Abundant

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  

- Jesus of Nazareth

About 15 years ago, I led my first retreat.  Up to that point I had done a lot of presenting, but for all the wrong reasons.  Thankfully, what I intended for personal gain or affirmation, He had somehow intended for good.  

There was one young man with a serious stutter who said he had never spoken in front of other people.  At the end of the weekend, he wanted to address the others in attendance.  He nervously took my place in front of the crowd and started to tell his story.  He stammered and struggled with the articulation of each thought and word.

His parents had him very late in life.  They were super protective of their one gift of a child.  They knew that they couldn’t biologically reproduce another.  He mostly watched the other kids play from the kitchen window and was even deprived a bike that his mom and dad thought would surely result in serious injury.

He came by his stutter and his reluctance, honestly.

But as he spoke about his experience that weekend, he started to flow.  Words connected and the meter of his speech even quickened.  He said that he viewed his life as a cardboard box that had confined him all of his life.  He said that over the last couple of days he had clawed a small hole and not only was light streaming through, but he was catching a broader glimpse of the life possible outside.

He found his true identity.  He understood that he was loved and that he had a kind and protective Father watching out for him.

He was deeply loved.

He was fought for.

He was cherished.

Great things were intended for him.

There was life, and life abundant, available.

As a young adult, the world was no longer a place that he should fear.  He didn’t need to allow his past to define his future.  He not only knew that much more was available, but that it was intended specifically for him.  

He was also introduced to the rest of that verse above and now knew that he had an enemy specifically set against him ever leaving that box.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Something profound had broken in him.  Something profound broke in me, as well.  Offering that retreat was the physical manifestation of me knowing more about my place in this world. 

It was the first time I was offering out of a new identity.  I was not leading on my own behalf, but on that of the Father.  This time, it wasn’t all about me.

It was so much of a shift that rather than craving the affirmation of everyone attending, it actually felt unimportant when they showered their appreciation on me at the end of the weekend.  

I knew that my true Father had appointed me to this task.

I had followed his command. 

He was pleased with me.  

Their cheers and applause rang hollow.  

To say that I no longer sought validation or did things for selfish reasons would be a lie.  (I will wrestle with some version of that the rest of my life.)  But I am a recovering addict and the cardboard box of my selfishness and need for validation holds me less captive every day.  

The way I love and lead and the motivations for what I do, have been forever changed.  I, like my younger friend with the stammer, am finding the more abundant life available.

• Why do you do what you do?
• Are you playing for the audience of One or the approval and acknowledgement of everyone?
• Have you ever felt the deep love and approval of your Father (that is the necessary ingredient of the abundant life)?
• How would operating out of that identity change the way you love and lead?

Thin

“It’s time! The kingdom of God is near! Seek forgiveness, change your actions, and believe this good news!”  

Jesus of Nazareth

Early Celtic Christians talk about a “thin place” where heaven and earth seem to meet.  Where present life and eternity seem to blur into one single reality.  You know what that feels like, right?

When you’ve been in beautiful places on vacation.

When you first fell in love.

When you held your newborn child.

Sharing a meal and a beautiful evening with true friends.

I spent 4 days in that kind of a place recently.  I found it at the end of a dirt road that seemed to magically appear as I gained elevation above the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs.  A collection of log structures nestled in the pines and aspens at about 9,100 feet elevation.  

The abundance of God and the promise of his intentions were thick and unmistakable.  There were two categories of men there:

• Young warriors of the Kingdom (30-somethings)
• Older kings and sages of the Kingdom (50, 60, & 70 somethings)

I have neither the runway in front of me of the younger crowd or the wisdom and experience of some of the older ones.  I was incredibly humbled and even a little embarrassed to be counted in their company.

I felt both a little too late and not quite ready.

The picture I was given was that of a campfire, hidden and protected by a crowding forest, but very near the front of enemy lines.  The flickering light was on the faces of the most seasoned and concentric circles extending out to the subsequent generations.

This was no tips and techniques conversation.  This was not the exposition of knowledge and information.  The experiential knowledge of those that had fought well and suffered deeply was on full display.  

Rather than a New Testament that told stories of how others lived the life of God as redeemed, these men made a newer testament.  This one contained the book of Sam, the book of Rande, the book of Bart, and many others. 

The truest thing is not about how others lived life with God 2,000 years ago, but how you have.

I hear a lot of complaining about the younger generations behind mine.  Of their unwillingness to listen, acknowledge the experience of others, or wait their turn.  But these young men were committing to a decade of excavation.  To walk the narrow path and learn the ancient ways so that they will be ready to become the kind of men that God can entrust his power.

They scribbled furiously and hung on every word.  They defied every caricature of those in their generation.

A thought rose in me throughout the weekend:  I really can’t change the posture and heart of subsequent generations.  But there is something I can do.

I can live the kind of life that they would desire to know more about.

I can live a story worth telling.

I want to write the kind of story with my life that those I love and lead (and maybe an increasing number of the next generation) want to know more about.  I want the book of Brian to be the kind of thing that others read, see the hope of a new and better life, and gain the courage to find that life for themselves.

• How is the testament of your life reading?
• Are the subsequent generations in your life (kids, employees, etc.) seeking your counsel?
• Would the life you live make others want to change theirs?
• Are you seeking and finding thin places where heaven and earth collide?

Leaving

drop the mic -

1 (slang, idiomatic) To do or say something decisive, meaningful, or impressive.  (from Wiktionary)

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One of my least favorite sayings is one I am embarrassed to say I have used on several occasions:

"Drop the mic."

When something becomes so contrived that exiting presidents and cell phone companies are using it, you shouldn’t. 

One of the vagaries of a world that tries to make the case that everything is interesting, is that nothing is interesting.  If every meal I eat, every place I go, and everything I experience, is share-worthy into the social media-sphere, what constitutes something being truly special?

Everybody wants a theme song.  To make a grand entrance.  To make a dramatic exit.  They want to say something profound, drop the mic, and exit stage left.  Some people even like to make a grand exit when they leave a job.  (Remember Jerry Mcguire walking out with a loud declaration and a goldfish in a ziplock bag?)

I was leaving a job I had for almost a decade and a half.  I loved the job, the company, and carried a lot of respect for the people I worked with, but I was clearly being called away.  It was going to be an incredibly costly decision, but God had made a fairly incontrovertible case.

A friend challenged me to leave well. 

I indicated that I always strive to do that, but he had some very clear steps that he challenged me to take. 

