YOUR ATTITUDE IS YOUR ALTITUDE

Dare to Serve Reflection: How do you think about the people you lead? Last night I enjoyed a dinner conversation with a Popeyes leader who oversees more than a dozen restaurants. In our chat, we were reflecting on how grateful we both were for the momentum in our business – and how blessed we felt to be a part of this company. I was so impressed with this person’s genuine love of the restaurant business. It led me to ask him to share a bit about his family history.

He told me about his grandparents. He had spent summers with them – working the land. Learning what hard work looks like. Learning what it means to serve others – the workers on the farm. Learning how to prepare food from the barn and the garden. A hard life in many ways, but a place to learn how to love others, do productive work, and treasure the simple things. He then said – “I think this is where I learned my love for the restaurant business.”

And then I understood so much about the man – his values, his perspective, and his attitude. His mindset was – “I can find joy in serving others, in working hard, and in treasuring life shared with the people in our restaurants.” Wow. I want to work for him. Wouldn’t you?

When I joined Popeyes in 2007, we were suffering from a lot of things. Discouragement, disappointment, skepticism, frustration, and more. Our employees had watched multiple leaders come and go without a turnaround of the business. Our franchise owners were exasperated at the poor performance. Our board wanted to know what was wrong. Our shareholders wanted their investment to provide a return.

We needed new results to be sure. But to get there, we also needed a new attitude. We needed to think freshly about our work. Why it is valuable? Why do we want to work hard to solve the problems? Why we want to serve the Popeyes family well? Without a fresh mindset about the work, we would have been doomed to repeating history.

Is your attitude determining your altitude?

What emotions do you have about your workplace today? How will your mindset affect your work today? What could you do to approach the work freshly and positively?

Serving Performs.

Are You Interested In Becoming An “Exemplary Leader”?

You may have been born with some leadership traits but an Exemplary Leader is created over time and of course the whole process starts with a right spirit toward God. You see we’ve been created for excellence and to operate with a Spirit of Excellence.

The mind ultimately becomes a battlefield where God’s vision, desire, and action mapping for our lives collide with soulish emotional issues like insecurity, worry, anxiety, doubt, fear, etc.

An Exemplary Leader creates a lifestyle of seeking, obtaining and imparting Insight, Growth, Impact and Legacy as is the focus of Convene.

You begin this journey with the end in mind, “What legacy do I want to leave this earth with?”, “How can I best honor God with my life” and work backwards from there. This vision of a future state actually starts attracting resources to fulfill your vision of legacy. I often say that where God’s vision is for you that’s where His provision will be and where it will start showing up. “Seek FIRST The Kingdom of God and all that you will need will be added unto you.”

“How do I know His vision / legacy for my life”, you ask? Well, it’s in His Word and it is in your desires; “When we delight ourselves in the Lord He give us the desires of our hearts”. When we are God focused, dwelling in His presence continually, living in the awareness of His presence He places His desires for us in our hearts to be acted upon. Jesus says to us, “My sheep hear My voice”…. “The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord”. On a business level and as a business and organization leader, a CEO | Business Owner | Solo Entrepreneur, how are you going to develop into an Exemplary Leader? A leader who inspires others, drives people toward excellence, holds people accountable, instills a sense of trust promoting sustainability and profitability for your organization honoring God in the process and changing the culture?

Learning what exactly makes an Exemplary Leader is your first step. Among other things, an Exemplary Leader centers around character, purpose, integrity and values all converging creating a leader driven by a Spirit Of Excellence and this attitude, “Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.”

Manifesting a Spirit of Excellence is allowing the manifested Glory of God to be seen.

Here are a few initial steps to start taking in order to becoming the Exemplary Leader you’ve always wanted to be:

1. Defining Your “WHY”! | Establishing Your Vision

What is the “one thing” that, as a business, you are most passionate about, solves a problem, and honors God? “And He who sent Me is [always] with Me; He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.” Jesus

What is your “Why” [vision / purpose]? What are we in business to provide a solution for?

The most useful vision statements are laser focused on your primary customers desired results; a solution that solves a problem. “I have come to seek and save the lost” Jesus stated.

What ‘need’ are we developing a solution for?

