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Leadership Thought: Leaders Must be Teachers

 

Leadership Thought: Every leader must be a teacher.

Your job as a leader is to first be a teacher.

Before you are a commander, be a teacher. A commander who never teaches is simply a tyrant. A commander who first teaches, and second commands, becomes an instructor.  Remember, a principal doesn’t teach students; the teacher does! The best principals/commanders are those who taught first and never stopped teaching.  Every leader needs to be teaching every team member as much as possible, whenever possible.

Teaching takes time.

Make time to teach. Plan time to teach. This is why many leaders aren’t effective as teachers. Teaching is hard work and often slow work. There is often little recognition for the teacher. But, the most successful students had the most effective teachers. A leader who teaches must make the time and take the time to teach. A leader cannot pass by someone who is in need of education. But, this takes something else that is costly and time-consuming: discipline.

Teaching takes discipline. 

In order to teach you have to stop. This means you have to stop what you are doing, and make what you are doing the actual teaching. Teaching does not happening by osmosis–that’s called modeling. Teaching is disciplined, intentional instruction with accountability.

Teachers must give tests.

If you think you are “teaching,” but never give a test, then you have taught nothing. All teaching requires a test. Without a test, all you have done is transmit information or attempt to pass on information. This is called a download or really, an information dump. People don’t retain what is dumped on them. The test is part of the teaching process. And the test divides what has been dumped and what has been retained.  It takes discipline, discomfort and the willingness to be unpopular to check for understanding–to dig through the information dump. Lazy leaders dump information on their followers. Diligent leaders teach and test their followers retention of that information.

Teachers check for understanding.

One of the best teachers I have ever met is Jay Entlich. He leads a perennial national powerhouse Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.  He has been to the D2 Women’s Soccer National Championship two consecutive seasons. Jay is a great coach, but really, he is a phenomenal teacher. My daughters have attended Coach Jay’s soccer camps for years and one thing that I have always observed Coach Jay doing is something I heard him call, “checking for understanding.” He, literally, would in the middle of whatever he was doing and stop the instruction, stop the drill and call everyone together to “check for understanding.” It is a test of sorts. He tests to see if the players understood what he and his coaching staff were trying to implement–if they got it. If the players weren’t getting it, Coach Jay didn’t get frustrated, he just went back and explained it again or demonstrated it himself. Once he had ascertained that the group at large had the concept, he would then blow the whistle for the drill or scrimmage to continue. There’s no teaching without a test. Don’t download information and disappear: Check for understanding!

Follow the leader, follow the teacher.

If you want followers, start teaching others. People follow  the one who teaches them. If you wonder why people aren’t following you, it’s most likely because you’ve never taught them anything. Because, teaching takes time, you end up spending time with those you are teaching. This helps bond you with those you are trying to lead.

Leaders can’t stop learning.

Leaders have to keep learning themselves. The appetite to learn keeps you from every feeling like you have arrived. When a leader arrives, the leader relaxes. They want someone else to teach. The best leaders have the best material. Others benefit when you share your material, your experience and your life with them.

Leaders that don’t teach have a short life span and little legacy. Leaders that teach lengthen their life span and strengthen their legacy.

 

 

(c) Alex Vann

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Leadership Principle: Tend the Tree to Eat the Fruit

Leadership Lesson:

If you want to eat the fruit, tend the tree.

“Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, he who guards his master will be honored.”
Proverbs 27:18

Guard what you are given.

The best way to advance, to grow in your organization and to be honored by promotion or advancement is to be a great guard of what you have been given. Follow and protect what your boss has given you, before you ask or look for more. Think of your “job” as tending a tree or guarding the boss. Your job is not only to look after the tree, but ensure the tree is as productive as possible.

It will take effort to tend the tree:

Absolute Loyalty – Loyalty is all or nothing. There is no neutrality towards the tree. Indifference is the same as ignorance and disloyalty. If you can’t give absolute loyalty, move on.

Unwavering Attention – You must be attentive and focused on the tree and guarding what you have been given. You must allow discomfort or distraction to cause you to waver.

A Humble  Attitude– You will never be the tree or become the master. You may get more fruit and have more honor from the master. But you must always have the attitude of one who serves, one who is low.

Delayed Gratification & Appreciation – Don’t work for instant gratification or instant appreciation. Do the work because it’s been given to you to do, not to get a pat on the back or credit. Don’t work for credit, work for your master. Let the satisfaction of a job well done be your fulfillment and you will accomplish a lot more and out last a lot of others.

Refusal to Quit (Resilience) – Too many people never see the fruit of their labor because they quit before the harvest. Too many workers have walked away from the master before he handed out his rewards. Don’t be a quitter. Resolve your spirit to stay until the job is done and the harvest has come.

Do the Work – There is work to be done and a time to do it. If you want to eat the fruit, do the work. This means, take initiative. Stop waiting and watching when you should be working. There is no luck. There is preparation, hard work and opportunity. Those who take the initiative and go to work see the best fruit.

Don’t get tired of tending the tree. You don’t own the tree, but work like you do. I learned at an early age in my work career, work like you own it, but never believe you are the owner:  always answer to another. Don’t get tired of guarding the master. Know and embrace your role. You can’t lead without serving.

For the Christian, Jesus is both tree and master. Tend the tree, serve the master. He will both make you fruitful and honor you. He has promised both to those who are faithful in their stewardship and their service. Jesus was very clear, “No man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).

