Category Archives: Cause & Effect

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15 Diseases of Leadership

According to Pope Francis there are 15 diseases that are plaguing modern leadership. Examine these carefully.

  1. Thinking we are immortal, immune, or downright indispensable—which is the enemy of humility and service.
  2. Excessive busyness—which leads to stress and agitation.
  3. Mental and [emotional] “petrification”—which creates heartlessness.
  4. Excessive planning and functionalism—which leads to inflexibility.
  5. Poor coordination—which fosters independence and lack of cooperation.
  6. “Leadership Alzheimer’s disease”—where leaders forget who nurtured and mentored them.
  7. Rivalry and vainglory—where titles and perks become leaders’ primary focus.
  8. Existential schizophrenia—where leaders live hypocritical double lives.
  9. Gossiping, grumbling, and backbiting—where cowardly leaders speak ill of others behind their backs.
  10. Idolizing superiors—where leaders honor superiors to gain favor and get ahead.
  11. Indifference to others—where leaders think only of themselves.
  12. Downcast faces—where leaders treat their “inferiors” with sour severity.
  13. Hoarding—which involves accumulating material goods to seek security.
  14. Closed circles—where leaders place their clique ahead of shared identity and cooperation.
  15. Extravagance and self-exhibition—where leaders seek greater power and recognition.

Maxwell, John C.. Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 . HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition.

15 Diseases of Leadership According to Pope Francis

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Are You Drinking Water?

Your physical being is the foundation on which you can excel in your spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being. Make the connection!

“Drinking water, we have found, is perhaps the most undervalued source of physical energy renewal. Unlike hunger, thirst is an inadequate barometer of need. By the time we feel thirsty, we may be long since dehydrated. A growing body of research suggests that drinking at least sixty-four ounces of water at intervals throughout the day serves performance in a range of important ways. Dehydrate a muscle by as little as 3 percent, for example, and it will lose 10 percent of its strength and 8 percent of its speed. Inadequate hydration also compromises concentration and coordination.” Bk. The Power of Full Engagement 

If your physical habits are wacky, you risk every other aspect of your life being wacky as well. I have always found it interesting at how that God is blamed for our poor life-style habits. As i write this blog, I am experiencing a new season of life in which I have discovered new life lessons. Changing my physical habits have dramatically impacted other areas of my life. I have been averaging 6+ miles of walking daily, drinking 60+ ounces of water daily, and have changed eating habits (No it is not the latest diet craze). What has been the outcome? I am experiencing greater clarity spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

It’s time for a tall cool glass of water!

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Thanksgiving Mantra

What is a Mantra? The basic answer is that a mantra is a mind tool that can be used to shape the expression of potential and goodness in a person’s heart. When it is repeated often it embeds itself into the sub-consciousness of a person. A positive mantra can shape performance as in a marathon runner nearing the finish line might repeat; “I think I can,” “I think I can,” “I think I can.”

Consider the scriptures instruction in Philippians 4:8, ESV: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” From the context of a prison, Paul instructs us to rehearse and reflect upon things that are positive. Re-read this passage again. You might be surprised to see the positive impact such thinking can have upon your potential and attitude toward others and various circumstances.

So, I want to offer a Thanksgiving season mantra for you to try. Let me know what happens when you repeat this mantra often from now to the end of the year. Write your comments below. Share these thoughts with someone else on your social media. Are you ready for this mantra? OK, here it is;

Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You

I may feel odd at first, but pay attention to the rise of gratitude within your spirit. Share you experience in the comments below.

Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You

Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You

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The Pulse of High Performance

Authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz suggest in their book The Power of Full Engagement, suggest that cycles of full throttle training coupled with cycles of rest are important to take your ability to the next level. Notice what they say, “Nature itself has a pulse, a rhythmic, wavelike movement between activity and rest. Think about the ebb and flow of the tides, the movement between seasons, and the daily rising and setting of the sun. Likewise, all organisms follow life-sustaining rhythms—birds migrating, bears hibernating, squirrels gathering nuts, and fish spawning, all of them at predictable intervals. So, too, human beings are guided by rhythms…. The concept of maximizing performance by alternating periods of activity with periods of rest was first advanced by Flavius Philostratus (A.D. 170–245), who wrote training manuals for Greek athletes. Russian sports scientists resurrected the concept in the 1960s and began applying it with stunning success to their Olympic athletes. Today, ‘work-rest’ ratios lie at the heart of periodization, a training method used by elite athletes throughout the world.” 

