While football is a team sport, each year the National Football League hosts a game between players who have been recognized for their individual performance. The game is called the Pro-Bowl and to be invited to play in the game a player has to excel in his individual performance and be deemed once of the…
Leadership
What Research Says About How Self-centeredness Grows in Us
According to research, the more isolated you are the more self-centered you are. And the more self-centered you are, the more likely you are to live isolated. University of Chicago Professor John Cacioppo led a ten-year study on self-centeredness using a scale he called the “Chronic Self Focus Scale.” He concluded that focusing on yourself…
4 Possible Reasons Team Members “Over-Quote the Leader”
Over-quoting the leader is a common practice in organizational life. Here are some examples you have surely seen: You are at a meeting at your kid’s school. A teacher stands up and says, “The district says we need to talk about this.” Or “our principal is asking us to talk about …” Immediately you get…
5 Ways to Grow your Leadership Team’s Heart for your Church’s Mission
Every leader needs a compass in their head. The mission answers “Question Zero”: “What are we ultimately supposed to be doing?” It makes the overall direction of the church unquestionable and points everyone in that direction. The mission is a golden thread that weaves through every activity of the church. It brings greater meaning to…
Armchair Quarterback and Armchair Leaders
My little brother lived in Chicago for a few years, and Kaye and I loved to visit and still enjoy trips to Chicago. We went there for my 40th birthday, just the two of us. It is a great city, and a great sport’s town with deeply committed fans. But Chicago fans can notoriously be…
Urban Meyer, Oswald Sanders, and the Pain Leadership Can Bring Your Family
Urban Meyer coached his last game for the Ohio State Buckeyes on New Year’s Day. He is respected as one of the greatest coaches in the game, having won multiple national championships with two teams. Because he is only 54, which he admits is relatively young, he is definitely walking away from the profession earlier…
5 Books You Perhaps Haven’t Heard of That Impacted Me in 2018
John Wesley famously quipped to a group of young ministry leaders: “Read or get out of the ministry.” Oswald Sanders, in his classic work Spiritual Leadership, devotes a chapter to the subject of “The Leader & Reading” and insists that “the leader who intends to grow spiritually and intellectually will be constantly reading.” Each year, I…
4 Signs a Team Member Is a Distraction
Jimmy Butler is an amazing basketball player and he seems to be fitting in very well with his new team – the Philadelphia 76ers. Earlier this season, he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves but publicly stated he did not want to play for the Timberwolves any longer, that he did not trust or respect the…
What Should a Leader Do When the Team Is “at Capacity”?
A common struggle leaders face is the conflict between wanting to raise expectations that will cost people on the team time and energy while simultaneously hearing from the team that “they are already maxed out” or “they are at capacity.” It is possible that “being at capacity” is an excuse, and it is possible that…
How to Uncover the Values in Your Culture
While serving alongside the Auxano team, I learned the important distinction between vision, mission, strategy, and values. Well-intentioned leaders can confuse those and mix and match them in a way that actually harms clarity. Mission is the what. Your mission is what your organization or ministry is on the planet to do. Strategy is the…