What's in Your Wallet: Revisited

Several months ago I posted an article on values called whats in your wallet. It was an interesting piece to write because at the time
values were a central theme of the blog. Of course they still are but now we are writing about purpose. By the way the third interview will be out within the next two weeks. I recently came across a post on MSN on the same topic. I thought I would share with you the link to what they had to say...


What Your Wallet Says About You

So let me know what you think about the post. While it has little to do with leadership per se, a wise leader will see that actually it has everything to do with understanding people and since leadership is about influence is about relationships and is ultimately about... you guessed it people.

I like the post especially because it pokes fun at my own wallet.

Lead well know your people

Ron

A Purpose filled Winter

Hi everyone

This winter has turned out to be one of the highest demand times of my life. I have to say I am fully engaged with work, with family, with church, with volunteering, with school, with hobbies, with fitness and with blogging. Unfortunately because it is last on the list the frequency with which I blog has decreased.

“High Capacity Season”

I get tired just thinking about the list above. It is certainly exhilarating yet it wears me down. This is where faith and fitness come in. These are my recharge activities. With out my time in worship and prayer, without time in exercise I simply could not keep up the life I am leading. With these activities I can continue on like the Energizer bunny I just keep going and going and going. The important issue though is that the only reason I can sustain this relentless pace for weeks and months on end is that all of what I am doing is aligned to my purpose.

“Check Your Alignment”

I shared my own purpose with you a few months back in a post called Finding Your Leadership Purpose. For me it is:

To make a difference in the lives of those I meet through my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the what, the how comes to life in my values; faith, family integrity, teaching, and learning. If you look at the list of activities I mentioned above you will see a clear link between each activity and the list of values. I translate integrity as a core aspect of leadership by the way.

“Stay the Course”

Most everything I do stems from or is related to one of my values and fits my purpose. Recently I was asked to take on a significant leadership role in a community outreach event. The event was massive, large budget thousands of lives touched. On the surface of it, the event fits neatly into my values and mirrors my purpose. To make matters more difficult the man who asked me to help him is a mentor to me, helping me grow in my faith life. What was my response to this friend and brother? I prayerfully said no.

“No, I cannot”

How could I do that you might ask? Well it was not easy yet I realized that as aligned as this event would be to my purpose, it would undermine my effectiveness in nearly all aspects of my life. The commitment asked for was beyond the resource I had available by so much that I would have had to walk away from nearly everything else I am doing in the next three months. Had I been given a sense through prayer that I needed to do so I would have. I was not and so I respectfully declined the opportunity.

“Learn More about No”

In my other blog I wrote a leadership tip on saying no, it really is a critical tool in a leader’s arsenal. I encourage you to join my mailing list there at developing leaders and consider it thoughtfully. I promise not to spam you.

Lead well

Ron

FINALLY!!! Interview #1: Dan King Blogger @ ManagementbyGod.com

A couple days back I was able to complete the first of what I expect to be several interviews on a “Leaders Purpose”. Blogger Dan King from Florida graciously agreed to be interviewed and also to be my first interviewee to be part of a Material Leadership Podcast. More on that later!

The interview with Dan was fascinating; we talked about his blog Management by God and how it relates to his sense of purpose as a leader. My original desire to include Dan as the first of several interviewees’ relates to the clarity his blog and the authenticity of his character. In Management by God Dan explores timeless Biblical wisdom and relates it to everyday leadership and management issues. As a fellow Christian the wisdom I have can also be directly linked to this important book. I felt that Dan had a story that needed to be told; a story that would explain how Management by God came to be and why it was so important. I was not disappointed. I learned that Dan was a principled man who has a clear sense of purpose and values that he strives daily to live by.

One of the aspects of the interview that made it even more authentic occurred when he was interrupted by a family member in need of a cookie. Dan’s clear sense of values was in this moment uniquely expressed. You can make no mistake he lives his values in an authentic way.

I asked Dan whether his blog helped define or refine his sense of purpose. Refine it he said clearly, this is a guy with a clear idea of what he is on this earth for. Dan is a teacher and a Christian. He has a mission field out in the secular business world that he uses with skill to teach timeless biblical wisdom on the subject of management and leadership.

When it comes to Management by God (.com) and its relation to my purpose, it has provided me with another opportunity to teach, in another way. It’s one of those things that has really helped me to live out my purpose, to do what God has called me to do.

How did Dan discover his own sense of purpose? He described to me being woken in the middle of the night and having God clearly tell him to teach his people.

I remember an instance several years ago, being woken up in the middle of the night. It was this very strange thing like the fire alarm in the apartment would go off. It would not even budge my wife, she would be dead asleep. I would be sitting there wide awake trying to bang the thing off the wall with a hammer to get it to shut off. Finally one night, after waking up several nights in a row at the same time, I got up and I said, “Alright God, I am going to sit here and pray and I am not going to stop until you tell me why you keep waking me up.”… I really kind of felt that (not in a loud audible voice) there was a voice in my heart kind of telling me that you are going to teach them my ways. “Alright God whatever, what do you want me to pray for? He repeated you are going to teach them my ways.

