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Affordable and Accessible Leadership Coaching

by on 01/04/2011 in Character Development, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Spiritual Development, Strategic Intelligence

Imagine access to some of the world’s best influencers for $.35 per day or less.  No joke.

There are a lot of influencers offering coaching networks right now.  In fact, it appears somewhat vogue.  I have been part of several coaching experiences and most of them are overrated.  Just my opinion.

I want a coaching experience that includes seven elements:

  • affordable
  • accessible
  • short
  • worthwhile content
  • start and end date
  • peer and team involvement
  • strategic plan

Developing a leadership plan and following through is essential for unlocking your true leadership potential. Yet, for many of us, finding a mentor to guide us on our leadership journey is harder than we imagined. This is where Leadership2Go can help. It’s a one-year online leadership development plan that’s engaging and easy to implement.

Each month, Tim Elmore will provide a video teaching session that includes interviews with well-known and influential leaders from both the corporate and non-profit worlds. In addition, you will receive a detailed growth plan that you can implement each month such as: a monthly reading plan, a note-taking guide, ideas for practicing leadership principles, discussion questions to use with your team, and access to an online community of fellow leaders.

In 2011, our theme is: The Elephant in the Room. Together, we will wrestle with critical leadership issues that everyone is aware of, but often are afraid to talk about. By the end of the year, you will be able to address some of the biggest obstacles leaders face with strength and integrity.

Sign up here.  Better yet, sign up your team.  It will cost you less!  Tell them I sent you.

 
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Looking Back On Key Life Decisions

by on 12/13/2010 in Adoption/Orphan Care, Character Development, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Spiritual Development, Strategic Intelligence

I often find myself focusing on the future.  I am not the best when it comes to celebrating wins because I typically have moved on to the next task-at-hand.  However, recently I have been thinking about key life decisions that have contributed to where I am today.

  • Respecting my parents
  • Struggling with a lethal heart condition
  • Becoming a Christ-follower
  • Achieving a higher level education
  • Getting married
  • Finding mentors
  • Becoming a voracious reader
  • Having our first child
  • Discovering my strengths
  • Adopting a child
  • Establishing a personal board of directors
  • Building a bond of brothers
 
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Young Adults And The Gap Year

by on 09/06/2010 in Character Development, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Spiritual Development, Strategic Intelligence

A large number of young adults are doing IT.  In fact, many parents, churches, and schools encourage IT.

What is IT?

Traditionally, a gap year (also called deferred year, year abroad, bridge year, and time out) is simply taking a year off after graduating high school and before entering college. However, some young adults take time off after enrolling in college.  This phenomenon was created in the UK during the 1960′s and has gained popularity in Australia, Canada, and even the United States.

Harvard College says this:

Harvard College encourages admitted students to defer enrollment for one year to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way – provided they do not enroll in a degree-granting program at another college.

Surprised?

Their research findings reveal that students focus much better when provided this deferred year.  Did you know that Harvard College includes in a student’s acceptance letter the recommendation to take one year off before entering higher education?  It is true.  Perhaps this recommendation helps the school achieve their overall graduation rate of ninety-eight percent!

I recently discovered that Princeton funds gap year adventures for twenty incoming freshmen annually.  The school’s goal is to offer this to about  one hundred students per class.

11 Advantages of A Gap Year:

  • allows them to take a breath from the academic conveyor belt
  • increases their self-awareness and self-management
  • teaches them others need what they can give
  • learn new cultures
  • meet new people
  • think carefully about their career
  • handling a budget
  • learn a new discipline
  • avoid burnout
  • learn a new language
  • increase their emotional development

7 General Myths About A Gap Year:

  • my student will get side tracked
  • my student will lose interest in attending college
  • my student may influence the college to not like it that they took one year “off”
  • my student will be wasting their time
  • my student may never enroll
  • my student will fall behind
  • my student may lose their study skills

8 Helpful Websites:

My wife and I recently financially and prayerfully supported a young lady in our church that is taking one year to travel the world. She will be in eleven countries, which equals out to one each month.  She had to raise her own support of $14,000 for what is called the World Race.  She has the opportunity to serve people and explore cities around the world.  What an opportunity!  One thing is for sure, she will gain experience and applied knowledge through this experience that her entire four years of college will never afford her.

Bottom line…is a gap year worth it?  For most young adults, I would say yes.

If I could do life over again, I would have taken advantage of a gap year opportunity.  I would have been better because of it.

 
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10 Questions Every Church Should Ask

by on 08/23/2010 in Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Strategic Intelligence

1-Do we offer a worship experience that focuses on leading people to an encounter with God?

2-Do we have a clear system on how someone can get involved on a volunteer team?

3-Do we an intentional strategy to equip, develop, and release volunteer leaders?

4-Do we care about what Jesus really did for humanity?

5-Do we put a lot of our church budget into growing the young generation of leaders?

6-Do we need to cut out some things in order to give attention to more important elements?

7-Do we need to reassign/remove a team member?

8-Do we create an encore experience for our guests?

9-Do we really give room for the Holy Spirit to work?

10-Do we care about our community?

 
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Save Their Future Now

by on 08/19/2010 in Leadership Development, Millennial Generation

My good friend and colleague, Tim Elmore, just released his newest book, Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future.  I believe this is the best book he has ever written.  If you have a young adult or work with young adults born since 1990, then you MUST read this book.

Take a couple of minutes to watch this video.

Who is Gen iY?

To see how well you know Gen iY, take one of the quizzes.

Sign the online declaration.

Buy the book here.

