Next Generation Leadership

15 Quick Leadership Reminders

1. Be responsible. If you say you are going to take care of it, then take care of it. 2. Be professional. Arrive on time. Actually be early. And be organized.

3. Be the best. Get better every day at what you do.

4. Be humble. Talk less. Listen more.

5. Be proactive. Not reactive. Respond and initiate before being told to or asked to by your boss or peers.

6. Be focused. When it's time to make it happen, have the discipline to take it across the finish line.

7. Be trustworthy. Your word is your bond. And your reputation. Honesty always trumps. Always.

8. Be optimistic. See the best in people and opportunities.

9. Be curious. Learn constantly. Read everything you can. Ask questions. Add to your information quotient daily.

10. Be passionate. Love what you do. Do what you love.

11. Be present. Wherever you are, be all there. Look people in the eye. Listen. Have empathy.

12. Be hopeful. Create a vision that tomorrow can (and will) be better than today.

13. Be courageous. Step out and take a risk right now. Face fear and lean into it.

14. Be a hustler. Get it done. Work your guts out.

15. Be vulnerable. Authenticity. Let people see the real you. Open up.

Young Influencers List, April edition

Here you go, the April edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past month's editions here. 1. FEDEL- real name Anthony Flagg, hip hop artist, rapper, spoken word poet, and speaker from Tulsa.

2. Jay Argaet- art and global communications director at Hillsong Church in Sydney. Great instagram follow!

3. Hannah Brencher- founder and creative director of More Love Letters, along with a blogger. Featured on TED, Oprah and elsewhere.

4. Shannon McNevan- founder and executive director of Republic Live and Boots and Hearts Festival, the largest country music festival in Canada.

5. Harvest Parker- songwriter, artist, and worship leader at Vintage 242 Church.

6. Gideon Tsang- serving pastor at Vox Veniae Church in Austin, TX and one of the directors of Space 12.

7. Amy Jones- executive director of Wedgwood Circle, based in DC.

8 Ways to Honor Your Leader

Leading is not easy. And it's even more difficult if those on your team aren't equipped well to follow. We all have leaders that we work with, for and around. And every leader I know values being honored and respected. Honor is a really big thing. And incredibly important as it relates to being part of a team.

And especially relevant to young leaders, many of whom are working for leaders who are older than them.

Here are some ways to honor your leaders:

1. Pray - a huge one. Pray for wisdom, for clarity, for compassion and for a clear vision for your leader and leaders.

2. Encourage- lift your leaders up in public, and critique them in private. Tell them how you appreciate them. Consistently. Write them a note. Pour into them.

3. Confront- if you see something out of whack, tell them. Most leaders crave input and feedback, so give it to them. Push back on their ideas and convictions when appropriate. Confrontation works best though when encouragement and service and trust have been given freely for a long time. Confront in moderation.

4. Serve- be willing to carry the load. Get things done. Deliver more than you were asked to do. Be action oriented. Anticipating is a great way to honor. Figure out what needs to get done before your leader has to tell you.

5. Trust- incredibly important. Follow them. Put stock in the fact that they have your best interests in mind. Fight against sarcasm and cynicism.

6. Understand- know what drives them, what motivates them, and also what frustrates them. Lean into the things that motivate them, and avoid the things that frustrate them.

7. Protect- always have their back. Stand up for them. If you hear something negative, fight it. Sometimes we actually find misguided joy in ganging up on our leaders in order to make ourselves look and feel better. Avoid this.

8. Release- give your leader permission to lead you. Lean in. Have a posture of humility, respect, and openness to follow them. Open hearts and open minds, vs closed thoughts, arms crossed, and a made up mind.

8 Ways to Empower Your Team

Leaders: one of the key things you must ALWAYS do is empower your team. As I've learned over the years, most leaders at their core are control freaks, which is part of the reason they are successful. But we all must learn and recognize the need to empower those around us to succeed and do what they do well. Most leaders think they can do it all on their own, and many try, but ultimately in order to grow a successful organization that outlives you, as the leader, you have to empower those around you. Here are a few thoughts on Empowering your Team:

1. Give them the opportunity to make decisions, and don't second guess them. A lot of us as leaders are willing to allow our team members to make decisions, but want to step in as soon as we see something done differently than we would do. Don't make that mistake. It is totally demoralizing to your team. Believe me, I know from experience!!

2. Assign them responsibility by them owning key projects from START to FINISH. So once we allow team members to make key decisions, now we have to allow them to own projects and feel the responsibility of completion.

3. Give them Freedom combined with Accountability. Freedom without accountability can lead to a great place to work with nothing getting done. Accountability without Flexibility can lead to a terrible place to work with things getting done but everyone hating their job. These have to work together.