Here is what he helped inspire:

1. Document - in making such a bold and unconventional move, I needed to powerfully and clearly document all the confirmations I had in making the decision.
2. Forgiveness I - there were people that challenged or frustrated me during my career.  I needed to forgive and release all that.  Lay it down and leave it behind.
3. Forgiveness II - there were some people whose lives I made difficult or who were challenged by how I accomplished my work.  I need to sit down with them and ask their forgiveness.
4. Honor - I needed to thank everyone I appreciated before I left.  Honor what I valued in them, tell them what I had learned from them, or share how they had aided or impacted my career there.

Documenting the reasons (#1) created a pretty undeniable case for my exit.  I needed that conviction as I was leaving. I needed it for those I was leaving behind to help them understand. And finally, I needed it for myself; to have it written down so I could cling to it like a life raft when the costs of my decision started washing up on the shore.

I forgave a few (#2) and sat down to ask for forgiveness from a few more (#3), but it was the honoring of others (#4) that truly changed my life.  At last count I had crafted 47 hand-written notes, many accompanied by books that had impacted my life and leadership.  

Aggressively honoring others was a muscle I had rarely flexed up to that point, but the strengthening it gained during that season has impacted every day of my life and my leadership since that time. 

I try to make that part of my daily regimen and regularly challenge others to do the same.

If you really want to leave well, leave them with the fragrant aroma of a Father who is crazy about them and delights in what is unique and glorious about them.

• Have you ever left anywhere really well?
• What part of the four steps above would you consider using if you ever did leave somewhere?
• How often do you honor and encourage those you love and lead?  (It is a learned, but infectious behavior.)

Launch

“To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways; we do not know what a day may bring forth.  This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.”  

Oswald Chambers

I was visiting with a younger man and his wife on the phone last night.  He and I have spoken dozens of times, but only met on one occasion.  Though we have “known” each other only a few years, we’ve helped each other walk through some of the most aggressive moves and challenging times of our lives.  It was the first time I had ever spoken with her.

He and I are kindred spirits.  Our calls, even through the most difficult times, have been life-giving and essential.  We’ve fought for and protected one another.  

Like an advancing army on foreign territory…

I would take a little ground.

I would fight to hold that ground while he provided cover.

He would take some ground.

He would fight to hold it while I provided the same.

Our friendship is new, but deep and battle tested.

One of my favorite movies is the Cameron Crowe autobiographical Almost Famous. The movie’s protagonist reaches a place in the story where everything he could have ever hoped was possible, is becoming a reality.  He says over and over…

It’s all happening.

If you lean in real close to me when things are going really right, when all the things I’ve hoped would happen are being realized, you’ll probably hear me mutter the same.  

I was even mouthing those words last night as I spoke to my young friend and his wife.  For them, it’s all happening.  

While on the phone, I am offering encouragement, spending the experiential currency I’ve earned over the last few years, but my heart is raging.  I want to plead with them.  I want to say that they just need to trust me.  Cast all on the swelling tide of His purpose and get your eyes opened.  But these are the kinds of decisions that you have to make on your own.  It is a call that you have to answer for yourself.

In the middle of our huge life transition a few years ago, someone told my wife and I that they had a vision of us as a rocket in pre-flight…trembling on the launch pad, ready to take to the air.  This young couple’s rocket isn’t trembling yet, but all the things that tether it to the ground are falling away.  Their path forward is becoming incontrovertible.  They are readying to take flight.

It’s all happening.

Like toddlers venturing our first steps, our conversation was a little precarious before we found some footing and rhythm.  She was beautiful in every way.  Choosing joy over fear.  Fighting to trust the conviction that the Father is weaving into her and her husband’s heart.  Wanting to move only when and where He directs.  Trying not to count the cost.  Beautiful.

There is something else I feel I’ve earned the right to say, but I don’t:

Getting everything is going to cost you everything.  

To get everything the Father intends for you, you are going to have to surrender everything that you have turned to for safety and security.  In order to win the really big pot, you’re going to have to push all your chips to the middle of the table.

It’s all happening.

And it’s worth everything it will cost them.

I can’t wait to read the next chapter of their story.  It just keeps getting better and better.

• Do you know why God placed you here?
• Are you certain in all of your ways?
• Are you living with the breathless expectation of the “unknown” or “yet to be discovered"?
• Is your life like a rocket trembling in pre-flight?
• Would you be willing to risk everything to gain everything?

Oxygen

“To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.”

Oswald Chambers

Walter Mitty has lived such an uninteresting life that his E-harmony rep, Todd Maher, feels sorry for him.  In trying to beef up his profile, they quickly came to the conclusion that not only isn’t there anything “noteworthy or mentionable” about Walter, but he hasn’t really been anywhere “noteworthy or mentionable” either.  

But if you have seen the movie, you know that a few simple decisions take Walter on a life-changing adventure.  Walter finds himself swimming with a shark, surviving frigid waters, escaping volcanic eruptions, and climbing high mountain peaks.  The movie’s trailer is one of the more invigorating ones I have seen in years.

At one point, as he is crossing a mountain range, his old friend (Todd) from E-harmony gives him a call.  To Todd’s delight, Walter starts to retrace his steps from his epic adventure.  And then he says something really interesting…

“Hey Todd, I'm gonna keep this short. I have to make oxygen choices.”

In other words, “I am living a life of such adventure and altitude, that I literally have to decide how I am going to allocate my breath.”  The guy who had nothing noteworthy or mentionable about his life and whose closest friend was the E-harmony guy who pitied him, has to make tough choices about how big a story he is going to live.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine in the Pacific Northwest.  We were sharing our relative states of overwhelm.  And then we both stopped and took stock of what we were overwhelmed about.  

We decided that if you had told either of us that we would be…

- doing all the things we are doing, 

- getting invited into all the things we are, 

- or participating in the work of God in the way that we are…

...we would never have believed you.

We are both finding the unique role we were created to play in the larger story of God.  We talked about the need to pinch ourselves to make sure that all we were seeing and experiencing was real.  And despite the fact that we have counted the cost and are continuing to do so, we wouldn’t reverse the trades we’ve made to get to this place.

The opportunities being presented to us are literally more than we can handle or could have imagined were possible.

Like Walter Mitty, we are having to make oxygen choices.

If we go back to our cubicle life of disappointment (where there were no oxygen choices to be made) we mostly sat around trying not to settle for the most boring of our many uninspired options.  Those choices really didn’t have consequences like the ones we are making now.

But agreeing with what God is doing, how He is doing it, and taking your place in that larger story, has huge implications….glorious, beautiful, and breathtaking ones.

