My personal life mission statement is “Growing in Faith, Character and Leadership”. I have been using that for almost eight years now. It helps me to stay focused.
This past Friday I was part of a day of leadership development at NewPointe Community Church. It was a live Simulcast from Atlanta GA called ADVANCE. The day was filled with great speakers on various leadership related topics. Since I was helping run the event I did not get to hear all the speakers. The ones I did get to listen to gave me some great insights and nuggets to think about.
I believe we must be constantly growing, if we stop growing we become stagnate and comfortable. To grow takes initiative, effort, focus and time. We need to grow in our personal lives, professional lives and relational lives. My passion is growth. I love to see people growing and changing. It really saddens me when I see someone after a long time and they have not changed. It makes me wonder what opportunities they have missed.
Today I want to talk about growing as a leader. You may not think you are much of a leader, but we are all leaders in some way because we all have influence with someone. If you don’t grow as a leader, your influence with people will not grow and you will not get much accomplished. Leading people is a challenging thing, especially if they are volunteers.
Over the past six years I have been leading in the church environment and have learned a ton. I have learned more what my strengths are and how to maximize those strengths. I have learned that leadership is relationship driven and that it takes a great deal of time to build meaningful relationships. I have learned that I have a lot to learn and a long way to go. I have learned that I need help from others that are further along than I am. I have learned that I need to be held accountable or I get off track. I have learned that when you make a mistake you admit it and apologize and ask for forgiveness. I have learned that I need to say no more often. I have learned to speak up and push back when I do not agree or feel that we are making a mistake. I have learned to keep my mouth shut when I am angry or emotional. I have learned that people will follow a passionate person with a big vision. I have learned that God is in control and I am not.
I could go on but I will stop there. I want to end with some nuggets that I took away from Friday’s ADVANCE Leadership Conference.
“Vision is a mental picture of what could be, fueled by a passion that it should be”. Andy Stanley
“What would go undone if you ceased to exist.” Andy Stanley
“Stop thinking of yourself as a problem solver; think of yourself as a solution finder.” Bill Taylor
“People don’t have to work for you to work with you.” Bill Taylor
“Speak up, never accept the boundaries other people have given you.” Kevin Carroll
“Maximize the day, you have 86,400 seconds in a day, be present.” Kevin Carroll
“Bring your authentic self to people.” Kevin Carroll
“People change for three reasons: Pain, Fear of conscience, Vision.” Dan Cathy
“Going the first mile is what is expected; going the second mile builds a relationship and an emotional connection.” Dan Cathy
“There are things we work for and there are things we wait for. It is a big mistake to wait for something you haven’t worked for.” John Maxwell
“For everything you gain, you give up something.” John Maxwell
“You can easily determine the caliber of people by the amount of opposition it takes to discourage them.” John Maxwell
“People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. All human beings need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority. People who see themselves as invisible, generic, or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing.” Patrick Lencioni
“Everyone need to know that their job matters to someone. Anyone.” Patrick Lencioni