The Heart of a Champion

Stefanie Spielman and her family on the field at halftime of a game in September.

Stefanie Spielman, wife of OSU linbacker great, Chris Spielman passed away yesterday after a lengthy bout with cancer. This is very sad for the Buckeye Nation but it is also something worth celebrating.

Chris said this in an article which appeared today in the Columbus Dispatch, "Stefanie has gone home to be with the Lord," he said. "For that, we celebrate, but with broken hearts. I want to thank everyone for their support. ... Together, with your help, hopefully we made a difference in this fight."

When they received the news, they decided to use this for good. She said this shortly after her diagnosis, "I know there's a reason God gave me breast cancer, and I'm supposed to do something with it," she said that year.

This family is an inspiration to me in many ways and as I have read more about Stefanie, my admiration for her has grown. You can get a glimpse of her faith and positive spirit in these words: "I do not feel sorry for myself. I do not wish this would have happened to anyone else," she wrote on July 11, 1998. "I pray I grow stronger with each passing day. I cannot let this get the best of me, and I will not let this ruin the rest of my life -- no matter how long it is."

What a great example of how to live. Prayers to the Spielman family!

Go Bucks!

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Romans 5:3b-5

The Right To Lead

John Maxwell is one of my favorite leadership authors. He has a great knack for making the complex easy to understand and remember. This segment from his book, The Right to Lead is no different:

WHAT GIVES A MAN OR WOMAN THE RIGHT TO LEAD?

It certainly isn't gained by election or appointment. Having position, title, rank, or degrees doesn't qualify anyone to lead other people. And the ability doesn't come automatically from age or experience, either. No, it would be accurate to say that no one can be given the right to lead. The right to lead can only be earned. And that takes time.

The Kind of Leader Others Want to Follow
The key to becoming an effective leader is not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow. You must become someone others can trust to take them where they want to go. As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:

1. Let go of your ego.
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, "Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."

2. Become a good follower first.
Rare is the effective leader who didn't learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first - and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.

3. Build positive relationships.
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today's generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4. Work with excellence.
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5. Rely on discipline, not emotion.
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It's when everything seems to be against you - when you're out of energy, and you don't want to lead - that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.

6. Make adding value your goal.
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership - and its highest value.

7. Give your power away.
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You're meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp.

Good stuff!

Be a Burning Bush

A friend of mine, Brian Keel (CFO of The Toledo Area YMCA), puts out a weekly devotional via email which is excellent. I thought I'd share his from this past week:

The Wind

Probably my favorite shrub is the Euonymus alatus compactus or “burning bush”. During the spring and the summer it appears rather ordinary…just another in a long line of green foliage planted in front of the house. When autumn rolls around the leaves turn a vibrant red; lighting up the whole yard. But every year the same thing happens…we get one of those windy stretches Northwest Ohio is known for and “poof” the leaves are gone in an instant. All that’s left is the empty shell, just a bunch of sticks poking out of the ground.

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. Ecclesiastes 8:8

A youth pastor in our area died in his sleep last week at age 40…no apparent health issues… no warning… no anything. I’m sorry to say that I did not know him personally, but I have heard so many wonderful things about him since…even a planned involvement in youth work at one of our YMCA facilities. Solomon sure got it right… “no one has power over the wind….” But we can make sure that we burn a vibrant red while we are here. We have power over our actions, over our words and over the things people might remember us for. We have the power to love as Jesus loved… to feed the hungry, to care for the sick, to clothe the needy.

Make a difference… be a burning bush….

Finding Good in the Bad

In an interesting article in the NY Times, Jeffrey Katzenberg (pictured above), the CEO of DreamWorks Animation shared a few valuable nuggets:

* He learned his most valuable lessons from his worst bosses.
* In regard to leadership in today's world, the most important thing is to make people feel secure.
* In order to be innovative you must take risks. Taking risks means that failure is a possibility so they don't expect that every single thing will be a hit. As a result their employees aren't afraid to make mistakes.
* In leadership respect is so important. Not so much from the followers, but rather from the leader to those he/she is leading.
* One of the most valuable lessons came from being fired from Disney...it opened up all sorts of doors.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

Gather Together

I went for a walk late yesterday afternoon through my neighborhood and the neighborhood next door. As I turned a corner I heard what sounded like thousands of birds chirping. I looked around and spotted them all huddled together at the top of a tree. It wasn’t a thousand, but there were at least a hundred up there.

As I walked I thought that it was interesting that I didn’t see one single bird over here and another over there and one behind me. They were all gathered together. Kind of like how we are supposed to be.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us that Satan is like a roaring lion who roams around looking for someone to devour.

On any animal shows I have ever watched, when a predator (like a lion) is hunting it usually goes after the prey which is by itself. Those who are in a pack are much more difficult to get to.