Why would you make any other oxygen choice?

• Are your days filled with breathless expectation?
• Is your life filled with a multitude of beautiful options?
• Are you have to make oxygen choices?
• What is keeping you from living that kind of life?

Rent

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Peter Drucker

My daughter is super frustrated with her landlord.  She's a junior in college and lives in Austin with 7 other girls in a house they rent.  Their washer/dryer combo hasn’t been working for several weeks and that is fairly paralyzing for 8 college girls.

Despite the incredibly high Austin-ish rental cost and a professional management company that oversees the rental, they have had little luck remedying the problem.  My daughter called my wife and now "Momma Bear" is on the case.  I expect the crime being solved in a manner of hours now.

We rented for quite a few years before we bought.  One of the most beautiful things was that at the slightest interruption in service of any kind on that house, I could just call the landlord.  I remember the first few times things broke and wrestling with whether or not I should fix them or ask the owner.  I usually fixed them, but I could tell by the landlord’s reaction that this isn’t what people typically did.

When something breaks on something you don’t own, but you fix it anyway, you are no longer acting like a renter, but an owner.

David McKeown and his father coach a business model called “predictable success."  One of the concepts they talk about is whether or not an employee operates as an owner or a renter.

Renter - when they encounter a roadblock or a problem, they look around for who is going to remedy the situation for them.  They are literally paralyzed by the disruption.

Owner - simply goes about solving anything that gets in their path.  They only consult with the landlord after they have exhausted everything they can do to fix the problem on their own.

I used to work with a guy that rented houses well into his forties instead of buying.  He actually made a pretty compelling case for the return on investment of other things verses a home and the incredible incidental out-of-pocket expenses he saved.  He was very convincing.  I mean, I almost sold our house and I am not easily persuaded.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to whether or not he operates with an owner or renter mindset at work.  (I am pretty sure he reads this blog!)

Even though most owners don’t understand this employ categorization methodology, they are all secretly hoping everyone would act like they do….like owners.  Ownership mindset isn’t born, but cultivated.  And interestingly enough, an ownership mindset has very little to do with equity distribution. (Interestingly, we are finding that many younger workers don’t want the burden or responsibility of actual equity).

Ownership mindset is cultivated through granting leadership authority, encouraging decision making, inspiring alignment around a powerful culture, and not micro-managing every decision team members make.  Giving them the opportunity to be imperfect.

• Are your employees treating your “home” like their own?
• Are they solving problems on their own without your complete oversight?
• Do you find out after-the-fact that they encountered problems and overcame them?
• Are you exhausted from doing everything yourself?

Humility

hu·mil·i·ty

(h)yo͞oˈmilədē/

noun

noun: humility

1. A modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.

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That is one of our favorite words, right?  How couldn’t it be.  It is replete with goodness, sentimentality, and doing the right kind of things.  It speaks to not having too high of an opinion of yourself.  It is one of the two things that Jim Collins identified as the key difference between “level 4” and “level 5” leaders in his classic book Good to Great.

If you listened to the conversation between me and many of the other faith-based leaders I spend a lot of time around, it would be a commonly heard expression.  It should be.  But there is a measured balanced necessary between humility and confidence or intentionality.  Collins said that the other key characteristic of a level 5 leadership is sheer personal will.

I was at a “Storybrand” coaching certification a few weeks ago in Nashville, TN.  Their methodology is about finding crazy clarity in your sales, marketing, and branding.  It is the way all the best brands win and it is available for every organization of every size. It is sort of the great hidden treasure sitting under all our leadership noses. 

Quite frankly, it is the secret to growing your business.

In their methodology they talk about offering equal measures of “empathy” and “authority." Said another way, to offer both confidence and humility.  Too much humility and people won’t likely listen to you or follow your lead.  Too much authority and your arrogance will seem unapproachable and unattractive.  You need both.

Turns out that all that humility that many people operate under, without some measure of confidence, carries a pretty ugly message:

That you lack confidence in yourself or what you are proposing.

Interesting how something that is so noble and important can be perceived as weak or a sign of lacking confidence.  But real humility, not the false kind that many of us offer, comes only from real strength.  There is a confidence and authority that coincide comfortably with it and are actually the source of true humility.  That is the kind we are after.

True humility is rooted in strength.  It is the kind of humility that is not trying to prove its’ reality, but simply emanating from a deeper resolve and conviction. It is a companion of the desire to be present and serve others.  It lives in the same place where validation isn’t required from others, but comes from within.

In order to lead a family or a team really well, you need to offer both.

• Do you operate with a lot of humility as a leader?
• Do you project a lot of confidence as well?
• Are you aware of how much more of one or the other you are offering?
• Do you understand how that might be affecting others?

Choose

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.”     

- JOHN, the apostle

Do you have the right people sitting around your leadership table?  It is your right and your responsibility to choose.  The fruit and impact that the right leadership team can produce are extraordinary. It might just be the most important thing you do this year.

Assembling the right leadership team is one of the biggest challenges the dozens of leaders we work with face. 

Typically, all the right components of a great leadership team are already in place.  The problem is that the obvious choices (heads of key areas of the business or those with the most experience) often aren’t the right choice for the leadership team.

Before we can craft powerful core values and purpose statements...

Before we can articulate a motivating vision for the future...

Before we can build the clear and simple plan to get us there...

Before we can establish the right meeting governance for necessary accountability and execution...

We need to choose the right team of leaders to help take us on the journey. 

(I made the case for why this so important in a recent blog post.  Please read GOOD if you haven’t already done so.) 

As in most really meaningful things, it is pretty simple, but it just isn’t easy.  Here are some of the powerful filters we apply:

• Right representation - You need to make sure that all key functional areas are represented on the leadership team.
• Right person - Who would best serve the overall good of your organization from a leadership standpoint?  It may be the one with the most experience or it could be someone less experienced with the most expansive heart and line of sight for the organization’s future.
• Filter - We apply several filters to make sure those initial choices are indeed the best choices.  We look at type of mindset:  Are they more a technician, visionary, or managerial mindset?  We look at culture fit: Are they pillars and the finest examples of your culture?  We look at ability: Do they have the desire, capacity, and expertise to be part of the leadership team?
• Outside Input - Get your circle of advisors, a mentor, or a coach to give you an outside filtering mechanism for the people you chose for the leadership team.

Again, this is a pretty simple process, but it is not easy.  It is also the pathway to freedom, margin, and a greater sense of ownership by your team.  And as I emphatically made the case for in GOOD, it is the way for you to make much better decisions.