Who are you serving? What tree are you tending?

If you want your boss to bless you, guard him/her. If you want your field to feed you, tend it. Don’t get caught watching when you should be working. Don’t get caught dreaming when you should be developing.

If you want to eat the fruit, tend the tree. If you want the master to honor you, guard him.

 

(c) Alex Vann

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Leadership Lesson: Leaders Don’t Work Alone

Leadership Lesson:

Leaders don’t work alone.

If all of your thought, effort and energy (the sun total of your work) are all done apart from those you lead, you will never be a truly effective leader. Leaders have to work with those around them. In fact, they need to work closely with those other people around them—this is called community.

“Legions and fleets are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family”

-Tacitus

Isolation, when a leader works alone, weakens community.

The strongest organizations have the strongest culture. Culture is transmitted, stewarded and reinforced in the context of community. Culture is the sum of the values, standards and beliefs that are held collectively and are part of the heritage of the group. Each new team member we bring on board is being brought into our community. Each new customer that walks through our doors is coming into our community. Every community needs leaders who are accessible, present and available.

Avoidance, when a leader draws away, weakens accountability.

Every strong culture and strong community has an element of strong accountability. Accountability is where we hold one another answerable for actions, consequences and responsibilities.   Accountability is where a community becomes a family. The strongest communities are made of the strongest families.

Family is where community and accountability meet care.

Leaders who don’t work closely with their people, their teams and their followers have a much more difficulty time demonstrating that they care. Part of showing you care is being there. Thankfully, there are more ways than ever to connect these days, abut leaders must never forget that there is no substitute for their presence.

Leaders must engage, encourage and enlist others on each step of the journey for a work that is beyond what any one single member, including leaders, can accomplish.

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many” 

– 1 Corinthians 12:14

 

(c) Alex Vann

 

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The Secret of the Really Successful: NO

 

Redwall Leadership Principle: Learning to say no is an essential quality of any great leader or organization.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

-Warren Buffet

Success comes through preparation, hard work and seizing the initiative when opportunity presents itself. But, great success comes from saying no.  The truly transcendent leaders and organizations master the art and skill of saying no. Successful people have many of the same qualities and understandings in common. But, what is uncommon is understanding when to say no and then, actually, saying no.

Yes creates a series of new commitments: use it sparingly.

Leaders and organizations must keep their word, so when you say yes, you are committing the integrity of yourself or your organization into a direction. Yes always has unseen costs. Until you can calculate and count the cost of your yes, don’t give it. Reserve yes for things that fall in line with where you are already going. Otherwise, every yes that you give has the potential to pull you off course quickly. This is why organizations and leaders drift, because they are too good at saying yes and too poor at saying no.

Saying no is the key to staying focused.

When you say yes and you are responsible, you have immediately diverted part of your energy, resources and time into whatever else you have said yes to. Yes is a commitment. No is a clarifier. There is no focus without saying no. Saying yes to is the quickest way to lose sight of your target, cloud your vision or create complexity. No draws a line and holds to it. No sets boundaries and identifies targets.

Yes is the death of simplicity and the birth of complexity.

No is the greatest simplifier that a leader or an organization can have. Because, yes engages you to whatever you have just given permission to. When a leader or an organization gives permission to an idea or an initiative, energy, resources and personal platforms are created. People that have been told yes will fight to keep what they now believe is theirs. This is why there is so much friction in organizations that say yes all the time. When you say yes all the time you are devaluing the power of yes and neutralizing no. Everyone then begins to fight for their yes.

No kills yes.

No is final. Yes is continual. Many things (not people) need to die in organizations. No cuts the life off of unnecessary, wasteful and pet projects. No keeps people from falling in love with their ideas. Leaders and organizations are in desperate need of limits. No is the ultimate limit. Saying yes is often a sign of (a) I don’t know or (b) I’m too lazy to do the work of discovery and find out. Both of these you should instantly say no to.

A sign of maturity is in the ability to say no.

Immature leaders and immature organizations use no very sparingly and yes very liberally. This causes all sorts of problems: poor stewardship being at the top of the list. Maturity is often evidenced through discipline and knowing when to say no and using it is a sign of great discipline. Great success only comes through great discipline. And no is the key to discipline.

No says, “We can’t do everything–and we won’t even try.” 

No means longevity over popularity.

No makes you unpopular. But, greatness is not discovered or maintained through a popularity contest. Leaders and organizations are unwilling to say no because they are unwilling to be unpopular. Popularity is never a measure of greatness. Longevity is a much greater measure of great success. Popularity is present influence or power. Longevity is staying influence or power. Greatness is always more of a measure of longevity than popularity.

Jesus sure didn’t have a lot of popularity, but he sure has a lot of longevity. Jesus is the ultimate example of staying focused by saying no. He would perform miracles and then tell people, “Tell no one.” He knew his mission. He knew where he was going and where he was not. Knowing both your mission and your limits gives you ultimate freedom inside the parameters of those limits. This is where innovation is discovered, stewardship is perfected and organization’s strengthened.

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Matthew 5:37

(c) Alex Vann

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Leadership Thought: Leaders Keep Learning

Thought of the Week:

If you are going to lead well, you better learn well. 

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

-John F. Kennedy

Too many leaders simply stop learning. Instead of seeing themselves as a student, they see themselves as an instructor. You may be or need to instruct others in your role, but great leaders continue to see themselves as a student and apply themselves to learning. 

