Misc

How to Follow Well

As Leaders, it's equally important for us to know how to FOLLOW as it is how to LEAD. In fact, many believe to be a good leader, you must first be a great follower. And I would suggest that great leaders are equally in tune with how to follow well, as how to lead well. So here are a few thoughts on following:

1. Good followers are great finishers. They get the job done. Take projects across the finish line.

2. Good followers anticipate. They understand what needs to be done next before others, and are always looking for ways to make the process better.

3. Good followers criticize in private, and praise in public. Enough said on that.

4. Good followers are trustworthy. When given an assignment, a leader can be assured that it will get done. This is incredibly important.

5. Good followers are vision copycats. They take on, embody and live out the vision and mission of their leader, and of the organization.

6. Good followers make their leader better. They push their leader, and know how to lead up appropriately and intentionally.

7. Good followers lead themselves. They don't need to be managed, and aren't needy. They don't need all the attention from the leader.

Start with the End in Mind

New products. New events. New experiences. New staff. New corporate culture. New organizational chart. New reporting structure. New service. New campus. Start with the end in mind. So many of us as leaders start by looking at what is directly in front of us. The big barriers for getting to phase 2, or the hard work of launching, The sweat and strain and long hours and frustration that go along with getting the flywheel started can many times leave us empty, disappointed, and unmotivated.

The newness wears off fast, so make sure you have a clear sense of where you are going long-term, before bowing out in the short term.

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Young Influencers List, January edition

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Here you go, the January edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past issues here. Almost four years worth!! For those of you new to the blog community, I try every month to highlight some young leaders who are making a difference. So here we go- kicking off 2011! And remember, these are not in any particular order.

1. Dharius Daniels- senior pastor and founder of Kingdom Church in New Jersey.

2. Jenna Lucado Bishop- speaker, author of Redefining Beautiful, and daughter of Max Lucado

3. Blake Canterbury- founder of BeRemedy, an organization that creates simple ways for you to help other people.

4. Isaac Hunter- senior pastor, Summit Church in Orlando

5. Karla Keatinge- heads up the i-heart campaign for Hillsong United.

6. Tifah Smith- lead vocalist of a new favorite band- The Autumn Film. Check them out.

Why I'm excited about the next wave of leaders

I love leaders. And especially next generation leaders. Specifically those leaders who are currently in their 20's and 30's. And I’m incredibly hopeful regarding this next wave of leaders. Incredibly excited and hopeful and expectant. Expectant that they are going to take the reins and move things forward like no other generation before them. Here’s a few reasons why I've got great confidence in the next generation of leaders:

1. Passion for God. Everyone seems to think we've lost a generation of Christ followers in our country, but after seeing the 23,000 college students gathered at Passion a few weeks ago, and the 20,000 + who gather at Urbana every other year, and the 20,000 who were just in Kansas City for the IHOP One Thing gathering- this instills confidence that the next generation of leaders love Jesus and are passionate about serving Him and making Him known for their generation. Read Gabe Lyons' latest book The Next Christians for further explanation and clarity.

2. Willing to work together. 20 and 30 somethings are more willing to collaborate than any other generation before. They trust each other. Really. And see collaboration as the starting point, not some grandiose vision of teamwork that is far off in the distance. Collaboration is now the norm.

3. Don’t care who gets the credit.. For the next generation- it's Way less about who, and way more about what.

4. Generosity and sharing are the new currencies of our culture. In business, relationships, networks, platforms, technology, distribution, content delivery, etc- Open source is the new standard. This new wave of leaders has tools/resources such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and tons more social media tools that make influencing much more readily available.

5. Understand the holistic responsibility of influence- willing to connect all of life together- faith, compassion, charity, work, career, church, family, friends. It’s all connected. There is way less compartmentalizing of life among the next generation of leaders. .

6. Authenticity wins. Trust is incredibly important. Leaders won't have followers going forward unless they trust them and see that they are authentic and real. Authenticity is not only important to the next generation, it's a requirement.

7. Not willing to wait. Young leaders are ambitious and passionate about making a difference now. Not willing to wait their turn. They want to influence now. Evidence of this is the explosion of church planters in the last 4-5 years.

8. See social justice as the norm. Leaders who care about the poor and lean into causes and see the social gospel as a key ingredient to following Christ are no longer seen as the exception. Young Leaders see taking care of the poor and sharing the Gospel as BOTH crucial to the advancement of the Church and of God's Kingdom. 20 somethings I believe are and will continue to become more balanced in their pursuit of both. They don't have to be one or the other.

9. Seeking wisdom and mentors. Overall, I sense that 20 and 30 somethings are highly willing to be mentored, and are hungry for wisdom from older leaders around them. Those of us Gen X'ers tend to think we have it all figured out. Millenials and Gen Y are assumed to have it all figured out because they have so many tools and technology at their fingertips. But from what I've experienced, they still are seeking wisdom, just as much as any other generation before them.

