Optimism or Pessimism – It Is Your Choice

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I was just watching a documentary the other night on the life of President Reagan.  One of his distinguishing characteristics was an almost relentless optimism.  Not a blind or “Pollyanna” type optimism, but a clear-eyed optimism based on his faith in God and his faith in this country.  I don’t know if you agree with his politics or theology, but it is hard to argue with how he led in turning our country around from the malaise and self-doubt that was so prevalent in the late 70′s.

Jim Collins talks about the attitude that should be true of great leaders called the Stockdale Paradox named for the attitude of Admiral James Stockdale who was a POW in Vietnam and survived a brutal captivity.

This is the Stockdale Paradox:

Confront the Brutal Facts—the Stockdale Paradox: Retain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND AT THE SAME TIME have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

As  followers of Christ and as leaders, we should be the most (realistically) optimistic people in our organizations!  We serve the King of kings and we know “how the Book ends”, so we have great hope in the future – no matter how hard it might be.

” . . . ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:9b – 10

As it says in the book of Josuha – be strong and courageous.

So – a question.  Are you leading with a Christ-led optimism or are you leading with a pessimistic attitude?

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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The Role of the Church in Developing Leaders

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Reading an interesting book called Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf.  Mr. Greenleaf insists that it should be the church’s role to develop and nurture the leaders (trustees) for other key institutions in the nation.

Following are some of his quotes that I thought you might find interesting.

“. . . we are not doing well enough as a society. The churches are judged inadequate, along with the others [institutions]. In some ways the churches may be judged more harshly than the others because their role could be so pivotal in the regeneration of what many consider a sick society.” (p. 93)

“. . . The church was the dominant influence [in the past] in people’s lives, and it shaped and sustained the influence of the home. Now both the work environment and the school far outrank the church in influence . . . “(p. 93)

(new opportunities for churches)  “One of these will be to become the chief nurturing force, conceptualizer of the opportunity, value shaper, and morale sustainer of leadership everywhere – in business, school, government, health and social service, philanthropy – everywhere.” (p. 94)

“But the dynamics of leadership – the vision, the values, and the staying power – are essentially religious concerns, and fostering them should become the central mission of the growing edge churches. Where else can it be done?” (p. 94)

“If some of the churches do not accept the opportunity to build leadership strength for other institutions that have greater value-shaping influence on individuals than the churches now have directly, how will churches do their work?” (p. 94)

“. . . the second task is to make of the church a powerful force to build leadership strength in those persons who have the opportunity to lead in other institutions and to give them constant support.”      (p. 95)

“I believe that the churches are in the best position to become the prime moving force to produce the trustees [of institutions] who will bring these changes about and to sustain them at a high level of trust.” (p. 96)

“It is the role of the church to sanction trustees – to say who is capable of, and prepared for trust. Individuals do not assert this for themselves.” (NOTE: here he is talking about trustees for any institution – not just the church)

“If the . . . church . . . can build its competence as a nurturer of trustees, and if it will frame its work in a context of values that elicits trust in the church for this vocation, the help of the church will soon be sought by other institutions . . . that want to strengthen their trustee bodies.”

I found his observations very interesting.  What are your thoughts?

Have a great weekend!  Remember to speak words of grace into the lives of others!

In Christ,

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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The Leadership Academy and Succession

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This past week I was in warm Mississippi and now I am back in Southwest Michigan where it is considerably cooler!

I was in Mississippi to speak at the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy on strategic planning.  It is a wonderful concept that was birthed by a good friend of mine Dr. Howell Garner.  Dr. Garner is the former president of Copiah-Lincoln Community College and is now the president of the Mississippi Community College Foundation.

Dr. Garner became concerned that not enough was being done to prepare the next generation of leadership for the community colleges.  So each year, they start a “class” of young leaders who meet three – four times a year for three days at a time.  They cover a wide range of topics and hear from a wide range of leaders from both the educational system as well as the private sector.

As a native of Mississippi, it thrills me to see this type of intentional effort at developing the leaders of the future.

My question for you – what type of “leadership academy” do you have where you serve?  If you don’t have something – maybe it is time to create some system of training your future leaders. Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Two Fundamental Realities Core to Strategic Planning

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Two Fundamental Realities Core to Strategic Planning

According to some research executives spend only three hours a month on strategic issues and of the organizations that do have strategic plans - almost 90% are not implemented.

Traditional strategic planning usually just does not work.  What’s wrong?  Probably the basic assumptions we have about strategic planning.

Matt Perman, Senior Director of Strategy for Desiring God Ministries has done a great deal of work in the area of strategy and what should be the proper approach to strategic planning.

Matt lists two fundamental realities that we need to understand in order to plan properly:

1. “It is essential to set direction and know where we are going; yet

2. Circumstances inevitably change, causing most detailed plans to go aground.”

These two realities acknowledge the sovereignty of God and the limitations of man.  As Matt reminds us, history progresses according to God’s plan, not ours.

So, what do we do?  Should we plan?  Yes we should.

We will talk about that over the next few days.

Blessings on your day, Read more at bgallen.com

 

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The Plan is Useless, But Planning is Everything

A blog post on planning

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A paradox – seemingly.

General of the Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the man who orchestrated the most massive invasion in the world’s history, has this to say about planning:

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless,

but

planning is indispensable.”

Now why would he say that?

That statement is key for those of us that plan.  The reality is that we are pretty terrible about predicting the future, so in practice most plans are obsolete about the time they are finished. However, a strong, ongoing planning process brings such clarity as to our mission, goals, awareness of our strengths & weaknesses and the environment, that it allows us to quickly adjust to the unknown while staying on course to achieve our mission and strategic objectives.

A Spirit-led and prayer saturated planning process is key to organizations that are seeking to glorify God.  This kind of process keeps us in tune with the Lord and ready to quickly adjust at His leading.

We need to remember that we are finite creatures and that God is sovereign. History progresses according to His plan – not ours.

Happy planning!

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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What Do You Expect of Your Team?

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Expectations are powerful. One thing that has been consistently true in my experience is that people you lead generally tend to meet your expectations, be they high or low.

If that is true, then what are you really expecting from those on your team? Mediocre results or outstanding results? Somehow, it seems that your true expectations of your people shows itself no matter how you try to disguise it.

So – expect great things of your team and you just might be surprised at how they rise up to meet those expectations.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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What is Distracting You From Your Work?

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“Texting While Working” is a great blog post by Seth Godin.  Now we all know that texting while driving is a recipe for disaster.  So many lives have been lost because of this distracting habit. Seth goes on to ask – are you “texting while working?”

In other words, are you allowing your attachment to social media to distract you from your core work?  Do you interrupt your work to check your Facebook, LinkedIn, blog, and etc. instead of staying on track with what you are supposed to deliver?

Seth has a relentless focus on delivering and is often talking about the many little ways in which we keep ourselves from delivering on the important work that is before us.  So what is keeping you from delivering?

For me, it is the desire to learn.  I love to find new information and to research my work.  But after a time, that research or learning becomes an impediment to the work I am supposed to deliver. The Internet and the access it provides to an almost endless supply of information just makes it that much worse for me.  So, now I am disconnecting my Internet for blocks of time so that I can work on what I am to deliver.

So what is keeping you from delivering on your primary work and what are you doing about it?

“Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord . . .”  Colossians 3:23

Blessings on your day as you deliver on some very important work.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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