On the Journey

Having a big brainstorming meeting today with about 50 creative, highly energetic leaders. Thinking through how to make the Catalyst October experience one of the best ever. 

Many of you obviously can’t be here with us because of location. So if you have any ideas to throw in the hat, feel free to leave comments here and we’ll add them to the list. Fun moments, programming, experience items, memorable videos, etc. 

As leaders, I encourage you to reach out to peers and other influencers in your area and include them in whatever initiative or project you are working on. The power of many minds collaborating, dreaming and creating together is much greater than you working on something alone. Whether you are planning a Sunday morning church experience, a staff retreat, a marketing plan, a business plan, or pitching a new product, it’s always more fun and almost always more valuable when you include “outsiders” in the process.

I am a big fan, and good friends with FEE. The band has been involved with pretty much every Catalyst event/experience the last several years. Steve Fee, Matt Adkins, Heath Baltzglier, and Brandon Coker are the real deal. 

They are talented musicians and leaders, and also pretty fun to hang out with, as evidenced by the video below. A little behind the scenes at our recent Catalyst One Day gathering in Dallas. 

A few links and items of interest: 

- interesting article in Fast Company on connecting to multi-cultural youth through mobile platforms.

- One of the best written books I’ve read in the last 10 years- As We Forgive, by Catherine Claire Larson, documenting stories of reconciliation from the Rwandan genocide. 

- The One Prayer campaign now is in the third week of four. 1900 churches and over 1 million in attendance represented by this global initiative of unity and prayer in the Church. We participated at 12Stone this morning with Craig Groeschel on video. 

- If you are a songwriter or musician, Wednesday, July 1 is the deadline for submitting a song for the Catalyst Music Project. More details on the site. 

- Good article in TIME on how Twitter is changing the way we live. 

- USA goes down to Brazil in the finals of the Confederation Cup, 3-2. Led 2-0 early in the first half. Valiant effort by the home team. Not a big soccer fan, but always cheer for the team wearing the USA jersey, no matter what the sport. We’ll see if this changes the landscape of soccer in the USA. Probably not. 

- Check out this quick video of Catalyst’s very own Jason Haynes tearing it up, prom 1987 style. Nice!

There are lots of tests, assessments, seminars, conferences, training centers, and workbooks available today that are supposed to help you determine your leadership style. Many of these are very helpful, and very accurate. I’ve taken lots of them. 

But someone asked me the other day, “With only three words, describe your leadership style.” I had to think about that one. Tough question. 

My answer: focus, fun, execute.

Obviously there is no right answer to that question, but those were the first three words that came to mind. I’ve seen this style manifested in all the different places over the last several years where i’ve had a leadership role.

A phrase that would describe our culture here at Catalyst that we use all the time: “work hard and play hard.” Whatever we are doing, we give 110% and always want to deliver- an excellent result. Whether working on a brochure, programming, curriculum, or playing basketball or kickball at our office, we strive to be the best at everything we do. Another phrase I think describes my style is “calm but intense.” Especially in environments like producing an event where things can be chaotic and multiple decisions have to be made instantly.

I believe this naturally flows out of my leadership style. Not sure if it is “in style” or not, but that’s my style. Try three words for yourself- it’s tough, but will help in determining your own style.

The lack of clean drinking water around the world is a major problem. I saw this first hand in Rwanda. Outside of the major cities, Rwandans had no access to clean water, except in villages where water wells had been put in.

This is a global challenge, and several organizations are working hard to combat it- Rwanda Clean Water, Blood:Water Mission, and Charity: Water among others. 

Had the chance to speak with Scott Harrison several days ago about Charity: Water and the great work they are doing. As the founder and chief visionary, his big goal is not just to combat the issue, but to solve it.

We discussed a BIG idea that he and the Charity: Water team are working on for 2010 that will put a major dent in the water crisis. Reality is- together we can do this, especially with the collective effort of the global Church in partnership with businesses, governments and NGO’s. 

Make sure to check out the great work Charity: Water is doing. 

Make sure to register today for the best rates on attending the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta on October 7-9, 2009. After today (Thursday), rates go up, so take advantage of the lower ticket prices now if you plan on attending. You can save up to $130 by registering early. 

I know I am biased, but I think this year’s speaker lineup is the best ever- Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Malcolm Gladwell, Tony Dungy, Dave Ramsey, Chuck Swindoll, Rob Bell, Shane Hipps, Priscilla Shirer, and many more. 

Preview for this year.

Highlights from last year. 

Follower vs. Fan.Is there a difference? 

Followers are committed. Fans can be fickle.

Followers trust their leader. Fans trust their leader only when it benefits them.

Followers want a vision. Fans want a show. 

Followers ask “what have i done for you?” lately. Fans ask “what have you done for me lately?” 

Followers are in for the long term. Fans are in for the short term. 

are you a follower or a fan?

The Second issue of Catalyst Leadership is now up. This issue’s theme is on Justice. You can subscribe for free on the site and it will be sent to your inbox each time a new issue is released. 

This online digizine is a strategic partnership between Catalyst and Leadership Journal. Make sure to check it out.

