The Radical Aspect of Being a Leader

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Good Friday morning to you!

In Crawford Lorritts’ book, Leadership as an Identity, the final and fourth trait of a leader is Radical, Immediate Obedience.  Interesting – we are talking about leaders and yet he says obedience marks a leader.  In many leadership books I have read, obedience is seldom discussed, but as they taught me in the Army, you can’t lead until you learn how to follow.

Of course, Dr. Lorritts is talking about radical, immediate obedience to the Lord.  That is often a very difficult thing to do.  Well, following are a few notes from that final section of his book:

Radical, Immediate Obedience

Staying In The Game:

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24

Biblical leadership is characterized by radical, immediate obedience.

Obedience acknowledges the supremacy of God over all things.

Enduring The Challenge:

“They all wanted to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.’ But now O God, strengthen my hands.” Nehemiah 6:9

See it through!

Courage is complete obedience in the face of opposition.

The Legacy of Faithfulness:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

A long obedience in the same direction is sustained by the small choices we make each day. Be aware of the cumulative nature of our little choices.

Hardship and difficulties are part of the leader’s portfolio.

Well – that is the last of the book.  I would recommend adding it to your toolkit as a key aspect of understanding true leadership in the Lord’s Kingdom.

Hope you have a great weekend and spend time iwth your family and treasure them!

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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“some competencies matter more than others”

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Good morning – getting cooler up here in Michigan! Being a Southern boy with thin blood, I am not looking forward to that winter weather!  But I am greatly enjoying the fall colors.

The Harvard Business Review has a good article on the competencies you need if you are a senior leader in your organization. For example: “For C-level executives, for example, technical expertise matters far less than the art of influence: you can hire people with great technical skills, but then you’ve got to motivate, guide and inspire them.”  And,”. . . technical skills and self-mastery alone allow you to be an outstanding individual contributor. But to lead, you need an additional interpersonal skill set: you’ve got to listen, communicate, persuade, collaborate.”

Good article – click here to read it in its entirety.

The bottom line is that leadership is all about relationships.

Serving Christ, BG

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Uncommon Communion - A Leadership Trait

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Now what does Dr. Lorritts mean by uncommon communion and why is that important      in a leader?

Here is what he means, “He is using what He called us to do to not only accomplish the task but also to call us to plummet the depths of intimacy with Him.  It is in those seasons of seeking Him for His direction and solutions that we tap into His power and we cultivate a deep heart connection with the God of the assignment and the God of our souls.”

As a leader in God’s Kingdom, we have to realize that is it by His strength (Zechariah 4:6) that anything of lasting worth is accomplished.  The minute we start trusting in our own talents and competencies we achieve mediocre results at best. Competency is a good thing and we should always be working to become better, but we must realize that the source is God Himself.

As leaders, we should be seeking greater intimacy with the Lord realizing that we are in desperate need of Him and that it is through this uncommon communion with our Lord that we derive our ability to lead effectively in His kingdom.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Four Traits of a Leader – Trait Number 1

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Good Monday morning to you!  It has been an extraordinarily beautiful few days here in Southwest Michigan.  Mild weather and the trees are beautiful!!

Now – to the topic at hand – what do you consider to be the key traits of a leader?          Dr. Crawford Lorritts has altered my list through his teaching and especially through his book, Leadership as an Identity (I have written on his book before – click here).

This week, we are going to walk briefly through what he considers the four traits of a leader.

Trait number one – Brokenness.  Bet you weren’t expecting that one!  I wasn’t.  A leader is supposed to be broken?  Really??  Aren’t leaders the ones who are supposed to have it all together?  Confident and bold in their abilities?                     Well – not really.

First – we need to realize that we have a desperate need for God – especially as leaders. Check out the book of John, Chapter 15.  ”I am the vine . . . apart from me you can do nothing.”  Notice that word nothing?

Secondly surrender is our response to our brokenness and demonstrates we always and forever need God.

Thirdly, a broken person realizes that they are capable of sinful failure.  That we are only one decision away from losing the ability to lead.

Fourthly, when we are weak – He is strong.  What we see as limitations He often uses to bring glory to Himself.

And finally, there are seasons of brokenness. These seasons come in different forms for different leaders and are so important – especially in how you respond to them.               Dr. Samuel Chand remarked, “No leader walks with a strut – the always walk with a limp.”

So – are you “strutting” depending on your own talents and abilities, or are you “limping” with an acute sense of your need for the Lord?

Blessings on your week as you shepherd the Lord’s flock. BG

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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“Why I Dumped My iPhone”

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Happy Friday to you!  I like Fridays because that means I have a breakfast date tomorrow morning with my wife at one of our favorite cafes!!

Now I don’t use an iPhone, I am a Droid fan.  However a friend sent me an article on smartphones that caused me to pause and consider some things – click here to read why this man dumped his iPhone.

If you could go back in time and change something – what would it be?  Click here and read an article from Outreach Magazine about how 100 pastors answered that question.

Now, take a few minutes and look at these pictures and look with wonder at the handiwork of our Creator and give Him glory today.

Have a great weekend! BG

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Four Types of Meetings

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Meetings – the word makes most of us cringe, and with good reason. As I mentioned Monday, meetings poorly done can be crippling to your organization.  However, good meetings can propel you forward, the problem is, most of us don’t know what a good meeting looks like!

Patrick Lencioni in his great book Death by Meeting addresses how we can become better at this very important tool.  One thing he does is to help s understand that there are different types of meetings for different purposes.  For example, he gives us four types of meetings:

1. The Daily Check-In: this is a 5 – 10 minute stand up meeting where you & your direct reports quickly go over the plans for the day. Usually done every day or most days.

2. Weekly Tactical Meeting: usually 45 – 90 minutes where you review weekly activities and metrics and deal with tactical obstacles / issues.

3. Monthly strategic: usually 2 – 4 hours in length where you discuss, brainstorm and decide on strategic issues that impact long-term success.

4. Quarterly Off-site Reviews: usually 1 – 2 days in length where you go into depth reviewing and adjusting your strategy as well as the development of leaders.

If you want to get better at meetings, take some time to pick up and read Death by Meeting – you will be glad you did so.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Are Meetings Crippling Your Organization?

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“If an operating room were as sloppily run as our meetings, patients would die. If a restaurant kitchen put as little planning into a meal as we put into our meetings, dinner would never be served.”

“Regularly interrupting the day to bring our best minds together to focus on the urgent makes it impossible for these people to spend their focused energy on what’s actually important.”

Do these two statements resonate with you? Are you tired of continually spending time in the conference room and then walking out and wondering what, if anything, was accomplished? If so, the book The Modern Meeting Standard might be a good read for you.  In this book the author quite directly lays out many of the reasons for our ineffective meetings including it being a key way to avoid decision making and taking responsibility for decisions.

The author mentions seven principles of modern meetings (as opposed to traditional meetings):

- It supports a decision that has already been made.  - It moves fast and ends on time.  - It limits the number of attendees.  - It rejects the unrpepared.  - It produces committed action plans.  - It refuses to be informational.  Reading memos (emails) is mandatory.  - It works only alongside a culture of brainstorming.

Some excellent points in this book.  So if you want to quit wasting the time of your best and brightest, I would recommend you picking up this book and seing how you might apply its principles in your organization.  Additionally, another good book on meetings is Patrick Lencioni’s Death by Meeting.

Remember, you are a steward of your time and of the time of the people in your organization and they are your most precious resource.

Let’s serve our Lord with excellence this week. BG

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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