• Do you have an established leadership team?
• Do you have the obligatory people on the team or the right people?
• How much is costing you to not have this firmly in place?
• Let us know if we can help you.  We have a lot of experience in this and we love helping leaders win!

Obligatory

“I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: ‘Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.’…'Look! I’m making everything new.’ “

- Revelation

There is a writing convention called the “obligatory scene."  It is the thing that all of us expect to see at the end of a movie or story.  It is where the hero or the protagonist overcomes every possible obstacle to reach the promised land.

• It is where Frodo overcomes all the evil forces set against him to save the good people of Middle Earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
• It is where Nemo and his father make it safely back to the reef in “Finding Nemo”.
• It is where Rocky defeats Apollo Creed and becomes champion of the world.

Can you think of a great movie that doesn’t end with an obligatory scene?  One that sort of leaves you hanging at the end?  Where the hero doesn’t overcome all the obstacles and achieve the desired outcome?

Probably not.  

Those stories and movies leave us unsatisfied and typically don’t find much success.  Heck, we even feel a little cheated when we spend two hours with a character overcoming tragedy and trial to only experience a few minutes of success with them at the end.  We want a little more payoff than that. 

The reason that this idea is so powerful…

The reason that it is part of every great story…

Is because it is part of yours.

Life for us started in the tranquility of a garden.  There was an inciting event where we turned our back on our Father and evil was introduced into our story.  The entire gospel story is a beautiful love story of a loving Father desperately trying to be reconciled to His sons and daughters.  And the culmination of our story is an obligatory scene in eternity.

Because we were created for that inevitability, we all secretly long for that kind of restoration.  We all yearn for a “making all things new” ending to our stories.  Hollywood has totally figured this out.  Every movie trailer introduces us to an inciting event without any clear obligatory ending.  It will cost us $10 and a couple of hours to get that.

And the reason we are willing to spend billions of dollars a year and so much of our time in front of a screen (when virtually nothing else seems to be able to captivate us for more than a few moments) is that we are actually purchasing a foretaste.  We are dipping our toes in the water of the great restoration we all ultimately desire.

If you can tap into this theme in your marketing, you can sell a bunch of stuff.  

If you address this yearning, you can find more of the right people to hire.  

If you scratch this itch with employees, you can help them find powerful engagement and motivation.

This is powerful stuff.  But what if you offered it to others out of nobility?  What if your desire was ultimately about bettering their lives and offering them hope?

The essential step in offering the powerful elixir of restoration with integrity is to experience it for yourself.  To link our lives so closely to the restoration intended for us, that it becomes the inexplicable byproduct of everything we do.  

Because when we drink from the wellspring of life…from living water…we not only experience that restoration now, we are more powerfully capable of sharing that obligatory scene with others.

John Kinsella:  Is this heaven?

Ray Kinsella:  It's Iowa.

John Kinsella:  Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.

Ray Kinsella:  Is there a heaven?

John Kinsella:  Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.

Ray Kinsella:  Maybe this is heaven.

• Were you aware of the obligatory scene?
• Can you see how movies and marketers use it to sell things to you?
• Are you aware of how powerfully it references a deeper yearning in you?
• How can your understanding of the desire for that help you better meet the needs of family, employees, or customers?

River

“If you do not cut the mooring, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out.  Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open." 

- Oswald Chambers

One of my favorite memories of my investment career was a meeting I had with one of the bond salesmen who covered me out of Chicago.  We met for breakfast at his hotel and he made a strange request.  He asked if I would pray over him.

He said that the vision he had of my life was that I was standing in a raging river of God’s provision, blessing, joy, and adventure; that the water was literally washing over me as I stood there.  The picture he had of his own life was that he was standing on the riverbank, toe barely in the water, desiring to be out in the whitewater as well.

My life often doesn’t feel (and I would imagine look) that way, but the fact that he identified it has been a plumb line repeatedly drawing me back to the heart and intentions of God.  The reality is that the Christian life was intended to be filled with joy, adventure, and blessing as we journey through it with the Father.  It was never meant to be easy, but His burdens and yoke are always easier and lighter than the ones we choose for ourselves.

In a breakfast meeting this morning with a couple of leaders, God reminded me of something else in regard to that story.  While He intends my life to be a raging river of adventure, joy, and blessing; I am actually the one who has his hands on the valve that controls the spigot... 

I get to decide how much of that grand intention I actually enjoy.

Reality is that I often choose my own plan and enjoy the less wild results of those choices.  It often doesn’t look like my friend imagined 10 years ago.  But the fact it sometimes does and that I get to ultimately decide how wide that tap gets opened, has me yearning for more.

The privilege of living that life is incredible, but the impact of living that kind of life is unimaginable.  When I let the water flow freely and wade out into the middle of that flow, the life He intends is fully on display.  And… 

I inexplicably invite others to experience the same.

It is humbling to know that the water washing over my life might splash onto others, too.  That my children, the people I work with, or even the people I live around, might find an invitation into that as well.

It is a little embarrassing to know that while glory is available I often reach for so much less.  Kind of like making mudpies in the slums when a holiday at the sea is available, like C.S. Lewis says.  I am far too easily pleased.

• Are you barely dipping your toe in the water, standing ankle-deep in the still water along the banks, or out in the deep stuff with the water washing over you?
• Have you ever experienced the rush and exhilaration of the water powerfully flowing over and around you?
• Do you ever find that the life you are living inspires others to find a better life?
• That those you love and lead are interested in following your footsteps?

Ripple

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

- Peter Drucker

Everybody loves their university experience and for likely different reasons than everyone else.  It is a product of the time of life, the people in proximity, the growth you experienced, and the vectoring direction life took after that season.  Mine is no different, but again, for likely different reasons than yours.

I read a fantastic book a few years ago called Questions for my Father by Vincent Staniforth.  The author essentially collected all the questions he wished he had asked his father before he died, but never did.  For a season, I carried it in my car and would prompt my teenagers to ask me questions from the book when we rode somewhere together. 

I’ll never forget the first question they asked me:

“Dad, what was your best day of college?”

The answer came immediately and made my eyes well with tears.  If you had asked me that question in another context at another time, I could have responded with dozens of great stories.  But that precious child of mine asking me that question at that time, brought forth the truest answer.

“My best day of college was when I moved into my first apartment.”