Well perhaps you are not the spiritual type, perhaps you have not had the opportunity to speak with God, perhaps you are a skeptic. Okay please remember this is not your story, it is Dan’s.

Higher Calling

In the past several months as I have contemplated how to best coach others into finding their own leadership purpose, I have continually bumped into a wall. Call it what you will higher calling, spiritual guidance, inner voice; however you define it I believe that the humanists get this wrong. There is something bigger than the individual at play here. The challenge is to find it. Dan found it in the wee small hours of the night when God reached out and told him to “teach his people”. This greater force allows Dan the motivation to continue in the face of adversity, to persevere. I personally find my “something bigger” in my Christian faith as well.

Where do you find yours? Do you acknowledge it or ignore it? Certainly it is possible to achieve some level of success while within yourself. However when you tap into a power greater than yourself truly remarkable things can be achieved.

Finding this higher calling can take a life time or a moment, I believe it depends on the person. I do recommend that you take the time to quiet your mind, to get into a relaxed state where the insanity and chaotic noise of life can melt away and you can for once hear things clearly without disruption. This may take the form of prayer, meditation or some other form. Regardless of the path seeking out your sense of higher calling is an important aspect to finding your leadership purpose.

Get Dirty, Make Mistakes

How do you expect to learn anything about your own talents unless you are willing to experiment? My conversation with Dan had taken a turn, he described for me how he had volunteered at his church in a number of capacities and through these his talents (gifts) started to come into focus. There is an old quote that says “you always miss 100% of the shots you do not take.” Dan and I agree that getting in the game is a critical aspect in finding yourself and uncovering your purpose.

Just going out and serving and experiencing ministry in different ways and discovering my gifts in different ways

This aspect of purpose may seem out of phase with the last section yet it is not. You see this discovery process is not linear. We are not baking a cake here; no we are making a leader’s life. Often the best learning and growth comes from reflection upon and synthesis of multiple experiences in a short time frame. Translation: do stuff, experiment, get your hands dirty, make mistakes. How else do you intend to learn and uncover your purpose?

Values

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the interview occurred when I asked Dan what his values were. You see I believe that purpose and values are intimately related. My hypothesis is that if you have taken the time to discover one it is almost certain that you have discovered the other. I was expecting him to rattle of things like faith, family, and teaching, things consistent with what he had already shared. What I got was completely different. I got the following statement,

I have one rule that I use to define my personal values, to live the way the Bible tells me to live... In some cases, in some parts of my life I may have discovered that more than other areas. I know I constantly have areas to grow and mature in Christ. I really try to center my life around the word of God.

Essentially what Dan was saying is that he has a filter that he passes his experiences through and uses to decide how he will react. The filter is scripture. In an authentic way he strives to be consistent with the truths of the Bible in every aspect of his life. When I consider the topic of his blog scriptural application to life and leadership, how could it be otherwise? Here is a guy who walks his talk, leadership personified.

Wrap Up

What can we take away from Dan’s interview? Well there are several things that stuck out for me.

Walk the Talk

It is critical for authenticity in leadership that words and actions be aligned. Dan does this through his values statement and the accompanying use of a scriptural filter. He also does so by boldly blogging about the biblical aspects of leadership and management.

Give Freely

As is the code of blogging, give freely. Not with an expectation of what may come back to you but rather with a passion for living your own purpose. Dan’s tireless volunteerism has led to a clear understanding of his gifts and an even clearer sense of purpose for his life.

Be Fearless

It is only when we step into the game that we learn of our own mettle. We need to be bold and to risk mistakes in order to discover ourselves. Dan has done this in many ways his personal commitments arguably rival his career obligations.

Keep Perspective

You have to know what is important and be unapologetic in choosing it when the time is right. Dan understands the importance of family and incorporates them into many activities as possible (another walking the talk moment). He has a clear sense of what is important and pursues it.

Recognize it is not always about you

A leader is in that position for the very reason that they see an end state larger than just themselves. They may see an organization feeding the poor, correcting injustice, creating a new machine, providing worthwhile work to a community. Whatever it is they see something larger than themselves. This is the very argument of purpose, a cause greater than themselves. If you believe leadership is about providing you with some greater slice of the pie, some convenience or privilege you have sorely missed the mark.

The Podcast

In the next several days I will publish the Material leadership podcast. The first episode will contain part one of the interview with Dan. I am very excited to bring this to you and hope that you gain as much value from the interview as I did.

So the first step is to figure out exactly how to get a podcast on the web. As soon as I have done so I will include a link to the cast. If you want more information on this feel free to contact me at ronn.hurst@gmail.com

To Dan

Finally my sincere thanks to Dan for being my first interviewee. I gained so much from the time you gave me, thank you.

To everyone

Lead well

Ron

Do you have a web presence?

One of the fascinating aspects of Blogging is the concept of creating a web presence and correspondingly how to increase readership. Unlike the topic of this blog, leadership development, increasing readership is a relatively foreign subject to me. It is kind of like learning a foreign language. For instance, here in Southern California I have been attempting to learn to speak Spanish. I can speak like a two year old; a few words here and their, wrong tense, wrong emphasis, limited word choice. I love to try and am learning and am excited as I pick up more and more. All the while it is frustrating to not know how to communicate.