A good student knows they don’t have all the answers. A bad student thinks they have all the answers. A good student prepares for questions that may be asked. A poor student shows up and isn’t ready when asked a question. A good student stays humble–humble enough to learn.

Learning focuses forward, yet glances back. 

You don’t want to be so focused forward as a learner you lose sight of where you have come from. Simultaneously, you don’t want to get stuck looking back thinking “Look how far I’ve come.” Instead it’s a glance back. The glance back helps you remember when you were further back in the learning curve and reminds you others are there right now. You don’t glance back to pat yourself on the back. You glance back to see who is coming along and learning from you. The glance back also gives you a quick measurement of the progress you are making. But as long as you are living, you need to be learning.

Learners share what they’ve learned with others. 

This process of sharing what you’ve learned is different from passing information. Passing information costs very little. Sharing information comes at a cost. The best learning often has the highest cost—not price. Be willing to suffer in order that you might learn all that there is to learn. Then use what you have suffered through or struggled through to make the path easier or more fluid for others. 

 

Great leaders have great discussions.

Sharing what you’ve learned is the basis for a great discussion. Don’t fall into the trap of just passing and collecting information. Learners develop the art and skill of the great discussion. This is more than a text message or a quick phone call. This is a prolonged discussion that engages your mind, heart and soul with the presence of another. This is truly where learning often formulates or takes shape. 

There is a verse in the Bible that highlights this principle, “Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor“ (Galatians 6:6). As you have opportunity to share, share with the one you are learning from. This does two things: (1) forces you to articulate what you say you’ve learned and  (2) encourages the one who you’ve learned from. 

You wont lead very effectively for very long once you’ve stopped learning. Therefore, use every activity, task, assignment and interaction as an opportunity to learn.

 

 

(c) Alex Vann

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What the Most Successful Teams Have

Successful leaders have successful teams. Successful teams have a high function capability regardless of talent, number or skill. Because successful teams are able to cover for and carry one another. I have found that truly successful teams despite if they are in academics, ministry or business all do the following well:

“None of us is as smart as all of us”

-Ken Blanchard

1. Common Definition: Successful teams have a common definition of success. If your team does not have the same definition for what success is, how you will achieve it and what happens once you get there, then your  team will never have a chance at unity. Terms have to be collectively defined. Not only do terms have to be defined. They have to be accepted. Common definitions come from mutual agreements. Mutual agreements will never happen without some sort of personal compromise.

Successful teams all speak the same language. Diversity is great, but you need a “team language.” I don’t mean the same tongue as in English or Spanish, but rather the language of understanding. A team language leads in the same direction and allows everyone to feel like they are a part of the team.  Using hyperbole, sarcasm, innuendo, or inside stories do not help getting everyone on the same page and creates isolation among individual members. Communication is key in creating common definitions. Common definitions create clarity. Successful teams always function with simplicity and clarity. Simplicity, sincerity and clarity foster understanding. 

2. Shared Vision: Successful teams not only have a common vision, but they are actually good at sharing it. Successful teams learn to share. Sharing is simply a willingness to divide what you have with others. Selfish teams are unsuccessful teams because they aren’t willing to share themselves, their ideas or even their discomfort with those on the team. A selfish team is an immature team. A shared vision is a selfless act on the part of each individual member to sacrifice what they want or how they feel in order to achieve the common vision. In order for teams to accomplish or reach a common goal it will always take a strong measure of selflessness and great sacrifice. Selfish people will never give up their right to get their own way and they will never sacrifice. This unwillingness to sacrifice demonstrates an immaturity that says, “This team must be run the way that I think and the way that I want.” Selfless people simply say, “How can I help you get better?” Sacrificial people simply say, “Tell me what needs to be done.” This attributes to the shared vision. When you get out of the way, it is easier to see a common goal or shared vision. But, too often selfish individuals are in their own way of seeing a shared future. A shared vision always paints a picture of a shared future. The problem that many teams have is that individuals on the team don’t see a shared future with the others on the team. They will never find success until they do.

Shared vision presents a shared future. Successful teams always have a picture of a shared future.  A shared future is never focused around a single individual.

3. Unity: Successful teams always fight for unity, they don’t fight in it. A divided team is a dead team. Factions are the quickest way to kill momentum and delay any sort of shared vision and common goals. Factions are where individuals group together to do what they think is best. Teams don’t ever work well when individuals do their own things. Smart coaches don’t pick only the most talented individuals, but also the most harmonious individuals. A team can never achieve unity, which is the unanimous joining together without harmony. Harmony means that everyone is in agreement. The French National Soccer (Football) Team is a primary example. In 2018, they won the World Cup. It was a talented team, but the team was not selected on talent alone. Didier Deschamps had become the head coach. In fact, the French National Team had left the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 in shame and division with players even refusing to train. According to the Guardian, “he has placed the importance of squad harmony above nearly everything else. Anyone who threatens that unity is cast out immediately” (White, 2018).

“We have good players in our team but that is not all. We are a true family.” -Benjamin Mendy, French Soccer Player & World Cup Winner

Unless a team becomes a healthy family it will never achieve the level of success that it could without the strong bonds and deep devotion that are able through family bonds.