If increasing your performance is the goal in life – there are no shortcuts in achieving this goal. Simply stated you must balance your sessions of intense work with seasons of rest. I might add that rest is not doing chores (cutting the lawn, washing the car, painting the house, etc.). Rest is defined as a verb – cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength. When the same word is defined as a noun – an instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity.

What does an exhausted person of faith look like? What is their potential in that condition? If we desire to live our fullest lives then we must align our activity with the rhythms of life. This is a powerful piece of content yet it is simple content. Unfortunately, it is overlooked far too often. STOP – take an inventory right now. Look at the intensity versus rest cycles. What is one thing that you can change today?

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Winners Value Process

Preparation places the focus on the process rather than the outcomes.

  • The process includes PREPARATION for the things that help you win. This instructs you on what to do.
  • The process includes SEPARATION from the things that cause you to lose. This instructs you on what not to do.
  • The process helps you to learn to WORK at winning and not just wing it.
  • When you wing it you live off your natural gifts but in fact you never develop them to a higher standard. You plateau at GOOD when you could have been GREAT!
  • People who say, “I Wish” and people who say “I Do” are worlds apart.

There is a natural separation between the wishful thinkers and the active doers. This separation is what places the focus on moving from good to great.

  • Instead of spending time with people – you invest in people.
  • Instead of settling for outside approval – you strive for internal approval.
  • Instead of being motivated by a situation – you are motivated internally.
  • Instead of an occasional high performance – you have consistent high performance.
  • Instead of paying the price someday – you pay the price every day.

“When you know you can do better on the inside, you have no right to do less on the outside.” (John Maxwell 2016).

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Are You Stunting Your Team’s Growth?

Are you attempting to control the WHAT and HOW of your Team? If so, as the Leader you are probably the bottleneck in your organization. Perhaps it is time for you to release the HOW of work to your team so they can do it better than yourself. Empowerment to do a task is a “Force Multiplier.” Here are 5 insights on stopping the bottleneck.

Accept the reality you do not have all the best ideas. Your competence and experience may have helped you to rise in leadership responsibility, but it may be the very thing that stunts organizational progress. Stop over-relying on your ability. You may not have the best and brightest ideas for the current situation. Your past experience does not necessarily make you an expert today.

What is your personal growth plan? Leaders can over-play their experiences of the past and inhibit new lessons and insights from our modern day. Yesterday ended at midnight! Today is your best opportunity for personal growth and development. A diversified growth strategy increases your ability for critical thought. You are able to realize that other people can do a task better than myself.

Your Team will bring fresh ideas. If you have to direct every detail, your team is simply waiting to be told what to do next. Stagnation occurs! Your Team becomes passive rather than proactive. Teach your Team to think for themselves. They will embrace the ownership issue and will begin to bring fresh thinking to the table of discussion.

Your Team will be stretched to accomplish more. Isn’t it frustrating when people only do the bare minimum? This may be due to a lack of motivation that comes from empowerment to make better decisions. When you Team members feel empowered to make decisions and they are valued, motivation increases. When leaders let go of the HOW the teams dreams actually become bigger.

Future Focused. Leaders should be ahead of the Team when it concerns future direction. When you are busy managing the HOW, you can easily loose sight of the WHAT. Managing the daily how-to marginalizes creative time to see bigger dreams. Define your WHAT. Release the HOW. You elevate the leadership and empowerment of the Team as a whole.

The genesis of the article come from John Maxwell and Carey Nieuwhof

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Time Craters

In Arizona there is an epic crater, in fact the first crater to be recognized as such. The asteroid was 160 feet wide. The resulting crater was 500 feet in depth and one mile wide

Yikes!