In conjunction, “What’s” the one thing you must measure to know if your successful.

When there is a big enough reason “Why” [vision / purpose], you will always figure out the “how”. What purpose and passion [The Why] is burning in your soul for your business?

Vision should then result in priorities being established; it is about getting and remaining focused on it. Laser-Focused.

2. Self-Control

“… the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control…. those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.”

Exemplary Leaders are effective and efficient, exercising the character quality of self-control; self-discipline and willpower in order to stay focused on the big picture, stay the course, and create enough margin in your life in order to focus and keep driving toward the vision. “Do everything decently and in order.”

Self-Control as well has to do with inner motivation; pleasing God or seeking people’s approval.

Exemplary Leaders establish clear goals and objectives, leading others on the journey to manifesting excellence. An Exemplary Leader develops a clearly articulated vision [The Why] for their business and the self-control to become laser-focused on bring the vision into reality.

This laser-focused approach includes creating the right business model and organizational design: systems, structure, strategy, style, staff, shared values, and skills. The truth is, “organizations function the way they are designed to function”. It is up to the leader to create the environment and culture to realize the vision, honoring God in the process and influencing the marketplace toward the Kingdom of God.

Self-Control, among other things, has to do with following through in everything you do and measuring the results of the core activities that drive the business to its intended vision. Remember, what you don’t measure you can’t manage and targeted adjustments are not possible.

Being strong in your resolve and resisting the inevitable temptation to give up, or lose your identity for short term gain you are honoring God and setting an example for others to live up to. Jesus was tempted in this way and He responded with, “It is written”. His identity was clear and His mission was non-negotiable.

3. KEEPING A “CLEARLY DEFINED VISION” IN FRONT OF PEOPLE

This has to do with keeping the corporate mandate visible. Mandate is something you do that you would die to accomplish.

God has created us with a desire to be involved in a cause and we operate better together when the cause is clearly understood by everyone. What is your “Why”?

The people you are leading need to completely understand the vision of the enterprise in order to gain meaning in their work, share your vision and work ethic in a heartfelt way. Every step of the way, communicate with your team to make sure they’re on the same wavelength and know what you expect of them.

The implementation of a defined vision requires a defined method. You need a plan, a method, a course of action in which you’ve gotten those around you involved in.

A mandate requires a having a razor fixation which then engages people. Take that a step further and get them involved in the planning process. This gives everyone a greater sense of ownership toward the end result; it results in greater retention and sustainability leading to greater customer satisfaction, profitability and legacy generating. This honors God.

“But I do not consider my life as something of value or dear to me, so that I may [with joy] finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify faithfully of the good news of God’s [precious, undeserved] grace [which makes us free of the guilt of sin and grants us eternal life].” Paul

4. VISION INVOLVES OTHERS

To me money is not the most important thing in your purpose. What we need more than money is people. In God’s Kingdom and Way of acting and behaving money is considered temporal and a “little thing” but people’s souls are for eternity.

Vision and Purpose involves others. It requires us to become “others focused” and not “self-focused”. How do you help the people around you grow and improve? Provide for their families? How do you teach, lead, and succeed together. How do you disciple people in a marketplace environment?

Exemplary Leader praises highly and in public while criticize constructively and in private. The way you praise and criticize others can make all the difference.

Publicly praising the people who do excellent work for you will feel a sense of accomplishment and the drive to do even better.

When someone does something wrong, offer constructive criticism and do it privately. Suggest solutions on how they can improve and take the time to answer any questions. They’ll accept your input more willingly if they know it’s done to help and not to harm.

Exemplary Leaders make it a point to understand their people. You can’t truly lead a group of people unless you truly understand their hopes, dreams, struggles, pains, and goals. All the good intentions in the world mean nothing unless you have a true sense of the people you’re working with.

Getting to know each other on a personal level will strengthen the bond between you. They’ll want to do better for you because you’re more than just a “boss”, you care.

Be their leader, first, and their friend second. You’re their leader and that means that you have to make difficult decisions from time to time. These decisions cannot be affected by personal relationships.