Are you excited or scared about the next wave of leaders?

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Two Important Questions

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Recently read a great article from Bill Taylor, who is the founding editor of Fast Company, best-selling author of Mavericks at Work and his most recent book Practically Radical. In the article, Bill mentions two questions that his friend and Fast Company co-founder Alan Webber identifies in his book Rules of Thumb. These are crucial questions for leaders to answer, both for themselves as well as the organizations they lead.

1. What keeps you up at night? This one is a familiar question for most leaders. What makes you cry? What makes you mad? What are the things that nag at you? This question has to do with what you are passionate about. What are the problems in the world you want to help solve? Usually the things that keep us up can be incredibly frustrating to us until we get them solved.

2. What gets you up in the morning? This one is less familiar to most of us, but probably even more important. What keeps you and your team committed? Engaged and excited? This question has more to do with purpose. Do you look forward to jumping in to the career or current job you have on a daily basis? Especially as things get tougher and more demanding than ever, we need to make sure we are laser focused and determined and locked in on what motivates us.

Catalyst recap: Slideshow video

This past year was incredible. Thanks to the entire Catalyst community for being a part of what we consider to be the premier gathering of next generation leaders. Our generation leading, and leading well! Now on to Catalyst West in March and Dallas in May! And already looking forward to Catalyst in October in Atlanta again later this year! Here is a recap of this past year through pictures.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/18544034[/vimeo]

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

Leaders are decision makers. Period. With the start of the new year, lots of decisions are probably on your desk or in your to do list waiting to be pushed forward. A few thoughts on making decisions: 1. Understand that it's part of your job. Making decisions as a leader is normal and ordinary and required. It's why you are a leader. Embrace it.

2. Sleep on the big ones. For big decisions, always sleep on them. The extra time will allow your decision to be made without the spontaneous emotion that comes with a spontaneous response.

3. Know your values. As Roy Disney stated, "It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." Many times indecision occurs because of lack of clarity on vision and values.

4. Understand the context. Do your homework and make sure you are informed. Plus be aware of the situation- in the case of a good/bad decision, those are pretty easy. In the case of a better/best decision, those take a bit more time to push forward and get to a final decision. Different decisions require different levels of involvement, awareness, and information.

5. Just do it. Create a culture of action in your organization. Many leaders quickly become overwhelmed with several decisions in front of them and then unintentionally paralyze the organization by avoiding them all. Create a system of action that demands completion and execution, and ultimately your system/culture will demand decisions from you.

A few People who are inspiring me right now

Bob Goff- I got to finally spend some time over dinner with Bob a few weeks ago, and I was blown away. He started off the New Year with a parade in his neighborhood!! Check out the video here. Eugene Cho- I got to hang with Eugene a bit last month, and just continually inspired by his work with One Days Wages.

Louie Giglio- Passion 2011 just ended yesterday. 23,000 college students converged on Atlanta. Wow. The vision of Passion continues to inspire me.

Ryan O'Neal- his band Sleeping at Last is releasing a 3-song EP every month for a year- the project is called Yearbook. Great music!

George W. Bush- I'm reading his book Decision Points right now. Very inspired by his legacy of leadership, even though he left office with a low approval rating.

Starting Over

Last week we talked about doing a Year End Review. Now I want to discuss starting over. Most of us under 40 have grown up with a warped sense of what starting over looks like. Most of our perception of starting over is tied to our video game lives. We think starting over simply means hitting a button and beginning a new game. If we don't like the way we are playing, and our score isn't what we want, we simply just start over.

Starting over means something for each of us. Regardless, I feel like the start of a new year is in some ways a place to start over. Obviously it is not as simple as a video game and just hitting the play button again, but a New Year for me always gets me excited again.

Here are a few points on how to "start over" this week as we start this new year:

1. Tie up loose ends. Begin here. There are probably several outstanding things you haven't taken care of yet from last year. Go ahead and finish those this week.

2. Assess- take a look at where you are. Are you happy with where you are? Do you need to make some changes? The best time to make changes is now, when there is precedence for change because of the start of a new year.

3. Plan. Be intentional about putting together a plan and strategy for this next year. This is a tactical plan. Focused on what you are going to do.

4. Create an "inner circle." Find 3-4 friends and mentors who will serve as your personal board of directors. If you've never done this, start with a smaller group. Then if you want to add more people over time, that is fine.

5. Futurize- just made up this word. The idea being you should dream and think and pray about where you want to be in 5-10 years. Stay within reality, but allow yourself to move into the area of "if I could do anything in the next season of my life, what would it be?" Spend time praying and seeking the Lord about some of the dreams and ideas that are within you. Then start to act on it.

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