Page 4 of 11

Posted on

The Leaders Toolbox: Committment

shutterstock_108972224

I typed the letters of the word into the search bar…There were over 208 million hits, and  at the top of the results page was a definition:

com·mit·ment/kəˈmitmənt/
noun
  1. the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc..
    “the company’s commitment to quality”
  2. an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.
    “business commitments.”

    synonyms: responsibility, obligation, duty, tie, liability;

I like the synonyms; dedication, devotion, allegiance, loyalty…each of those words conveys a larger story deep within as we articulate and ruminate on them. I think of images such as an impenetrable wall, a solid foundation, an alliance of people in the fox-hole together. The second definition caused me to pause…no, I do not like those words. Nails on the chalk-board, a high-pitched sonic tone piercing my inner ear or feeling of being “tazed” (not that I have experienced that) I don’t like words like; obligation, or restricts freedom and actions. I love my freedom. I want my choice. I long for the right to act how and whenever I want to to…but this commitment seems to be able to limit that which rules my soul.

There is definitely a love-hate relationship with the concept. Even in Jesus day there was a struggle.

There were over 5,000 hungry people in the middle of nowhere…

One little boy has five barley loaves and two small fish…

The miracle worker says “feed them”…

A  disciple’s trembling hand reaches into the bag afraid of what he won’t find…

But is astounded at what he does find…

A never-ending supply of bread and fish…

The people are full, but of the wrong type of food…

Jesus the leader speaks about the cost of following Him…

His words are confounding…

He is the real bread?

Himself?

Savor Him?

Digest God?

He was not talking about cannibalism..He was talking about commitment, a life that so embraced the Messiah that the soul would feed and find her sustenance on the divine bread.

That story found in the Gospel of John, chapter 6 speaks of both the delicious side of commitment and the side that creates a gut-check…

It is both.

Great leaders demonstrate what commitment means, if they didn’t, they would have few followers.

5 Truths About Commitment

1. Commitment is a product of choices not circumstances.

You always have a choice, even when you think you are out of options. The choices you make determine the life you live. The people who lives as victims of circumstances rarely have a deep level of commitment because they don’t think they have a choice. When we consistently choose to do the right things even when it hurts or has a cost, we are seen as leaders with a deep level of commitment.

2. Commitment endures when it is founded upon something bigger than you.

What are you committed to? Does it have value? Does it have significance? Is it bigger than you, or beyond you? Does the thing you are committed to have value beyond the tangible or the material? When you are committed to something or someone bigger than you, it will last. If your commitment is founded on you, or your wants only, it will be short-lived and will ultimately fade away.

3. Commitment is forged in adversity.

It has been said that “Great leaders are not born, only babies.” No one is born with a high level of commitment, we are born with a high level of self-preservation. Commitment doesn’t come easy, it is a nirvana moment found on the mountaintop, it is forged in the trenches when you want to cut and run, when you are giving more than you are receiving, when the path before you is self-sacrifice and not self-fulfillment. If you avoid adversity, you will never become a person of commitment and your leadership will hit a low ceiling.

4. Commitment takes courage.

Making a strong commitment is never easy. You will need to breathe deeply, pray hard, and act when you are not sure of the outcome. This takes courage, integrity and faith.

5. Commitment reveals what you value.

You you take a stand, when you make a commitment and stick to it, you are telling the world what matters to you. When people know what matters to you, they are able to decide if you are worth following. When the things that matter to you are bigger than you, and you consistently live according to your beliefs, your values will attract people who also have a deep sense of commitment as well.

4 Practices Of A Committed Leader

1. Walking The Talk.

The leader who acts with integrity and honesty will create a committed team. Key questions to ask, “Am I living out what I am expecting from others?” “Is my private live reflected in my public life?” “Is my yes, yes and my no, no?” “Can people count on my actions to follow my promises?” When we walk the talk, it reveals and reinforces our commitment.

2. Collaboration.

Collaboration is perhaps the most needed skill in organizations today. When we become silos of competition, we compete for resources and atta-boys all the while failing to share what we have. This negatively affects the bottom line and the organization fails to succeed or reach a fuller potential. Committed leaders care more about the team or organizational goals than about elevating themselves. Collaborating raises the game for everyone.

3. Building Up Others.

The leader who inspires, builds-up and motivates others tends to be motivated herself. When leaders get stuck in the accomplishments of tasks, solely, and fail to build up others, will limit the success of their team. When leaders encourage, inspire and help others develop new skills and increase their abilities, they are developing a highly committed team.

4. Practicing Vulnerability.

The days of pretending to be someone or something that you are not are over. In todays marketplace, great leaders are honest, authentic and are able to show some vulnerability.  Everyone knows you are not Superman, so when you pretend that you are, you lose their respect and commitment. Get real, get honest, and get results!