The June edition of the Young Influencers List is here. Also, take time to check out the archives of YIL which includes all of the lists from past months. 

Again, no particular order or rank:

1. Scott Harrison- founder of Charity: Water, one of the leading organizations providing clean and safe drinking water to developing nations. 

2. Esther Havens- brilliant photographer with an emphasis on capturing humanitarian issues all around the world. 

3. Shaun Alexander- former All-Pro running back for Seattle, and college standout at Alabama. Now speaking in churches and at conferences all over the country along with running his foundation. 

4. Peter Greer- President of Hope International, a leading microfinance organization helping provide small loans to individuals in developing countries. 

5. John Saddington- social computing strategist, web junkie, and former web developer for some big time businesses, including Fox and NewsCorp. Now leading the online development as the Creative Web Director for North Point Ministries.

if you are a songwriter, musician, or worship artist, I want to make sure you are aware of the Catalyst Music Project. Here at Catalyst, we are all about leaders, including leaders in music and the arts.

We want to be a platform for introducing new ideas, new thoughts, new voices and also new songs and new music. So if you have a song that you’ve written, or a song that your church has been singing, upload it. 

Submit your song and be a part of the album release at Catalyst this fall in October. All the details are on the website.

1. give them freedom with their schedule
2. provide them projects, not a career
3. work, family, social are all intertwined, so make sure the work environment is experiential and family oriented. 
4. tie in compassion/justice oriented causes and opportunities to their projects or environment
5. embrace social media.
6. embrace the reality that they grew up with technology such as texting, XBox, laptops, and ipods as the norm
7. lead each person uniquely; don’t create standards or rules that apply to everyone; customize your approach
8. provide authenticity and honesty as the norm for the corporate culture.
9. millenials are not necessarily interested in “climbing the corporate ladder” but instead interested in making a mark and making a difference
10. not willing to wait- want to make a difference now; so give them opportunities early with major responsibility. 
    

Just want to keep everyone in the loop on what is happening on the Catalyst front, specifically relating to our big Ten Year Anniversary Celebration on October 7-9 in Atlanta. Make sure you are there:

1. Win a Free FLIP video camera- winners are chosen every 100 hours leading up to Catalyst in October. Go here to enter to win. 

2. Catalyst Gives Back- on the same registration page, you can choose one of 10 organizations who will receive a donation from Catalyst on your behalf. It’s easy. No strings. Help out some great causes. Includes International Justice Mission, Gift Card Giver, Rwanda Clean Water, Deadly Viper, TWLOHA, and many others. 

3. Make Your Mark and leave your story- On the Catalyst Conference website, go to the “Make Your Mark” section and leave your story. Your story and your “mark” will be featured on the home page of the site, and you will also receive a unique URL that can be emailed out to your friends and will allow them to read your story upon entering the site. 

4. Catalyst Treasure Hunt- We’ve hid over 120 treasures all over the US, and it is your job to find them. Go to the site and click on “X Marks the Spot.” Find a treasure capsule hidden in your area and call us to claim your prize. 

5. Best Rates to attend by next Thursday, June 25- If you are planning on joining us in October in Atlanta, make sure to register by next Thursday to get the best rates. After that, the prices go up.

Top Shelf is prime real estate in the book/publishing business. Eye level. Easily reached. No extra effort to find what you are looking for. The current hot sellers. New releases. Buzzworthy books. Retail chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders are incredibly picky and very intentional with who gets placed in a top shelf area. They not only choose wisely, but will charge publishers top dollar for the right for their authors to be placed “top shelf.” 

Grocery stores and consumer goods focused retail stores are the same way. They put their best items on the eye level, top shelf area. Best-selling items deserve top shelf status. 

Bottom shelf is for the laggards. Items on the bottom shelf are cumbersome to find, and you have to work to get to it. You can quickly go from a top shelf item to a bottom shelf item within one inventory cycle. Relax for a second, or one bad week of publicity, or a publicity nightmare like bad peanut butter or poisonous pills, and you are immediately but on the bottom shelf, or even worse, taken off the retail space all together. 

Same goes with your company, brand or not for profit campaign. Staying “Top Shelf” requires constant innovation, improvement, quality control, and hard work. Bottom Shelf is easy, requires little effort, and becomes status quo. Second place vs. First place. 

The question is, where is your company or church or brand currently? Top Shelf or bottom shelf?

Check out a recent interview I did with Louie Giglio at the Passion House in Alpharetta, just across the north Atlanta suburbs from our offices. We talk about Passion City Church, the issue of calling and purpose, the One Million Can Campaign, Passion 2010, and a number of other topics. So much that we are making two episodes out of this interview. 

You can stream here or listen on itunes.

Wednesday of this week we had a little celebration here at the office. Great barbecue cooked by Craig Canfield, and games led by our very own athletic director/social chairman Mr. Chad “Squeaky” Johnson. 

