On the Journey

My good friend/Catalyst emcee/creative team guru Tyler Stanton has a great series he is doing on his blog called 5 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked. Past interviewees include big shots like Carlos Whittaker, Tripp Crosby, and Bryan Allain. I’m honored to have been included.

And you should subscribe/read Tyler’s blog. It’s good stuff.

Enjoy. I think……

Jeff Shinabarger and I were talking the other day about how to prioritize. For so many of us, we’ve got multiple projects, several direct reports, lots of plates spinning at once, and it’s hard to figure out what is most important.

Jeff said at the start of each week, and then specifically at the start of each day in the week, he takes 5 minutes to figure out what is the ONE big thing he needs to accomplish. Once that big project is accomplished, it doesn’t mean that the day or week is done, but it means that there is a very clear sense of what is the focus of today.

Simple thought, Simple formula, but can be game changing for many of us who are all over the map when it comes to figuring out which stack on the desk to tackle next.

I love John Maxwell. He is a mentor, teacher, and friend. He recently took a bunch of folks to Israel.

Seeing this makes me love John even more…..

Toyota is losing its brand. They are crumbling right before our eyes. The latest meltdown came just last night after a man driving a prius in California lost his brakes and could not turn off the engine going 90 + mph for several minutes on a CA freeway. Add this on to the last two months of recalls and testing and bad press.

It’s not good for Toyota. Brand equity is rapidly dissipating. Toyota has been #1 in brand loyalty among car customers for several years. Toyota owners love their cars. The American public used to hold the Toyota brand in the highest regards. But this is changing. Once a respected and admired brand, they’ve lost credibility, billions in market share, and continue to make wrong decisions in pr and response to this nightmare.

How quickly a brand can go bad. Literally overnight.

A couple of things I’ve noticed about this whole situation which might speak towards how we can avoid brand meltdown in our organizations:

1. it seems that Toyota has gotten lazy. That is pure speculation, but a good guess I believe.

2. Quality and excellence still matter. Loyalty can only get you so far. You still have to deliver a great product. That’s what the Toyota brand has stood for in the past.

3. Authenticity wins. Putting Toyota executives on TV doesn’t show authenticity. The stiff guys in the suits just make us more leary that they are covering something up. Let’s hear some honesty- “yeah, we messed up. we’re gonna fix it.”

4. Shut up, own up, and fix it. There seems to be a lot of finger pointing among the brass at Toyota. The only person who seems willing to own up is the founder and Chairman, Mr. Toyota himself. But all of his top brass are trying to pass the buck. Someone needs to step up and be willing to change the game.

5. Find, recruit and create scouts. This is pretty simple, but find trusted leaders inside and outside your organization who will constantly look for areas, issues, problems that could potentially become a brand killer. These have to be leaders who will tell you what you may not want to hear, vs. just telling you what you already know.

Margaret Feinberg is great people. She’s the real deal. A great writer, author, speaker, Bible teacher, next-generation expert and friend.

We gave a copy of her most recent book Scouting the Divine to everyone in attendance at Catalyst this past October.

In this interview, we talk about what she’s working on next, bowling, the current state of church leaders, and great perspective on farming at 4:30 into the interview. Great stuff from Margaret!

Maybe the most average book ever. Actually a below average read, but a great tool for other everyday items like holding important papers or swatting a fly. And a great coaster for your cold drink.

Ok. Just kidding.

Tyler Stanton’s first book Everyday Absurdities is now available. You should buy it. Read it. And buy more copies of it for your friends.

Tyler helps us with lots of Catalyst stuff, is an emcee for our Catalyst West event, is part of lots of funny videos, a great writer, and a good friend.

It’s only $8.99 this week if you use promo code H5J74D59 when you buy it. If you’re like me, you can’t remember that code, but don’t worry. It’s on the page where you purchase, so you don’t have to remember it now.

If still not convinced, just watch this promo video. That will definitely make your decision easy!!!

