Failure Is An Opportunity

FAILURE.   Failure is haunting.  Failure can have control over us.  Failure, when not addressed, has the power to own us.

Rob Bell in his book Drops Like Stars writes about failures this way:

Now it’s absolutely necessary for us to own and name and claim and make amends for our failures and mistakes and sins and wrongs where others are concerned.  But to stop there is tragic.  IT ISN’T JUST A FAILURE, a mistake, a sin, a wrong…  IT’S ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY to grow, expand, evolve, learn.  This is called the art of failure.  What every artist must learn is that EVEN THE FAILED PIECES ARE ESSENTIAL.  pp.110-113

During the 2009 World Series, Mark Teixeira of the Yankees talked about dealing with failure. Through game five of the Series, Teixeira was hitting 2 for 19.

“When you’re in a rhythm during the season, you’re going to fail seven out of 10 times,” said Teixeira. “When you’re not in a rhythm, you’re going to fail a lot more.”

The reality of it is as athletes, and as humans, we are going to fail.  It is inevitable.  What defines us is NOT how we fail, it’s how we manage our failure, and how we move on from failure.

Sunday Jay Feely, kicker for the Arizona Cardinals kicked a career high 61 yard field goal to tie the ball game at 16 against the Buffalo Bills, with a minute left on the clock.  Something extremely interesting happened.  They got the ball back from Buffalo and had the opportunity to win the ball game with a few seconds left on the clock.  Coming off such a confidence builder in the 61 yard field goal, Jay Feely had the chance to be the games hero by kicking a 38 yard field goal.  What do you think happened?  Well…  HE MISSED.  That forced the game to go into overtime in which Buffalo eventually won.  Jay Feely is not a failure.  What he is faced with now is an opportunity to move on, to grow, to expand, to evolve, and to learn.  The outcome has yet to be seen, but he has a choice.  In his book Failing Forward, John Maxwell says, ”One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures.  Instead, they need to keep the bigger picture in mind.”  Jay Feely must realize that losing Sunday is just one out of sixteen games this season.  He has to keep the bigger picture in mind.

Have you failed recently?  A failure is an event, never a person.  Don’t let your failure define you.  Most importantly, FAILURE IS AN OPPORTUNITY.  How will you choose to move on from a failure?  I have a proposal for you…  FAIL FORWARD!

Questions To Ask

Global Leadership Summit – Day 2

Notes by Stephen Perkins:

Today was the second and final day of the Global Leadership Summit produced by Willow Creek Church in Chicago, IL. Yesterday, I posted a summary of the best speakers from Day 1.

I wanted to share with you the knowledge and information that speakers like Patrick Lencioni, William Ury, Geoffrey Canada, and Bill Hybels shared today. This is what I took away from Day 2:

Patrick Lencioni – Why Organizational Health Triumphs Everything Else

Patrick Lencioni is a best selling author of books like The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. He also has a great gift for speaking that I wish he had more time to really dive into what he was talking about today and that was organizational health.

In his talk, Patrick explained that “organizational health is the single greatest competitive advantage in business.” and that the problem is that “too many leaders think that it is beneath them.”

He said that in order for an organization to maximize their potential, they must be:

1. Smart

• Organizations must be good at the “intellectual sciences” such as finance, technology, ect.

2. Healthy

• Minimal politics
• Minimal confusion
• High morale
• High productivity
• Low turnover.

“Organizational health is the multiplier of intelligence.”

He then went on to explain that there are 4 disciplines that every good organizations must follow:

1. Build & maintain a cohesive (or well unified) leadership team

2. Create Clarity

• People in an organization must be intellectually aligned

>> The 6 Critical Questions

In order to create clarity, Lencioni identifies these six critical questions that an organization must ask:

1. Why do we exist?

• For example: to employees, a driveway paving company exists to repair driveways. However, the owner may believe that the company exists to give first-generation American jobs.

