Poll on Youth Happiness

On Monday, the Associated Press released a great story detailing the findings of a poll on "youth happiness." Those of you with kids will find it most interesting, I suspect. You can read it here.

Summit Session 5

Session 5 of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit opened with a demonstration of innovation in action. If you haven't checked out the Erik Mongrain video that I posted last week, you need to do so - Erik's "Air Tap" is amazing.

From there, Harvard Professor Michael Porter spoke to us about "Strategy and Leadership." Specifically, Porter's topic was "Trying to Do Good in Your Community" which led to the question, "How do you do well at doing good?" I appreciated his passion when he stated quite simply that "We can't afford to not be effective."

Porter is a very educated academic-type of cat, but he raised a lot of questions that I think most Missions Teams at our local churches would do well to wrestle with. In particular, some ideas that got me thinking were:

• The mind-set of philanthropy must be shifted from seeing your efforts as charity to understanding that you are delivering a social service; the question then becomes "How do I add value to that customer?"
• Value = Social Benefit / Dollar Expended
• "Worthiness" can't be the basis for why we choose to do something, as there are literally thousands of worthy causes; our decision must be based on where I/we can add the most value.
• Most groups do too many things with too little value, allowing passions to supersede the examination of value!
• Meeting the needs of our communities must be at the core of our purpose as a church, but it must be done well.

Summit Session 4

Okay, if you ever have a chance to hear Marcus Buckingham speak, drop what you're doing and go. Seriously. He's really good. REALLY good. He is one of the premier thinkers on personal performance in the workplace as well as workplace management. And you're thinking, "I can't tell you how boring that sounds." Well, trust me - this cat has it going on. He is one of the sharpest, most entertaining speakers you're going to find.

I can go on and on about how Marcus got to where he's at; your best bet is to check out his web site. That will save me time typing, and I won't sound like I have a man-crush on him. :)

While he's written several excellent books, I HIGHLY suggest viewing "Trombone Player Wanted" -- if you're ever struggled with putting people in places where their strengths flourished, whether that was in a ministry or business setting, this is a great product. The film was produced by the same folks who do Rob Bell's NOOMA series. Again, good, good stuff.

Okay, here are some quick hits from Marcus:

• Contrary to what Madonna might say, we live in a "remedial-based world" -- we are fascinated with our weaknesses and less interested in our strengths!
• To learn "good" you don't study "bad"; you only learn about excellence by studying excellence!
• Leadership is not about fixing weaknesses; it is about stepping up strengths.
• Our ideal life is usually far from what we're living now.
• We must begin to build on our strengths and manage around our weaknesses.
• Anais Nin quote: "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom."

Summit Session 3

Rev. Floyd Flake spoke at Session 3 of the Summit. I have to admit that he was the hardest guy I've ever tried to take notes on, and I'm a pretty good note-taker (color coded even!). But there were still some great leadership insights thrown our way, and I managed to catch a couple of them:

• Understanding the process must be coupled with an understanding of direction -- where we are moving to, while achieving the ultimate goal.
• Failure to delegate is the pitfall of passive leadership.
• Information flow and open communication are signs that a problem can be solved.
• Any entity requires transformation before it can be the best that God desires it to be.
• Our role may be to introduce change into a process; we may not be around to see the change take its final form -- consider John the Baptist.

Psalm 19

This really spoke to me this morning, and I thought I'd share it with you . . .

Psalm 19 (The Message)
A David Psalm

1-2 God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.

3-4 Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded,
But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

4-5 God makes a huge dome for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun's a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.

6 That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

7-9 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.
God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.

10 God's Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You'll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Summit Session 2

The lead-in to Session 2 at The Leadership Summit was a video entitled "Homeless Karaoke" - you can watch the clip here. This is an awesome reminder that we are called into the world, and can't expect the world to come to us. When will I follow Christ in a way that makes someone else's life better? The time for questions must end, and they must be replaced with action.

Carly Fiorina was the CEO of HP and led the merger with Compaq. She was the only female CEO in the Fortune 20. And she was fired. For reasons I'm still not able to see clearly, her story kind of captivated me. Here are a couple of nuggets she dropped on us:

• A logic class in college taught her "the power of the right question."
• Leadership is about seeing and unlocking the potential in others.
• Nothing worthwhile happens with a single person acting alone.
• Learning takes place outside of your comfort zone - doing what you're good at is simply using your skills.
• Give people a vision that's more compelling than what they are afraid of.
• Being fired gave Carly the "gift of freedom."

Next up: Session 3 with Floyd Flake

Thinking About the Leadership Summit

If you do a google search for "2007 Leadership Summit" you can find complete sets of notes on each session - some people were even posting "live" to their blogs, which on some level is cool, but on another causes me to pause and think "Dude, get a life!" :) My point is that there may not be a lot of value in me simply adding my notes to the huge collection already on the web.

But what I'm thinking might be kinda cool is to simply share 1 or 2 interesting comments or quotes from each session. Maybe something that surprised me (like watching Erik Mongrain do his "air tap" - way cool!) or really caused me to think an issue through.

So, without further ado, I'll begin with Bill Hybels' first session "Vision to Die For"

"Vision is the painting of a picture that produces passion in people."

"Great leaders spend more time building ownership of a vision than they do taking credit for the vision."

Next up: Session 2 with Carly Fiorina

Air Tap!

This cat played at The Leadership Summit, and it was simply amazing; I thought you'd enjoy it as well. I give you Erik Mongrain . . .

Heading to The Summit!

If you were ever looking for a premier leadership training event, this is it. And I'm heading there tomorrow! Peace Out!

The Day of Release Draws Near

Halo 3: Finish the Fight. Oh ya, it's ON!