Unplugged II

My wife Connie and I returned early this morning from a great week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and we had an awesome time.

I did something I haven't done in a while. I went on this trip and totally unplugged. No laptop. No cell phone. No connection to the civilized world (well, actually this isn't totally true...I did leave my cell on in case there was an emergency at home but I didn't answer it the whole week).

It was fantastic not having those things to tie me down. In fact, I didn't think about any of that stuff the entire week. I actually got to do a whole lot of nothing which was just what the doctor ordered. I read five books and spent some incredible time with my bride. Ahhh, peace. Good stuff.

And you know what? Even though I wasn't there to answer my phone or my emails, the world did not come off its axis! And getting through all my emails didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. Thank you Lord!

I have made a commitment to myself that I now want to translate this somehow into my day to day life and not stress out when I'm not getting all my "stuff" done.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

Unplugged

Picture from http://www.firstpeople.us/

Rest. A good thing, right?

Well, to be honest, in my past, I've looked at it as a dirty word. I felt lazy or unproductive when I was resting or doing nothing. It is only recently that I have started giving myself permission to do nothing. I know that sounds strange to some, but it's the truth.

In fact, for the past year I have really been trying to make Sundays my Sabbath day. I try not to do a whole lot. And you know what? Sunday has become my favorite day of the week.

Despite my Sabbath day, I have been running pretty hard lately. So, I am going to "unplug" from a few things for a week or so. Updating this blog is one of those things.

I plan to post again sometime around the end of March if you'd like to come back then. Thank you for checking in with me.

Blessings to you!

"Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 46:10

Servanthood

I just completed a great day in meetings with two of the three Bishops from my church's denomination. Included in the meeting were myself and three others who all work outside of the local church. We were asked to be part of the Commission on Leadership Development for our denomination.

This is the third year for us gathering together and each of our meetings have produced some really cool things. Today was no exception.

Despite all the neat stuff that happened today, two things have stood out to me. Bishop Matt, who is the leader of this charge, volunteered to pick us all up at the airport and deliver us to the hotel in which we were staying. Since we were all coming from different parts of the country, this meant multiple trips for him.

We were told to call him when we arrived and he would come to get us. I happened to be on the connecting flight with one of the other members of the team and he had an old friend pick him up. They offered to take me to the hotel so I thought I would save Matt a trip.

When I arrived I received a phone call from Matt. He said he went to the airport to look for me. It then hit me that he anticipated my call and wanted to be there waiting for me so that I didn't have to wait. He didn't want me inconvenienced...and it ended up that he was the one inconvenienced which I felt bad about.

Then during our meetings, he would occasionally get up from his seat throughout the day and come behind one of us to massage our shoulders during our discussions. He did this last year too but it had slipped my mind.

To some, this all may not seem like a big deal, but to me this is huge. Here is someone who is at the top position within his field and he is going out of his way to serve me! What a great example!

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Mark 10:45

The Extra Mile

This morning in our 3rd Tuesday Truth At Work roundtable group we had some great discussions. One of the things we spent a lot of time on was employee performance and when to keep or let go a struggling employee or someone who has certain issues.

This is something that gets brought up fairly regularly...the tension between servanthood and stewardship. The servant wants to keep a trouble employee and rehabilitate them and that is a noble cause.

However, leaders are given stewardship responsibilities over their company or department. So, the health of the overall group really trumps the health of the individual. In other words, if keeping an employee does damage to the overall company, oftentimes that person needs to go. Sounds harsh, but better to sacrifice one than many.

The bottom line is, if you are someone who is working for someone else, you need to take ownership of what you do so that you are not one that your boss is struggling to keep. The most valuable employees are those who do the job, and then some...the people who go the extra mile. They make a leader's job easy.

Whether on the job or not, whatever you are doing, are you willing to go the extra mile?

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles."