In honor of the Oscars happening this evening, I thought I would release my favorite movies of all time (or at least during my lifetime that I have watched). This list is purely my favorites, and I have no authority whatsoever to be a movie critic. So take this list like you would a Vitamin C pill……

Greatest Movie of All Time:

Star Wars

Greatest Sports Movie:

Rudy and Hoosiers (it’s a tie)

Greatest Miniseries:

Band of Brothers

Greatest Western:

Lonesome Dove

Greatest Scary/Thriller Movie:

Silence of the Lambs

Greatest Comedy:

Caddyshack

Greatest Romance:

Titanic

Greatest Action/Adventure:

Indiana Jones series (except for the last one)

Greatest Drama:

The Shawshank Redemption

Greatest Inspiration and Motivation Movie:

Braveheart

Greatest Sci-Fi Movie:

E.T.

Agree/Disagree?

1. Linchpin- by Seth Godin. An instant classic. Seth challenges us with the question, “Are you indispensable?”

2. Making Ideas Happen- by Scott Belsky. Releases next month. This book should be read by every person who is required to move things to completion.

3. Plan B- by Pete Wilson. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, Pete is the prototype Catalyst leader. This is his first of I’m sure many books.

4. Rediscovering Values- by Jim Wallis. Subtitle is A Moral Compass for the New Economy.

5. The Me I Want to Be- by John Ortberg. A spiritual formation book. Classic Ortberg style, which is always great.

6. Take Your Best Shot- by Austin Gutwein. The story of Hoops of Hope. Austin is a hero of mine, and only 15!

7. Drive- by Daniel Pink. One of my favorite business authors out there.

What’s on your nightstand?

Had the chance to catch up with Miles McPherson recently. Miles is the senior pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego, and author of the book Do Something. In 2009, inspired by the book and the Do Something Campaign, The Rock Church provided 160,000 hours of service from the members of their congregation to the city of San Diego. Amazing!

The great thing is, any leader in any community across the country can do this as well. A practical way for all of us to get involved in making our communities better through local Churches.

Hear more regarding the Do Something campaign and ways you can get involved in the interview below.

What are you CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of?

Recently read a great article from The New York Times that Scott Harrison had recommended.

The article is an interview with Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga.

In the article, Mark talks about the importance of each member of your team determining what they are CEO of. This is a really helpful exercise, and one I am doing right now with our Catalyst team.

In quoting Mark Pincus in the article:

“I’d turn people into C.E.O.’s. One thing I did at my second company was to put white sticky sheets on the wall, and I put everyone’s name on one of the sheets, and I said, “By the end of the week, everybody needs to write what you’re C.E.O. of, and it needs to be something really meaningful. And that way, everyone knows who’s C.E.O. of what and they know whom to ask instead of me. And it was really effective. People liked it. And there was nowhere to hide.

I think that was a big lesson for me because what I realized was that if you give people really big jobs to the point that they’re scared, they have way more fun and they improve their game much faster.”

Obviously there are only a few leaders over the course of their career who will ever have the title of CEO next to their name. But this is a great exercise, and a great way to engage your team/staff in embracing their areas of responsibility/ownership.

This is Part Two of my interview with Pete Greig, founder of 24-7 Prayer Movement, which now has a presence in over 100 countries around the world. Pete is an author, speaker, and also the Director of Prayer at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London. He is a leading voice on the global church and the next generation. And check out Campus America, a visionary initiative being launched this year.

Part One of the interview is here.

In Part Two, Pete and I talk about vision, values, how 24-7 Prayer got started, leading through organizational growth, and Campus America.

As leaders, we have to be decisive. Indecision can be a killer inside of organizations. A few thoughts on being decisive:

1. Do Your Homework- great decisions are usually the result of being informed. We have to do our homework, look at the information in front of us, scan the horizon, and consider all the best options before moving forward on a decision.

2. Understand the context- Many times it comes down to a better/best scenario, which is much more difficult to mange than a good/bad. Good/bad scenarios are easy. I can decide easily and quickly in that situation. Better/best scenarios require more time and a greater sense of context. Everyone on your team needs to understand this.

3. Know Your Values- As Roy Disney stated, “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” many times indecision occurs because of lack of clarity on vision and values.

4. Create a Culture of Action- Making a decision doesn’t always lead to execution and completing a task or project, but it definitely is part of the process. If you create a system and culture that demands and requires completion, action, and execution, you’ll have no choice on whether to decide or not. The system will drive it.