2. How do we behave?

• Develop core values unlike anyone else’s.
• Example: One of Southwest Airline’s core values is a sense of humor. That’s not something you see many companies doing.

3. What do we do?

• Why you exist is not always about what you do but why you do it.

4. How will we succeed?

5. What is most important, right now?

6. Who must do what?

“Organizational health should be a standard.”

William Ury – Getting To Yes: Negotiating Conflict

William Ury is someone who has negotiated world conflict first hand. He worked with the U.S. and Soviet Union governments to create nuclear crisis centers and he also served as a third party mediator to the civil wars in Indonesia and Venezuela. His talk today was on negotiating conflict in your organization.

He started off by saying that conflict is needed for an organization to grow. The questions isn’t how to avoid conflict, it’s how to handle it.

“The biggest barrier to our success is ourselves.”

He explained that in negotiation, the biggest problem is reacting too quickly and he stresses that we have to develop the power not to react. He said that when a negotiation heats up, take a step back and rethink the situation.

When negotiating, Ury says there are two things you should focus on:

1. Tending Needs

Sometimes we try to be soft on people because we don’t want to hurt their feelings and we end up being soft on the issue. OR we go hard on the issue, and therefore go hard on the person. Ury claimed that we need to instead be soft on the person, but hard on the issue.

In addition, we should focus on the needs of the people involved. And to illustrate that, he told a story of Israel and Egypt:

In 1967, Israel captured an area of desert between Egypt and Israel known as the Sanai Peninsula. Egypt saw this as unfair and began a period of tense relations with Israel. Therefore, mediators stepped in to solve the issue. And when mediators got down to the core, they found out that Israel took the land because they wanted to stop Egypt from placing tanks in the area, thus making Israelis nervous. And Egypt wanted the land because it had been their and they wanted sovereignty. So what negotiators did, instead of split the land, was give control of the peninsula back to Egypt and demilitarize the zone so Egyptian tanks could no longer enter. That deal was one that worked because it took into consideration both sides and the interests they had.

“Always ask why. And always ask what their needs are.”

In addition, Ury recommended that negotiators create multiple options  looking for mutual gains before deciding what to do.

2. Fairness

Insist that the result be based on some objective standard.

Geoffrey Canada – Changing the Odds

Geoffrey Canada is the founder of a great organization called the Harlem Children’s Zone. His organizations has been able to change 100 blocks of Harlem, NY, one block at a time by helping the underprivileged children in the area.

In his interview, he explained how people thought he wasn’t going to be able to change 1 block of Harlem let alone 100. But he said they started believing in him and the vision once it got going.

He emphasized that getting kids the right education and health care can give them the same future as kids who come from better places. He should know after all. He grew up in the South Bronx but went on to be educated at the Harvard School of Education.

Check out Geoffrey’s organization HERE.

Bill Hybels – Closing Session

Bill Hybels is the founder and lead pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago, IL and is a very talented speaker. Yesterday, he reminded us that everyone wins when a leader gets better and today he continued with a message about vision.

He explained how vision is the key component of any venture and that vision propels an organizations forward.

Global Leadership Summit – Day 1

Notes by Stephen Perkins:

I am fortunate enough to be attending the Global Leadership summit this week (Thursday & Friday) with some of the leaders from my church. The event is a two day summit for business leaders as wel as church leaders. Today we heard from amazing speakers including Bill Hybels, Condoleeza Rice, Jim Collins, and Craig Groeschel.

This is what I took away from Day 1 of the Global Leadership Summit.

Bill Hybels – Opening Session

Pastor Hybels is an amazing speaker and leader. In the opening session, he opened with a simple truth: everyone wins when a leader gets better. He then went on to talk about how organizations must sow more seed if they want to make an impact. In addition, he stressed that it is important for organizations to keep experimenting if they want to thrive.

He then went on to talk about a very interesting concept called the 6×6 method. The method is actually pretty simple and practical: list the 6 things that you can do in the next six weeks that will most benefit your organization. And for the next six weeks, focus only on those things.