4. Fight for them. Whether it's standing up for them to your boss, or standing beside them and supporting them in a disagreement with a vendor, always take the stance of fighting for them and being willing to go to battle for them.

5. Encourage them. This is the one we so often forget. I know I do. I tend to keep pushing without stopping to say thanks. But encouragement can go the furthest in creating team chemistry, longevity, and commitment. Reward them with small gifts, extra unexpected bonuses, cards, etc. Be unexpected in your thankyous. Hand them out without bias. No one has ever been too much of a true encourager!

6. Counsel, coach and instruct. Not necessarily the same as encouragement. Great coaches do this well. They scream at you and make you better, while also putting their arm around you and giving you "ego biscuits" when needed. Two different parts of empowering, but both equally important. Instruction is key for releasing again and again, and assigning more responsibility.

7. Overwhelm them. Not on a continual basis, but ultimately your team members should constantly feel a bit overwhelmed by the projects or assignments they are working on, not underwhelmed. Many of their projects should cause them to feel like they are not prepared or ready. If they feel underwhelmed, they will probably end up looking elsewhere for greater assignments and more responsibility.

8. Give them permission. Permission to take risks, to fail, to represent your organization to others, take on responsibility and stewardship, and many other things. But ultimately give them permission to push back. Give them permission to call you out as the leader (appropriately, of course). Give them permission to argue and fight for their idea, even when it looks like it's directly competing with your idea as the leader. Permission to push back. This does wonders.

Young Influencers List, March Edition

Here you go, the March edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past month's editions here. 1. David Wise- pro skier and gold medal winner in recent Sochi Olympics half pipe freestyle skiing.

2. Taya Smith- vocalist with Hillsong United and Young and Free, and angelic voice on the uber hit song "Oceans."

3. Russell Okung- starting left tackle on Seattle Seahawks NFL team, and former Oklahoma State standout (don't hold that against him!).

4. Andy Birdsong- manager of Basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks.

5. Jay Pathak- senior pastor of Mile High Vineyard in Denver, CO, and c0-author of The Art of Neighboring with Dave Runyon.

6. Melinda Doolittle- singer, songwriter, author ,and 3rd place finalist on season Six of American Idol.

7. Ben Nockels- founder of 111 Project, mobilizing the Church to respond to the orphan crisis in the state of Oklahoma.

To "don't Do's" as a Young up and Coming Leader

For young leaders who are "up and comers," here are a few things to NOT DO as you continue to gain influence, responsibility and authority. DON'T DO THESE:

1. Believe that you are "the answer."

2. Stop honoring those who've laid the groundwork before you.

3. Write off all the folks who finally helped you "arrive," who might suddenly seem insignificant or unimportant.

4. Remove yourself from reality by surrounding yourself with "handlers" and those only interested in being "yes" men and women.

5. Believe the hype and regard yourself as crucial, and ultimately more important than all others, in connection to the success of the organization or project.

6. Adopt a scarcity mindset, believing that everything is a zero sum game.

7. Lose the passion for collaboration and partnership, whether in your community, or industry, or network.

8. Become cynical and pessimistic at every turn.

9. Stop "dating" your spouse and intentionally building into your closest friendships.

10. No longer see learning as a priority since you now know everything.

DON"T DO THESE.

30 Key Movements happening in the Christian community

A lot of leaders ask me what "movements" or networks within the Christian community they should pay attention to. Here are 30 of those, in no particular order of importance or priority. These aren't the only 30, but 30 I think you should be aware of.

Feel free to add others we should have on the radar in the comments section.

1. Hillsong

2. Passion

3. Catalyst

4. Jesus Culture

5. Exponential

6. Worship Central (London)

7. Verge/Austin Stone

8. Q

9. IF Gathering

10. Reach Records/Lecrae

11. Leadership Summit/Willow Creek

12. Misfit/Christ Tabernacle

13. Compassion

14. Orange

15. North Point Ministries/Drive Conference

16. LifeChurch.tv

17. ARC

18. Resurgence

19. FPU/Dave Ramsey

20. Rick Warren/Saddleback/PEACE

21. Gospel Coalition

22. HTB/Alpha Course

23. Leadership Network

24. Thrive Conference/Bayside Church

25. Luis Palau Association

26. Women of Faith

27. Send North America

28. The Bible Series/Son of God Movie/Mark Burnett and Roma Downey

29. Relevant Magazine/Media Group

30. PlanetShakers

 

 

 

Young Influencers List January Edition

Here you go, the January edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past monthly lists here.  

1. Ben Peays- executive director of The Gospel Coalition and from what I hear an established hunter!

2. Hillary DeMeo- student Dean at Southeastern University in Florida

3. Ally Vesterfelt- writer, speaker, blogger, and author of Packing Light

4. Charlton Cunningham- entrepreneur, ideator, former Catalyst intern, and founder of HIVE Atlanta

5. Natalie LaBorde, assistant Executive Counsel for Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, and founder of Tigers Against Trafficking.

