Leading Hope with Kevin Jack (Leading Hope with Kevin Jack)

Your capacity in one season is not necessarily your capacity in the next. We increase our capacity through a rhythm of Rev Up, and Focus In. How to know you’ve hit the ceiling: 1. Things start falling apart & you’re unaware of it. 2. Your strengths are no longer activated. 3. You can no longer see the declining cycle of your energy. What this Rhythm Does: 1. Rev Up phase forces you to increase some of your capacity skills. 2. Focus In phase forces you to deploy those skills at the areas of highest leverage: you don’t leave them behind, you still apply them, you just focus them for a greater impact.

Order determines capacity. When your life is focused on things that don’t matter, you will feel & be overwhelmed. Two Notes: When I put the big blocks in first I literally can fit more into my life. When small blocks don’t fit, it’s not a big deal.

Your actions should change based upon the season you are in. If you don’t know the season you won’t maximize the moment & you’ll be unprepared for the next season. Two Notes: I take my vacation very strategically; it’s going to be about the same weeks every single year. I build development early into my workweek so I don’t cloud my thinking later in the week with messages. How to Identify the Season: What is the cycle of your work? Are we in conquest or consolidation? How long is this season? In light of your future desires, what is the most significant thing that could happen this season?

The Leading Hope Manifesto: 1. We want to increase the impact of your leadership. 2. We want to aim the impact of your leadership. - Leadership is a privilege and a sacrifice. But I believe the sacrifice of leadership is the privilege. - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “I have a piece of bread to share with you for me.” Your leadership will have an impact, you’re going to lead them towards despair, or you’re going to lead them towards hope; we want you to lead them towards hope. Everyone has 20 minutes to learn to become a better leader. Make it Count!

Courage establishes you as a leader. The risk of Leadership: 1. You might be wrong. 2. You might be alone. 3. You might be criticized. Leadership is established through a very simple practice: Embrace the Obstacle.

We often define reckless as courageous. Individuals view disagreeable as courageous. Courage is the excuse for the person who is truly arrogant. Definition: The ability to do something that frightens one. Strength in the face of pain or grief. For it to be Courage: You must know what’s at stake. You must know who will be impacted and how. Knowing that, you’re willing to move forward anyway.

What is the difference between stupidity and courage? - The difference between stupidity and courage isn’t wisdom, it is conviction. - Stupidity shuts its eyes, courage sees everything. - The difference between courage and stupidity is subjective: It’s based upon you and what is worth it to you. You need convictions if you’re going to have courage!

How to grow courage. What is worth it whether it works or not? Courage is like a muscle Strengthened over time. Big moment courage comes from small moment courage. Simple Practices that gain courage Speak when it’d be easier to overlook. Listen when you would rather yell. Stay when it’d be easier to go. Go when it’d be more comfortable to stay. Slow down when you want to just keep going faster. Go faster when you’ve been steady at the same pace.

What you need: The right decision at the right time in the right way. The 3 Components: The right decision: Obviously making the right decision matters. Tons has been written on making good decisions so we’re not jumping into that here. Just press this: Decision making is a skill, it can be developed, but you might not be good at it yet. The right time: It’s not always the right time to make decision. You can make it too early- which we’ll dive into in process, you can also make it too late and miss the opportunity. The timing of the decision matters. In the right way: Process matters. Who contributes, who is heard from, has appropriate research been done or are you just going on your gut, who all is involved in making the decision. The best decisions involve all 3, but you can get away with just doing 2 out of the 3.

We’ve fundamentally misunderstood why we lead. If profit is your purpose you’re always going to struggle for passion. The purpose of leadership is to increase joy. From Simon Sinek, “So many leaders, even some of the best-intentioned ones, often ask, “How do I get the most out of my people?” This is a flawed question, however. It’s not a question about how to help our people grow stronger, it’s about extracting more output from them. People are not like wet towels to be wrung out. They are not objects from which we can squeeze every last drop of performance. The answers to such a question might yield more output for a time, but it often comes at a cost of our people and to the culture in the longer term. Such an approach will never generate the feelings of love and commitment. A better question to ask is, “How do I create an environment in which my people can work to their natural best?”

There is no job that will give you joy. One of the greatest things impacting your joy is a feeling of helplessness. - We act contrary to what we feel we should do. - When we do we begin to see the world in a way that justifies our action. - This affects our worldview creating behaviors that become character traits, and provokes others to do the same. I believe one of the clearest culprits is a feeling of helplessness, which is a feeling that we strengthen with our own actions.