Great leaders cultivate their soul, when their soul is healthy they lead well and show their commitment. When others know they are committed, the field is ripe for amazing things to happen.

Posted on

Reformers and Fences

shutterstock_108545396

In many ways, it would seem that we are a world of reformers now. Thanks in large part to the power of social media, everybody has a platform to say whatever they like regardless of how accurate, intelligent or worthy their thoughts may be. Some people like to troll and cause conflict while others simply like to demolish the ideas and people that they disagree with.

One of the problems with this platform in our current context is that most people who are posting status update after status update, using their agenda as a polemic, seem to have forgotten the basic laws of logic and reason. What has taken their place, you ask? Emotions, opinions, and half thought through arguments.

In order to be a true reformer one must understand the scope of the thing that they wish to reform before they destroy it. Many go about reform the way history tells us Cortés burnt his ships in the harbor. While there was no going back for Cortés, sometimes we burn the ships before we have reasoned through such actions.

Today we are in the midst of cultural reform. Facebook has proven to be the new “speakers corner” as people pontificate, throw in a meme or two that agrees with their viewpoint, erroneously thinking that the picture and soundbite alone should end all other disagreement.

People are unfriended when they disagree, or perhaps more to the point, when they become belligerent concerning their topic.

The problem with the new reformers is that too often they have not thought through fully the reasons that something existed before. They have not entered into the “whys” of the thing they wish to eliminate or change. Some areas of reform seem easy such as ending human trafficking or eliminating global poverty. Some areas of current reform seem less clear to the populace such as gun rights and same-sex marriage. While boats are being burned, and status updates are flying, the conversations that are needed are being ignored in lieu of trying to determine who is right…who is wrong.

When emotions rule the day, we don’t ask the deeper questions, we simply want everyone to agree with our position. These are not easy issues, and before we tear down the things that have been in place for a while, we need to understand why they existed in the first place. Maybe they do need to be changed, maybe they don’t. Until we can clearly understand why something has existed, we don’t have the clarity yet to remove it.

G.K Chesterton spoke profoundly to this:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.

Dialog is needed today on so many issues from global economics to civil rights. It would be my hope that we could engage the issues with honest reflection, being compassionate about the other person, even if we disagree on some issue.

But before we keep tearing down fences, lets make sure we know why the fence was put there in the first place.

Posted on

Pep Talk

It’s true, we all need a pep-talk!

My wife played this video for me the other day and I thought it was great. I was impressed with this young guy and his desire to give a pep-talk to everyone so that they would go out and make the world awesome!

I wonder what he will be like when he is my age? I hope he will continue to want to be a Planet Changer and make a positive impact in sustainable and substantial ways. Sometimes that idealism of our youth is lost along the hard realities of life.

So for today, my hat is off to you Kid President!

Posted on

The Power of Teaching: SNQ

shutterstock_109442525

Recently, I was filling out a series of security questions for an online portal. I was surprised when one of the potential questions was, “Who was your favorite teacher?” The question caused me to think through all of the incredible men and women who have affected my life and helped forge me into the person I am today. My wife, Amy, has been in public education all of our married life. She has worked as a teacher, consultant, and now as an elementary school principal. This has given me many opportunities to see and experience education from every angle possible.

The level of love and sacrifice a teacher must exemplify when married to all of the  ongoing equipping and life-skills coaching required day to day is amazing. Here are some teacher quotes to inspire and remind you of the power of being a teacher!

A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Adams

What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.  ~Aristotle

We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own. ~Ben Sweetland

Grammar speaks; dialectics teach us truth; rhetoric gives colouring to our speech; music sings; arithmetic numbers; geometry weighs and measures; astronomy teaches us to know the stars.  ~Latin Maxim

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.  ~Albert Einstein

To me, education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil’s soul.   ~Muriel Spark

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich,  for the hopes of the instructed are better  than the wealth of the ignorant.  ~Epictetus

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”   ~William Arthur Ward

A good teacher is a master of simplification and an enemy of simplism.  ~Louis A. Berman

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.  The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.  ~Carl Jung

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.  ~Kahlil Gibran

A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.  ~Anon.

Modern cynics and skeptics see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.   ~John F. Kennedy

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance.  ~Abraham Lincoln

I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well”  ~Alexander the Great

He who opens a school door, closes a prison.  ~Victor Hugo

When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.  ~The Talmud

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. ~Lily Tomlin as “Edith Ann

Teaching is the calling that most reflects the character of God for it requires love, knowledge, understanding and grace.  ~Monty Wright