I wanted to discuss and so on. Some might call it a mind map. The problem I have with mind maps is that I never actually write them down or document my mapping in any way. It's sad really, because I absolutely love the idea of organization but cannot for the life of me actually maintain a consistently organized state of being.
Walking down the aisles of school supplies and organizing bins, I get so excited for how clean and clutter-free my life could be if I only had a system. So, I buy the organizers, highlighters and planners with every intention of putting them to good use and I do...for about a week. It is the same thing with my room. Although I own the bins, baskets and drawers, everything still seems to make its way onto the floor or futon. Plus, two days after I put everything in it's proper place I can never remember where that place happened to be. Life would be so much easier in the long run if I were more dedicated to organization.
I have said all of that to say this:

1. This blog from now on will probably have no proper flow from one topic to another (if it even did in the first place.)
2. Every person is different and therefore has different methods, styles, strengths and weaknesses.
3. As a leader, it is important to recognize your personal style and methods of working effectively and strive to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

Follow the...wait...who's the leader???

Over the past year I have been blessed to serve under the guidance of Pastor Todd Sitcler. Todd joined the staff of Cornerstone Church as the youth ministry director last spring and has since taught me so much about what being a leader truly means. One of the first lessons he taught me is that anyone can be a leader, but not everyone is an effective leader. I have also learned that being and effective leader and leading people to do good things for themselves and others are two very different things as well.

            To understand what it means to be a leader, it is important to know what a leader is. The Merriam-Webster online thesaurus defines the word leader as “one that takes the lead or sets an example.”¹ Simple enough, right? So a leader in the most basic form is a person who has influence; positive influence, negative influence, bold influence, quiet influence, the definition doesn’t differentiate or insinuate that the person even has to accept that the example he/she sets has impact.

I stumbled upon an anonymous quote this week that says, “A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.”² In this sense, we are all leaders. The only way to avoid being a leader, even a bad one, is to be locked away and never interact with a single human being for your whole life. We all have impact through our words, actions and relationships. We all have a circle of influence. We all have a platform.

Most people never realize it, but this means that we each have a great potential to change the world, to influence and impact the people we surround ourselves with everyday. The question is, are you up to the challenge of being an effective, positive leader? Over the next week, take time to consider the influence you have in the lives of the people you interact with every day. While you’re at it, consider the following quote by Gene Mauch: “You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself.”

Footnotes 

¹  www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leader (3rd entry)

² www.quotegarden.com/leadership.html (3rd quote on page)

3  www.quotegarden.com/leadership.html (5th quote on page)

The Leaderboard: Defined

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines leaderboard as “a large board for displaying the ranking of the leaders in a competitive event.”¹ This particular leaderboard has absolutely nothing to do with that. Instead, its purpose is to display and discuss various leadership principles, quotes, statistics and ramblings.

In high school I certainly wasn’t prom queen, but I wasn’t necessarily a social pariah either. I found my comfort zone off to the side, out of sight and out of mind. I existed and that was enough. Definitely not what any sane person would consider a leader. The truth is, I allowed a mostly terrible childhood to steal away my opportunity to live a fulfilled life. As I got older I realized that life could be so much better than merely surviving, only existing. I decided to take everything I had learned through past experiences and somehow inspire others to dare to live the life they always wanted but never thought they could.

The first step in the process was to find worth within myself, to step beyond my comfort zone and go for broke. I started by joining the leadership team of the church youth group I had been attending for years. It wasn't until my sophomore year in college that I went all in. I began pledging a professional co-ed business fraternity, ran for the pledge class presidency…and won. It was quite possibly one of the most monumental moments of my young life. As the tallies were drawn on the board one by one, I became more and more confident in two things: my peers saw me as a leader and I wanted to lead. My presidency was cut short when I decided to leave school to pursue a nine-month ministry leadership and discipleship experience called Master’s Commission. It was during this time that I learned what it meant to be a leader. With a current total of nearly six years of leadership experience under my belt I can honestly and humbly admit that I still don’t know even close to everything, but every day I do my best to be better than the day before.

The leaderboard is simply a collection of those things that I have learned and continue learning, a reference for some and a reminder for me. It is my highest hope that the contents of this leaderboard will inform and inspire leaders of all ages, ranks and professions to continuously strive to be better than the day before. Making this simple daily commitment has made every difference in the way I am able to communicate with and relate to those who are willing to follow.

I would like to leave you with this final thought to be discussed in my next blog: John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”²

¹ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leaderboard

²http://govleaders.org/quotes6.htm (seventh quote on the page)