Joy is communal. The nature of leadership is to become isolated. To be lonely. The key to joy in leadership is a generous leadership: - Be generous with your time. - Be generous with your authority. - Be generous with information.

A powerful idea: Make your decisions based upon maximizing future joy. - If they’re not a fit culturally or skill-wise, they’re not going to be fulfilled long-term. - We violate ethics because we lose long-term perspective and isolate the immediate. - Another frame: What is the wise thing to do? Wisdom is about joy.

Why you don’t lead at home: Because you don’t adjust to change of pace & maturity. Your ego is in the way: you only want to command and not to serve. You might be lazy. You are replaceable in every environment, don’t fail to lead in the one environment where you’re not.

How to wrap up the year. More important than goals is clarifying lessons and setting intentions. How to do it: 3 Key Questions What was a win? What did I learn? – What’d you learn about yourself? – What wisdom did you gain? What will I do different? – Identity and intention are far more important than goals. You can take 2 hours, or you could take 10 minutes, but do something.

The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow. How Effective Executive’s Focus on Opportunities: -They ensure that problems do not overwhelm opportunities. - They put their best people on opportunities rather than on problems. - Problem solving prevents damage, it doesn’t produce results. We become focused on problems and input rather than opportunities and outcomes because it’s easier. If you’re focused on outcomes you can work hard and still come to the conclusion that you contributed nothing. Seeing Opportunities: - Positioning for the future. - Seeing gaps in what is delivered today. - Knowing what improvements to make to maximize impact.

The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow. Your lack of weaknesses can’t get anything done, they simply won’t create other problems. Only your strengths can make an impact. To get strength one has put up with weaknesses- strong people always have strong weaknesses too. “In every area of effectiveness within an organization, one feeds the opportunities and starves the problems. Nowhere is this more important than in respect to people.” – Peter Drucker “In Human affairs, the distance between the leaders and the average is a constant. If leadership performance is high, the average will go up.” – Peter Drucker Effective Executives make the strengths of their boss productive.

There is no resource that is more finite than your time; which means there is no resource that is more valuable than your time. You can’t know where your time is going without a “time budget” and “time audit”. Step 1: Create a Time Audit: – Your goal is to deploy your time to outcomes, not inputs or problem solving. – 4 Tiers of Effectiveness Step 2: Actively Eliminate Time Wasters Step 3: Chunk Your Time

The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow. The most important decisions you will make are about priorities and people. Priority Decisions: Priority Decisions become far easier and fewer with a framework. Framework Leadership by Kent Ingle, President of Southeastern University. To effectively make priority decisions you need thinking time. People Decisions: “People are chess, not checkers.” Marcus Buckingham Character and integrity do not accomplish anything, but their absence faults everything- character isn’t a plus, it’s a non-negotiable. – Peter Drucker Decision Principles: Know what end you’re working towards. Know what action needs to be taken. Include Communication within the decision itself.

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Side One: Clear is Kind – Clear is kind, but it’s not ruthless. Side Two: Clear will Ruffle Feather – Clarity is kind, but clarity is rarely met with kindness. Side Three: Clarity is the only thing that can invoke passion. – People do not get excited about a general direction, but a specific destination. Don’t be ruthless, but don’t be vague.

Everyone likes the change they initiate. 1. Think Like a Car – The driver knows the direction. – Focus on purpose: We obsess over what is changing, start obsessing over why it is changing 2. Think like a Transformer – You might need to speed up the change! – Quit Comparing: Comparing your present life to your past life is a losing proposition: Comparing adult life to kids life. 3. Think like Viktor Frankl – The last of all human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Viktor Frankl

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Prepare to not be boring. Pro Tip: Count the number of people in the room and multiply it by the time you are spending speaking. Take the time you are consuming into consideration when you’re determining your preparation level. Prepare in a way that allows your personality to come through. You know what you’re saying and how you want to say it. Your Introduction is everything. Your Energy will cover a multitude of problems. Stories add life!

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Have a goal greater than being entertaining. One of the greatest impacts that you can make when you have a microphone is shaping culture, and I believe one of the easiest ways to shape culture is through public speaking. One of the greatest impacts that you can make when you have a microphone is shaping culture, and I believe one of the easiest ways to shape culture is through public speaking. Your preparation must ensure that you don’t just say what you want to say, but you say it how you want to say it. Make your tone mirror your desired culture.