Finally, he stated that the purpose of a leader is to move people from where they currently are to where they could be (a preferred future).  In order to do that, a leader must first make people dissatisfied with where they are currently. Then, you’re able to introduce your plan to get everyone to where they could be. Agin, create a dissatisfaction with the way things are going. Then, introduce your plan to move forward.

Condoleezza Rice – No Higher Honor: A Life of Leadership

When former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came out to speak, I had no idea what to expect. After all, she was America’s lead diplomat during a historic time in our history.

Her speech was amazing. She started off by saying that, as Secretary of State, she dealt with leaders who she saw as dangerous. She made the point that the strong cannot oppress the weak because the weak will eventually break down the barrier of fear that the strong have set up. In fact, fear is the only thing separating the strong from the weak.

She then went on to cite her past as a little girl in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. She explained that despite all of the inequality that was going on at the time, her parents always told her that she could grow up to be something great. She came to believe that every life and worth and capable of greatness.

Final thoughts from Condoleezza Rice: 

• leaders must remain optimistic
• out of struggle, comes victory

Jim Collins – Great by Choice

Jim Collins is a business thinker who likes to wear funky ties. He recently spent 9 years gathering data on what makes companies great. And what he found is that great companies aren’t necessarily the product of being smarter, more clever, or more innovative. Instead, he found that the leaders of the best companies are those who have the following core behaviors:

1. Fanatic Discipline

2. Empirical Creativity

Empirical creativity is all about innovating by doing what has worked before. He explained that good leaders shoot bullets before they shoot the cannonballs because they want to make sure their alignment is right before they give it everything they’ve got. Good leaders rely on direct observation, practical experimentation, and direct engagement with tangible evidence.

3. Productive Paranoia

Good leader know what is going on in the world so they can be “highly attuned to threats and changes in their environment even when times are good… They channel their worry and fear into action , preparing, developing contingency plans, building buffers, and maintaining large levels of safety.”

Final thoughts from Jim Collins:

• Preserve the core, stimulate the process
• If you didn’t cause it, and it had a big consequence (either bad r good), and it was a surprise to you, it was most likely luck (or a miracle)

Craig Groeschel – The Strongest Link

Craig Groeschel is one of my favorite pastors because he started LifeChurch.tv when the internet was just getting started. And today his church, which is now both online and at a physical location, reaches thousands of people all over the world through 76 weekly services.

In his talk today, Craig first talked about the role of a leader. He stated that leaders should delegate because delegating produces future leaders. However, simply giving tasks makes followers. And an organizations can’t move forward if it’s only producing followers and not leaders.

Right off the bat, he calls the new generation of people entitled. He stated we overestimate what we can do in the short run and we underestimate what we can do with a lifetime of faithfulness. He said “a lack of honor limits what can happen.” He spoke truth when he said that respect is earned, but honor is given and honor builds up. He said it is good that we’re entitled because our entitlement is the thing that makes us believe that we can change the world.

Day 1 Reflection:

I got more out of today than I thought I was going to. Every single speaker spoke absolute truth as they spoke about what it took to be an exceptional leader.

Burn Brighter: 6 Keys to Better Bible Study

I recently read a blog from Rick Warren’s Website  and it blew me away.  I found it so helpful as I approach teaching from God’s Word.  So often we talk about training for teaching a Bible Study, but we fail to follow through.  Here are 6 keys to a Better Bible Study.

Our church is one of over 4,500 that are participating in the 40 Days in the Word campaign. One reason I believe this campaign to spend 40 days focused on God’s word is both timely and needed is because America has a Biblical illiteracy problem.

In the land of the Gideon’s, people aren’t getting the Good Book, but it’s not lack of Bibles that has caused the problem. It could be that there is just too much saturation.

The familiar observation that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time obscures a more startling fact: the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year.