4. Humility: Successful teams will never function to their fullest without humility. Humility is a more powerful bonding agent than pride. Pride actually pushes people apart. Humility pulls people together. Proud people don’t like to suffer. Humble people accept suffering as a necessary part of the journey and are willing to suffer with one another.  In fact, humble team mates never let others on their team suffer alone. Until the entire team embraces humility, a team will never truly achieve unity. Humility is the willful lowering of self. Personal goals and personal ambitions must be lowered below team goals. This is a challenge for many skilled and talented individuals because it’s their ability that they see has gotten them this far. A single, individual player will never achieve what a group of dedicated, humble players can achieve. There is power in numbers.

Momentum never comes from beating one’s chest and saying “Look at me.” It is often the most selfless act that creates the most momentum. In fact, the quickest way to lose the energy is to point to individual accolades or accomplishments. Leaders must lead with an example of humility. Humility allows the team or organization’s momentum to grow.  It takes humility to forgive a slight. It takes humility to break up factions and cliques that are dividing a team. It takes humility to admit that you are wrong. It takes humility to take your work level to another level. And it takes humility to serve one another. See, successful teams learn how to serve one another and not be served. Arrogance demands others serve you. Humility serves others. Successful teams are a collection of servants. A great compliment in European football (soccer) is to be called a “servant” of the club. If more players took a humble, serving attitude more success would be had sooner.

5. Transparency. Successful teams may wear helmets, but they don’t wear masks. Successful teams are transparent teams. Transparency is the ability for light to pass through an object. It means you can see through it. Teams that are not transparent create questionable environments where motivations and ambitions are hidden, yet undeniable forces that actually serve to hinder the team rather than help the team. These hidden ambitions wreak havoc on a team’s ability to build a culture, find success or win a championship. Transparent teams are teams that work in the light, not the dark. The reason a team fumbles and stumbles is often not from a lack of preparation, but from a lack of transparency. When an individual member of the team suspects another member of the teams motives or ambitions, it creates a rift or a divide. These kind of cracks can quickly turn into canyons.

Transparency creates a climate for conflict. But, it’s conflict that you can see. Teams will have conflict. Conflict that you can see is conflict that can be addressed. Conflict that you cannot see is erosive. Conflict is not bad unless you avoid it or turn it into a battle royale. Conflict is a part of life and you will experience it. There is healthy conflict and there is unhealthy conflict. Healthy conflict actually is where differing ideas or opinions meet and worked through without penalty or punishment for either party. Unhealthy conflict is where ideas, personalities or the past meet in a collision. A collision is force on force where neither party wants to or is willing to budge. This is always unhealthy and destroys team chemistry. Successful teams have great chemistry. Unsuccessful teams have volatile or explosive chemistry. Leaders must take the initiative to discover and uncover the conflict.

Transparency creates trust. There will never be trust without transparency. Transparency takes vulnerability. If you are wearing masks or hiding things, if you lack integrity and character, then you will never get vulnerable. Many people fear vulnerability. This fear of vulnerability will prevent your team from bonding and trusting one another. Everyone has flaws. There was one perfect man, Jesus and he is in heaven. We all fall short. Acknowledging your shortcomings and your vulnerabilities if handled with maturity can actually lead to a stronger, more trusting team.

“Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability” -Patrick Lencioni

6. Forgiveness: Feelings are going to get hurt. This too is a fact of life. Successful teams must get over individual hurt, perceived slights and manufactured offenses. Then, they must actually forgive one another. They must forgive for things that were done and things that weren’t done. Today everyone is “in their feelings.” Successful teams don’t follow their feelings, they follow their leader. This means individual members of the team must learn to overcome offenses, especially when the leader or other members of the team are unaware that an offense has been given. More offense is taken today than actually given. So, don’t be quick to take offense. Rather, be quick to forgive. Forgiveness is not a blind mind wipe. Forgiveness is the intentional act of releasing someone from a slight, offense or harm that has some way affected you. Forgiveness is not only a gift you give others, but a gift you give yourself.

Leaders and teams who are quick to forgive, are able to be a more fluid, synchronized organization or unit and will accomplish more. Often, the overall leader will need to take responsibility to investigate the cause of disharmony. This may mean the leader needs to make an individual apology to someone who feels hurt or slighted. Forgiveness always takes humility. Many proud leaders harm their teams simply because their pride will not allow them to admit that they did something wrong or didn’t do something more that they could have done.

7. Love: Successful teams have a genuine care and concern born of love for one another. Until a team learns to take good care of one another, they will have a hard time reaching their goals. The path to reaching your goals is a difficult one. A difficult path takes a toll on those traveling it. When you travel together, you have to stay together. You can’t merely exist with each other. Successful teams go to another level: genuine care and concern. This means successful teams tend to the well-being of their members. Some members need more than others. Some members are able to give more than others. Love is the tie that binds. Love is the bond that you build from. See, without love, you will never have the heart that you need to achieve what you set out for. Successful teams have a heart that not only beats to achieve the goal, but really beats for its individual members. Love means when one suffers, all suffer. Love means when one hurts, all hurt. Love means when one has joy, all take joy. Love is the deepest and most powerful element that great teams have.

Jesus said it best, “Greater love has no one than this,  than somone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

 

(c) Alex Vann

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Getting the Lag out of Your Life

Lag is the difference between where you should be and where you actually are. 

Lag isn’t what makes us lazy, but it is the condition that perpetuates procrastination, sloth and habitual tardiness. Lag is the distance between what you are doing and what you should be doing. Very rarely, lag is intentional. Most often lag is unintentional and it is the reason that we don’t get more done, see more results and take more calculated risks. 