Jesus in Matthew 5:41

Believe in Yourself

In the book 212, The Extra Degree, the author tells the story of interviewing candidates for a sales position which was open in his company. Here is an excerpt from the book:

I looked up and my 1 o'clock appointment was standing at the door. He was a tall, good-looking guy, and I remember thinking, "This could be the one." We talked for about 15 minutes, and I asked a question I always ask, "What will you be doing five years from now? I'll never forget his answer. He said, "Mr. Anderson, the way these appointments have been going, I might still be interviewing!" Well, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. We talked for a few more minutes and I excused him.

Then I looked up and my 2 o'clock was there...a short guy with a wrinkled sport coat. He walked over and gave me a confident handshake, and a few minutes later I asked the same question, "What are you going to be doing five years from now?" He looked me right in the eye and said, "Mr. Anderson, I'm going to be working for you. This job fits my skills and my needs to a tee. I don't just think, I know I can sell your product in this market. And furthermore, if you don't like my performance after thirty days, you don't owe me a cent."

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! He had just made me an offer I couldn't refuse. But the offer had nothing to do with the money I might save; it had everything to do with his unwavering passion and belief he could do it. Within a year, Bob was the number one sales person in the company.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13

S.E.R.V.E.

For the past couple of days I have been in Cincinnati, Ohio for the first Call2All America congress. It has been pretty incredible.

Yesterday, I attended a session on the business track in which Larry Cox shared with us the leadership principles that Chick-Fil-A has utilized to build their organization in a way that honors God. Larry is the director of the WinShape Foundation, a foundation begun by Truett Cathy, Chick-Fil-A's founder, to "help shape winners."

He began by stating that everything in the company revolves around their purpose statement. This is prominently displayed on the plaque below so that anyone can read it as they enter their headquarters.



He then went on to say that they have used the acronym SERVE to describe their leadership culture:

S - See and Shape the future - there are three parts to vision: 1. Planning, 2. Decision Making, 3. Communication

E - Engage and develop others - Improves organization and let's them know they are valued

R - Reinvent continuously - Need to reinvent personally first

V - Value results AND relationships - Master the genius of AND - figure out how to get great results AND great relationships (In other words, have fun while working hard)

E - Embody the values - 1. Know your values, 2. Share your values, 3. Live your values

Truett Cathy has stated that he believes you can change lives by the way you treat people. He has certainly lived that out and his company has as well. It is no wonder they have been so blessed!

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant."

Matthew 20:26

212 Degree Leadership

Each Sunday morning before church for the past six months or so, my 13 year-old son and I have spent time reading a book together. We began the journey reading Preparing Your Son for Every Man's Battle. A couple of weeks ago we completed the section that is appropriate for his age so we began a new book.

We started reading 212, The Extra Degree. The premise of the book is that though it is only one degree, there is a huge difference between 211 and 212 degrees. 211 degrees is simply hot water while water that is one degree warmer makes the water boil, which produces steam. With steam you can power a locomotive. A big difference, all for one lousy degree.

The book goes on to share examples of people who have gone the extra mile and how that extra mile has made all the difference. One such story really struck me. It was a story about General Earl Hailston (pictured above).

General Hailston is the only general in the armed forces who had enlisted and come up through the ranks. When asked if he had any hobbies, the general said, "Yes, I love photography, especially taking photos of my men."

It seems that General Hailston would take pictures of his men and email the photos along with a note to their mothers back in the USA. Here is a sample of one such letter:

Dear Mrs. Johnson,

I thought you might enjoy seeing this picture of your son. He is doing great. I also wanted you to know that you did a wonderful job of raising him. You must be very proud. I can certainly tell you that I'm honored to serve with him in the U.S. Marines.

General Earl Hailston

It is clear that General Hailston understood what 212 degree leadership is all about. As a result, I am sure his men would go the extra mile for their commander, because they knew they were cared for and he was going the extra mile for them.

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles."