-Daniel Radosh

25 million bibles are sold annually in the US or if that number sounds too obscure think about it like this: 6 bibles are sold for every 1 baby born in the US each year. 91% of American households own at least 1 Bible and the average number of bibles per household is 4. It has been estimated that we spend over half a billion dollars every year on Bibles in the US alone. Perhaps the Bible has simply become too common. Yet all that commercial activity is at least indicative of curiosity or a desire to gain Godly wisdom for life. So if your one of the 91% who do have a Bible and you are looking to deepen your understanding of God’s Word here are 6 Key’s to Burn Brighter in Bible Study.

1. Be Confident

One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.

-Leonard Ravenhill

Many feel insecure while studying the Bible and instead of studying to gain more depth on their own, they rely only on preachers and teachers for all their Biblical understanding. I’m not trying to down preachers and teachers, I am one after all! But that is like asking someone else to chew your food. Make no mistake, listening to preaching and teaching is great but you need to be reading the scriptures on your own and wrestling with the truths they contain. As Acts 17:11-12 reveals:

The people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.

-Acts 17:11-12

They searched, day after day, to see if what was being taught was the truth. Biblical preaching and teaching go hand in hand with personal Bible study and will serve to supplement and reinforce what the Holy Spirit teaches us as we search the depths of God’s Word.

2. Be Social

Personal Bible study is great, I start the morning with it every day, but studying the Bible in groups pays much greater dividends than studying alone. When the Bible is studied in the vacuum of our homes and our conclusions are never challenged it is difficult to grow farther than our own perspectives and understandings. In Proverbs the author writes:

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

-Proverbs 27:17

To think that another person’s perspective or revelation is necessarily less than our own is arrogant, an attitude warned of in scripture. I am amazed at the insight children have when discussing the Bible and often walk away from interactions marveling about how God can use their perspectives to reveal truths that adults so often explain away. Studying with others not only exposes you to their view point, it also opens your lives up to each other to see how this knowledge comes to life day by day through your actions.

3. Be memorizing

I would venture to say that more Christians have the lyrics to Beyonce’s Single Ladies memorized than they do Bible verses.

- Nicole Cottrel

I wouldn’t bet against her on that statement. Bible memorization is intimidating to many believers, but it doesn’t have to be. Building Bible memory is like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it becomes. You don’t have to start with chapters and books, start by simple verses and then build on that.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

- Psalm 119:11

There is no better tool for spiritual growth than taking time for Bible memorization. We seldom if ever have the Bible with us in moments of temptation, when the doors open to witness to others, or when questions concerning our faith arise. But if we have it memorized it never leaves us and we can do as Peter instructs in 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

4. Be Open

Some people feel that because they have read and understood a passage of scripture once, that they basically have “got it” and by doing so they often inadvertently turn themselves off to the moving of the Holy Spirit in their lives. You cannot learn that which you think you already know. We must approach the Word of God in a humble fashion, being open to whatever God may communicate to us through it’s pages.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

-Hebrews 4:12

When we approach God’s Word with our defenses down and are open to His moving and working in our lives we will change. There will be times of pain as God reveals areas of sin and attitudes that need to be surrounded over to Him. There will be times of fear as God calls us to deeper levels of obedience and service. And there will be times of deep and profound joy as the wonder and power of God are revealed through scripture. But none of these tend to occur when we are closed off to God.

Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking.

-Gracie Allen

5. Be Well read

The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

-AW. Tozer

There can be a tendency to read only the passages that bring comfort rather than to read through all the passages of the Bible. God’s word is meant to do more than comfort us though. It cleans us (John 15:3), it awakens faith (Romans 10:17), makes us wise (2Tim 2:15), it nourishes us and helps us grow (1 Peter 2:2), it protects us (Ephesians 6:17), it guides us into success and prosperity (Joshua 1:8), brings joy (Ps 19:8), gives hope (Rom 15:4) and it points us to Jesus (John 5:39). This is true for all scripture, not only our pet passages.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

-2 Timothy 3:16-17

I can attest that reading the whole of the Bible, most of them are usually over 2,000 pages, can be a rahter daunting task. That’s why I recommend reading it in chunks or bite sized pieces and to read for depth of understanding rather than quantity of material.

Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart!

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A good Bible reading plan, such as those from http://www.youversion.com/ will take you on a journey through the Old and New Testaments. If you have never read through the Bible I can promise you there is a wealth of wisdom that applies to your life right now that you are missing out on.

6. Be Diligent

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

-Proverbs 13:4

One of reasons I often get from people about not reading the Bible is a difficulty in understanding it. With the advent of the internet I can safely say there are more free resources out there than there have ever been to aid in studying and understanding the Bible. Here are a few, but by no means is this exhaustive:

iTunes U – There are many podcasts of under graduate and master’s level courses available for free download from some of the best schools in the world.
Biblegateway.com – This website provides reading plans, commentaries, dictionaries, audio Bibles and more for free.
Biblestudytools.com – This site purports to be the largest free website for Bible verse search and in depth study. They have encyclopedias, commentaries, dictionaries, concordances, lexicons and more available for free as well.
YouVersion – Here you can not only read the Bible in many different versions, you can also see notes taken and posted by others in the online community.
God’s word is a precious gift that has gone over looked for far too long. My prayer for my congregation and myself is that we would adopt the attitude that these two juggernauts of the faith held towards God’s Word.

For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant.

-Martin Luther

I am a creature of a day. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book.

-John Wesley

Written by:Kelly Rhoades

Own It

I recently read Dan Cathy, CEO of Chik-Fil-A ‘s Blog that read this…

“During a recent conversation about goals and dreams and “what’s next,” I heard someone say, “You know, no one washes a rental car. You have to own it to care that much…”

How true is that for your life this week? Are you invested in your work, family and relationships to the point that you’ll go the extra mile to make them that much better? Sometimes we get caught up in the idea that today is only temporary, so we just muddle through until it’s over. We believe that our real lives will begin when we’re finally able reach our goals and stop working towards someone else’s agenda.

But, I’d like to encourage you to take ownership this week. Believe that today is the beginning of something unique and special and yours… Something you can invest in, take pride in and share with others.”

Have a great week.  After all, you own it.

Purple Cow Interview Panel (5/23/12 Revisited)

This week we did something different.  We decided to teach as a student ministry staff on some of the leadership essentials that we have recently learned, and are currently learning.  Here are some of the nuggets that we touched on!

1) Introduction Quotes 

“Leadership develops daily, not in a day.”

“Successful leaders are learners and the learning process is ongoing, a result of self discipline and perseverance.”

Zeke told a story about former CEO of Chik-Fil-A Dan Cathy.

Chick-Fil-A (Honestly one of my favorite places to eat on the planet for various reasons) recently hired me to photograph their President, Dan Cathy. I’ve always heard amazing things about the Cathy family but nothing really prepared me for this day with Dan. I was hired to show up at his house and basically grab just as many portraits as I could of Dan doing different things. Apparently he’s a multi-talented man… he plays the trumpet, he’s crazy passionate about flying, gardening, his family, his company… the list goes on and on and on. All of these things were clearly evident throughout the day but I was especially blown away by Dan’s humility and desire to serve. Whether it was Dan insisting on carrying my gear across his property in 95 degree weather or his non-stop personal service to his customers at the local Chick-Fil-A, I was blown away all-day by his commitment to serving and loving others. Saying it was an honor to work with Dan is a massive understatement. That day will stick with me for a long time to come. By Jeremy Cowart

         Honesty makes or breaks leaders

3) Humility

         Servant: Jesus “Did not come to be served, but to serve”

         Paul in Philippians 2 Attitude of Christ, one of humility

4) Good is the Enemy of Great

• Zeke: Car Illustration

• Ryan: Matthew 5:38-42

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^[h] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Katy talked about status quo and the dangers that come along with it.  Here are some crucial questions that leaders can ask others about leadership.