Well, as you will see below, a dunk tank showed up in the parking lot, and the line for throwing was pretty long when I got up on the ole chair. If I would have charged for throwing at me, I could have raised a couple of hundred dollars for charity……

The people have spoken….. and Rudy Vaughn and his band are the official winners! Great news. Congrats to Rudy and everyone involved. And thanks to everyone who voted. Winning the Hard Rock Cafe Battle of the Bands means they will be playing in London at Hyde Park with Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band, The Killers, and many other bands. Amazing. I am trying to sneak my way onto the trip….. but it ain’t gonna happen.

Here was my day- not sure a typical day, but thought I would share nonetheless. The important thing to note- only 4 of the “items” below were scheduled. Everything else was spontaneous or general “getting work done” items. Too many meetings planned will equal very few things actually getting accomplished. Here you go:

- 6 am wake up

- at the office by 6:45

- some time for prayer, reading, singing, reflecting, scripture

- 7:15 am catch up on blogs, twitter, and other interesting links

- 7:30 am final listening, editing to the next issue of the Catalyst podcast with Louie Giglio

- 8 am speaker contracts sent out for next event in October 

- 8:30 am new ideas/initiatives for 2010 

- 9 am email and texts 

- 9:30 am meeting regarding some website changes and program/production stuff 

- 10 am marketing budgets review 

- 10:30 am pick on the interns a bit (and give Chad Johnson a hard time)

- 10:40 am work on an endorsement for a friend’s book

- 10:55 am Creative review/edit for ads

- 11:10 am talk through Facebook group and other social media issues 

- 11:30 am call with Ed Stetzer regarding Catalyst October

- noon email 

- 12:30 pm  meet with Lunch n Learn group and talk about systems 

- 1:30 pm work on partnership emails and new marketing channels

- 2:30 pm walk around the office and bother everyone else- waste time; pick on the interns and Melissa Kruse 

- 3:00 pm email; lots of responding to emails and also working on a few deals 

- 4:00 pm watch some of the behind the scenes/backstage footage from Catalyst West Coast 

- 4:30 pm review/edit creative design and copy for tickets and rave cards and new email skins 

- 5:00 pm call with Buddy Stone from Stand in the Gap 

- 5:30 pm work on To Do list 

- 6:00 pm two games of Cornhole with Catalyst team (1-1 by the way) 

- 6:30 pm catch up on voicemails, texts and people to call

- 7:00 pm Dinner with Jon Acuff 

There you have it. Not sure if that is normal or not. Got several things done, but I am not sure I would give today a satisfactory score in the area of accomplishing anything. More moving the ball down the field.

I know, I know, most of these are a total stretch, and might even be considered random. But just putting it out there. If you believe it, you can achieve it! 

1. Denzel Washington

2. John Lasseter (Pixar)

3. Bill Gates

4. Bono

5. Paul Kigame (President of Rwanda)

6. Chris Anderson (TED Conference) 

7. Tony Dungy (Catalyst baby!)

8. Will Smith

9. JJ Abrams 

10. Tony Hawk 

The reason to meet all of these folks- I believe they are the best in the world at what they do, whether acting, performing, directing, coaching, leading, or singing. People at the top of their game who are incredibly excellent at their craft or profession have learned something about greatness, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are. And I love to learn from those outside of my “normal circle” of influence.

Kevin Myers at 12 Stone Church recently did an incredible talk on the issue of “NO Excuses,” and the power of accountability.

We all have experienced this as leaders. You give a big assignment or project to someone on your team, and they lay an egg- totally drop the ball and don’t get it done. We’ve all been there. Both as the goat as well as the one in charge trying to figure out how to handle the situation. 

Let’s look at this situation from both sides, both the own who dropped the ball and the one in charge. 

As the one who dropped the ball, just own up to it. Don’t make excuses. Be self-policing. Be accountable. And be mature. And realize that your leader or your boss or the person in charge is trying to figure out how to deal with your mistake or lack of action- lean into that and bring it up first and tell them it won’t happen again. Don’t wait on them to have to confront you. 

Own up. Grow Up. Shut up. And don’t be the goat again. 

As the leader, four things: 1. confrontation; 2. conversation; 3. restoration; 4. affirmation. The key on this- get through the confrontation and onto to the conversation and restoration as quick as possible. If you have the right kind of person on your team, they feel terrible anyway, so spend very little time confronting, and way more time on restoration and affirmation. 

Reality is, a majority of accountability, both with individuals and with teams, should be built around affirmation. This is not just telling people they are great. That’s part of it. But instead, affirming this person and your team about where you are going as a team, how you are going to get there, and how you are winning. Vision. As a leader, DO NOT withhold affirmation.

Assuming you’ve established trust, a strong level of commitment, and a proper corporate culture, then ultimately affirmation is the greatest power and source of strength for team accountability.

I love the book of Philippians in the New Testament. The entire book is one of Paul’s greatest letters. 

Specifically, chapter 2 is a gem. Paul lays out some strong language regarding teamwork and working together.

Verse 2-5: “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” (New American Standard)

1. Be like-minded.

2. Be loving

3. Be united

4. Be focused (on one purpose)

5. Be selfless

6. Be humble

7. Look out for others before yourself

8. Be Christ-like

Teamwork 101.