Archives For Leadership

A Thirst for Criticism

May 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

It is a spectacularly beautiful Friday morning and a great start to Memorial Day. Please remember the meaning and purpose of Memorial Day. Remember those who have fallen serving in our military and their families.2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

Do you thirst for criticism? I can hear you saying “Do what???” Why in the world would anyone want to be criticized? Most of us have enough issues with our self-image as it is, right?

The thing is, is that when you receive criticism as an opportunity to examine yourself and to see if here may be a grain of truth in the criticism, then you have the opportunity to grow. You have the opportunity to deal with weaknesses or blind spots in your life and to become even more effective in your life.

Now if the criticism comes from those who care for you and you trust, then it is greatly important that you receive and reflect on their words. Scripture talks of the value of the “wounds of friends”.

So – do you really want to grow even more into who God intended you to be? If so, then not only do you need to embrace criticism s an opportunity and gift, you need to actually thirst for it.

Have a great Memorial Day, but do please stop and remember those who have fallen and then pray for their families.

BG

In Leadership, Personal Management , ,
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“If you take care of the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of your ministry.” – Life Action Ministries

https://www.lifeaction.org/

“If you take ca…

Posted on May 23, 2013 In Leadership
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Being Nosey Makes You A Better Team Member

May 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

Well good morning and welcome to the middle of the week!Barn - Keely's photos

Recently I received some strange advice – if you want to be a better team member, then be nosey! I don’t know about you, but I was taught that being nosey was impolite. However, after it was explained to me it makes perfect sense.

I love our country and our people, but there are some things about our culture that just get in the way sometimes, especially when we take a good trait too far. We value the individual greatly and we are individualistic. There are some benefits to this as shown by our history, however, there are also downsides when it is taken too far. We have developed a mentality that everything is private  and we should not “meddle” in other people’s lives (does that seem odd to you that while we are so private one-on-one,we share too openly online? Weird). In doing so, we have lost touch with one another – we don’t really know each other. To be an effective team, you have to trust one another. To trust someone, you need to know them and them know you.

So, get nosey – find out the birth dates of your teammates, find out about their families, their dreams, their frustrations, and so on. Get nosey and get to know those you work with and get transparent. Lead the way with sharing about who you are and see what happens. You just might see trust starting to build on your team.

What other ideas do you have for building trust on your team?

Have a great Wednesday!
BG

In Culture, Leadership, Teams , ,
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106 Excuses That Prevent You From Ever Becoming Great

Posted on May 21, 2013 In Leadership
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“The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions.” -William F. Scolavino

From a Tweet by John Maxwell

“The height of …

Posted on May 21, 2013 In Leadership
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One Major Mistake In Evaluating People

May 20, 2013 — Leave a comment

Good morning, I hope you had a good day yesterday. It was a spectacular day here yesterday although a tough time for others in the Midwest.Blue Skies Lauren 2013

Have you ever heard someone say that size someone up with a glance? How often have you heard that first appearances are everything? Think about those statements for a bit. Is that really sound thinking?

This weekend I was talking with one of our daughters about the wonderful complexity of people. We were discussing how even after many, many years of marriage or friendship that you continued to discover new aspects of the other person. People have so many facets to them and are ever changing due to so many different things.

However, as individuals that are so busy, we don’t seem to want to take the time to understand others, so we use “boxes”. We want to size someone up quickly and place them into one of our own predetermined categories so that we keep our thinking and our relationships in a nice and neat system. This is really shallow and lazy thinking, is most often wrong, and robs us and them of something important. Think about the following quote:

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.” Jesus – John 7:24

Jesus says to use right judgement, but most often we do judge by appearances. Some of us also have the foolhardy notion that some how we are good at doing so. So the question for you is are you judging people quickly by appearances and placing them into one of your boxes (categories) or are you taking the time to appreciate the depth and wonderful complexity of who they are?

It takes more time and is messier, but it is oh so worth doing. Take some time today and get to know the people you do life with a little better today. Go get a cup of coffee and hear their story. YOu will be amazed at what you learn.

Hope your week gets off to a great start!
BG

In Leadership , ,
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THE LANTERN AND THE LIGHTHOUSE: A LEADERSHIP PARABLE

Posted on May 18, 2013 In Leadership , ,
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Three Benefits of Wise Counselors

May 17, 2013 — Leave a comment

It is Friday! Looking forward to the weekend after a good, but pretty intense week.

“. . . with those who take advice is wisdom.” Proverbs 13:10

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, . . .” Proverbs 13:20

“Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, . . .” Proverbs 22:17

This week, I was part of a two day meeting facilitated by our team for a committee of the board of directors of a nonprofit plus some of their senior management staff. The executive director of the nonprofit was seeking the counsel of the board committee as well as that of our team regarding key strategic issues. I highly respect and like the people involved and it was a rich, rich time.

Scripture talks about the wisdom of having many counselors and for the last two days I saw that biblical principle at work. There are three specific benefits that I saw this week:

1. A broadened perspective – with a diverse group of people from different disciplines and a wide range of experience the view of the executive director, and everyone for that matter, was broadened considerably. We were all able to begin seeing or framing the opportunities in different ways and to even see new opportunities.

2. A more robust process – a couple of processes were developed in this meeting and with the experience in the room, along with a strong sense of collaboration, we developed much more robust processes.

3. Greater unity among the board members and the senior management – one great benefit in my opinion is that the friendship  respect, and sense of team deepened significantly among the board members and the senior staff members as they engaged intensely on the challenges and opportunities and emerged with some good results.

The benefits of having many wise counselors is valuable – if you use them!

Have a great weekend,
BG

In Leadership , , ,
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6 Surprising Secrets of Truly Great Bosses

Posted on May 14, 2013 In Leadership
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4 Very Powerful Things to Say

May 14, 2013 — 2 Comments

Good morning!garage window 2013

As leaders, there are some things that we just forget to say or that we somehow don’t think we need to or should say. That’s a mistake. In her article on the Inc. site Maria Tabaka lists four statements that she has found to be powerful and necessary.

1. I’m sorry

2. I was wrong

3. I need help

4. I don’t know

These seem pretty simple and obvious right? Yet, somehow they are difficult for us to use sometimes, especially when we are the leader.

If you are not using these simple words on a regular basis, maybe it’s time to find out why and then to start using them. They are powerful.

Blessings,
BG

In Culture, Leadership , , , ,
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