Information is no longer transmitted relationally. We develop like the internet doesn’t exist and information isn’t accessible. We must shift from “teach them something” to “help them become something”. The Developer is not an importer of information, they are a shaper of character. To Develop in the 21st Century you need 2 things: – Proximity – Intentionality

The reason why you’re not further isn’t a skill set. Most of the things that hold us back are good things that become misapplied contextually. Where it will fail: You: Unclear Them: Lack Growth Mindset

What You Have to Do: – Regular meeting Time: Frequency of meetings changes based upon size of the gap. – Desired Level & Current Reality. – Clear Conversations around those two & the progress you’re making: goal fo the conversation is to help them close the gap. Functionally 1,000 conversations – Here’s where you are – Here’s where you hit the bullseye: keep doing this – Here’s where it’s falling short: might need to think different, develop a skill, etc. Values Needed: – Trust – Clarity & Honesty – Pathway to Get There

The mark of development is movement. The 3 Movements: Move Up: Most obvious – Promoted or Doing different things in your job. – If they’re doing the same job, in the same way, with the same impact- development hasn’t taken place. Move Around: – Development will either create clarity on current skills or awareness of new skills that will lead to different positions. – Don’t let people be stuck: in or behind! Move Out: – If you’re wanting to know if development is taking place you need to ask: What’s different? Is this a good thing, or not. – If it’s the same: there’s no development.

Leaders need to create followers. The Best Leaders make the best followers. The Follower understands it’s not about you, but it starts with you. The True Leader understands they lead in how they follow, and when they follow they can lead.

We have so emphasized leading well that most of us have no idea how to follow well. Good Followers think overall impact while focusing on personal responsibility. – Without it we create silos. – Without it we create suspicion. – Without it we stunt the growth of future leaders. You need ways of allowing your team to give input to the macro-vision, while being held accountable for what they are responsible for.

We have so emphasized leading well that most of us have no idea how to follow well. Good followers strive to gain influence which comes from personal contribution to the team goal. The only thing worse than someone who doesn’t make a contribution is the person who values a personal win even if it comes with a team loss. Practices 1. Clarify for your team what you celebrate, then let your team celebrate it in each other. Break down that idea. 2. What’s rewarded is repeated.

Good leaders know when to be absent and when to be present. Key Question: What do you need from me? Key Phrase: Here’s what I need from you. Leaders open the door to this conversation.

Leaders know what’s rewarded is repeated. Don’t do something just because it’s rewarded, decide if it’s worth it. Don’t do it for the gold star, do it because you decided it’s worth it. Be your own motivation.

Leisure Time: The time when someone is not working or occupied; free time. Leisure Activity: What you engage in when you are away from your everyday responsibilities. We’re engaging in more and more activities that are not our responsibilities but aren’t refreshing. As you’re doing what you don’t have to do ask: is this making something better, or is this helping me feel better?

If I’m not encouraged everything I do will be diminished. We reproduce not what we want, but who we are. If we are discouraged, the impact will be significant. If you are discouraged, that’s a problem. And no one else can keep you encouraged other than yourself.

Leadership development is an action- not a system, not a value, an action. Pastoring is about being present, leadership is about being absent. I don’t need to do what I can do, I need to do what only I can do based upon position and skill-set.

If I’m never overreaching I’m probably not progressing. Recovery comes after exertion. You should be overreaching from time to time. It’s good to deliberately hit empty from time to time, hitting empty allows you to grow., but don’t continuously run yourself into the ground, you should not exhaust yourself over and over again.

The awareness of the difficulty doesn’t make it less difficult. The awareness of the difficulty should change how we prepare for it. Create expectation for how long the current circumstance will be difficult, ensure you overestimate it. Don’t look back, look forward. Seek out people who have been through what you’re going through, not people who are going through what you’re going through.

In Narrative the obstacle reveals the purpose behind the desire. People can learn from a point, can accomplish a goal, but can find themselves within a story. Your role as a leader is to find & tell the better story that is taking place. I’d rather have missing details, than an incoherent story.

Every great story has a relatable and admirable protagonist. The Error: Most people make their communication about them. As an individual, as a company. The Goal: Position your communication to make them the protagonist. Start with why — how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA

There is a disconnect between activity and impact. Your job: Connect the Dots. It’s only when you connect the smaller win to the larger picture that your’e leading, until then you’re just telling a story.

When you hear story you need to think: Transformation. We want to know how your life transformed you without you realizing it. You tell their story of their transformation & how it transformed you.

