December 30, 2009

Are You a Navigator? A Leadership Law

December 30

Are You a Navigator?

The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.
Proverbs 16:1-3

Effective leaders practice the Law of Navigation, which says that anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. The verses in Proverbs 16 remind leaders to:

  • Check the source of their wisdom
  • Check their motives
  • Check the outcome they are pursuing

Consider five key words to understanding how God helps leaders to navigate their way through life:

  • Process - God's plan usually unfolds over time. What is He revealing progressively?
  • Purpose - God wants to accomplish His purposes. Why were you created?
  • Potential - God will use your gifts and passion. Does this goal fit who you are?
  • Prioritize - God will ask you to adjust your time and energy. What steps must you take?
  • Proceed - God will eventually require you to act. When should you start?

    The Maxwell Leadership Bible

December 16, 2009

Good Leaders

Good Leaders

Own Up to Their Mistakes!

And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued."
1 Chronicles 21:17

Times of failure not only reveal a leader's true character, but also present opportunities for significant leadership lessons. Following a major victory over the Philistines, King David made a major mistake. The king chose to listen to Satan, stopped trusting God for the defense of his nation, and undertook a census.

David's willingness to take responsibility for his foolish action demonstrated his depth of character. He repented and accepted punishment from the hand of God, trusting in the grace of God. Even so, David's error snuffed out the lives of seventy thousand Israelites. When leaders mess up, many people suffer.

Many leaders attempt to hide failures, blame others, or run from God. But David admitted his failure and repented. Although he faced many difficulties, David worked to restore his relationship with God and did whatever he could to minimize the consequences of his failure in the lives of others.

The Maxwell Leadership Bible


To subscribe to this Daily Devotional click here

December 15, 2009

Moving Your Team in the Right Direction

December 15

Moving Your Team in the Right Direction

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying "The Lord said to you, 'You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler
of Israel.'" Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenent with them at Hebron before the Lord.
And they anointed David king over Israel. 2 Samuel 5:1-3

Do you remember what it was like when you first got your driver's license? Just going for a drive was probably a thrill. It didn't really matter where you went. But as you got older, having a destination became more important. The same is true with a team. Getting the team together and moving it are accomplishments. But where you're going matters.

You've got to begin doing the difficult things that help the team to improve and develop high morale. Among other things, you must:

1. Make changes that make the team better.
2. Receive the buy-in of team members.
3. Communicate commitment.
4. Develop and equip members for success.

The two toughest stages in the life of a team are when you are trying to create movement in a team that's going nowhere, and when you must become a change agent. Those are the times when leadership is most needed.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Leadership

December 13, 2009

The Next Generation of Leadership

The old rules still apply. But to win in the new world, leaders must understand their constituents’ state of mind, says Gallup’s chairman and CEO.


Jim Clifton, Gallup's chairman and CEO, says businesses have, in most cases, maximized every possible benefit from practices based on neoclassical economics, such as Six Sigma, reengineering, and total quality management. The significant competitive advantages from these practices have hit a point of diminishing returns, he adds. Most well-run companies have wrung almost every efficiency they can from their operations -- and their competitors have too. So have we reached the end? Are there no worlds left to conquer?

In America, Europe, Japan, most of the benefits have been squeezed out of process improvement and neoclassical economics.

endquote

Hardly, Clifton says. There are vast new business frontiers left unexplored. Clifton points to revelations that behavioral economists are uncovering -- starting with the discovery that human decision making is more emotional than rational. This upends a core assumption of neoclassical economic theory: that consumers can be counted on to always make rational decisions about the products and services they buy. It also opens up a vast new area for business to explore and exploit -- and Clifton has staked his company on the fast-developing leadership science within behavioral economics.

In the new normal, says Clifton, the old ways of doing business won't work anymore. The men and women who will conquer this new world will be the ones who best understand their constituencies' state of mind. And state of mind is everything that matters to leadership: talent, innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, optimism, determination, and all the other things that create economic growth.

This next generation of business, civic, political, and religious leaders, as well as social entrepreneurs, will understand their constituents' state of mind and the capacity to quantify it better than their predecessors did. And those leaders will be uniquely poised to do a very important thing: By understanding the state of mind of their constituencies, those leaders can use that knowledge to create real economic growth -- and more good jobs. That will make them, as Clifton says, the ones who lead the world.