Principle: Until you get the lag out of your life, lag will lead your life. 

Lag is inefficiency. 

Your life, your leadership and your relationships don’t benefit from unintentional lag. You are living an inefficient life. You don’t have a fuller or a richer life when there is an abundance of lag in and around your day, your habits and your thoughts. Lag actually allows your life, your thoughts and your decisions to become more complicated and often confused. This is because lag creates unnecessary space between the thought & decision and the intention & the action. It is easy to believe we all need more space, but this is not true. Where there is unintentional lag, there is waste. A lagging life is often a wasted life.

Lag is not a reaction of rest, but a result of comfort.

The opposite of lag is margin. Margin is positive space that you create or generate because of your simplicity, efficiency and intentionality. Lag is negative space that is created and generated when you are unintentional, lackadaisical, and often too emotional. Efficient people create margin. Efficient parents create margin. Efficient students create margin. And efficient leaders create margin. Margin creates the opportunity for innovation, growth and development.

Margin is where we take new territory, innovate and expand our thinking. 

Lag doesn’t kill margin. Lag is the absence of margin. Lag is the presence of deficit in your life. Lag means you are behind. Many people don’t realize they are behind or rather, they don’t realize how far behind they are. When you allow lag to dominate your life, your thinking and your activities, then you will waste resources, energy and opportunity. Lag is an opportunity killer. The expression, “the early bird gets the worm” is true in this regard. Those who lag are those who lose out.

How to get rid of lag in your life:

  • Meet with enthusiasm
  • Take a risk
  • Shun comfort 
  • Stop dreaming and make a decision 
  • Don’t look back 

Meet with Enthusiasm. This simply means you need to direct the level of energy straight into the lag: get up earlier, work longer, make a better list and attack with energy. Enthusiasm means all your energy. There are two reasons we have so much lag and so little enthusiasm: (1) we waste our energy on the wrong pursuits & (2) we are half-hearted in our attempts. Learn to say “no” more often. Every time you say yes, you are committing your energy. When you say yes to the wrong things you waste and misdirect your energy. Don’t go unless you can give all your heart. This means don’t show up with one foot in the door and one foot at. Be all in when you are present. 

Take a Risk. Value what you can gain over what you can lose. It’s better to have risked than lost, than sit and fade. Risk is what keeps us sharp. For a Christian, there is no faith without risk. Risk causes us to tighten up and reduce the lag. You face risks everyday wether you see or experience them. So be prepared and make a bold move. Sometimes all your life, your relationships and your organization needs one, little bold step. Sometimes this is the catalyst to kill lag and cause margin. 

Shun Comfort. Comfort is a lag reinforcer. Production doesn’t come through comfort. When you think, live and relate toward comfort you will never get to where you need to be. You will live in the land of lag. You will never quite understand why things don’t quite work like they should for you. So, you say “Why try?” “Why risk?” and you grab another doughnut and watch the world go by. 

Stop Dreaming and Make a Decision. Laggers are those that are characterized by indecision. No one follows an indecisive leader…for long. There is nothing good about being a dreamer who never sees a dream come true. Spend less time dreaming and more time making decisions. Dreams don’t take you places, decisions do. Dreams describe places. Decisions make places. Too much dreaming with too little doing reinforces lag in your living. 

Don’t look back. Looking back longingly is a trait of laggers. There is a difference between a glance and a stare. Staring at the past will never promote your future. We stare at the past and as if we could bring it closer to us. This increases the lag in your life. The world doesn’t stop moving. But when you do, you get left behind. This is one reason why we fail to innovate and create and take risks, we are stuck looking back pining for the good ole days. They may have been good, but they are gone. 

You cannot be an effective leader if you live and operate in lag. There is a season for slow, but slow is not lag. There will be times where you need to slow the ship down or dock into the harbor and wait. That is not lag. Lag is missing a turn, getting left behind and missing your port of call. Leaders must lead with enthusiasm not only being in front of their team, but with and behind. A leader must move through the organization to ensure that no one part is lagging behind. Laggers are losers. Get the lag out. Leaders get the lag out.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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You are not a Leader if …

You are not a leader if you aren’t developing others. 

“The growth and development of others is the highest calling of leadership”

~Harvey Firestone 

Leadership is about development: both self and others. You can’t remain the same and still develop better people. Better people come from a better you.  People are like gardens, they need development–they need a gardener. I’ve changed my title to “People Developer.” This is my daily reminder and my public accountability that as the chief leader in my organization that one of the most critical roles I serve the people in my organization is to see myself as a developer and to facilitate opportunities for development.

Promote Growth & Develop Maturity

To develop simply means “to promote growth” or “encourage maturity.” There are many leaders who are hindering growth and discouraging maturity both their own and others. No one ever develops simply by showing up. Development takes intentionality, instruction and care. Even if you are not the primary leader in your organization, find someone to develop, someone to pour into–to promote growth and encourage maturity.

Becoming a Ruler instead of a Developer

If you are in a leadership position but not developing anyone else, then all you are is a ruler. The world has been full of rulers and is full of rulers. They look like leaders, but they aren’t. They rule others when they should be reaching out to others. To rule means “to exercise control over.” Rulers are more about control and dominion they are about construction and development. They seclude themselves when they should show themselves. They feel important instead of making others feel important. Rulers see themselves above those they lead, instead of seeing themselves beneath them.

