Catalyst

Posts Tagged ‘leadership’

The email read, “We need to meet about…” The issue was neither new nor urgent. Other things are pressing that must rise to the top of the schedule. In fact, the issue had laid on the table for at least 2 years without any action by the leaders in charge.

Would you meet? I chose not to meet…at least not yet.

Meetings are the bane of most people for good reasons.

• Many are unorganized without agenda or purpose.
• Many are too long (usually a function of the first problem).
• Most have people who don’t need to attend.
• Many are nothing but “let’s talk it out” sessions that don’t accomplish anything.

I decided I would not meet with those requesting the meeting until one condition was met. They needed think ahead  and bring solutions to the table, not just the problem. Then, we can refine the proposal.

It has been said that any idiot can find a problem. It takes a real genius to solve one. I’d rather a group start with something to finish than trying to find the starting line.

Before agreeing to meet, ask questions of those requesting a meeting.

• What is this meeting about?
• What do you hope to accomplish?
• Do you have a concrete proposal? (Can I see it ahead of time?)
• How long have you had this problem? (Many times, people are just trying to clear their decks.)
• What do you need from me in this process? (I don’t want to leave the meeting with the monkey on my back.)

Second, ask yourself some questions.

• Does this fit with my responsibilities?
• Does this fit with current priorities? (If we did not meet, would it really make any difference?)
• What will suffer if I meet about this issue?

I go to many meetings, but they must meet one basic criterion–do you have solutions to bring to the table? If not I will not meet until…

Sunday started out as a normal day–until the quiet evaporated with the ringing of the phone. At 6:45 a.m. my day shifted dramatically.

The call informed me that our preacher had fallen ill during the night and I was on tap to preach. I now had three hours to prepare and polish a message for an audience of 1000 listeners.

The sermon went well and was well-received. While that may be true, it is difficult to go from 0 to total presentation in three hours. How do stay ready so you prepare effectively when under the gun?

It doesn’t start when the call comes. Someone once asked me how long it took to prepare a sermon. My answer is simple–it took 30 years. All immediate preparation is a reflection of years of training. If you don’t put the hard hours in the cool of the day, you won’t be ready when thrown into the fire.

Yet, you need to do some things regularly to prepare for the last-minute situation. (These are also essential for the routine preparation of sermons.)

Read widely.

Reading is the river that fills the mental reservoir. Reading puts ideas into the mind and into notes. Read novels, self-help books, biographies and books on Bible topics. In addition, find some mind-stimulating blogs and read them daily. All will allow ideas to haunt the mind, reading it for the call when it comes.

Reflect daily.

Sermons take place at the intersection of text and current events. Think daily about what is happening. Analyze the news and think through reading. What do the events mean? What kind of implications are there for living? This kind of thinking is a tumbler turning rock into gemstone.

Write regularly.

One reason I write a blog post is to force me to do focused thinking. I write in a journal, put words into letters and memos, and make presentations. All are the whetstone of thinking. If the knife is not sharp, there’s no time to do it at the last minute. Too many preachers are dull because they don’t sharpen themselves regularly.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t enjoy the pressure of hurry-up preparation. I would never recommend it as a steady habit of life. However, when you take moments to prepare yourself daily, you are ready to prepare a message in a pinch.

King David eulogized his fallen predecessor Saul, with the mournful words, “how have the mighty fallen.” Not all fall of a battlefield wound. Some suffer from the mortal wound of a damaged reputation.

As the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2008, Tiger Woods was a commanding figure. He was the professional golf tour. Tournaments he played gained attention (and money). His endorsement deals were stratospheric. He was the boy next door, the polite and polished young man with a beautiful wife and cute kids.

Then came the wreck, followed by the hushed calls on a cell phone to a woman who turned out to be a mistress. Then came the revelations of more and more women. The image gave way to history and his reputation sank as easily as one of his putts.

