We all have blind spots. You can’t see them! We can’t avoid them and probably will never get rid of them! Seems obvious, but YOU aren’t in the best position to see your blind spots or to know how they are affecting the people you lead and the relationships you’re in.
Here’s what I’m learning as I lead:
Your greatest strengths can also do damage to your team dynamics. You tend to think that everyone values the same things you value and that everyone is good at the same thing that we are good at.
NOT TRUE!
Over the next few weeks I invite you to join me as I read Strength Finder 2.0. Strengths Finder 2.0 is the follow up to Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton’s Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book includes a revamped version of the StrengthsFinder test that shows you not just what your top five strengths are, but also how you rank in the rest of the 34 strengths from Buckingham & Clifton’s model.
I recommend that you get the Strength Finder’s book. It’s a great tool to have on your shelf. After reading the book and completing the Strength Finder survey, I will post my results and encourage you to do the same. I hope this discussion will encourage you to become more aware of your own blind spots. Please join me on this amazing journey.
One of the primary tasks of a leader is to make good decisions. Good decisions require accurately processed information and technology has made ‘getting’ information easy. Computers crunch data and give it to us in digestible bits, but the human mind must still analyze that data and make the decisions. Because King Solomon knew that leaders must make good decisions, he urged them to attain wisdom and mental discipline.
A leader must develop a disciplined and prudent character so that they will do what’s right, just, & fair. The rub comes when the leader doesn’t know what is just right, and fair. That’s why Solomon cautioned that ‘inexperienced’ leaders need wisdom. Proverbs isn’t a decision-making textbook, but this wisdom-packed book is God’s gift to help us make the best decisions possible.
Proverbs 1:1-6 informs us that the proverbs to follow will help the reader develop the mental sharpness needed to process complex information. Even though technology helps us gather and manipulate information, a sharp mind must still apply solid logic to that information in order to make good decisions.
The proverbs help us to accomplish this goal in a godly manner. They sharpen the mind and reveal God’s insight to ensure that our decisions may be in sync with his eternal perspective. Therefore, I encourage to read these verses again, this time including verse 7. Then study the Book of Proverbs as a foundation for exceptional decisions making.
Question: Have you ever made decisions without consulting God? If so, what was the outcome?
Congratulations to the Superbowl Champions New Orleans Saints – they deserve it!
Last Sunday, over 101 million people (surpassed the season finale of M.A.S.H.) tuned in and saw a great game. Additionally, I’m led to believe the majority of those watching were equally interested in the commercials. Many commercials made me laugh out loud (David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay Leno & The E-Trade babies), while others confused me (men walking around in their underwear).
In my opinion, Google is the winner… Never thought a search engine would create emotion with a story just from searching…BRILLIANT! You’ll notice the ad needs no catchy music, artwork, or flashy tricks to tell its story. They’re no gimmicks, no celebrity endorsement, no Photoshopped images, or any dubbed voices.
It’s the simplest of stories: A guy gets a girl.
Even shows you that you don’t have to know how to spell Louvre.
Here’s what I learned from Google’s ad:
Their ad was simple
Their ad showed the power of their product by demonstrating it
Their ad told an entire story
The Google logo was seen throughout. (Kinda nice to know who the actual advertiser is.)
What were your favorite Superbowl ads & what lessons did you learn from them?
How do you stand out in a world where people are OVERWHELMED?
Two ways: SIMPLIFY and CLARIFY!
Recently, I accompanied Shauntai (my wife) to the grocery store and was quickly overwhelmed with how many brands and types of toothpaste there were. In the typical Target store, you confront rows of over sixty options, including pastes with whitener, tartar control, breath-freshening, baking powder, tube and pump, in over a dozen different brands (what ever happened to just plain ole Crest) .
Let’s be honest: We all FEEL overwhelmed. Our DVD players have more functions that we can learn. When something goes wrong, few of us know what to do.
Additionally, we ARE overwhelmed. Everyone you deal with is overwhelmed. Whatever you want to communicate to them, you must learn to do it simply and clearly.
The first rule in communication is:
Communicate so that you cannot be misunderstood.
Clarity inspires trust. We worry about the opposite: we fear that people we do not understand may be concealing something. We suspect the confusion might be a smoke screen, intended to keep us from the truth.
Clarity inspires faith. We assume, as jurors assume when they hear expert witnesses, that a person who communicates clearly understands her subject. I remember reading somewhere where a leading jury conslulting firm discovered that people regard “clarity” as the signal trait of a true expert!
Here’s The Point:
Make yourself clearer, and people will think you’re an expert.
What tips do you have to share that’ll help others to simplify and clarify their message/product/service?
Conventional wisdom says you need a mentor to help you get to where you desire to be. This conclusion, however, is based on a faulty assumption. The sources of this wisdom confused coincidence with a cause. No doubt many successful people have had mentors, but, knowing that doesn’t prove the person succeeded because of their mentors. For all we know, they might have succeeded in spite of them.
The reason that many successful people had mentors is that people destined to succeed ATTRACT all kings of people, including mentors. They attract mentors, fans, followers, and even HATERS. So the way to attract a mentor is to display those traits that will lead you to success anyway. Like begets like. Birds of a feather flock together. Will a mentor lead you there? Perhaps. Will one help you in some smaller way? No Doubt.
Here’s my advice: Don’t seek just ONE mentor. Instead, focus on doing the things that might attract people, including mentors. If you do find a mentor, make sure you include others. Remember, mentors are people, people are fallible, and even gifted doctors misdiagnose. Fortunately in many of those cases, the patient sought second and third opinions. YOU SHOULD TOO!
Having just one mentor is overrated;
having several is not.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
FYI: I thinking about starting a mentoring group this Spring. If you are interested and live in the greater Chicago area—please email me (urban.pastor@gmail.com) and I will outline the details for you.
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Best regards,
Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.
Here’s what I’m learning as I lead: 
