If I asked you, “Why do you work?” what would be your answer?
What if you could take three steps and not have to work anymore- what would you do?
What if convinced you that, at the end of your career, life will have felt like three steps and you’ll be left with reflections on how you spend your 100,000 working hours of life? I’ve worked with leaders who have come to retirement age, or have had to step down from positions of influence. It’s a difficult and emotional step.
I think the number of sunny days we’ve had here in January can be counted on one hand. Easily. Now, I’m not terribly seasonal in spirit, but I do miss the sunshine. One local counselor joked that Chicago should just put Prozac in the water supply in February. People do get discouraged during this time of year.
This past month I spoke with two leaders who, despite their prominence and outgoing persona, each shared of private seasons of discouragement. These feelings hadn’t thwarted their work in any way, but the persistent feelings fostered even greater disappointment in themselves… for being discouragement.
Yesterday I shared that we have our permit for our annual trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota. This controlled wilderness features some of the most pristine wilderness in the United States, not to mention some great fishing. I have taken a number of folks into this area through the years. Each approached the experience very differently and in ways that mirror how I’ve observed leaders at work. Yesterday I noted three self-centered approaches. Today, I note three that are more communal in nature.
1. Complainer – You know this person. Everything is bad. The weather (doesn’t matter what it is, it’s awful), the food, the fishing, the accommodations, and the bugs. They may help, pull their own weight, but each experience has a negative side to it – and he/she lets that be known. I’ve come to the realization that complaining (and its opposite) is a learned behavior. Doesn’t matter the setting, I’ve found that folks can choose to complain. Or they can choose to find the good and compliment. Effective leadership doesn’t have room for complaining – leaders set the positive pace versus pointing out the problems.
We just received our permit for our annual summer trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. This year it’s our “boundary waters baby” Sean’s turn to accompany us into the wilderness and enjoy a week of canoeing, camping, fishing, exploring, and dealing with whatever nature sends our way. I can’t wait and wish we could do a second trip this summer too.
A wilderness camping trip reveals a lot about a person, pushing him/her past self-imposed limits, eliminating the artificial elements that surround us, and thrusting us into an unforgiving natural environment. I’ve taken nearly 40 different people into the wilderness on different trips and watched people react to the demands. I’ve noticed some similarities between how people approach wilderness camping and working with others in leadership positions. read more…
I am one of the biggest baseball fans you will find. From age 4 (when Lou Brock had an unbelievable World Series performance) until now, I have been an avid St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. I even spent a significant part of my life writing about up-and-coming baseball players. I remember when we first ‘met’ Albert Pujols. A conversation in the stands with some scouts was interrupted by a repeated bang coming from the outfield. We turned to look at some unknown player was hitting line drives so hard that they echoed off the outfield wall.
The next season (2001) everyone knew of Albert Pujols’ hitting ability when he hit .329 with 37 HRs. And every season since then he’s averaged .322 with 39 HRs. He is arguably the greatest hitter of all time in baseball. And now his contract is up at the end of the 2011.
Every now and then along comes an event, movie, book, or music group that breaks out of past conventions and patterns. A difficult feat. In January 2011, I had the privilege to be one of the live presenters at conVERGE 2011, the first edition of a stylish techno-savvy conference for student leaders in youth ministry. The other live presenters (Carrie Badertscher, Derry Prenkert, and Clinton Faupel) and I coordinated with digital presenters to create an interactive environment for the main sessions where students could respond to polls, text in questions, and participate in various active learning segments. Oh, and the digital presenters for this conference were a youth ministry ‘who’s who’ – Zach Hunter, Austin Gutwein, Bo Boshers, Josh Griffin, David Crowder, Dan Merchant, Tony Campolo, and Kara Powell. Wow.
Here’s a video from the conference:
Last week I talked to a professor who complained about how college students don’t read like they need to. Frustrated, he asked his students what it would take to get them to read. One student replied, “You could read the books to us in class.”
Ok, uh, I’ll take that as an outlier. I hope. Still, the average student, according to research reported in the Boston Globe, studies less than students used to study. In fact, some people say people read less that previous generations.
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