A ruler, pure and simple, means you have the responsibility of the position and the authority it offers, but if you aren’t reaching back, with significant effort to see that you are personally engaging and facilitating development opportunities in the next generation of potential leaders. 

Rulers have subjects. Leaders have followers.

Most of modern leadership is simply rulership. A ruler has subjects. A subject is a person who is ruled by another. If you show up and just rule people, you will never produce anything but more jaded rulers that come after you. You will not create anything anyone wants to emulate. You will only create something that another will want to annihilate. Leadership is a practice of serving others in a manner that is emulated by those that follow you. Rulers are filled with fear. Leaders filled with faith. Rulers have subjects. Leaders have followers. Subjects serve you. Followers are served by you.

A ruler is a leader without a legacy. 

The only way to truly have a legacy is to pass on and pour into the generation that comes behind you and will go beyond you. This does not mean that they will be more or less successful than you. It simply means that you are personally seeing to it the the next group of future leaders has been prepared for their time, for their season. You are preparing them for or presenting them with an opportunity. The greatest legacy you can ever leave is to fully impact the lives of those that follow behind you.

Life is a series of taking turns. Leadership is preparing others for their turn.

Jesus prepared his followers for their turn. He spent an inordinate amount of time with them in close proximity sharpening them, encouraging and developing them. He walked with them, talked with them and ate with them. Leaders must spend quantities of quality time with those they will develop. A random meeting sporadically isn’t a pattern of effective development. Development is a series of observations and interactions that are intentional and frequent.

How effective are you at preparing those who come behind you?

The way to be truly effective is to keep one eye on the clock and one eye on the crop. You will not lead or last forever. This means you have one eye on the clock. But neither will you always have access to all the resources you have currently, this is one eye on the crop.

You can’t develop others without stepping out of the way. This does not mean you abdicate your authority, but rather release some of your authority. Authority like cheese is best served in slices. Eating a whole block of cheese isn’t good for anyone! 

The Lesson of the Bucket and the Cup 

I spend the majority of my time thinking about the development of those I’ve been entrusted with. They are not “my people,” they don’t belong to me. I am simply a steward. This means that some people are impossible for me to develop. I want those entrusted to me to achieve greater and better than me. My true success is in the production of their lives. Leaders are more concerned with the production of another’s life than being recognized for their own.  This is stewardship. And as a steward, it is my responsibility to draw the best out of them and prepare them best that I can.

Authority is like a bucket of water. I have the bucket and they (those I am developing) have the cup (God has the river). If they aren’t willing to receive what I am pouring into their cup, then they are unwilling to be developed by me. If they want a bucket before they learn how to hold and handle a cup, then they don’t get my bucket. Teach others how to hold and handle a cup (small amounts) before they get the bucket (large amounts).  The reason you get a cup before a bucket is that we spill water. When we spill we waste. Spilling from a cup wastes far less than spilling from a bucket. Cup before bucket.

Leadership develops Friendship

Jesus said, “As you are going, make disciples (learners).”  Your job as a leader is not to make a kingdom, a cult or a cast of characters, but a learner. The only way to make learners is to share your learning.

The most effective way to make a disciple or develop a future leader is to (a) teach them what you know and (b) give them an opportunity to demonstrate it. This can only happen as you take them into your confidence. They can’t handle hearing everything, but they need something. 

I regularly take my leaders into a closed door room and share my heart, my frustrations or my joys. Then, I get their feedback. I let them hear how I arrived at decisions. I ask them how they feel about things, then I tell them how I feel. See, I’m not only trying to develop others, but becoming friends. I’m allowing them into my heart and my mind. This is transparency. Rulers have friends by right. Leaders have friends by relationship. Some of the greatest joys of my entire life have been those that have worked for me to really work with me as friends and peers. This is the model that Jesus set:

“No longer do I call you servants [subjects], for the servant [subject] does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” 

~Jesus 

You are not a leader if you aren’t developing others. 

(C) Alex Vann, 2018 


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Leaders Can’t Stay Quiet

A leader has a voice. The voice is what leads the team, the organization or the group to victory. No voice, no victory. 

Why must a leader not stay quiet?

Here’s why: People are designed to follow AND people have problems. When people encounter problems, they need leaders to show the way. But, even before people encounter problems, even when there are no problems, humans need other humans to help direct, guide and prepare them for what comes next. A leader is most effective when he or she is preparing their followers for what they can expect or what they will experience. 

No matter if you agree or disagree, the truth is humans don’t pop out of eggs. We aren’t born at random times in random places by random circumstances.  Every human is brought into the community of other humans as a completely helpless infant: immature, unlearned and unprepared for life. This is why humans have to have leadership, because, we enter life unprepared, immature and unlearned for what comes next.

A quiet leader prepares no one for what comes next.

Until death, something is always coming next. This is why a leader must have vision. This vision is a combination of understanding where you are now and where you will go next.  A leader peers into the uncertain, murky unknown of the next and proclaims a direction and a future that prepares people for this next thing. This is leadership at its core. If you aren’t preparing others, then you aren’t leading them. And it’s impossible to prepare people you don’t speak to.