Matthew 5:41

Cheat Work, Not Home

Last week, I showed a video from the 2006 Willow Creek Leadership Summit for our Truth At Work groups. The session was Andy Stanley's talk on The Best Leadership Decision I Have Ever Made.

During the session, Stanley talked about when he was getting his church up and running and the incredible effort it took. He talked about the long hours he and his team was investing. He said he had the attitude, "If I don't, it won't." In other words, it was all up to him. He felt that if he leaned toward home, nothing would get done at work.

Sound familiar? It does for me.

Then he received a revelation from God.

God revealed to him that Andy was instructed to love his wife (Ephesians 5), not his church. He also received insight in Matthew 16 when Jesus says, "On this rock I will build my church..." Andy said, "OK, so Jesus is promising to build the church, not Andy."

Andy said it was out of those revelations that his greatest leadership decision materialized. He decided to cheat the church (or work) and not his home. He made a deal with God which went something like this: OK God. You command me to love my wife and you say that you are going to build the church, so here's my deal. You have me for 45 hours per week to get this church thing done. If you can't build the church with 45 of my hours, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be. He decided to cheat the church rather than his family.

After making this decision, what he found out was that this forced him to operate in his sweet spot, doing what he does best. He also found out that his organization began to thrive because he was only doing what only he could do.

Andy shared one more thing which I think is relevant to all of us who are leaders. Those who love their businesses and not their families, have neither great business nor great families. Wow.

I must admit, I am now doing quite a bit of soul searching and taking a very close look at how I'm spending my time.

Work Harder on Yourself

Yesterday, I drove to Indianapolis with some Toledo Truth At Work members to visit with an incredible company who does a great job of incorporating their faith into their corporate culture.

One of the things that stuck out to me is that they have a phrase which they share with their employees regularly, "Work harder on yourself than you do on your job." It is even on pieces of correspondence with employees.

Let me ask you this, have you ever worked for a company with this sort of attitude? Nope, me neither. Most companies I have worked for have had the exact opposite attitude. They gave me the impression that they wanted me and my coworkers to work ONLY on our jobs and they didn't give a rip about us as people. If it were up to them, they would have liked us to sleep at our jobs.

In spending several hours with some of this company's leadership, I can tell you that they walk their talk. They encourage and reward employees for reading leadership books, attending classes, volunteering in the community and going on mission trips. I talked with some employees who just returned from building houses in Mexico and they were stoked. They said it was the greatest experience of their lives. They even have free lunch Wednesdays where they buy lunch for each of their employees.

They have over 1600 employees and they are only 11 years old. They have been on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the US for the past several years. In walking around, it was clear that the employees wanted to be there.

The results show that this company's philosophy is paying dividends. And why shouldn't it? The people obviously feel cared for. This will in turn make them care more about the company. Jesus' advice about the golden rule was right on, even for leaders of companies!

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 7:12

What Type of Leader are You?

I was in a meeting yesterday in which leadership styles was discussed. The guy I was meeting is a coach of sort for pastors and he helps them to become the best leaders they can be. He said something that I found interesting. The way he looks at things, he sees that there are three different leadership styles:

1. Anxious leader
– Very reactive – emails and phone calls will dictate their day

2. Ambitious leader
– Always looking for next great program – one "break" away from "success"

3. Aligned leader
– Focuses on what God’s doing – finds where God is working an asks how they can come into alignment with him

He went on to say that the truth is we are in all of these categories at some time or another. The key for us is to try to spend more and more time in the "aligned" category as that is where we are most effective.

When I hear something like this, my natural inclination is to say, "That's nice. I should really try to be an aligned leader more often." However, as I have pondered this, I have realized that moving more of my leadership time into the "aligned" category just won't happen by itself. It will require a decision, effort and then discipline to seek after it (which will ultimately come from seeking after God).

As the urgent matters of life come at us, keeping our commitment to this becomes that much more difficult. So I recommend you do what you need to to regularly remind yourself of this and surround yourself with those who can hold you accountable to doing the things necessary to move you in this direction.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33