The question is always the same. How can someone with so much talent, fame, and money do something like that? Some have said it was arrogance. Some blamed the spotlight. Others mentioned his father’s death. No one really knows the true answer.

Yet, the sad saga of Tiger reminds everyone of one simple truth–your reputation is fragile. It is built over a lifetime and can be crushed in a moment.

How do you protect your reputation?

Know what you really want to be. If you don’t intend to be that, don’t kid yourself. Be genuine and transparent. Too many people want an image. Strive for more than a cardboard cutout of a character. Have character.

Constantly evaluate self. It’s easy to drift off course. Take time to peer into the mirror of your own soul. If you can’t be honest with yourself, find someone who won’t try to preserve your feelings. You need the honest feedback.

Live transparently. Someone has said, “conduct your life in such a way to make any accusation sound ridiculous.” The only way to do that is to be open and honest in actions, thoughts, and dealings.

Confess and change. Confession is not just “sorry.” It’s not a statement of others misunderstanding. It is what you did, admission, specific, facing the music. Don’t gloss over. It requires a bigger person to admit exactly what he did than to hid behind excuses.

Whether Tiger will ever come back is left to be seen. But sometimes the best lessons are learned from bad examples. Take good care of your reputation because you may never get it back.

One of the burners on my stove would not heat so I called the repairman. The doorbell heralded an arrival of two repairmen. (I did not think it was that serious!) One was the owner of the business who brought with him a young apprentice.

He turned over the work to the apprentice who wielded a screwdriver as if it were an epee. He promptly touch a wire that sparked (and bit).

Once the young man shook off the sting, came an emotional sting. Rather than a lecture, the owner calmly asked the question, “What did you learn from this?”

It wasn’t the wire that taught the young man something. It was the reflection on the spark.

People who grow in their lives constantly ask, “what did I learn from this?” While this is a good question, it really summarizes three other questions.

• What happened?
• Why did it happen?
• What would I have done differently?

The most difficult question to answer is the first because many people don’t get specific enough. In the example of the apprentice, the answer is not, “the wire sparked.” The specific answer is “when I touched the wire, it sparked.”

Once you answer the what, the why uncovers the reason–”because I did not check to see if the power was off.”

The third question avoids future consequences. The young man learned that he needed to check the circuit breaker before touching any wire with a screwdriver.

Develop the habit of asking that question after every meeting attended, after every presentation made or heard, or after every difficult situation. Then you will learn.

Twain said, “the cat doesn’t walk across the hot stove twice. But neither does he walk across a cold one.” If you will ask the right questions, you can outsmart the cat.

When the belly of U.S. Airways flight 1589 grazed the lapping water of the Hudson River, the pilot, Captain Chelsey Sullenberger was thrust into the role of hero.

It seem to miraculous that, after hitting a flock of birds the took out both engines, “Sully” could make a crash landing in the Hudson with no loss of life.

Yet, Sullenberger was not merely being modest when he said, “”I know I speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do,”

Sullenberger knew that the hours of training, sometimes monotonous training, made the difference at the critical moment.

Mia Hamm, the leader of the 2004 Olympic women’s soccer team said, “I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.”Those who train respond when the time comes.

What kind of training do you need?

Work your body. Over the long haul, age, disease, and fatigue take a toll. Thirty minutes of vigorous exercise each day gives you hours, days and years to accomplish great things.

Use your mind. Read books. Visit with those smarter and quicker than you. Make your mind a sponge by thinking seriously about some topic each day. A trained mind can make vital decisions when needed.

Hone your skills. If you are a preacher, don’t cheat on sermon preparation. Learn how to deepen presentations and how to prepare them faster. Let it be said of you at the end of your life that you were better than when you were young.

Sharpen your discipline. Learn to use time well. Squeeze every ounce of use of each moment. Learn to say “yes” to the right things. Rein in your emotions. Then, when tested, you do not respond with how you feel but with what is right.