chic-fil-a leadercast john maxwell

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chic-fil-a leadercast john maxwell

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Below are my notes and take aways from John Maxwell’s presentation at this year’s Chic-fil-A Leadercast.

What is your personal growth plan?
Transformation never happens in the organization without transformation first happening within the heart of the leader.
Make a few decisions and manage them daily

The Law of Intentionality: Growth doesn’t just happen

Personal growth doesn’t happen on accident, it’s not an automatic process
“You make the choice and then the choice you make makes you.” John Wooden
The choices you make now determine who you are going to be the rest of your life
People always want to change their circumstances, but they never want to change their lives…everything gets better when we get better
The secret of growing intentionally is doing it every day
The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda
You’re either repairing or preparing
Your personal growth plan has to be simple, applicable, tangible, something I can do every day

The Law of Awareness: We must know ourselves to grow ourselves

I have to know me, to grow me
Requirement: what’s required of me, what do I have to do?
Return: what gives me the greatest return? What do I do well? Put your personal growth development towards your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Reward: what gives me the greatest rewards? When I do it, it is satisfying and brings me life.

The Law of Environment: growth thrives in conducive surroundings.

We grow when we get around the right people, the right place, the right environment for our growth.

Maxwell’s Growth Environment:

A place where others are ahead of me
A place where I am continually challenged
A place where my focus is forward
A place where the atmosphere is affirming
A place where I am often out of my comfort zone and I’m in over my head (if you’re out of your comfort zone you’ll swim, if you’re out of your comfort zone and out of
A place where I wake up and I’m excited
A place where failure is not my enemy
A place where everyone is growing
A place where others are willing to change
A place where growth is modeled and expected

Posted in Leadership

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building and leading a volunteer organization

Monday, September 19, 2011

What would you do if the ministry you are leading doubled tomorrow? Now respond to that question again, however this time try resolving it without any additional time or money to throw at the problem. Problem you say? Yes…problem. Your ministry doubling tomorrow would be a tremendous opportunity and an exciting moment, you may even have to pinch yourself, but there would be serious problems to solve (even if they were good problems) if you hope for that growth to be sustainable.

You may take a look at what you are doing and begin to prioritize by learning to say “no” some things. But prioritization will only get you so far. The only sustainable answer is volunteers. No matter how creative or innovative you may be, the only thing you can reproduce with limited resources is yourself. The Apostle Paul says it this way in the book of Ephesians…

Ephesians 4:11-13

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

So according to the Scriptures, the primary job of a Pastor is to equip the Church to be the Church. Not to do the work of the ministry for them, or to get them to do the work of the Pastor. But to lead them to do the work of God…and that is to advance the Gospel. The most important asset you have as a Pastor is not your buildings, budget, or even your vision. It is the people that God has entrusted to you. So below are a few thoughts that may help you in building and leading this volunteer organization called the Church. For your volunteers to jump on board, and stay on board, you’ve got to answer 4 key questions for them…

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

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Resistance keeps you upright

Sunday, August 14, 2011

After listening to the guide do their best to convince everyone in the raft that they were likely to drown on the way down the Royal Gorge this past week in Colorado, she finished her little speech by stating, “the best thing you can do to stay in the boat is paddle hard.” She explained that paddling creates resistance and keeps you upright. As you feel yourself falling out of the boat, paddling creates a strong base and helps keep you in the boat.

Leaders need resistance, without it we fall out of the boat. In fact here’s a list of the 5 deadliest things that can happen to leaders without resistance.

Posted in Leadership

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your personal growth plan won’t make you grow

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Growth doesn’t just automatically happen. In order for a person or an organization to grow, the right stuff has to be consistently cultivated over a period of time. Even then, growth isn’t guaranteed. Reading a book, taking a class, going to a conference, listening to a sermon, spending time with a personal coach or mentor over a cup of coffee, or even reading the Bible doesn’t mandate growth. I mean how many people do you know who know the Scriptures, but aren’t growing and year in and year out never seem to end up looking much more like Jesus? How many people do you know who have a lot of content jammed into them but can’t translate all of that information into real life? Just because you have and follow a personal development plan that exposes you to the right content doesn’t mean you’re going to grow. Content alone doesn’t foster growth. So what does? The list may not be exhaustive, but if you can figure out how to couple the following list along with great content I think you and the organization that you lead in will be well on your way to growth.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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What we can learn from crisis

Monday, April 26, 2010

This past weekend I was sitting in a line of traffic waiting for a train to pass, innocently counting the cars on the train when WHAM!!! Once I gathered my wits about me I realized that I had just been hit. I pulled off to the side of the road and the gentleman in the giant tank of a brand new Tahoe that just plowed into me came up to check on me (very polite of him). Later that day the insurance adjuster made it over to the auto shop that the truck had been towed to and what we had speculated about became reality. He told me that it was totaled. He said that the vehicle did exactly what it was designed to do in a moment like that, protect the driver and passengers by absorbing the shock of the impact. With a speed limit of 45mph, and no skid marks, the back of my truck crinkled up like used wrapping paper from my daughters’ 5th birthday party which happened later that evening. It’s interesting to me that they design vehicles these days to absorb the shock of the impact of an accident, and fortunately for me they do.

That statement the insurance adjuster made, that I was lucky the truck did what it was designed to do in the accident made me think, among other things, about crisis. Specifically that you and I can learn a lot about ourselves, the people around us, and the organizations that we lead in a moment of crisis. Here are a couple of thoughts that may help.

Posted in Family, Leadership, Spiritual Formation