I went on to describe how significant a thing that was for me:

• It was the first time I felt like I had a home.
• It was the first place where I felt like I belonged and was truly welcomed by everyone there.
• Where I felt loved, cared for, and fought for.
• It was the first time I was part of a community that believed the same way I did and wanted the same things.
• It was the first time I felt I had everything in common with those around me and we shared everything, willingly.
• A place where we laughed, cried, and shared the best and worst experiences together.

The same four roommates lived together for the next 4 years.  It changed everything about my life.  The best day of my life in college literally shaped every day I have lived since.  So powerful was that sense of place that I have fought for it ever since.

When we help establish culture in a company, I am often reminded of that experience.  It is about getting clear on what is most glorious and possible within an organization.  Defining it, articulating it, celebrating it, and making sure it is known and felt by everyone.

How important is that?

What could be more important?

Our companies are filled with people like me, like the boy who found some roommates in college.  Who found his first home.  Our companies may be the healthiest place that some of our employees get to live (if only for 40 hours a week).  It may just be the place that gives them the desire, strength, and hope that a different life is available for them in every other area of their lives.

Establishing and living into a healthier culture might just change all your employee's lives.  It might just show them the “art of the possible." Like it did in my life, it might just change the generations of their families.  

One of my favorite quotes came from a man at a company I worked with:

“The culture of this place is not just changing my life, but the future generations of my family.”

What could be better than that?  

Why would we settle for anything less?  

I got to celebrate that man’s 40th birthday last weekend.  Not only is his life different, the next generation of his family is changed as well.  He is living a powerful and abundant story.  He is not only changing the lives of the people he now leads at that company, but dozens of others outside of the workplace as well.

Many years from now, if he gets asked the question about the best day of his work life,  I am pretty sure he will tell of the day he started at that company.  About how the culture of that place changed his life and every day after.

A culture.  

A life changed.

The rippling affect across many lives and generations.

How good is that?

• What is the culture of your company?
• Has it been defined, captured, and encouraged?
• It is referenced, celebrated, and known by everyone?
• Is it changing the lives of those who work for you?

Bench

“My scout, Joey Davis, drafted me in the 33rd round.  He saw something in me and I am just so thankful.”   

-Brock Stassi

Brock Stassi and his brother Max have been bouncing around the minor leagues for years.  Baseball has been in their family for generations.  Their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all catchers who played in the minor leagues.  A few weeks ago, at the almost impossible age of 27, Max found out that he made the final roster for the Philadelphia Phillies.  He is finally a major leaguer.  His reaction was priceless.

Brock talks about the people who saw something in him.  Those that took a chance on him or gave him a second look.  Among the millions of big league hopefuls and others with possibly more obvious talent, a scout took an interest in him.  Even while working as a substitute teacher in the offseason, he kept the hope alive that his dream may one day come true.

One of our newest clients just happens to be one of my favorite people.  He is a fabulous leader who runs a great business and cares for his people well.  He has done what we work towards with every client:

Built a team.

Defined a future.

Created a plan to get there.

And he and his team are flat out executing under our new meeting governance.  Timelines are shrinking, decade old problems are getting solved, and bandwidth/capacity are growing.  The team now has margin as well as the the ability to process more work, but the margin of time is growing for him as well.  He is starting to ask the question about his purpose beyond the day-to-day responsibilities that have consumed his time previously.

In a recent meeting, he and I excavated that issue.  We arrived at this picture:

The kid at the end of the bench.

He’s always had a heart for the underdog.  The one who had untapped potential that just needed a little interest paid to them.  The one who didn’t get the attention that possibly the other kids had received.  He identified that as the “kid at the end of the bench” that had always held a special interest for him on his kid’s sports teams.  That led us to the simple next questions:

Who is the “kid at the end of the bench” in your company?

Who is the “kid at the end of the bench” in your neighborhood?

Who is the “kid at the end of the bench” in your church?

He called me the other day and told me that he had identified his first “kid at the end of the bench” and he was going to invest some time in the man.  He said that he had run into him a few times and that by simply asking him how he was doing, that the guy had told him his life story with all of its’ challenges and disappointments.  He said he was very surprised that he had shared all of that with a relative stranger.

I told him that he was no “relative stranger”, but the person who had likely shown that man more interest than anyone in decades.  The world is full of people like this, like Brock Stassi, that are just waiting for someone to notice them at the end of the bench and pay a little attention.  Maybe that person is you.

• Are you aware of what most stirs your heart?
• Are you acknowledging that heart’s desire by looking for opportunities to address it in your everyday life?
• Do you even have the bandwidth to think about the possibility of that?
• What great need is your overwhelm keeping you from addressing?
• When are you going to do something about that?

Parent

“If people don’t like you or trust you, then you are not going to get very far.  And you will never quite know why because they may never tell you.”  

- Lee Cockerell, former EVP of Operations at Walt Disney

Lee had a wildly successful career.  First, for a couple of decades with the Marriott corporation and then for a couple more with Disney.  While he was already successful by many measures, he didn’t became a world class leader until a wake up call in El Paso.  He was there to meet with one of the mangers who ran a hotel that Lee had supervisory responsibilities over.

The man, who had never met Lee, said that his reputation preceded him.  He had been told that no matter how well he did his job or prepared he was for the visit, that Lee would find a bunch of stuff wrong.  That man had so much anxiety over the visit that he ended up in the hospital.  Despite all the accolades that Lee had been given up to that point, he decided that day to change his life and his leadership forever.  

He not only had a far more successful career after that, he ended up creating crazy loyalty and changed many lives.  He is now a celebrated author and public speaker in his retirement from Disney.  Turns out he came from a dysfunctional environment and actually lacked confidence and a strong sense of identity.  He was far more formidable in his leadership role than his confidence led him to believe and he was crushing everybody around him.

At the heart of all his issues was trust. 

When you don’t trust others (or ultimately trust God), you try to micromanage everybody and everything. 

You misbehave.  

You crush others.

Starting to feel familiar?  It does to me.

Lee realized that the things he needed to do to become a great parent were very similar to the things he needed to do to become a great leader.

“A leader’s job is to produce more leaders.”

“A parent’s job is to raise children who can become great parents, citizens and leaders.”

It wasn't actually being a dad, but it was acting as a father to those under his leadership that became the key to his success.  He woke up to the reality one day that his leadership had a tremendous impact on those he was leading.  It could be an incredible impact for good or for evil.  And because he had made the aesthetic conversion from destructive to supportive; he had the mercy, patience and care to know that many of them were wrestling with the same things he had in the past.