Principle 1: The Transformation is what matters. Principle 2: Your voice is the soundtrack of the story. Principle 3: Move your starting line as close to the finish line as you can. Principle 4: Details make the story fun, but don’t take unnecessary paths. Principle 5: When the movement stops, I’m out. Principle 6: Anyone can be the Hero, but you.

The same elements that present in a strategic plan are pivotal for a story. Portable and compelling matter. Focus: Turn your strategic plan into a story. Everyday ask: What do I want, Why does it matter, what will keep me from it? Strategic Plans give clarity and context, but stories are portable and compelling, change your plan to a story.

If you want to create context give stats, if you want to create momentum tell a story. We don’t watch or hear stories, we enter into them. When you hear stories of what people have overcome it creates confidence. Why you should share your story? – You’ll become aware of how far you’ve come. – You’ll become aware of what you need to begin, change, edit out. – You’ll encourage someone.

The Leadership Perspective: I’m always figuring out a way to make it better, and I always think I can do it better. If I’m not frustrated by something I can’t make it better. You should be frustrated by your lack of frustration. Spend more time dreaming, imagining, vision-casting, seeing what others are doing that you could do.

Make the best of your frustration instead of allowing your frustration to get the best of you. 1. Continuously Adjust the Rubber Band. 2. Pinpoint what. 3. Know when the team needs me present, and when they need me to be ahead. 4. Don’t be frustrated by the fact that I feel frustrated. The mark of a great leader is they’re not frustrated by the same thing two seasons in a row.

Temper: Neutralizing or counterbalancing force. How you feel it’s going is not an accurate indicator of how things are. While your frustration is a good thing (leader), frustration is an emotion, and emotions aren’t good indicators of our reality. Keep the desire to improve constantly grounded in an accurate reality. Your untempered frustration could be disastrous. Three Sources to Temper (Counter-Balance your Frustration): 1. Statistics 2. Stories 3. Someone Else

Most people look for an existing solution or idea instead of attempting to create a solution or idea. Most people think they can’t create a solution or come up with an idea because they’ve never devoted more than 5 minutes to it. As the world becomes more scattered and impatient the ability to think deeply and think critically is a massive advantage. You have to be willing to be bad at something first in order to become good.

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Calling is the undeniable connection between human activity and divine purpose. Calling will only be sustained by two sources: your confidence or your faith. Calling stands at the intersection of Your God-Given ability, what you deeply care about, and God’s purpose

Buy-In is the shared ownership of an idea or initiative. It is lifeless to have something that you spend 1/3 of your life at that is just a means to an end and you really don’t care about it. The #1 factor for why you’re not gettin buy-in is you never give anyone else an opportunity to have ownership. Key question: What can I create ownership of that is meaningful?

The further removed you are from a typical response, the more frustrated you will be by a typical response. Help your team learn to respond like a great leader, expect them to respond like an average person.

Tip #1: Prep for Rest Tip #2: Don’t Waste your Rest Tip #3: Don’t Interrupt it for everything

List #1: What can you not fail at? – This list should be short, and it defines priority. List #2: What do you want to do? List #3: What should you not do.

The life that you create is first created in your thoughts, so if you’re not thinking like a leader you won’t lead. Book, “The Score Takes Care of Itself” – Bill Walsh Quote, “Culture precedes positive results” – Bill Walsh Event + Response = Outcome. Leaders are very distrusting of an unexpected win. How? – Obsess about habits. – Make your energy in the process match your energy for the event.

An over-abundance of options creates paralysis. An over-abundance of information does the same. 1. Don’t underestimate the difficulty, and the significance, of a first step. 2. Ask, “What can lead people to actually do.”

Who you are is more important than what you accomplish. Leaders will not change their identity for the sake of a short-term gain. Leaders view financial profitability as one factor, among many factors, that contribute to ultimate success. Think Pony’s. View Culture as Fluid & Fixed.

Leader Notes: John Maxwell, “Trust is change in your pocket.” Non-Leaders define themselves by their authority not by the permission of the people. There is a world of difference between “I can do this because I have the right to,” and “I know some people won’t like it, but I still believe it’s worth it because this is for the best.” The goal is not credibility, the goal is impact. Applications for Development 1. Gain an awareness of the change in your pocket: How do people respond when you propose change? Are they pushing back on the change, or are they pushing back on you. 2. If you have a staff, have this conversation. 3. Pick your battles.