GMJ: Before you talk about the next generation of leadership, what was the last generation of leadership?

Jim Clifton: Process improvement was the last big leadership evolution. General Electric's leadership is a good example -- they did Six Sigma perfectly. Jack Welch was the king of process innovation. But when Jeff Immelt took over, he had a problem -- there was nothing left for him to Six Sigma.

That's true for everybody. In America, Europe, Japan, most of the benefits have been squeezed out of process improvement and neoclassical economics. That's one of the problems Wall Street is facing -- investors have exactly the same data and methodology from neoclassical economics, but it no longer differentiates anything.

I'm not shortchanging neoclassical economics; that and process improvements worked really well for a while. Why did Japan rise up out of nowhere to dominate the world? Well, one big reason was the influence of quality guru Dr. Edwards Deming. He led with his next-generation leadership idea, and Japan seized on it first. It worked. Implementing that kind of thinking was very good for our company too. We immediately made more money; we immediately were more productive.

Now companies are structured to do a magnificent job with that kind of data. But it's absolutely not enough anymore. There hasn't been a big idea for leadership in 25 years, nothing that shows the huge sweet spots and pushes the big advancements.

Now we need the next generation of leadership, because we've maxed out everything else. And the jungle is more dangerous -- and a different kind of dangerous -- than it used to be.

The Economy: Real or Illusory?

Gallup’s chief economist separates the fictional from the genuine -- and offers real warnings to businesses and individuals


The current economic situation would be a lot easier to accept if it wasn't totally baffling. Companies that appeared to be an inch from bankruptcy a year ago now seem to be turning enormous profits. Wall Street is booming. Goldman Sachs is getting ready to pay out record bonuses.

But Main Street businesses are struggling, and many small businesses can't get the credit they need. Consumers aren't spending. Some companies are hiring, while others are cutting jobs, hours, and wages. Still, the U.S. Department of Labor just reported the smallest job loss since the recession began and a drop in the unemployment rate from 10.2% to 10.0%. It's a "through-the-looking-glass" sort of economy -- and when economics starts resembling fiction, there might be something wrong.

You see so many contradictory things occurring right now because there's a lot of artificiality in the global economy.

endquote

And fiction is exactly what is wrong with the economy, says Dennis Jacobe, Ph.D., Gallup's chief economist. Much of the economy is based on what he calls "artificiality." This unnatural tinkering with the economy likely staved off a second Great Depression. But it also has created some false economic signals, he says, and they shouldn't be confused with reality.

For that reason, Dr. Jacobe has some words of warning, which he shares in the following conversation. These include: To survive financially right now, consumers and businesses alike need to build a "fortress balance sheet." Be wary of Wall Street as a measure of the economy -- it has become decoupled from Main Street and isn't a reliable barometer of the economy. And last but certainly not least, he forecasts that the economic environment won't genuinely be better until the middle of next year when the jobs situation should begin to improve.

GMJ: The stock market is up -- the S&P 500 has risen more than 60% since March. But November retail sales were much weaker than expected, and even after a surprisingly good jobs report, the unemployment rate is still at 10% -- and it's more like 17% if we count the underemployed and the people who've given up looking for a job.This doesn't seem to make any sense. Can you explain why this is happening?

Dr. Jacobe: The reason that you see so many contradictory and unusual things occurring right now is that there's just a lot of artificiality in the global economy. As a result, many of the economic measures and relationships that we normally depend on to forecast the future direction of the economy may not hold true in this new environment. We've just gone through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and economies don't recover from that kind of thing overnight.

What led to this artificiality was that governments and monetary institutions around the world, led by the U.S. Federal Reserve, took unprecedented actions to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis. The Fed put trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy, bailing out Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, AIG, and other financial institutions. When you factor in the actions taken by other governments in addition to the U.S. efforts, an enormous amount of liquidity was thrown into the global economy to stabilize the financial sector.