I told the president of a very large company recently, “When you write a simple note to an employee as the President, they often frame it and hang it on the wall.”  Think about that for a moment.  As a senior leader in your family or business, your words weigh thousands of pounds.  

A good father, mother or leader understands that the weight of their leadership is profound.  Profound for good or profound for bad.  And guess what? As leaders, we largely get to decide which it is going to be.

• Are you aware of the effect you have on others?
• What deeper issues are affecting the way you behave?
• Have you ever thought of the skills required for great leadership being the same as those needed to be a great parent?
• Are you using the weight of your leadership for profoundly good or bad things?

Advocate

ad·vo·cate

ˈad-və-kət, -ˌkāt\ noun

1. one who pleads the cause of another

2. one who defends or maintains a cause or proposal

3. one who supports or promotes the interests of a cause or group

A good friend of mine was awakened to a calling while on a mission trip to Africa.  He saw what a game-changer it was to provide fresh water to a village by drilling a well.  He had a desire to do more.  This is obviously a beautiful picture of advocating for the needs of others. 

It saved time and energy.

It increased wellness.

It had an economic ripple effect.

And, in an eternal sense, the fact that they were there as emissaries of God and got to connect the dots between fresh water and the concept of “living water," was truly beautiful.  

But that wasn’t the primary calling awakened in him.

He realized that if he could get other people to participate in a similar experience, it would change their lives as well.  It would invite them to play a role in the larger story of God...a better story than they were already living.  It would give them an opportunity to know what it feels like to advocate for others in a life-changing way…to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

It could be a powerful multiplier effect in the lives of many others.  So, he funded the opportunity for a group of men to join him in Guatemala on an adventure to change the lives of some villagers, but in the process, their lives as well. 

I was one of them.

As a financial guy, he was applying leverage to address one of the world’s greatest problems. 

The trip had a powerful impact on my friend’s life.

It was a huge catalyst in mine.

It obviously changed the lives of those in the village.

It was powerful for all that accompanied us.

But, likely, the most powerful thing of all was the awakened power of advocacy in others.  That is truly beautiful to behold.  It ripples out from their lives and splashes on the shores of many others.  That is ultimately what he was after.  

Advocacy for those you love and lead can produce the same effect in their lives when..

• Those you lead in your families, businesses, and organizations believe that you are for them.  
• Their interests are at the top of your list.  
• You are actively advocating, petitioning, and fighting for their best interests. 
• They are awakened to the opportunity to do the same.

Proving that the interests of everyone who reports to you is your primary motivation will likely change the way they serve everyone who reports to them.  It will ultimately impact everyone they serve both inside and outside of your organization.  

It can all start with a simple question that you carry, nurture, and solve: 

What is the greatest challenge you are facing at work or in life?

• Have you ever felt the privilege of truly being advocated for?
• Did it change your desire to do the same for others?
• In your current leadership role, who should you be advocating for?
• Will you commit to going to work on solving their biggest challenges?  Helping them accomplish their biggest dreams?

Inspire

“If we want a feeling of meaning in life, I don't think we have a choice but to live a good story -- that is, to propel ourselves into some noble adventure, enduring difficult conflict for a cause greater than ourselves so we can see a tension resolve for the betterment of the people around us, for our families and our friends and for strangers less fortunate, thus setting a moral compass for everybody watching our stories, giving them the inspiration to lead a better life themselves.” 

- Donald Miller

Michael Mankins, a partner with Bain & Company, is a productivity expert.  He utilizes proprietary research, the best academic studies from places like Harvard, and their own anecdotal evidence from their client base.  Some of the things he summarized in a recent article are powerfully illuminating.

He says that super successful companies are not succeeding due to a higher percentage of high-performers.  They actually hire a comparable number based on the studies that measure that sort of thing.  Mankins says they win by reducing institutional drag.

One tactic they employ is to make sure they stack talent in every mission critical area.  They work to inspire collaboration and productivity wins by tying compensation to group results instead of individual results.  Solve the most mission critical tasks and others seem to domino comfortably in their wake.

Mankins' recent book focuses on three key areas: time, talent, & energy.  One of the elements he focuses on that tends to affect all three of those is "inspiration." His research states:

An engaged worker is 44% more productive than a satisfied worker.

An inspired worker is nearly 125% more productive than a satisfied one.

125 percent!!!

There has been a tremendous amount of energy spent on the topic of employee engagement, but very little focus on employee inspiration.  Interestingly enough, Mankins believes that inspiring leaders are taught not born.

So do we.

This is one of those areas where the fish really does stink from the head.  While we are working on leadership transitions all over the city (one generation to the next, owner to leader, single leader to leadership team), we coach that culture must be embodied and led from the top. 

Culture cannot be outsourced. 

While day-to-day responsibilities may be transferred, the ownership of culture, one of the building blocks of inspiration, must be maintained at the top.

If you want the kind of inspired leaders who realize those kinds of productivity gains Mankins articulates...

Inspire them.

Articulate powerful values that represent the best of what you are.

Craft a powerful purpose statement that is about changing lives.

Inspire a transcendent vision of your future state.

Create a powerful strategic plan to realize that inspired future.

Watch leaders and their teams get swept up in the art of the possible.

We get to largely choose how inspiring our story is in our personal and professional lives.  We get the opportunity to live lives that inspire and invite others to do the same.

We always say that leadership clarity leads to organizational clarity.  (That is why we we are such a big fan of Lifeplan.)  I would also say that leadership inspiration leads to organizational inspiration.  (That is why we love coaching leaders and their teams.)

Inspiration is our responsibility.  With the unbelievable benefits realized as a result, why would you focus your time, energy, and resources on anything else?

• Are you living a life that inspires others?
• Does the family, organization, or company you lead inspire others?
• Are the children and employees you lead inspiring others?
• What must you do next in order to live a more inspired life and encourage others to do the same?

Archer

“Children are a heritage from the Lord,

    offspring a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

    are children born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man

    whose quiver is full of them.”  

A Psalm of David

This is one of my favorite verses.  A person who has as many children as I do would obviously like the encouragement for a big family, but there is something larger that inspires me in these verses.  The metaphor of an archer launching others into life is the part that really fires me up.  I get the privilege and honor of doing that six times in just my immediate family!

When I talk to prospective parents I am looking for a couple of things.  The first is a sense of awe, wonder, and delight.  The second is the sheer weight of the responsibility.  There should be some measure of excitement mixed with at least a little bit of terror.  If you are holding both of those things in tension, I think you might just be ready for parenthood.  For us and our six children it has been both our greatest privilege and, at times, a terrifying and humbling responsibility.