Brave is Reactive, Bold is Proactive. When you have the title, you must value the impact more than the title. Bold Leadership 1. Intentionally challenges the Status Quo. 2. Is more focused on opportunity than obstacles. 3. Is willing to be wrong.

Episode 114 Theme It February 9, 2022 Also Available On: Leader Notes Why Theme Your Year? 1. Keeps us from [...]

Burnout: State of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis (Mayo Clinic), could be a number of factors like depression coming together that creates what we call burnout. The difference between burnout and stress is that burnout is extended stress that can’t be lifted. Even when the stressors are all gone, the stress is the same.

The Trap of Experience is to universalize what is unique. To universalize what is unique is to dismiss all other data other than what you have experienced personally. We sometimes underestimate the level of our ignorance. This Is dangerous because you’re: 1. Wrong 2. Stuck The greatest source of your wisdom is your awareness of your ignorance. There is nothing that exists that is all bad. Don’t turn it into a game.

God will take you through a process. 3 Things Cyclically 1. Collect 2. Discern 3. Pray You just keep going through that over and over again. Prioritize the perspective that is aligned with your purpose, not your perspective. Everyone will tell you what they think you should do. Accept it, and then do what you need to do.

The Price of Impact is criticism. Sociopath: no regard for others’ rights or feelings, lack empathy and remorse, will lead to exploiting and manipulating others for personal gain. Key Tips: – Know You’re Going to Get Hit – Anticipate the Reasonable Response – Stay Connected to the Struggle

The conversation doesn’t mean that you’ll accomplish what you set out to do, but the absence of that conversation ensures that you won’t. Great Leadership: 1. Great Leaders can identify which outside inputs enhance and distract from the most important conversation. 2. Great Leaders can engage in the outside conversation without bringing it into the culture. Application: 1. Quit saying, “Oh, we’re just talking”! 2. Be aware of the conversation 3. View conversation as the most powerful culture shaping tool you have.

Virtues like ambition, courage, vision, work-ethic have become highly distorted by our current state of struggle. The baseline has fallen and is now significantly burdened. Virtue is now met with skepticism. Courage is now met with cynicism. A desire to be healthy is viewed as over the top. A desire to make an impact is viewed as over the top, why aren’t we good enough. A message for the person who is ambitious and driven: For all the criticism you’ve received on your ambition, your courage and drive, it’s still too low. As the baseline keeps falling, what you previously thought you could do is still lower than what you can actually do!

Focus on playing the role that is needed instead of the role that is familiar. The Roles: The role of the coach is to elevate performance of the group. The role of the counselor is to create clarity on where clients are, where they want to be, and how to get there. The role of the consultant is to provide insight that creates actionable improvement. The role of the manager is to align individual actions with overall goals and provide accountability to those actions. You need to know which role you’re in and play the ones that’s needed not the one you like the most.

Switch the thinking from “Symbols are what you inherit” to “Symbols can be what you create”. Symbols communicate what is valued. Resistance to change comes because we now tilt away from something we currently value and towards something we don’t. The Power of the Symbol is in its felt meaning. The deeper the symbol, the deeper the meaning.

3 Basic Categories: 1. What needs improved? 2. What needs simplified/clarified? 3. What needs released? To make an improvement isn’t complicated, but to go to another level is.

You can’t really improve until you start to eliminate (release). Key Part of the Strategy: Focus on Momentum You don’t focus on improving everything, you focus on improving what is essential to your momentum, begin eliminating outside that. Fire Bullets, then Cannonballs. Don’t just improve the quality, improve the quality around momentum and release programs that aren’t momentum contributors.

The bigger you get the less people are on the same page in regards to the past, present, and future. When less people are “in the know”, what is “in the know” needs to become less. Complexity is the enemy of culture. What your goal is: memorable. 1. Easy 2. Obvious 3. Repeatable Questions: 1. Values: How many are there? How are they repeated? How often are they repeated? Are there stories that are connected to them? 2. Strategy: Can you draw it? Can you draw it and it all looks the same? 3. Vision: If everyone on your team wrote down 4 sentences to “What are we trying to accomplish?” How close would their answers be? How about the organization as a whole.

Leader Notes Get Rid of Authority – Not tasks, authority and decision-making power. – There is a right time to get rid of authority, don’t just pass it off blindly and flippantly. Get Rid of Accessibility – You release accessibility as it is necessary, not desired. (When you “have to” not at the start when you want to.) Get Rid of Credit – If you want to build a great organization and not a “cult of personality” you have to get rid of credit.