How do you increase your web presence? How do you get the word out about a blog that seeks to teach leadership lessons? How do you measure success?

There are many strategies I am aware of. Some of these are social websites, letters and comments to other bloggers, the old favorite friends and family. I am sure there are many other ways and I will continue to explore what they are.

Measuring progress is relatively straight forward. Google. Google analytics allows a blogger to track statistics on visits to a site. You don’t know who visited but you know what they viewed, what city they came from and how they found your site. Fascinating stuff.

I think the ultimate measure is the Google search engine. If you type your name in where is the first reference to you? Unfortunately for me there is a famous hockey player and rock drummer both named Ron Hurst. I am on page three of the google search. Not high enough. I am happy though that if you type in Ron Hurst Leadership, I am the first eight hits on the first page of results! Progress!

Why am I sharing this? Because I found a neat post on leadership, integrity and self awareness that I wanted to comment about. When I first read it I wanted to post a comment on this blog saying I DISAGREE! Then I realized as I wrote my comments that I actually agreed with the author. So Instead of trying to pick a “conversation” I will share my thoughts on this topic here. I have also linked to the post should you want to read the original.

The topic of the blog post I found related to the interconnectedness of integrity, self awareness and leadership capacity. Here is the comment I wrote in response…

I am intrigued by your argument that in a leadership context an unresolved internal conflict will lead to indecision, inconsistency etc. That can certainly be true as decisiveness is a critical leadership attribute. Certainly value conflicts provide a more risky stage where leadership can be potentially destroyed. Value conflicts must be resolved as you state.

You present a logical and sensible progression from value conflict to ineffective leadership. Does this progression though not imply that a leader will be unable to recognize the importance of their decision making ability and its role in the effectiveness of their leadership ability? Leaders regularly make decisions on less than complete information and must defend the logic of their choice. As a leader matures the ability to explain their decisions becomes an important skill in their communication and persuasion arsenal. A “leader” who makes a decision half heartedly and is relatively ambivalent about them is not much of a leader at all. Perhaps it is also the case that a person with unresolved value conflicts will not rise to leadership in the first place…but then that is your argument isn’t it J

http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-esteem/intellectual-health/integrity-self-awareness-and-leadership/

The post in question was particularly well written by a consultant from England named Andy Smith. I encourage you to go have a read.

Lead well

Ron

Have You Ever Wanted to... Roar?

Have you ever wanted to roar?!

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article called Are you a Leader? This was a deeply personal post as the practice of leadership development resonates at the core of who I am. I believe this to be my calling. I find no greater joy in life than giving of my gifts to others. This article and the one following it, Sacrifice, were written shortly after I discovered my mother has been diagnosed with cancer. This is round two for my mom. She beat it the first time, this time round the stakes are much higher.

This is a troubling time in my life. My parents raised me to be fiercely independent and self reliant. They taught me to have a tireless work ethic and uncompromising integrity. Ironically all these behaviors, now well set, led me (and two of my sisters) to live thousands of miles from home in successful professional roles. In a time of great need this wonderful matriarch now finds her children scattered around the globe. When she needs them most, her children are not there.

My last two posts were driven by the internal conflict I face as my core values fight for rank order. How can my values of teaching and integrity (the foundation of my own desire to lead) measure up against my values of family and faith. I wrestle with these daily. What price am I willing to pay to lead? How much is too much? How can I live a leader’s life and care for my parents in their time of need?

I don’t know the answer here. I just recognize the conflict. I believe that faith and family will win the day but how and when. I have put in God’s hands.

After writing these two posts I have prayed much and talked to many wise friends. In these conversations a clear theme came forth. It is characterized by a question. Have you ever wanted to roar? I do not yet understand why it came forth with such peculiar timing just that it did. I believe it will connect to the story I am living but I as of yet do not understand how.

Have you ever wanted to roar?

Did you see the Movie The Lion King? Do you remember Simba climbing Pride rock after defeating Scar? What a poignant moment as Simba lets out a kingly roar. It is immediately answered by the roar of his pride, his loyal subjects. He again lets out a roar. Simba has come of age. The boy who struggled to roar early in life when he needed it most has now matured.

Do you remember Braveheart? After the battle of Sterling Bridge standing victorious, exhausted and blood stained, William Wallace lets out a tremendous scream of victory. His scream is met with a roar of screams from his men. Again he screams out in victory. The Scottish rebellion has now come of age.

Have you ever wanted to roar?

I believe there is a lion deep within every would be leader. I believe that each of us is called to a noble purpose and if we chose the brave path, one day the opportunity to roar will be upon us. Perhaps in the moment it will be instinctual, perhaps natural, perhaps forced. Regardless, one day a leader will have the chance to roar. I suppose this is where the story connects to the struggle I face. I know that I am here for a purpose, I do not believe I have yet found it. So each day I prepare, make choices that keep me distant from my family, leading the life of a learning leader. Honing my craft, improving my capacity, living my life in preparation. This for me is leadership development up close and personal. It is a commitment to a promise. A promise that one day I too will roar for a great cause.

Thanks for listening.

Lead well

Ron