It might seem ridiculous to say, but one of the main reasons many leaders do not last in an organization, is they won’t lead; thus the organization declines or barely remains existent. If it has a mission, few people in the organization are aware of it and fewer still work towards it. A farmer MUST farm, or there is no food. A teacher MUST teach, or there is no education. A leader MUST lead, or there is no organizational success! Many years ago I heard General Norman Schwarzkopf say, “When placed in leadership, LEAD!” I faced this truth the hard way! I was called to be the Lead Pastor of …
Leadership Longevity: Four Essential Practices – Learn (Part 3 of 5)
Many leaders believe that increased age, experience, and tenure automatically equate to “learning”. Such a thought is delusional, and is much too common. If it were true, every old person, leader or not, would be a genius. It’s true that everyone gets experience, but not everyone learns from the experience they get. Frequent intense reflection, meditation, and “note-taking” about those experiences are absolutely essential. 1. Reasons to Reflect. Deep reflection is essential in all transformational learning: experiential or academic. Through it we are transformed as our newfound knowledge is repeated and
Leadership Longevity: Four Essential Practices – Listen (Part 2 of 5)
In Part 1 of this series of posts I identified four essential practices (Listen, Learn, Lead, Love) that have helped me experience leadership longevity and effectiveness. Longevity is important, and too many leaders quickly move from position to position, department-to-department, organization-to-organization, or church-to-church. They don’t stay in one place long enough to become effective and actually add lasting value and depth to the group they are responsible to lead. They usually move because
Leadership Longevity: Four Essential Practices (Part 1 of 5)
Someone recently asked me, “How have you managed to lead the same organization through major change and growth for sixteen years, and maintain a high level of trust and credibility?” I didn’t know how to answer them. It was something for which I was deeply grateful and should have reflected upon more, but I hadn’t. So for the following few weeks I spent several mornings doing just that. Each person’s leadership journey is fluid and has a life of its own. Many of the “norms” shift during the journey. There are always surprises and unexpected obstacles waiting for their opportunity to cause havoc and sabotage the vision. There are often …