Click on this link for a 66 second video of this crater – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odGrgsLkfUQ 

This short clip should inspire you to contemplate the small distractions that leave giant craters in our daily pursuit of excellence. AuthorsJake Knapp and John Zeratsky put it this way, “Small distractions create much larger holes in our day. We call these ‘time craters.’ In one of our favorite studies, Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine found that it takes people twenty-three minutes and fifteen seconds to get back on task after a distraction.”

You may think that you are a premiere multi-tasker or that these small distractions taking you away from the highway of what is important is no big deal THINK AGAIN!

Get your laser-focus on! Get on task. Go make a difference in your world today.

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Distractions – A Full-Time Job

The authors of Make Time, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky write, “Look, we love technology. But there is a very serious problem here. Combine the four-plus hours the average person spends on their smartphones with the four-plus hours the average person spends watching television, and distraction is a full-time job.”

Wow! Did you catch that statement – 8+ hours per day of our phones and Television! That is in fact a full time job. How do we ever get to “deep level work?” Answer; WE DON’T!

Believe it or not but the use of technology in our everyday lives is still relatively new. We do not fully understand the consequences of our behaviors. I can say with certain accuracy that 4+ hours of phone usage and 4+ hours of television daily is not in our best interest personally and for our society. There are big issues in our world that demand responses that are larger than FB adds, Tweets, and Snapchats.

Jiddu Krishnamurti once wrote, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

Mark Twain wrote, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

It is time to take action and learn the discipline of a digital sunrise and digital sunset. NO technology before deep work in the morning. No technology 1-hour before sleep!

Write your comments below. I am interested in your thoughts!

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Krulak’s Law

What can a General in the Marine Corp of the 20th Century teach Faith-based Leaders in the 21st Century? This leadership nugget will not be discovered without intentionality in searching for the principles of leadership that enhances the leading skills.

First of all, General Krulak was a highly decorated Marine who served our country with distinction and honor. His style of leadership was more of bottom up versus a top-down method of leading. What became Krulak’s Law simply states;

The foot soldiers on the front line

Interacting with local people

Do more for nation building and 

Counter insurgency than leaders at the top!

In the Faith community we are not so good about walking slowly through the crowd and engaging the people. We are good about mountain-top communication with an Almighty God. We are more than ready to ask our followers to engage our plans, systems, and visions! How do we apply this military application to the Faith community? Here are a few ways to apply General Krulak’s law.

  • Touch a heart before you ask for a hand. People do not care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Each Christmas General Krulak would deliver homemade cookies to the soldiers in the outposts around Washington D.C.
  • The closer you get to the front line the more power you have over your brand. Walk slowly through the crowd. Get to know those who labor among you. Vision is better caught than taught.
  • Systems falter and fail without the human element. Get real, not superior! The Biblical terms for various ministries all have their root meaning in the terms of “Servanthood.” Over-deliver on your care and love. After all, 15% of the One Another commands of the Bible reference our humility in serving.
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Perfectionism Vs. Optimalism

“…psychologists today differentiate between positive perfectionism which adaptive and healthy, and negative perfectionism, which is maladaptive and neurotic. I regard these two types of perfectionism as so dramatically different in both their underlying nature and their ramifications that I prefer to use them entirely different terms to refer to them. Throughout this book, I will refer to negative perfectionism simply as perfectionism and to positive perfectionism as optimalism.”

What is the difference between a perfectionist and an optimalist?

To start with the optimalist embraces the constraints of reality where the perfectionist rejects the constraints and holds themselves to impossible standards that result in failure and pain. In short perfectionists reject everything that deviates from their flawless, faultless ideal vision. As a result whenever they do not meet their own unrealistic standards, they suffer. On the other hand the optimists accept and make the best of everything that life has to offer.

There is one fact of life that we all face – Failure happens! We are going to experience negative emotions. That is inevitable.If we want to experience the joy of the Hero’s journey we must say YES to all that we have learned and do our best with what we have gained in life.