6) Wrap UP

         A greatest leader’s gift: A fully yielded heart

         John 15 “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”

As a Christian leader, there is nothing more important than your walk with Christ.  What you do as a follower of Christ matters in your life as a leader.  Do you want to have a great impact on this world?  Follow HARD AFTER CHRIST!

Weird (5/16/12 Revisited)

Purple Cow Week 2:

WEIRD… IN A “GOD” WAY

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

• IF YOU WANT WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE HAVE, DO WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE DO.

• IF YOU WANT WHAT FEW PEOPLE HAVE, DO WHAT FEW PEOPLE DO.      (Get weird)

WEIRD PEOPLE

• DON’T THINK LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE THINK.

Don’t live any longer the way this world lives. Let your way of thinking be completely changed. Then you will be able to test what God wants for you. And you will agree that what he wants is right… Romans 12:2 NIrV

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out… Romans 12:2 MSG

WEIRD TEACHES YOU TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT:

1)    TIME

2)    MONEY

3)    RELATIONSHIPS

4)    SEX

5)    VALUES        

• DON’T LIVE LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVE.

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:11-12

TALK IT OVER

• What are some ways you’re getting sick of being normal?
• What are some thought patterns and behaviors that would lead you towards a God kind of weird?
• What kind of custom weird do you feel God calling you to? What next step will you take this week?

The Law Of Influence (5/9/12 Revisited)

Purple Cow Week 1 (From John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership)

Leadership is NOT…

People have so many misconceptions about leadership.  When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he or she is a leader.  Sometimes that is true.  But titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading.  True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned.  It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated.  It must be earned.  The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or erase it.

Five Myths About Leadership

1. The Management Myth

A widespread misunderstanding is that leading and managing are one in the same.  Up until a few years ago, books that claimed to be on leadership were often really about management.  The main difference between the two is that leadership is about influencing people to follow, while management focuses on maintaining systems and processes.  As former Chrysler chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca wryly commented, “Sometimes even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so that he can take him there.”

The best way to test whether a person can lead rather than just manage is to ask him to create positive change.  Managers can maintain direction, but they can’t change it.  To move people in a new direction, you need influence.

2. The Entrepreneur Myth

Frequently, people assume that all salespeople and entrepreneurs are leaders.  But that’s not always the case.  You may remember Ronco commercials that appeared on television commercials years ago.  They sold items such as the Veg-O-Matie, Pocket Fisherman, and Inside-The Shell Egg Scrambler.  Those products were the brainchildren of an entrepreneur named Ron Popeil.  Called the salesman of the century, he has also appeared in numerous infomercials for products such as spray-on relief for baldness and food dehydrating devices.

Popeil is certainly enterprising, innovative, and successful, especially if you measure him by the $300 million is sales his products have earned.  But that doesn’t make him a leader.  People may be buying what he has to sell, but they’re not following him.  At best, he is able to persuade people for a moment, but he holds no long-term influence with them.

3. The Knowledge Myth

Sir Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.”  Most people, believing power is the essence of leadership, naturally assume that those who possess knowledge and intelligence are leaders.  But that isn’t automatically true.  You can visit any major university and meet brilliant research scientists and philosophers whose ability to think is so high that its off the charts, but whose ability to lead is so low that it doesn’t even register on the charts.  IQ doesn’t necessarily equate to leadership.

4. The Pioneer Myth

Another misconception is that anyone who is out front of the crowd is a leader.  But being first isn’t always the same as leading.  For example, Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  Since his historic ascent in 1953, many people have “followed” him in achieving that feat.  But that doesn’t make Hillary a leader.  He wasn’t even the leader on that particular expedition.  John Hunt was.  And when Hillary traveled to the South Pole in 1958 as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he was accompanying another leader, Sir Vivian Fuchs.  To be a leader, a person has to not only be out front, but also have people intentionally coming behind him, following his lead, and acting on his vision.

