Michael Hyatt is the man

If you haven’t added Michael Hyatt’s blog to your Google Reader yet, you’re missing out. He is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, a brilliant businessman and a standout when it comes to spiritual leadership. He is passionate about using social media to influence those around him for Christ. In fact he’s coined the term Leadership 2.0 (i.e. Web 2.0), where people will be interconnected and dialoguing across multiple platforms instead of the old-school uni-directional communication model.

Listen to this recent Catalyst podcast to get a taste of what Michael Hyatt is thinking about, including his take on using his blog and twitter to connect with people around the globe.

“Faith-full” imagination

Faith sets the imagination to work.

Lively faith can envision numerous ways in which God can work. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as we realize that God is not restricted  to our range of possabilities and methods.

What if all of us let our imaginations run riot in regard to the adequacy and suffiency of God?

Sadly in the Christian church culture imagination often brings up connatations of falsehood and fancy. But this isn’t true of “faith-full” imagination. You might even say that faith needs imagination to pull out all the stops if it’s to begin to grasp the grandeour, majesty and ability of God. “Faith-full” imagination doesn’t falsify God it finds him!

We have a desperate need for imaginative faith.

Am I leading with “faith-full” imagination of what God could do in our midst? Am I dreaming of what the future could look like in light of an all-powerful God?

(Thoughts originate from Davis’s commentary on I Samuel…specifically I Sam 26)

Leadership Summit Thought #4 – Outrun Change

The pace of change has gone hypercritical. Maybe you’re experiencing sucess now in your organization, but are you changing as fast as the world around you? Gary Hamel shared these thoughts at the Leadership Summit on how to outrun change

1. Overcome temptation to take refuge in denial - Face the facts! Humility is a survival method. Stop living in self-dillusion, thinking things are going better than they are.
2. Generate more strategic options – don’t cling to the familiar to tight…besides change is more exciting than the status quo.
3. Invite radical idea - We need new ideas that challenge the orthodox. Look at everything your organization does…how long has it been going on? When was the last time we did something different.
4. Build an organization that doesn’t need super human leaders – Long gone is the need for a top heavy organizations that are dependent on one super-dynamic leader. Allow freedom of innovation from everyone. Our job as leaders now is to mobilize, connect and support this generation of contributors.

The good news is that unexpected change brings unexpected opportunities to interact with our culture about the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Hamel puts it like this,  “Stop being a prisoner of precedent and a custodian of culture.” Maybe the Christian culture should be leading innovation instead of trying to catch up to it.

Leadership Summit Thought #3 – The Valley of Insight

Change is hard. Starting something new and seeing it through to completeion is hard.

We owe it to people to prepare them for tough times.  In their new book ‘Switch”, Chip and Dan Heath suggest that by preparing people you lead for the inevitable bump in the road and frustrations that wil come, could lead to greater success in the long run. Whenever IDEO starts a new project they always review the graph below to help people understand the process they are about to embark on.

The Heath brothers argue that failure and problems are almost always warning signs for success. They refer to this downturn as the ‘Valley of Insight’.  By building in a tolerance for failure in your organization,  you can maintain morale and continue pressing on toward confidence in the outcome of your project.

Questions for you full-time Christian workers out there: Is this thought helpful? How could it change the way you lead?

Leadership Summit Thought #2

Do the simple things.

As a leader with a healthy dose of energy and vision, you may be tempted to go and try something ginormous sized over the next 2 days, week, month or year. You may be tempted to triple the size of whatever you’re leading. Go big or go home right?

Bill Hybels closed the Leadership Summit this year by saying, “Do the simple things”. God may have big plans for you, but don’t forget the simple things. This was a healthy dose of reality for me. Some of Bill’s examples:

• Establish a time and place to meet with God every day.
• Read good books 30 minutes a day
• Decide you will say “yes” to God every time the Spirit prompts
• review your spiritual replenishment strategy
• Forgive someone

What are the little things you’re forgetting to do in order to accomplish that giant task you’re working on? Are you like me and letting leadership books, task lists, and strategy replace your time with the Lord?

Leadership Summit Thought #1

I’m not sure if we’ll ever return to normal.

At least that’s the thought Bill Hybels offered up as he opened this years Leadership Summit in Chicago. Rogue waves (unexpectedness) have become the norm, especially related to the economic downturn. Everything has changed in the last 8 months. We are operating in a new reality. The temptation is to work harder. There is less revenue coming in. There is more hurt, more pain, more frustration and more loss in people lives than ever before. Hunker down and work harder right?

But what if these rogue waves never end? Is the pace you’re setting for your life sustainable?

Consider my life as a bucket. I fill it with rest, renewal and refreshment at the feet of Christ. I lead best when my bucket is filled up. I lead poorly when I’m depleted.

What do I need to reorganize in my life to make my life pace sustainable? How can I fill my bucket to lead in light of this New Reality?