A leader’s lack of speaking is demonstrative of passivity. Going back to the Bible, Adam’s passivity was an abdication of his authority and a forfeiture of his position as a leader. He stood by silently (Larry Crab wrote an insightful book entitled “The Silence of Adam”) instead of speaking up to prevent disaster from striking. A leader’s ability to speak into moments of potential crisis when they are tempted to be passive can completely reverse the direction and outcome of what comes next. Adam let another speak when he should have spoken for himself. Leaders who depend on the counsel of others to speak for themselves are subtly both resigning and rejecting the mantle of leadership responsibility they’ve been given. Passivity always means bigger problems. A leader who doesn’t speak into the problem, is giving the problem permission to grow.

“A leader who doesn’t speak into the problem is giving the problem permission to grow.“

A leader never has a position without problems.

There is no leadership position free from problems. Why then do so many leaders think they will arrive at a higher leadership position and not have bigger problems? Because they’ve bought a lie and observed a failing model of leadership. The lie is simply this: the more elevated a leader becomes, the more isolated and insulated he or she is entitled to. This isolation and insulation are really cover for protection. A leader should be out front protecting their people, not having their people out front protecting them. Leaders need to always lead by voice and speak into any and every situation needed. If they are isolated and insulated their voice will (a) never be heard or (b) they will never be truly aware of the need of their people.

Look no further than Jesus’s example. He sat in no tower. He kept no court. he had no cloistered office. He had no security team (and he was a marked man). He walked, sat and ate with the people, his followers. Yes, he would remove himself at times to recharge and rest, but his primary position was in close proximity to those he was leading. A leader is never as effective from a removed command position as he or she can be from a front-line position.

Four Things Leaders Must do to Have an Effective Leadership Voice

I’ve seen that their are four things that really help developing leaders engage their leadership voice with those that they are attempting to lead:

  1. Leaders must stay close to their people
  2. Leaders must speak directly to the problem
  3. Leaders must develop a strong voice
  4. Leaders must have a simple message

Leaders must stay close to those they lead. This doesn’t mean you have to stay on top of people, but you better stay on top of problems. It’s hard to be heard if you are too far and too distant from those who you are leading. Leaders make a mistake when they turn their voice over to someone else. Leaders may have subordinate leaders, but they must echo what they primary leader is saying. Leaders who are too far removed from those they lead create a distance gap that lends itself to communication distortion and delay. Leaders must be close enough to their people to keep the delay out of necessary communication. Lag time in communicating kills initiative, motivation and message. A leader must never allow lag time. A communication lag means to fall behind or work behind the pace. Leaders should be setting the pace, not lagging behind it. 

Leaders must learn to speak directly to the problem. This means, first of all, a leader must rightly understand the problem. Thorough investigation is thorough understanding. Too many leaders draw no conclusion or the wrong conclusion without first gaining understanding. You can never speak with wisdom, unless you first have understanding. The Bible has a wonderful Proverb (4:7), “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Without understanding, a leader will speak around the problem or miss the problem entirely. This sends the wrong message to those who are having to deal with the consequences of the problem.

Direct Voice vs. Delayed Voice

Sometimes, the mission is the problem and the problem is the mission. But, even when this happens: don’t lose direction. Unexpected things happen all the time. A leader must be ready to speak directly to these things. Followers are much more forgiving if the leader is wrong & direct, than right & delayed. Followers need to know where to go. A direct voice provides security, certainty and direction. A delayed voice kills clarity, fosters insecurity and gives allows those in the organization to choose their own direction.

“Unexpected things happen all the time. A leader must be ready and able to speak directly into these things.”

Leaders must develop a strong voice. A strong voice is a clear voice, a common voice and an unwavering voice. A strong voice means that when the leader speaks, the words matter and they can be trusted. Too many leaders sit silently instead of speaking up or they speak and then reverse course as soon as they get push back. A strong voice withstands pressure and pushes through when push back is giving.  A strong voice resonates throughout the organization. This is a leader who makes a memorable impression on all those in the organization, or at least, all those who are actually following.

A strong voice is never developed through lack of use. Developing a strong voice is like developing a strong muscle. It is uncomfortable and often painful at first. But, strength is developed over time, not in one conversation or act of communication. The voice must be common. If followers find the sound of your voice strange, then you are too far and too infrequent with your communication. Your voice must also be common enough to be recognized because the frequency at which you communicate. Finally, your voice must be unwavering. When you speak to something, you must stand for that same thing. An unwavering voice gives those that follow great confidence in the one they are following.

Leaders must keep the message simple. Too many words can complicate things. Yes, leaders must err on the side of over-communication, but regardless of frequency, the message must remain simple. Too many consultants and counselors make messages too complicated. Every great organization started by doing one thing better than any other organization. Every great communicator started by communicating one message better than anyone else. Your leadership voice has to contain a simple message. Why? Because a simple message is easy to remember when pressure, confusion and complexity increase. A complex message in a complex environment is a quick recipe for a quick fail. Your followers are being bombarded by information. Your voice must be clear and your message must be simple. Simple messages are easy to follow.

Remember, not everyone is a leader. Not everyone can or will develop a leadership voice that is worthy of following. But, to be effective as a leader, you must have a voice, because it’s your voice that will lead your team to what’s next, through problems and into victory. People follow people. People have ears. Speak to them.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27).  The leader’s voice builds the relationship between the followers and leader. If a leader doesn’t have a strong relationship with their followers, then it is their fault for not having their voice heard enough.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Stop Calling God’s Name in Vain

If you are a Christian, please stop taking the Lord’s name in vain. This means please stop saying, “Oh, my God!” without actually crying out to God.