5. The Position Myth

As mentioned earlier, the greatest misunderstanding about leadership is that people think it is based on position, but it’s not.  Stanley Huffty affirmed, “It’s not the position that makes the leader; it’s the leader that makes the position.”

Look at what happened several years ago at Cordiant, the advertising agency formerly known as Saatchi and Saatchi.  In 1994, institutional investors at Saatchi and Saatchi forced the board of directors to dismiss Maurice Saatchi, the company’s CEO.  What was the result?  Several executives followed him out.  So did many of the company’s largest accounts, including British Airways and Mars, the candy maker.  Saatchi’s influence was so great that his departure caused the company’s stock to fall immediately.  What happened is a result of the Law Of Influence.  Saatchi lost his title and position, but he continued to be the leader.

Leadership is…

Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.

When you become a student of leaders, as I am, you recognize people’s level of influence in everyday situations all around you.  Let me give you an example.  In 1997, Dan Reeves became the Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons.  Reeves is an excellent coach and leader.  Though he had most recently coached the New York Giants, Reeves made his reputation as the head coach of the Denver Broncos.  From 1981 to 1992, he compiled an excellent 117-79-1 record, earned three Super Bowl appearances, and received NFL Coach of the Year honors three times.

 

Despite Reeves’s success in Denver, he didn’t always experience smooth sailing.  He was known to have disagreements with quarterback John Elway and assistant coach Mike Shanahan.  What was the reason for the problem?  It was said that during the 1989 season, Shanahan and Elway sometimes worked on their own offensive game plan, ignoring Reeves’s wishes.  I don’t know if that was true, but if it was, the Shanahan, not Reeves, had developed greater influence with the Denver quarterback.  It didn’t matter that Reeves held the title and position of head coach.  It didn’t even matter how good a coach Reeves was.  Shanahan had become the more influential leader in the quarterback’s life.  And leadership is influence.

 

Shanahan left the Broncos at the end of that season, but he returned in 1995 as the team’s head coach.  He became in title what he evidently already had been in terms of influence to some of the players: their leader.  And that leadership has now paid off.  In January of 1998, he led the Denver Broncos franchise and quarterback John Elway to their first Super Bowl victory.

 

From Commander To Private To Commander In Chief

 

 

One of my favorite stories that illustrates the Law of Influence concerns Abraham Lincoln.  In 1832, years before he became president, young Lincoln gathered together a group of men to fight in the Black Hawk War.  In those days, the person who put together a volunteer company for the militia often became its leader and assumed a commanding rank.  In this instance, Lincoln had the rank of captain.

 

But Lincoln had a problem.  He knew nothing about soldiering.  He had no prior military experience, and he knew nothing about tactics.  He had trouble remembering the simplest military procedures.  For example, one day Lincoln was marching a couple of dozen men across a field and needed to guide them through a gate into another field.  But he couldn’t manage it.  Recounting the incident later, Lincoln said, “I could not for the life of me remember the proper word of command for getting my company endwise.  Finally, as we came near the gate I shouted: “This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will fall in again on the other side of the gate.”

As time went by, Lincoln’s level of influence with others in the militia actually decreased.  While other officers proved themselves and gained rank, Lincoln found himself going in the other direction.  He began with the title and position of captain, but that did him little good.  He couldn’t overcome the Law of Influence.  By the end of his military service, Abraham Lincoln found his rightful place, having achieved the rank of private.

 

Fortunately for Lincoln – and for the fate of our country – he overcame his inability to influence others.  He followed his time in the military with undistinguished stints in the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.  But over time and with much effort and personal experience, he became a person of remarkable influence and impact.

 

Here is my favorite leadership proverb: “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.”  If you can’t influence others, they wont follow you.  And if they wont follow, you’re not a leader.  That’s the Law of Influence.  No matter what anybody else tells you, remember that leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.  -John Maxwell

John Maxwell’s 7 Questions to Ask Influencers