The second law of thermodynamics revolves around entropy, the principle that things move to disorder and chaos over time. Left alone, things do not become more orderly or more effective. Your once well-ordered garage digresses to clutter. No matter how much you attempt to wish it into existence, your garage will not get more clean…
Leadership Development
6 Ways the Team Reflects the Leader
One of the most challenging and convicting insights Brad Waggoner has shared with me is that “a leader can complain about the culture of the team for only a few years because after that, the culture reflects the leader.” In a church or an organization, there are multiple teams or groups. Obviously there should be…
3 Bad Excuses for Avoiding Leadership Development
Great leaders intuitively know they are responsible for future leadership, and all leaders have heard these catch phrases: “There is no success without succession” and “Work yourself out of a job and you will always have a job.” Yet few leaders plan and prioritize developing others. There is always something else to do, always an…
3 Downsides of Only Focusing on Your Upsides
On a recent Harvard Business Review podcast, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, CEO of Hogan Assessments, expressed concern that the emphasis on strengths-based coaching may actually weaken leaders. According to Chamorro-Premuzic, despite the popularity of “focusing on your strengths,” there is no scientific evidence that suggests we should focus on our strengths and ignore our weaknesses. And while…
The Biggest Hindrance to a Leader’s Growth
Sitting in an airport for a few hours can easily remind you that people struggle with self-awareness. There is the guy who does stretching exercises in a small and crowed space, the guy who talks extremely loud on his phone, and the person who lays down on the row of chairs without thinking others will…
6 Questions You Should Be Asking Those You Lead
Great leaders ask great questions. Great leaders ask questions to learn but also to encourage those they lead to think strategically. Below are six questions leaders should be asking those they lead. They may not show up in a meeting agenda or on a questionnaire, but wise leaders are continually asking those they lead these…
Links for Leaders 7/7/17
“Do strategy and Scripture have anything to do with each other? I’m convinced they do. Sometimes it is clearly stated in a single passage and other times it is embedded deep in the narrative or overall context.” My friend Steve Graves shares about the story of Joseph and how it relates to strategic thinking. “Just…
One Big Principle in Developing Leaders
One big principle in leadership development is to prepare people for their future roles, not their current roles. Ram Charan, in his work The Leadership Pipeline, identifies training people for their existing job instead of their next one as a major gap in most leadership development initiatives. People must be developed for the future, not…
Links for Leaders 6/2/17
“Successful leadership isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about being able to find them by asking better questions.” Jeremy Chandler shares about how to help Millennials become better leaders on Ron Edmondson’s blog. “Knowing your history can make all the difference in charting the path to the future.” Selma Wilson shares about the importance…
Links for Leaders 1/27/17
“Rules and policies are good most of the time. There are legal, ethical, and moral reasons we need them. But when policies and procedures become a barrier to organizational growth, someone needs to step up and challenge them. When rules are allowed to go on without review, an organization can quickly move to a compliance…