In addition, the United States has undertaken an unprecedented amount of spending, ranging from TARP [the Troubled Asset Relief Program] and the auto industry bailout to the stimulus program and expansion of the social safety net. As a result, future federal budget deficits are also going to be unprecedented for years to come. Combined, these fiscal and monetary policies have led to sharp declines in the value of the dollar, a surge in commodity prices, and even serious questions about the role of the dollar in the global economy.

All of this seems to have worked in the short term, and the world economy is much better off in terms of its financial stability than it was a year ago. But these actions created all sorts of unusual new relationships in the world economy. A lot of what we're currently seeing is more of a mirage than reality -- and people should be wary of the false signals that may have come from these emergency actions. In a sense, we've put the global economy on "steroids" -- and we know there will be long-run consequences -- but even more importantly, we know these "steroids" are creating distortions in our normal measures of global economic well-being.

Datos impresionantes

PUBLICACIÓN DE LATINOBARÓMETRO 2009 – DICIEMBRE 11 2009 - 10:30 HORAS

Tenemos el agrado de comunicarles que estaremos publicando los resultados de Latinobarómetro 2009, la decimocuarta ola, con los siguientes temas:

1. Actitudes hacia el golpe de estado en Honduras.

2. Las consecuencias de la crisis vista por los ciudadanos de la región.

3. El impacto de la crisis en la democracia.

4. El impacto de la crisis en el sector privado y en el mercado.

5. La imagen de EE.UU., Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras y España

6. Que significa el bicentenario para los latinoamericanos.

December 7, 2009

Decision to Delegate

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. Titus 1:5

One of the most common mistakes a coach can make is to misjudge the level of a player. If the leader doesn't work with each player according to where he is in his development, the player won't produce, succeed, and develop. According to management consultant Ken Blanchard, all team members fit into one of four categories with regard to the type of leadership they need:

  • Players who need direction. These players don't really know what to do or how to do it. You need to instruct them every step of the way.
  • Players who need coaching. Players who are able to do more of the job on their own will become more independent, but they still rely on you for direction and feedback.
  • Players who need support. Players able to work without your direction still may require resources and encouragement.
  • Players to whom you delegate. At this stage, players can be given a task, and you can be confident that it will be done. They only need you to lead. Provide them with vision on the front end and accountability on the back end, and they will multiply your efforts toward success.

Developing the Leaders Around You

If you are interested in purchasing a hard copy of this devotional, click on these links:

It Takes One to Make One

December 7

It Takes One to Make One. John Maxwell Devotionals.

When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant . . . thought he could kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. 2 Samuel 21:15-17

According to Albert Schweitzer, "Example is not the main thing in influencing others . . . it is the only thing." Part of creating an appealing climate is modeling leadership. People emulate what they see modeled. Positive model, positive response. Negative model, negative response. What leaders do, the potential leaders around them do. What they value, their people value. Leaders set the tone. Leaders cannot demand of others what they do not demand of themselves.

As you and I as leaders grow and improve, so will those we lead. We need to remember that when people follow behind us, they can only go as far as we go. If our growth stops today, our ability to lead will stop along with it. Neither personality nor methodology can substitute for personal growth. We cannot model what we do not possess. Begin learning and growing today, and watch those around you begin to grow.

Developing the Leaders Around You


To subscribe to this Daily Devotional click here

If you are interested in purchasing a hard copy of this devotional, click on these links:

Hardcover
Leather

Report Examines the State of Mainline Protestant Churches


Print E-mail

Ventura, CA - December 7, 2009
When Baby Boomers were born, the Protestant landscape of America was dominated by the six major mainline denominations. (Those bodies are typically considered to be the American Baptist Churches in the USA; the Episcopal Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Presbyterian Church (USA); the United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church.)

Since the 1950s, however, mainline churches have fallen on hard times, declining from more than 80,000 churches to about 72,000 today. The growth among evangelical and Pentecostal churches since the 1950s, combined with the shrinking of the mainline sector, has diminished mainline churches to just one-fifth of all Protestant congregations today. In the past fifty years, mainline church membership dropped by more than one-quarter to roughly 20 million people. Adult church attendance indicates that only 15% of all American adults associate with a mainline church these days.

A new report issued by The Barna Group focuses upon changes in the mainline churches during the past decade. The report examines shifts in both the adults who attend those churches and the pastors who lead them.

MORE...