One of my favorite leaders runs a self-storage business.  It was designed intentionally with the latest and greatest cutting edge technology to increase the customer experience, while minimizing the need for much staffing.  If anyone could make the case for not investing in an employee development plan, this guy could.

Instead, he goes above and beyond for his young employees.

He invests in professional coaching.

He sends them to Lifeplan retreats.  

He encourages, challenges, and develops them.

He teaches them how to have an ownership mindset.

He intentionally hires young people who aspire to a life beyond his self-storage business. His plan is to develop them for a season, and then launch them into the next stage of their life better prepared.

Like an arrow in the hands of a warrior.

When it is time for them to matriculate to their next vocational step, he sends them on their way…even when they are more comfortable and wanting to stay in his employ.  He is ready to move onto the next project.

My friend Gregg likes these verses as well.  He talks about the drawing of the arrow back being the time you spend with them before you launch them into life.  Just like with a real arrow, there is a certain amount of tension that must be applied and a deliberateness to the effort.  We also draw back the arrow a relatively small amount in relation to the distance it travels once we release.

The Kingdom leadership conversation we are having with a lot of leaders is starting to tilt toward the life of their employees outside of their work and beyond their tenure with them.  

If the way we show our love for God is ultimately measured by the way we love his children…

If being a co-heir of His Kingdom is actually about tending the territory (and the occupants of that territory) we’ve been given responsibility over…

Then, intending the best life possible for them in and outside of work sounds more like a minimum responsibility rather than something aspirational.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, we are supposed to prepare our quiver-full for the most abundant life beyond their time with us. 

• How are you caring for the people under your leadership?
• Are you developing and preparing them for life?
• Does your heart for them extend beyond the work they do and time they spend with you?
• What do you need to change about how you are leading and developing them?

Reception

A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields. It is formed by conductive material or by a mesh of such materials.    

-Wikipedia

Turns out that cell phone signals are one of the “electromagnetic signals” a faraday cage can filter out.  A bar owner in the UK created some controversy (read that as jealousy) when he effectively used wire mesh contained in the walls to create a Faraday cage around his establishment.  No cell phones for anybody.

Whether or not it is intentional, steel roofed buildings like the ones in your local Costco store do a measure of the same.  Try to figure out if the thing you perceive to be a great bargain (simply because it is on a Costco shelf) really is a great bargain.  You can see why someone might want to do that.  Not to be cynical, but I'm just saying...

One of my good friends was trying to hear from God.  He was sitting on some simple questions, and the answers would be revolutionary in his life.  

After several weeks he came back to me with an exasperated, “I’m not getting anything.” 

He finally confided that his hunting lease seemed to be the only place where he could really think and hear.

I suggested taking those questions, a journal, and a pen to the hunting lease.  And one of the favorite e-mails of my life was from him a couple of weeks later, letting me know that he had finally heard from God.  He finally knew what God thought of him and what He intended him to do with his life.  He said,

“It’s so interesting that the goal is now to be what I was created to be.”

He got to the place where the Faraday cage could no longer filter out the signal.  He had the courage, the temerity of spirit, the faith, and the intentionality to keep searching until he found the territory where the wire mesh couldn’t shut down the transmission.  To get to a place where the most essential knowing could be known.

We all have a Father (likely far different than the one we grew up with) who is crazy about us. 

He loves us like we’ve never believed was possible.

He has the grandest intentions for our lives.

There is nothing we could ever do to make Him love us less.

But Faraday and his cages of every variety have been working overtime to keep us from that truth.  Maybe your Farady cage is lifelong disappointment.  Maybe it is the excessive and continual noise from the busyness in your life.  Maybe it is the terror we all feel of what we might find when we get really still and quiet.  It could even be the walls of a church that you attend; seeking the answers to your biggest questions, but not finding them.

It might just be that there is a veil, a type of cage, in constant operation, whose only intention is to keep us from the reality, truth, and love of God.  The bible says that we have an enemy that prowls like a roaring lion.  And whether your worldview believes all that or not, there is clearly something keeping us from clearly hearing; keeping us from clarity and some essential truth we all need.

We all feel like something is set against us, right?

Time to get above the clouds.  Find a good signal.  Light up all five bars on our phone.  Hear the essential things we all need to hear.  Like my friend experienced, there is a radically different life available on the other side of that cage.

• Are you aware of how noisy your life is?
• One of the places that Farady seems particularly unsuccessful is at the Franklin Family Ranch.  We’ve got a Lifeplan coming up there.  Come get some clear airwaves and some answers.
• What are the Faraday cages in your life?  What is blocking the signals you need to be receiving?
• Are you clear enough to offer the clarity, in kind, that those you love and lead so desperately need from you?
• Do you feel like you are getting clear answers to the essential questions?

Crash

“Hello darkness, my old friend.

I’ve come to speak with you again.

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence”  

- Simon & Garfunkel

---

Stephen Mansfield has a pretty interesting job.  His company specializes in helping companies and organizations get back on track after a key leader falters.  Many of those national stories you’ve heard involving financial impropriety, deception, or moral failure in pastors or business leaders has a “rest of the story” that includes Mansfield and his company.  They come in after the crash to build a path back.

Recently he was interviewed about the 10 key warning signs of an impending leadership crash.  While I wasn’t terribly surprised by any of the ten, I was caught off guard by the prevalence of these situations and the emphatic way that Mansfield spoke about them.  He said the warning signs were almost identical in every situation. One of the warning signs was all too familiar to me and all too common in many of the leaders I know.

"The most visible sign of an impending leadership crash is when a leader chooses isolation; when they isolate themselves from those that know and love them."

Now, we’re not talking about the times of solitude that most leaders need to rest and recharge.  This is choosing to "hide out" from the overwhelm of the situation and the feeling that there is no solution to the problem.  It is the desire to hide what you’ve done wrong or how bad things have gotten as a result.

There are very few places left where it is acceptable to admit that things aren’t going well. 

Our “friends” in social media, our family dynamics, and even many of our churches don’t seem like safe places to be really honest anymore.

Mansfield says the best thing you can do (and as quickly as you can, I might add) is find a friend you can trust and confess your situation to.  The monster is typically not as terrifying when brought out of the dark.  And just by telling someone, you are not facing it alone any longer.  Mold and fungus grow and fester in the darkness, but if you expose them to light, they die almost immediately.