A Good God has a Good Reason to be Called on

If you believe in God, then by all means call on his name. But, do so with reverence, respect and at the appropriate time. I think most of the people that just blurt out “Oh my God” don’t even think about what they are actually saying or who they are actually addressing. If you are a parent, and your child incessantly for no real, good reason says your name like a thousand times, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy” it probably bothers you just a little. In honesty, it probably annoys you greatly and your response is probably not all that it could or should be. But, my point is this, if it bothers you to have your name called for no, good reason, then shouldn’t it bother us if we call on God’s name for no good reason? If you don’t have a good reason to call on God by name, then keep your mouth shut or say something else. God is good. His name is good. Have a good reason to call on his name.

I find people that don’t take God’s name serious, normally don’t their relationship to God very serious.

Stop for a minute and think about the most devout, most holy or most Christ-like people you know, do they say “Oh my God”? I doubt it. I think using the name of God and Jesus so casually is reflective of the casual form of Christianity that is practiced in our culture today. Stop for a minute and ask yourself: When did it actually become okay to take the Lord’s name in vain? It didn’t, but as our relationship to God has become more casual than formal, culturally we began to accept calling God’s name without purpose, which actually means in vain.

I am thankful that when I was a boy my parents took their relationship to God seriously. So seriously, that if we were watching a television show and someone took the Lord’s name in vain, that show was turned off and would not be turned on again. You didn’t hear a lot of people using the Lord’s name in vain. Among Christians it wasn’t acceptable. And no matter how much our culture changes, for Christ’s followers it will never be acceptable.

Trading Formal for Casual

We have traded formal Christianity for casual Christianity. This was never the call. The call is to a personal relationship. Christians have somehow started accepting a casual form of Christianity instead fighting for relational Christianity. We’ve thrown out formal and replaced it casual. Casual means relaxed and unconcerned. Yikes! If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, then you definitely don’t want a relaxed or unconcerned relationship with the God of the Universe. Jesus Christ wants an authentic relationship with you. Great relationships always take great work. Why then are we so largely unconcerned with our relationship to God through Jesus Christ? There are probably many reasons, but at the bottom of all of it we have seemed to accept that we can be a Christian, yet not be serious about Christ and his Kingdom. This is a great error and it explains why we are unable to produce serious disciples, we, ourselves aren’t serious enough.

God does want you to think of him seriously, reverently, but also with approachability–relationally.

If you actually know someone and you care about them, it is rare that you would misuse, slander or use their name as a curse or casual expression of exasperation.  If you really know someone, then you actually use their name when you are addressing them or speaking highly of them. If you know them, you can approach them. God wants to be approached by his people. But, just as a respectful child approaches his father, so much more should we approach God, our Heavenly Father.

It’s easy to say whatever, whenever about whoever if you don’t actually know them and don’t fear any retribution from them. You know why? Because the speaker can’t be heard. People who think they are out of earshot or out of hearing are much more free to speak what’s in their heart, thinking they will not be heard.  But, let me let you in on something that you might have forgotten: God hears and records everything, including every time you have misused his name. Nothing is hidden from God (Hebrews 4:13).

What does it mean to “take the Lord’s name?” and is it still relevant today?

Isn’t it offensive to you for someone to lie about you and misrepresent your name? Of course it is. God feels the same way. How do I know this? Because the first time that God clarified what he expected from man (so that man was without excuse) God said (Exodus 20:7),

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

This expression “in vain” means “with emptiness,” “nothingness” or “falsehood.” So, when someone takes the Lord God’s name in vain, they are saying his name as nothing and simultaneously denying his character. A lot of Christians say the Lord’s name in vain. They have heard it said so much and they themselves have said it so often, that they don’t even hear themselves saying it.  Hearing God’s name used in vain (or Jesus’s name) should make you cringe, especially if it comes out of your own mouth! It should be like nails on a chalkboard to your soul. You know why? Because, if you are a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Member of the Trinity, lives in your soul. He doesn’t like to hear his name misused, misrepresented or misspoke. It is offensive to him. It grieves him.

Your words matter. Someone will argue that we are in now in the New Covenant and that we are under grace, so it really doesn’t matter what we say. Well, they would be flat wrong. Jesus said (Matthew 12:36-37),

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Old Covenant was not thrown out like expired milk, although some would have you to believe that. We just now understand that we wipe the foam off the top to get to the whole milk underneath. The power behind/under the principles that were revealed under the Law certainly remain. Yes, we are under grace, but grace is not to be cheap or wasted. We are to be serious in our understanding and not stay as children with immature understanding and careless, unconcerned habits. We must grow more serious the more wicked our world becomes.

Think before you Speak

How do we sing God’s name in one breath and then use it as an exasperation with the next breath. The same person that will sing songs to Jesus in worship in the sanctuary or in their car will the very same day say “Oh, my God!” when they are cut off by another car in the church parking lot or spill their coffee in their car. Think more about Jesus and you won’t accept his name being misused coming out of your mouth. I think most Christians today haven’t been taught not to misuse his name. The world will always misuse his name, but we shouldn’t. We are called into God’s family, why then would, we, ourselves use the name of our Most High Father with anything but reverence?

“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148:13

Don’t take his name. Don’t use his name. Don’t curse his name.

Praise His name.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018