6. Joseph Sojourner- host, musician, creative artist for Opposite Entertainment, and former high school ministry director at Browns Bridge, a campus of North Point Community Church.

7. Taka Iguchispiritual development pastor at Rockford First outside of Chicago, and Executive Director of Focus One

Great Leaders always Write it Down

Young leaders consistently ask me: "what's one practical piece of advice for becoming/being a leader who gets things done?" A leader that is trustworthy and reliable. The kind of leader when you ask them to get something done, you have complete confidence that it will happen. My answer is always the same: Write It Down. Always. What do I mean?

1. never show up to a meeting without a pen and a notebook. My preference is a sharpie and a moleskine notebook. But doesn't matter whether it's a legal pad or a Red Big Chief pencil, Or your iphone or laptop. ALWAYS show up to a meeting ready to record thoughts, ideas, takeaways, and action items. I tell my team this all the time, whether we are having a group meeting or individual meetings.

2. carry a pen and notebook with you wherever you go. If you have a thought, write it down. Remember a task that needs to be completed while in your office, capture it in an email or in a running to do list on your desktop or in Evernote. In the car?.... capture it on your iphone audio memo or on a dictation machine. Great ideas seem to always hit us at random times. But always make sure it is captured somewhere. Always.

3. create a system for organizing your ideas and thoughts. I did a blog post a while back about this entitled The Way I Get Things Done. Highlighting how and where I capture ideas and the way I organize them on my computer and in different email folders and notebooks.

BONUS thought: One of the most important, if not THE most important person in the room during a brainstorming or creative session is the notetakerAnd if you don't have a notetaker for these meetings, find one. Don't have another meeting without one. It has to be someone who is really good at listening, filtering, and capturing. It CAN'T be someone who is actively engaged in the creative or brainstorming elements.

By doing these things, it frees you up to have energy to be creative, think outside the box, dream, and ultimately have a list that works and a way to keep a running account of what items are on your list to get done.

8 Tips for Leading from the middle of the Organization

Leading from the middle of the organization is tough. Lots of responsibility, but limited empowerment. Less money, but more work. More to manage, but less training. And on and on and on. Reality is, most influence within organizations always comes from the middle, and not from the top. Those leaders "in the middle" of any organization are crucial to the success of  the mission, vision and values being lived out.

So how do you deal with this reality?

1. Understand your context. Truth is, influence doesn't require a title or position. You can wield influence from anywhere in the organization. Especially in today's cultural reality of flatter and more entrepreneurial organizational structures.

2. Be a linchpin. Be remarkable. Be so good at what you do that those around you have no other option than to take notice. Make others talk about you, in a good way of course.

3. Anticipate the needs of your boss or those above you. Understand how to best serve them and remove responsibility from their plate onto yours. If you are creating more work for your boss instead of less work, that's a problem.

4. Celebrate the accomplishments and wins for those below you. Be a cheerleader and mentor to your team and those who work for you.

5. Collaborate with those next to you or besides you. Collaboration with your peers in the organization is key. Serve them well.

6. Be trustworthy. This one is huge. It doesn't mean that you don't screw up or fail, but it means that you are worthy of being trusted. Make good decisions. Be honest. Be Authentic.

7. Lead like you are at the top. Your perspective should be that of an owner. This means you don't use the phrase "they are...." but instead speak in terms of "we are...." Big difference. Remember, influence can happen from anywhere in the organization.

8. Embrace the position you have. Don't be bitter. Lean into it. Be the best in the world at your current role. Be present.

By the way, as additional reading on this topic, I highly recommend John Maxwell'360 Degree Leader book in regards to this topic. One of my favorite books from John.

Young Influencers List, December edition

Here you go, the December edition (and final edition of 2013) of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past month's lists here. 1. Ugo Monye- athlete, philanthropist, and professional rugby player for Quins Rugby Union in London.

2. Levi Lusko- speaker and pastor of Fresh Life Church, a multi site church in Kalispell, Montana.

3. Kristen Howerton- mom, psych professor, speaker, author of the blog Rage Against the Minivan, and parenting thought leader for Huffington Post.

4. Caleb Meakins- London based social innovator and entrepreneur, founder and leader of Shift UK, and founder of My Forty Days.

5. Ben Sand- CEO of Portland Leadership Foundation, and strategic director/VP of Degrees of Change.

6. Niran Vinod- creative, freelance photographer, part of AKQA agency working on the Nike account, and co founder of Yin and Yang.

7. Jenny Yang- VP of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, and c0-author of Welcoming the Stranger.

 

Will be releasing the January 2014 edition soon. If you have suggestions for future Young Influencers, please leave in the comments. Thanks!