His other suggestions are very helpful as well:

• Build the kind of friendships that will come looking for you when you start to hide.
• Create a culture around you that permissions others to give honest and open feedback.
• Create a culture of forgiveness, collaboration, and problem solving where no one feels like they have to hide or handle a burden on their own.

Some of my favorite coaching moments are when a leader calls me at the start or end of the day.  Things are usually going very well or horribly wrong when I get those calls.  Often it is to share how well they handled a situation or led something (leaders often don’t have anyone to celebrate their successes within their own companies).  Occasionally, however, they call when things are really bad, when they are at the end of their rope, or their desire to hide is increasing.

But instead of isolation, they chose the opposite.

We discuss the problem.

Determine the next steps or solutions.

And go to work on turning things around.

I tell them every time...

"You are not alone.  You have the Lord and you have me.  And we are going to figure this out."

Consider

• What great burden or fear are you carrying on your own? (Financial calamity, moral impropriety, problems in your marriage, overwhelming fear of failure, etc.)
• Who can you let in the boat with you?  Who can you share it with as a first step to changing things?
• Do you have the humility required to share your burdens with a friend and your Father?  (Your friend likely already knows you're in trouble and I promise the Lord does.)

Good

“Everybody arrives somewhere.  Very few people arrive somewhere on purpose.” 

The kind of intentional leaders who hire people like us typically have done many of the right things.  They have worked hard to hire well, attempt to take care of their employees, and some have even crafted centering values and purpose for their organizations.  These are all good things.

In fact, crafting core values and purpose is pretty essential.  It is even better when a leader integrates their life-defining personal beliefs into those things. When they prayerfully approach big decisions and make sure things like values, purpose, and vision are sourced and consistent with the faith system they value most. This is a far better way.

What we feel like is best, however, requires another step in the process:

The best result for creating powerful core values and purpose (from our growing sample size) requires the senior leader to integrate both their deepest personal beliefs with the thoughts and desires of their leadership team.

Good - Create core values and a purpose statement

Better - Make sure they are real and consistent with your deepest held personal beliefs and convictions

Best - Craft them with the team of people you expect to carry them out

The team will more fully own values and purpose that they help create and will also provide a great level of accountability for making sure those things aren’t merely aspirational.  Values and purpose need to be real, felt, and obvious to everyone.

There is another benefit of having a leadership team more involved in significant decision-making for your company:

They will make better decisions than you can.

I often get a “how dare you” kind of look when I suggest that to a leader.  But it is true.  Senior leaders or owners got to those lofty positions because they were able to make quick, courageous and often better decisions than other people.  But we would argue that a leadership team comprised of leaders from every crucial part of your business process will make better decisions than any individual.

The people on your team need to be consistent with your company's values and purpose or they shouldn’t be in key leadership positions.  But if they are, the decisions that key representation from sales, production, administration, and marketing can collectively make will almost always be better than any single executive can make on their own.

 - What marketing develops should be something that can be converted or sold.

 - What sales converts should be able to be produced well and profitable.

 - What production creates should be easy to document, administer, and collect.

 - Etc.

Making sure all those voices are represented in decision making will always yield a better result and a better level of ownership commitment by those involved.  Valuing other people’s opinions and involving them in decision making is messy and requires tension management, but don’t we all want a better level of ownership mindset among our key leaders?  This is one of the necessary steps.

• Do you have stated core values and purpose?
• Do you know what they are?  Does anyone else in your company know?
• Did you create them on your own or did any other team members participate in their creation?
• Do you have an established leadership team and meeting rhythm?  That’s a good place to start.

Architect

architect

[ahr-ki-tekt]

noun

1. a person who engages in the profession of architecture

2. a person professionally engaged in the design of certain large constructions other than buildings and the like

3. the deviser, maker, or creator of anything

verb (used with object)

4. to plan, organize, or structure as an architect

A mentor once said I was “cross brained." He said that I had a highly analytical (even mathematical) side but was very creative as well.  He said that that I operated simultaneously in both hemispheres comfortably rather that predominantly residing more on one side of my brain or the other.  That was helpful and clarifying.  It helped give language to some of the traffic constantly going on in my head.

It’s pretty noisy up there.

Maybe that’s why I’ve always been fascinated with architecture.  I’ve often said that if my university of choice had offered a degree in that discipline, I might have found my way there.  When we lived in Chicago, I took the famous architectural boat cruise several times and studied Frank Lloyd Wright and other great architects that hailed from there. 

I still use a heavy metal drawing pencil for everything I write.

The first sign that any of my children possessed the slightest bit of interest in that arena had me purchasing software, a drawing board, and offering to take them down for a visit to Overland Partners, where my friend Madison and some other guys I knew were architects.  None of the older kids ever really took to architecture, but I’ve still got three “littles” at home.  I am keeping the hope alive.

In terms of my own work, I guess I do get to “architect” (see verb above) on a regular basis.  We help construct teams, purpose, core values, visions, and strategic plans.  I guess that sort of scratches that itch.  Lately, I’ve been spending some time around Overland.  Their architecture offices on Jones Avenue, at the edge of San Antonio’s downtown, are some of the more invigorating I have ever experienced.  

Another friend and I were waiting to meet Madison at the coffee shop next door to their offices and were admiring their mission statement.  After arriving, he told us the beautiful story of how it was created.  Turns out the partner’s didn’t really participate in the creation of that statement.  A group of their younger associates were given the task, and when they emerged from the designated meeting room, they offered:

“Our Mission is to model how we should live and to influence the world.” 

Interestingly enough, their mission statement didn’t even mention architecture!  It was a beautiful and poignant oversight.  And it was an honest mistake.  If you have spent any time around their firm, you would know what many of us have come to believe…their mission statement may be truer to who they are than almost any I have come across.  

Modeling how you should live and influencing their world is what they are all about.  Architecture is merely the medium or the vehicle for doing so.  Before they memorialized that statement, however, they actually addressed the missing element of what they do in order to accomplish that beautiful mission statement:

“Our Mission is to model how we should live and to influence the world through the practice of architecture.”

Even though they added that addendum, the point had already been made...

It really isn’t about the architecture, it's about changing lives and changing the world. 

May that be the same for our companies, our families, and any other group of people we lead.  May that be the case regardless of what we do.

For Overland, focusing on the right thing first seems to be working pretty well.  Focusing on the “why” has made them extraordinarily successful at the “what."  Over 200 design awards internationally would attest to that fact.

• Are you clear on what you do?
• Are you clear on why you do it?
• Could you honestly say that why you do what you do is more celebrated, true, and focused on than what you do?
• Are you ready to start changing that?