This is one of the most amazing videos I have ever seen. If you’ve already seen it, sorry!

As We Forgive is one of my favorite documentaries in the last several years. Directed by Laura Waters Hinson, the film has received critical acclaim, including the Gold Winner for Best Documentary at the 2008 Student Academy Awards. Executive Producer Stephen McEveety (Braveheart) released As We Forgive on October 6, 2009.

Now, the story continues with a 40 Days of Forgiveness campaign. Starting on February 17 and lasting through April 4th, universities, Churches and other groups are invited to engage their communities around the topic of radical forgiveness by hosting film screenings of As We Forgive to ultimately build a “Living Bricks” village of reconciliation in Rwanda. In partnership with Prison Fellowship, the Living Bricks initiative was created to equip repentant ex-genocide prisoners in Rwanda with the tools to build critically needed housing for their victim’s families. The Living Bricks Village will ultimately be an incredible community of genocide survivors and ex-genocide prisoners who live peacefully as neighbors through reconciliation. This is an incredible and radical idea and one worth supporting.

The goal of the 40 Days of Forgiveness Campaign is to partner with 40 Churches, schools, universities, and individuals to host local screenings with the end goal of raising funding to build new homes in the Living Bricks Village. The cost of each home is $5,000, with 100% of proceeds going directly to the village.

This is a great project to get involved in. The 40 Days of Forgiveness is also an opportunity for groups to engage their communities in discussions and studies on the power of forgiveness and redemption.

Please consider hosting a screening in your area.

To learn more about how you can be involved in the 40 Days Campaign or to host a film screening in your community, visit the As We Forgive website or contact the As We Forgive office at 804-301-6788.

LV Hanson recently had the chance to connect with Dr. John Kim, founder and president of JAMA. Check out this interview below.

The latest Catalyst Podcast features an interview with Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, and author of Finding Home. Ken Coleman sits down with Jim to discuss the Tebow Superbowl commercial, the future of Focus, and Jim’s personal story of adoption. Also included in this episode is an interview with Jeb Stuart, writer/director of the recently released film Blood Done Sign My Name, and classics such as Die Hard.

Listen to the episode or download from itunes.

A few funny videos for you to end the week!

The February Edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see the past months’ editions here.

1. Lance Briggs- founder of Uganda Bible Project.

2. Allyson Felix- Olympic sprinter and 2008 gold medalist in the 200 meters. First women to ever win 3 consecutive world championships in the 200.

3. Pete Wilson- pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, uber blogger, and author of Plan B which will release in May.

4. Billy Williams- Grassroots Movement Director for Nuru International.

5. Ty Clark- CEO and Designer of Veritas, an art fashion brand that includes a unique clothing line aiming to help humanity through art.

Here is my list of the top twelve events for leaders in the Church to attend in 2010:

1. Catalyst- yep, it’s first on my list. I’m biased, but I would put Catalyst #1 even if I didn’t have a business card by the same name. And this includes Catalyst East in October, Catalyst West in April, and Catalyst One Days throughout the year.

2. Q- April 28-30 in Chicago.

3. Drive- May 3-5 in Atlanta.

4. Chick-fil-A Leadercast- May 7 in Atlanta.

5. The Orange Conference- April 28-30 in Atlanta.

6. Hillsong Conference- July 5-9 in Sydney, Australia

7. ARC All Access Conference- April 27-29 in Baton Rouge.

8. Exponential- April 19-22 in Orlando.

9. Leadership Summit- August 5-6 in Chicago.

10. Unleash Conference- March 4 in Anderson, SC

11. National Leadership Forum- March 10-12 in Lakeland, FL

12. Right Now Conference- November 11-12 in Dallas, TX

This list doesn’t include any online events. Only in-person experiences.

What did I forget?

My good friend Carlos Whittaker of Ragamuffin Soul is busy these days. A new album, leading worship all over the country, creative consulting, and of course keeping us all informed, entertained, and inspired through his blog.

I found a few minutes to catch up with Carlos while he was recently in Nashville. Of course at a Starbucks!! I figured I would go ahead and include Part One and Part Two of our interview.