My regular biking circuit includes a pair of side-by-side, one-way streets. One runs east, the other west. They’re set up with timed stoplights so you can drive the speed limit without stopping.

It just so happens that on my bike (which I ride at much less than the speed limit) the westbound stoplights are spaced in such a way that I can hit most of the lights when they’re green. On the return eastbound leg however, I catch every single red light.

The restart forces you to get your heart rate up again. Breathing is difficult for the first minute or so. The legs stiffen up, and rhythm is lost along with time. Momentum is huge when you’re the one applying the pedal power.

When I shared that with my wife, she commented, “Well, at least it gives you a chance to rest.”

“Yeah,” I responded, “The rest is nice.  But, it’s the getting-started-again part that kills.”

The same is true for leadership. Losing momentum sucks the air out of your organization’s lungs. Restarting takes an emotional toll. Extra energy has to be spent, which means productivity and results go down. Rhythm is lost, and it may take a while to find it again.

And don’t forget: You lose more than momentum with stops-starts — you lose some leadership credibility. It’s like a tax: If the restart is necessary and unavoidable, the tax is minimal; if the restart comes from poor strategy or sloppy execution, the tax can be costly. Your staff members are the ones pedaling the operations. So be wise about how many times things get stopped and stared again.

Here are some questions that might help you avoid unnecessary restarts:

• Can you see patterns in your management that add to the loss of momentum?
• What do your new strategies look like to those who are pedaling? Remember, what looks like a great new idea to you might look like an unnecessary stop-start to your staff.
• If changes need to be made, what can you do to redirect without restarting?
• And if you’ve found some momentum — if you’re hitting all the lights when they’re green — what can you do to sustain it?

I have learned through the years to look for four qualities in leaders, whether they are men or women. I look first for a searching mind: a person who is mentally alert, who has curiosity about life, who wants to learn all the time. Such a person is always reading, always listening, always thinking about what he or she hears, and trying to reason out what is behind it.

-Ray Stedman

This year’s inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame included arguably the best receiver ever to strap on a helmet: Jerry Rice.

I wonder…

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Life Long Learning

One of the values we have corporately is the value of Life Long Learning. To live out this value corporately it means that we as individuals must be committed to personal learning.
This week I had the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit. I intentionally carved out time in my schedule to be in a place that I could learn more about leadership and get perspectives from fourteen leaders around the world. The speakers were men and women I had heard or read about in the last year.
There was a common theme in all of their talks – never, ever, ever, ever, give up!
We as leaders face all kinds of trials (actually problems) each and every day. They are people issues, client challenges, we wrestle with an overreaching government bureaucracy, and on and on it goes. These trials can derail us from reaching our goals and being the company or person we envision.
I too face these kinds of situations and actually at times say to myself – is this really worth all this effort, pain and heartache? Is this really where God has me to serve? Am I really helping leaders be better leaders or helping churches strategize and envision their future well?
This week I had the opportunity for leadership development. I intentionally put myself in a place that challenged, encouraged, intellectually stimulated me, and gave me many tools for meeting the challenges I personally face. The result is that today I am renewed emotionally, spiritually and can move forward with new energy and conviction – to never, ever, ever, ever, give up!
All this happened because of a value in my life of Life Long Learning. Our values do matter!

If leaders are so good at…

1. Recognizing the need for change in their people, and
2. Leading change in their organizations,

…why are they often so blind to change in their own life?

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It’s been said that while no one conversation will make or break a relationship, every conversation has the potential to alter that relationship’s trajectory.

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This is the last of a three-part reflection on life and leadership from flat on my back after recovering from surgery:

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This is the second installment of a three-part reflection on life and leadership from flat on my back after recovering from surgery:

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Donald Miller is back again with a thought provoking piece on leadership. His question? Does the church cultivate leaders or just church leaders? Read more »

A recent surgery on my neck reminded me of an article I wrote after a previous lower back surgery, one that required an extended recovery period laying flat on my back.

I re-read the article to reminisce, and found some leadership and spiritual life nuggets I hadn’t expected. It reminded me what we’re to be about, and how we’re to lead others as we do it.

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