 
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Process Leadership In An Instant World

by on 08/18/2010 in Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation

Texting – send a message now and receive a reply right away

Microwaves – put food in and it cooks with hardly any wait

Digital cameras – take a picture and immediately your image is on the screen

Social media – make a comment and instantly it pops up

This quick and instant world we find ourselves living in has influenced the way a person grows as a leader.

On top of that, we find a current generation accustomed to instant gratification.  This also plays a significant role in how one grows as a leader.

What do do?

Leadership is a process and not a polaroid delivery system.

My friend, Tim Elmore, often says, “…it is the process that changes you.”

We grow as leaders through a process. This process can be fun, lively, painful, lonely, and full of learning experiences and when translated can help one grow to become a more effective leader.  If you hurry the process, which I have been guilty of, you could miss the most important developmental moments that could accelerate your influence. If you buy into the instant mentality your growth as a leader will be stunted.

What might a process include:

  • observing other leaders (both healthy and unhealthy)
  • listening to people
  • reading articles, books, magazines, stories
  • connecting with people on a heart and mind level
  • researching failures and successes of people
  • serving alongside another leader
  • being mentored
  • mentoring a young leader
  • leading a team
  • increasing your self-awareness, self-management, and others awareness
  • being open to healthy change
  • becoming aware of what you should stop doing and start doing
  • finding a band of brothers
  • finding a personal board of directors
  • leaning into pain
  • helping to build someone else’s platform
 
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The Excellence Drop Off

by on 08/17/2010 in Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Strategic Intelligence

What if we gave away more of the ministry we are paid to lead?

For many church staff, there is a fear that the ministry will have not be “as good.”  In other words, there will be an excellence drop off.

Is this a myth or is there validity in this mindset?  Perhaps both.

However, what if we leaned toward the truth that “we is better than me?”  For some, they sincerely do not believe this is true.  They are doomed for failure.  For others that believe this is true, but are slow to make the move, for you there is reward.

Perhaps a perspective shift is needed…

If we fear an excellence drop off, maybe the real fear is that we will not train them well enough to fulfill their responsibilities.

Yes, they will not do things like you and me.  Yes, this can be a struggle.  However, we are not called to make people like you and me.  We are given the opportunity to discover who people are, where people are, and help them become their best.

Taking the time to create a system to deliver what we are looking for is a strategic approach.  Caution: we cannot treat our people as a system because this de-values them as a contributing person.

Do not worry so much about the end result.  Let’s focus our time, energy, and resources on creating a culture that focuses on the people.  After all, the strengths of our people is the greatest resource that we have.

 
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Survey Results: Books Young Leaders Should Read

by on 08/14/2010 in Character Development, Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Spiritual Development

Daniel Decker and I collaborated on a non-scientific poll via social media.

We asked one question:

“What are the TOP 5 books ever young influencer/leader should read?”

The raw data reveals nearly 1,000 book recommendations submitted by over 200 people.  The results of this survey slanted more from the perspective of those involved with some aspect of ministry.

It is worthwhile to note that the Bible was the #1 suggested resource.  We take that as a given since it is THE foundation for which any true leadership emerges.

You can download the final survey results HERE.

For a tease, here are the seven books leading the list:

Good to Great by Jim Collins

The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

Tribes by Seth Godin

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Feel free to share your thoughts on the survey results.

 
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Images Are The Language Of The 21st Century

by on 08/13/2010 in Leadership Development, Millennial Generation, Strategic Intelligence

We live in an image-rich culture.

Consider this statement:

THE CHILD IS HUNGRY.

VERSUS

Does the image affect you differently than the statement?  Of course.

Leonard Sweet said, “Images are the language of the 21st century.”

Research proves that most people are visual.  To go one step further, look at the money companies invest to create a visual that will firmly rest in our minds and hearts.  They get it.

Why do social causes use facial images of the poor and destitute?  Because those pictures connect to the emotional side of us.  Images initially make us feel rather than think.

Our brains process printed words and images in different ways.  The printed word is processed primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain, which specializes in logic, sequence, and categories.  Images are processed primarily in the right hemisphere, which specializes in intuition and holistic perception rather than linear analysis.

I never will forget the speech, Tribes, Seth Godin gave at Catalyst several years ago.  No, I don’t really remember what he said.  However, I remember the images he used throughout his entire speech.  He did not necessarily point them out, but they became the captivating and memorable element of the day.

I think about Jesus and his style of communication.  He used everyday images his audience was familiar with.  Why?  He understood how people operate.  Not only is the ear a God-ordained sensate part of how we interact with him, but the eye is as well.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says:

Images require two activities from us as readers of the Bible.  The first is to experience the image as literally and in as fully a sensory was as possible.

Recently I was speaking to a group of young leaders that were gathered from around the country when I decided to implement more images into my presentation.  Was there a difference?  Yes, the images said what I could not adequately say.  In addition, the images gave a deeper emotional connection than just my words.

Shane Hipps writes, “Words are brain protein.  Images are brain candy.”

The mind was made to generate, create, and imagine.  Creative imagination is a fundamental stage of brain development that begins very early in life.  Kids naturally learn how to pretend.  So when the mind generates a vast array of imagined pictures to bring a story to life, and then has them summarily replaced by the images of a movie, it is deeply unsatisfying.

May our messages become more potent by using images when speaking to people.  When they forgot what we said, they will remember what they saw.

If you are a leader of leaders and need an easy-to-use resource to help grow your team, I encourage you to check out Habitudes written by Tim Elmore.

I also encourage you to follow my friend, Ben Arment, who understands this element and does an outstanding job with his STORY conference.

 
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