Choose your emotional response to a situation carefully. Sometimes you’ll need to practice the art of silencing your inner thoughts when they’re not appropriate in order to set a positive example. “Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.” One way we exalt God is by the way we treat others with love and compassion. Make the hard call. There are times when you have to bite the bullet and make some unpleasant decisions. Firing, demoting, and holding people accountable for their actions can be very hard at times. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to handle these matters. Being Christ like in how you handle it is how you please and honor God.

No matter where your leadership role takes you, believe that you can be a strong leader. Remember that in order to lead others, you must be disciplined yourself. After all, your actions will speak louder than anything you can say.

In order to gain the respect of others and honor God in the process, strive to lead by Christ’s example in every area of your life. You’ll be well on your way to becoming an Exemplary Leader!

“You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character], because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].”

Riding a Bike In Tuscany Taught Me Why People Don’t Set Goals

I learn a lot riding my bike. We’re in Tuscany for a month and today was the sixth day of riding. Twenty glorious days to go. The first day, and every day since, I simply decided which direction I was going (north, south, toward the hills, away from them, etc.), then got on my bike and went.

Living For The Moment I have spent hours each day blissfully unaware of where I am, just riding through the countryside, impulsively going left, right or straight as it seemed right for the moment. The future and the past don’t play into the decision. I’m just “living for the moment.” But each day I have to find my way back to our fairly remote, countryside villa south of Lucca. The first day it took an hour to find home on these winding roads (even with a digital map), where I could easily have done it in 20 minutes if I knew the area. Each day since it has gotten easier.

“I Just Don’t Know Where I Am” Every day my wife, Diane, and daughter, Laura have asked me, “Were you lost?”, to which I always reply, “I’m never lost, I just don’t know where I am.” Today, I was going through the process of finding my way home, and on an unusually straight stretch of road with time to think, I realized that I get a little perturbed right around this time in every ride, because now I’m actually trying to get somewhere.

That’s when I figured out why people don’t set goals. Because they answer the question the way I did—“I’m not lost, I just don’t know where I am.” On that same late stretch today where I was now trying to hone in on the villa, I realized that I actually do get lost, and I do it once on every ride; when I’m trying to get home; when I finally have a goal.

Measuring Progress Requires a Goal In Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which direction she should go. He responds wisely with the question, “Where are you going?” Alice says, “I don’t know”, to which the Cat replies, “Then either road will do.” And off she goes, enjoying her adventure.

When I have nowhere I need to be, I’m simply on a glorious adventure with no constraints, no rules, no timelines, and no pressure to perform. Nothing to measure in the long run. I truly am not lost, I just don’t know where I am. But that’s okay, because I have nowhere I need to be.

But as soon as I ask, “Where is home?”, I’m immediately lost, because now I have somewhere I need to be, and at first I don’t know how to get there. My stress level goes up a bit, and I start getting frustrated that I missed a turn, or have to backtrack, when minutes before, I would not have seen any of those activities as missteps. I’m now “failing” (we should call it practice or learning) where I used to have no measure of such a thing.

Too often we see that kind of pressure as negative stuff. But something else comes into focus as soon as I ask, “Where is home?” Instead of just wandering around, for the first time, I’m immediately measuring progress toward some potentially positive future goal.

Living On Purpose All six bike rides getting home have come with a big sense of accomplishment by just finding our remote villa. The same is true on a grander scale with chasing my own personal Big Why, which is To Live Well By Doing Good. Things worth accomplishing always involve a challenge, some stress, and clear measurement of progress.

But utter clarity on where you are going and what it looks like when you get there, makes all that worth it. We can live reactively and any road will do, or we can live on purpose, design our future, and become intentional about getting somewhere. We get what we intend, not what we hope for.

“Where Are You Going?” Nobody’s lost until they have a destination in mind. We shouldn’t ask people if they are lost. It’s a negative question that assumes incompetence. We should instead ask them if they know where they are going; where they want to end up. That’s an interesting challenge that just might change their lives.

Some people work hard at being confused because when they are confused, they are not responsible. “There are so many good choices of where I could end up, I just don’t know which road to take.” The ability to measure progress is sometimes threatening, but a man still finds his destiny on the path he chose to avoid it. You will end up somewhere, the question is whether by default or by choice.

