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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We tend to learn much from those who are our leaders. For example, after I came to faith, I quickly realized that God was leading me into ministry. And what I discovered is that I learned a lot from those who were my pastors. Unfortunately, much of that learning was what NOT to do. Thus I realized the need to pursue those who provided good examples of how to lead in ministry.

My experience has been recently confirmed by neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. They’ve long understood that the brain rewires itself in response to experience. This is known as plasticity. And what they recently discovered was that success is one type of environmental feedback that triggers plasticity. Equally important is that its opposite, failure, has virtually no impact. According to this study, what I’ve observed is true-we absorb and learn more from success than from failure.

What little bit we do learn from a bad example is what not to do. But that isn’t sufficient to develop a good leader. We need to intentionally seek out and lovingly pursue those who are good examples so that we can learn what to do that leads to success in ministry and life.

Aubrey

In this continuing series, I am using an article from Inc. Magazine in which Norm Brodsky outlined 6 successful business ideas. I’ve identified some leadership principles I see that may have driven his approach to business.

Here’s another principle I see: (more…)

The experience of working with clients can be a blessing and a curse. As you listen intentionally to their mission, vision, challenges, growth opportunities, staff issues, communication shortcomings, objections to change or organizational dysfunctions, the result can often be overwhelming for them and for us as consultants.

The client looks to us for the silver bullet that will propel the organization to instant success. That silver bullet is elusive and in fact does not exist. Organizations get to where they are just like the proverbial frog starting out in the pot of cold water and before he realizes it he is boiling to death!

Change is a difficult but necessary part of life. In fact, it is a major tenet of the Christian’s life. We have become a new creation in Christ and thus begin the long journey of change – some call it the process of sanctification. The same is true for an organization – change is necessary and vital to its long term health and viability.

While recently working with one of our clients, I experienced one of those blessings that come along with my job. After several months of hard work with their team, wrestling with change and having the courage to look at their organization with fresh eyes, they made some significant decisions to be intentional about their programs and efforts to reach their community differently. That effort is starting to pay dividends in many ways.

We are now moving into another phase of the client relationship and as we make this transition we began to reflect on the change we have all seen. And blessing came to me personally with the incredible notes, emails and comments of appreciation from the client team. Here are a few comments,

“We were greatly impressed and blessed by the responsiveness and desire to understand how to best lead us in this (strategic planning) process”.

“You did not just walk us through a canned process, but you listened and ministered to us in a mighty way”.

“Thanks for being more than just a consultant. You have become a friend to us all”.

These encouraging words make the long hours and effort worth it. There is no silver bullet for personal or organizational change, but it all begins with a willing and humble heart.

Sometimes a subtle shift in perspective changes everything.

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This post is part of a series on leadership principles found in six controversial business ideas. Norm Brodsky put the ideas on the table in a recent article in Inc. Magazine.

Here’s the next principle I saw:

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In an earlier post, I referred to an Inc. Magazine article by Norm Brodsky in which he laid out six successful — and controversial — business ideas. I invited you to identify what leadership principles may have been in play to make those ideas successful in a business setting.

Here’s the first principle I saw:

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Anytime a successful leader identifies the maxims that lead to success, it gets my attention…

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