Clay in the Hands

This week we have been focusing on the topic of leadership.  I thought I would finish the week with something for you to think about for the next few days.  In his book, Good to Great and in other works such as Level Five Leadership, Jim Collins talks about his research into what makes a good leader.  He defines the qualities of a leader in terms of levels.  Level five is the top level.  The primary characteristics he outlines of a level five leader have to do with seemingly contradictory character traits.

The traits he focuses on the most are humility and intensity.  He points out that the strongest leaders he has found possess the unique combination of a sincere humility coupled with an insatiable intensity to succeed in their mission.  As I think about that I can really only think of one leader who truly embodies this combination.

John Maxwell, another leadership guru, was asked years ago where he gets his information for his leadership training.  He smiled and answered, “The Bible.”  Isn’t it amazing that the Bible and ultimately the life of Jesus, has more to teach us about leadership than all the books written since!

Jesus was completely humble in his approach and character.  He never tried to lead from ego or position.  But at the same time, his intensity toward the success of his mission was unstoppable – he lived and breathed his mission.  And look at the results.  A poor, working class man born in a cave among animals into a socially questionable situation; in a small, relatively insignificant country the size of a small state; over 2000 years ago; began a movement that has affected the entire world.  He was not the leader of a world power.  He was a carpenter on a mission.  He grew a small following, who in turn grew a small following and so on – to the point that the entire world was touched.

Now that is leadership!

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Yesterday we talked a little about leadership.  When I think about leadership, normally the idea of success enters the picture in my mind.  So today I am thinking about what it means to be a success or successful.

Patrick Lencioni, in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, has one of the best definitions of success I have seen.  He defines success this way:

Success is not a matter of mastering subtle sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.

So often we think of success as a destination.  We think, “when I just make supervisor, I will be successful” or “when I have that second house in the mountains, then I will be a success.”  Or, in the church we might think, “when we reach ‘x’ many in Sunday School, then our church will be successful.”

What Lencioni is saying is success in not a destination, it is what happens along the way.  We don’t become successful when we develop and follow a specific set of steps to reach a place.  Success is not a fluke of lining up all the elements of life into the perfect sequence and then “POW” – success.

Success is really found in understanding what needs to be done and then being committed and persistent enough to do it day in and day out.  Thus understood, success my look different for you than it does for me.  It is more about defining your purpose in life and then living every day to carry it out.

Are you hoping to be “successful” some day or are you being successful today?  Your choice.

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One of the most important attributes a person can have is the ability to lead.  You don’t have to be in a position of authority to lead.  I believe that if more people understood this fact, our world would be a better place.

I remember when my middle son was 4 years old, he took to soccer with a passion.  He was serious about it.  We practiced near a train track.  When his teammates stopped to watch the train go by instead of focusing on the drills, he kept on.  When his teammates were leaving the field in the middle of a game because they would rather play with the kids on the sidelines than play in the game, he was driving down the field  to score.  He was the leader.

What makes this relevant to my point today is that, my middle son is a behind the scenes kind of guy.  While my youngest is the guy on stage, singing, acting or speaking, my middle son is the one running the sound or the lights or the video.  He does not like being out front (at least not at this stage of life).  But yet he understands even today what it means to lead.

You don’t have to be out front to be a leader.  Leadership is more about character than it is about how many people you can tell what to do.  In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if your idea of leadership is being able to tell people what to do – you are not much of a leader.

The best example of a leader I can think of lived a little over 2000 years ago.  His leadership was not handed to him in a position.  In fact, he came from nothing.  He lead not by commanding a following but rather by living with passion and focus and complete surrender to his calling.  There is something contagious about that.

What are you passionate about?  I challenge you today to lead out – don’t wait for permission – just do it.

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About a week ago I was backing out of the garage, it was early (very early) and I was not fully awake.  Some of the men from our church get together for a prayer breakfast at 6 am.  I have told them that I am not sure God is up at that hour and so I don’t think I should be either but that has not swayed them.  But back to the story, as I backed out of the garage at that early hour, I realized quite abruptly that due to the rain overnight, the opening in the garage had shrunk and my mirror would no longer make it through the opening.  Ok, I admit, the garage had not shrunk, I was just not paying attention and nearly took the mirror completely off the passenger side of the vehicle!  That is a sickening feeling to know that you have just done damage to your vehicle and there is no one to blame but yourself.

At any rate, the mirror housing was fine but the mirror itself was smashed into 40 or 50 pieces and dangling from the housing by a wire.  I was able to pop the plastic back together but I was left with a mirror that not only made objects appear farther than they actually are but now there were 40 or 50 objects to choose from.  The problem is that all the pieces give just a little different perspective – there is no clear picture in the mirror anymore.  Without clear focus, the mirror is completely useless.

Leadership is like that – with no clear focus, can we even really call it leadership?  When light is focused in the right way, it can be used to cut steel (or burn ants if you grew up in my neighborhood).

Good intentions, good ideas, passion, talents and enthusiasm can change the world when focused correctly.

So I have two questions for you: 1) How focused are your gifts and talents and passions toward your goals?  and 2) Anyone know where I can get that mirror fixed?

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

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