He who aims at nothing, hits it every time.

Off to bed before a big ride tomorrow. Getting home is the biggest challenge I expect to face.

Where are you going?

Article as seen on Inc.com

4 Reasons Why it is Important to Grow as a Leader

How many of you were enthralled by watching the Summer Olympics in 2012? I know I am. It was thrilling to watch the Fab Five win the gold in gymnastics, Michael Phelps winning gold and then losing gold by centiseconds in two of his individual events, and who didn’t fall in love with Missy Franklin, the swimming sensation and sweetheart from Colorado? Despite all of their natural ability they worked hard to hone their craft. I wonder what kind of leaders we would be, if we devoted as much time and energy to grow as these Olympians did?

As I prepared to attend a recent leadership summit, I thought about why I carve out time to hone my craft. Growing as a leader does the following:

1. It raises my game. There is nothing like the stress of working hard to break through a plateau and reaching a higher level of performance. Several years ago I could barely bike 20 miles at any one time. Today I’ve completed several century rides and think nothing of going out for a 50-mile bike ride. Certainly part of this improvement was achieved by practicing, but I also needed to learn more about pedal stroke efficiency, interval training, heart rate training and the things I needed to do off the bike to become a stronger and better rider.   The same is true of leadership – we practice every day, but what are we doing to improve our game? 

1. It motivates others to follow me. People are not interested in following leaders who are stagnant. They are much more interested in following leaders who are energized and have great ideas and vision that expands over time. Certainly character and competence are prerequisites if we expect others to follow us, but if we’re not growing, the people we lead will soon become disinterested in following.

1. It helps me identify my blind spots. We all have blind spots. The other day I was talking to my coach about an area of improvement I saw in someone else. As we processed the issue, it became clear that I had a blind spot that was preventing me from addressing the issue in a timely manner. It reminded me again that leadership is not a solo sport; we need other people to help us identify what we can’t see in ourselves. Input from others helps me see things from a different perspective.

1. It helps me reach my God-given potential. Don’t we all long to be all that God created us to be? Part of this includes being intentional about our growth and seek opportunities for growth. There is a 2012 60-Minutes interview with Michael Phelps. After the 2008 Olympics, he spent little time in the pool. He didn’t practice to to point where his coach didn’t know if he was going to make it to the Olympics despite his natural talent. Michael’s challenge was to learn to grow beyond the accolades and medals he previously won.

Being a great leader takes discipline and diligence, even in the face of success. You can be good at what you do, but you can never be all that God intended until you cooperate with His purposes and are intentional about your growth and development.

Share Your Thoughts: What types of things do you do to develop your leadership and your character?

Relentless Attention to Vision: a Charge to Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Vision plays out in a specific context and via a specific organization, under the auspices of a specific leadership configuration. Context is messy. Organizations are complex. Leaders are not perfect in judgment or execution.  Combined, these forces collude, often unintentionally, to prevent vision from finding its way.

This is why we must be relentless with vision.

RELENTLESS.

How about some additional words and phrases to drive the point home?

Bull-dogged Dug-in Stick to the knitting Un-fazed Chained to it Persistent Geeked-up Our North Star Anchored Fuzed

Without the courage to consistently return to vision, to draw upon it, to let it open and shut the gate to what you will do next and defend the why of a thing, the vision disappears. We will think we remember something about a vision we once developed, but it will cease to operate as the leading light.

This is why we work through complexity to express vision in the starkest terms possible. It helps us sort the the messy context, the complexity of developing an organization and the inconsistent waffling of being human. Entrepreneurs, especially when completing original business plans, need to develop clarity of vision and the disipline to use it. CEOs, especially because they move in and among all of an organization's components and constituencies, must be absolutely relentless about communicating and holding to vision--even if it means not doing other important things.

Perhaps you have heard someone talk about the traps leaders sometimes fall into, making use of the ready--aim--fire metaphor, and describing some leaders as "ready-fire-aim" or "ready-aim-aim-aim." What this post intends to convey is that whether steady, all too ready, or stuck in an eddy, a leader with a commitment to be relentless about vision puts on clean glasses before they ever pick up the gun.