When things are not going well for us we have a natural tendency to withdraw and be by ourselves until the storm blows over. Well, this is exactly what Satan wants. He wants us to be alone so that he can act like the lion on the animal shows and devour us.

Hebrews 10:25a says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”

So gathering together is a lot more than just socializing. It is meant to protect us and to refuel our tanks, especially when we are down. So do that and encourage someone while you’re at it!

Lessons From The Wizard Of Oz

I received an email this morning with this short article about the Wizard of Oz from Will Craig, who writes about coaching others:

Most of us are familiar with the story of Dorothy and the friends she meets on her way to find the Wizard. The Scarecrow who felt he lacked a brain; the Tin Man who didn’t think he had a heart; and the Cowardly Lion who wished he had courage.

The Wizard (a man whose heart was in the right place but whose ethics needed some work) actually exercised some effective coaching skills at the end of the story.

For each of Dorothy’s three friends, he fostered a sense of belief that they, indeed, had those things they sought so desperately. He convinced the Scarecrow he was smart by giving him a diploma. The Tin Woodsman received his gift from the Wizard and knew he now had a heart because it was breaking. The Cowardly Lion became instantly courageous when he received his medal for bravery.

He then goes on in the article to talk about the power of believing in yourself. While that may be important, I believe there is an even more important lesson for each of us here.

The Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion all were down UNTIL someone spoke words of encouragement to them. It was that encouragement which lifted them up and allowed them to begin to believe in themselves.

This is true of many around us. They could be hurting and not even show it. Your encouragement could be exactly what they need to lift them up above the fog. So why not encourage someone today!

But encourage one another daily.

Hebrews 3:13a

Servant Leadership

Earlier this football season, I put up a post about Pete Carroll, USC's charismatic football coach, and how he kept his team loose before their big game against Ohio State.

Well, it appears he does some other things that many don't know about which also help him in his ability to be a great leader. He is a servant of others. Tim Moore from the Audience Development Group, wrote the following piece that I hope you find as interesting as I did:

It's eight at night. A reporter from LA Magazine is camped in Pete Carroll's office; the apex of Trojan football legacy on the USC campus. Suddenly Carroll ends the dialog and says, "I have to be somewhere." The writer asks if he can come along but is summarily refused.

"Absolutely not," says Carroll. The reporter asks again. With the critical eye of Joe Stalin, Carroll hesitates, acquiesces, and tells the writer he'd better change apparel. The USC coach rummages through a closet and flings a polo at the writer like a dished-off shovel pass. "Put this on," he says. The reporter asks, "How come?" Carroll tells the reporter that he might get shot wearing the bright blue. From there the writer struggles to keep up: an animated walk across campus to a waiting van, then to South Central Los Angeles. He tells J.R. Moehringer, now riding shotgun, to lose his notebook. There will be no quotations or formal written summary as it might make the people they'll be talking to anxious.

First stop, a group of guys on the street: maybe stoned, maybe drunk and possibly armed but to a person, stunned at who is approaching them. Carroll shakes hands, starts talking about football and the tension in the air falls away. They talk about their lives, the police, and other things...a car pulls up. Someone's mother, back from the store. Pete Carroll waves then helps her with groceries, carrying multiple bags. This can't be, she thinks; coach of the tightest, toughest, hippest college football team in the nation, a late night bag-boy? The scene is repeated with several other stops with similar reaction from stunned partisans of the night, until sometime after midnight they head for the obscure van and back to campus.

Carroll explains he feels this ritual is important, necessary in fact, to let these people know someone cares about them and has them in mind. He has found jobs for at least 40 men in these neighborhoods. On this night an emotional young man who thanks Carroll for coming out, places a bracelet on the coach's wrist; something he made and a symbol of solidarity.

Carroll admits few USC fans know of this routine. His wife, Glena, laughs and admits it worried her in earlier times, but not now. She tells LA Magazine writer J. R. Moehringer she's okay with it but drew the line on Baghdad.

If you're a UCLA or Cal fan, you've probably already made up your mind about Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans: arrogant, almost always a notch better, and so damn loose and cocky on the sidelines. If, however, you're ever invited on one of Carroll's after dark recon missions, you might just accept the premise that things are seldom as they appear. Pete Carroll defies the odds on and off the field, just as his boyish never-change-looks defy time. He keeps fun in the game and his players loose and unafraid. Once a card-carrying member of the NFL, he was only a number. Upon becoming the main man of Troy, Carroll became one the most prolific people in all of sports, and Trojan dominance of college football is evidence.

For those of us reaching for significance as leaders in a relatively short life, we'd do well to ask to ride shotgun in South Central Los Angeles with Carroll some night. If not, as an option spend 3 hours watching a Southern Cal game as Carroll strides the sideline in high animation, grinning ear-to-ear, patting players on the shoulders, having the time of his life. That's leadership. That's fun.