PHILLIPSANTILLAN.COM

Category: Leadership

  • Conversations//Bad Leaders and Brokeness

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    Ever had a boss you couldn’t understand?

    Ever had someone God placed as an authority in your life that you didn’t feel like they deserved your submission?

    When I was in college I read a book entitled, A Tale of Three Kings, that spoke about this very kind of situation.  I mention it because the passage of scripture that I am studying today brought me to 1 Samuel 19, which reminded me of A Tale of Three Kings.

    It’s no wonder that the subtitle for A Tale of Three Kings is, “A Study in Brokeness.”  In 1 Samuel 19 we see David willfully submitting to King Saul, who – at this point – was on the verge of acting like a madman.  We also know that at this time, David knew fully well that he was anointed to be the next king after Saul, but he repeatedly did not seek to gain the throne on his own efforts.

    I’ve read this passage, read A Tale of Three Kings, and am now re-reading this passage, but this story still breaks me.  Why?  Because there is a hard balancing act that is required of the follower of Christ to be strong in conviction and leadership, while at the same time being broken in humility.

    My prayer?

    “Lord help me to lead by Your Spirit with conviction and intention, but to equally and simultaneously serve with humility and brokeness – to follow you even when it doesn’t make sense. Because I know in the end your ways are higher than mine….amen.”

    What’s your prayer?

  • Clear Expectations and Follow Through

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    Communicating expectations you never follow through with is a leader’s wost mistake.

    To forget is human.

    To neglect is to fail.

    It’s not enough just to tell people where to go.  You must take them there. More than that – you must be decidedly committed to going where you want to lead, and you must have the passion, desire, and resolution to journey with those who follow you at a pace where they can arrive at the destination successfully.

    Pastors are visionary – at least they should be.  But pastors must also be good managers.  Why?  Because they are shepherds and that job description requires a lot of management.

    Clear expectations is vital to the health of any organization, whether it is a church or a business.  I’ve learned this the hard way in my experiences as a pastor, and as a business owner.  When I was clear in my expectations there was positive productivity.  When I wasn’t, it was a formula for disaster. But clear expectations isn’t just enough.

    Accountability must follow expectations, otherwise “expectations” just comes off as wishful thinking.  Most of all, a leader must follow through on the expectations they have set up for themselves.

    • If you say you’re going to call – call
    • If you said you’re going to have lunch – have lunch.

    Just ask a shepherd…leading a flock isn’t just done from the front of the pack.  A lot of times it’s done behind it.

    Is that clear?

  • A Leader’s Reality Check

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    Deuteronomy 31:1-2
    When Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the people of Israel, he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you.

    Note to self…

    Even great leaders have an end.

    If you lead to leave a legacy, it will go beyond yourself.  If your leadership is about you – if you find yourself saying,

    “This organization won’t make it without me!”

    You fail.

    Your end will come. And when you’re gone, your accomplishments will go with you.  There are many unknown graves that hold memories of “great leaders” which will never be remembered -their stories never to be told again.

    But if you succeed to leave a successor – if your leadership includes raising up others who will not only replace you, but do a better job than you – than there is a legacy for you to leave.

    Dear God, thanks for using your Word to always give me a right perspective on the way I see my life, my world, my passions.

    Amen.

  • Book RE_review: The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make

    105413lgWhenever I read this book, it’s always a constant battle to resist pointing my finger to people who have violated these principles.  While some of the stories shared in the book appear to be a page taken out my my life, it took intentionality and some humble-pie to find out what I believe are things I needed to hear. One of these days I hope to be able to pass down experiences in leadership like Hans Finzel has done in this book.

    It should be stated that in my earlier review, I mentioned that I had some theological differences with Finzel.  While I may tend to be less “Calvinistic” I have found that I agree with him a little more on the position of “apostolic-style” leadership.

    So without wasting anymore time, let me just share a couple of quotes that stuck with me this time through:

    • Great leaders forget what it feels like to be led.  Some have never even experienced “followership,” because they have led from the moment they were born – right out of the womb, bossing Mom and Dad around!
    • One blatantly irritating practice  of some leaders…is the use of knowledge – or really the lack therof – to keep people in line and in place.
    • “The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.” -A.W. Tozer
    • …we will only impact people spiritually and permanently by that one-on-one contact that can’t be substituted.
    • …top executives spend roughly 90 percent of their time concerned with the messiness of people problems (Bennis & Nanus)
    • When all is said and done, the crowns of my achievements will not be the systems I managed,  the things O wrote, the structures I built, but the people I personally, permanently influenced through direct contact.
    • When we become too preoccupied with policy, procedure, and the fine-tuning of conformity to organizational standards, in effect, we squeeze out some of our most gifted people.
    • “My greatest fear is that our best days were our past days.  I loathe the thought that we should fade into irrelevance.”
    • …dictator style of leadership is…”I know the answers, because I have been given special insight, knowledge, and position.  Therefore, I will determine our direction, for I am the leader and I know best.”
    • …fundamental beliefs about leadership: The greatest ides bubble up from the workers.
    • A man flattened by an opponent can get up again.  A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
    • I gave him the project, and then I took it back from him.  And that is what dirty delegation is all about…dirty delegations is…making decisions behind the backs of those to whom work is delegated.
    • Dictators nver delegate, they just look for the weak-willed who can implement their every desire.
    • The longer you lead, the less you remember what it was like to follow.
    • Don’t do other people’s work for them.
    • We can never communicate enough in our organizations.
    • Sooner or later you must put your plans down in writing and spell out your direction clearly.
    • There is never a time when more in-house communication is needed that when you first become a leader.
    • Effective leadership has more to do with listening than with talking.
    • Followers want to communicate to their leaders.  If you fail to listen to them, their very effectiveness and job satisfaction will be in jeopardy.
    • Whether dealing with followers and leaders, new employees or old, there are people who fit in organizations and others who don’t.
    • If it works, it’s obsolete.
    • Younger people are not just interested in investing their lives in the maintaining or fostering of institutional structures.  They want to go where the action is, they want to make a difference, they want to work in flat organizations, and they want to be in control of their destinies.

    Now that my ego has been bruised, I’m looking forward to being a better leader.

    Soli Deo Gloria