Creativity is 3 things 1. Creativity is solving common problems with unique solutions. 2. Creativity is solving unique problems with common solutions. 3. Creativity is solving unique problems with unique solutions. Things to know about creativity: 1. Everyone can imagine. 2. Imitation precedes innovation. We often have to do what everyone does before we can do what we uniquely do. 3. Be willing to be bad.

Audacity has two definitions 1. A willingness to take bold risks. 2. Rude or disrespectful behavior. To Lead is Audacious. To want to lead is audacious. To lead itself is audacious. The question will be how far into audacity are you willing to go.

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A bad coat rack is a great culture. Hook: Something you can stuff hang on. A hook turns a moment into a culture. Stays accessible, adds depth.

From Team Members: “We’re bad at communication.” From Leaders: “We struggle with execution.” Most organizations lack a sense of “this is what we’re attempting to accomplish.” What is happening is not the primary issue in communications, most communication complaints are because people don’t know why something is happening.

Be selfish about your personal growth. – Be selfish about putting yourself in positions in which your character & competency will develop. Be selfish about your personal growth, then use that growth to benefit others. – Don’t just use it for personal gain, pass on what you learn. – In doing so: Your act of selfishness will become the most generous thing you can do. Look at where something leads and not just what it is. Be selfish at the right time.

1. When you make it look easy, you won’t be celebrated, because it looks easy. 2. When you make it look easy, others are able to focus on the impact, because they’re not looking at the effort. 3. When you make it look easy, amateurs will tell you they want to do what you do, professionals will ask you how you do what you do.

Not all effective leadership is good, positive, healthy leadership. The most important leadership questions isn’t what can you do, or even what do you want to do, but who are you? The size of your impact comes from you ability, the quality of your impact comes from your identity. It is not the ends that separate good and evil, it is the means. 2 Questions to help determine the quality of your leadership, not the ability of your leadership. 1. When you’re squeezed, what comes out? 2. When you look at yourself, what story do you tell? We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. What you see flows from your essence – what you see is who you are.

Satire Culture flattens people because they don’t want to become the joke. To combat this more of your identity needs to be built on your desired contribution than your criticism. Personality testing is great when it is a tool, not a crutch. Your lack of confidence may actually be your issue, and your confidence can be developed like anything else.

Arrogance eliminates the space for others and for the future you. The more concerned you are about your arrogance, the less you have to be concerned about your arrogance. Arrogance is a pre-occupation with you and your agenda. Attacking Arrogance: 1. Serve, where you can’t get any credit 2. Appreciate, where you have no authority 3. Give, where you have no leadership.

Your approval rating can be a poor indicator of if you’re a healthy leader. When you think of who needs to change, which comes first: You or them? Healthy leaders know the change begins with them. Toxic leaders assume the change begins with others. Healthy leaders think personal transformation. Toxic leaders blame others. The healthy leader is the scaffolding for the people. The followers are the scaffolding for the toxic leader.

“Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do.” – Steve Jobs 4 Keys 1. When designing a system, ask: Does it make it easier for us, or those we are serving? 2. When utilizing technology, ask: Is it cool, or does it actually aid our vision? 3. When changing an environment, ask: Am I tired of it, or are they tired of it? What have I become blind to? 4. Stay Relationally Connected to those who are disconnected from faith and then don’t do what they said, do what they really need.

Turn the Faucet On: – Release the valve, don’t blocking the flow. You already have something to teach, you’re just unaware of it because it’s currently being blocked. What turning the faucet on does: – Creates awareness – Stirs your creativity – You start to learn rhythms You know more than you realize because you’ve never attempted to communicate it.

Plagiarism: The practice of taking someone’s work or ideas and passing them off on one’s own. What we are saying 1. Ideas do not come out of a vacuum, they come out of a culture. Frank Moore, “No preacher is greater than the tradition itself.” Your perceived originality is overhyped. 2. As you’re learning to turn the faucet on, you might need a clear springboard to get to your own idea. Where people get in trouble: They make no effort to make it their own. Originality is overstated. You have to copy before you can be original, you have to know the moves before you can make up your own steps.

The reason we don’t have better content is we don’t think long & hard enough.

#1: Don’t ask someone to let go of something until they can hold onto something else. #2: Be more focused on culture than systems #3: Use cultural evidence to determine systems pace

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Idea #1: Your perspective is the product of your identity Idea #2: Your identity is the product of your behaviors, not your beliefs. Idea #3: The foundation of all growth is personal responsibility. Idea #4: The enemy of all growth is victimhood.