Leadership Advice: Various Sources

Quotes, notes and advice from books on leadership

Axiom - Bill Hybels

43: Blue Sky Days

Periodically throughout his leadership he's called 'Blue Sky' days or half days or hours.

I'd gather the team and present an interesting challenge, and then ask them to remove every single boundary, restriction, and practical consideration from their brains. The question I encouraged them to consider was 'What would we do to advance the kingdom of God if there was nothing to stop us from doing it?'

44; The Bias Toward Action

When inviting people into the centre of your cause consider how easily they spring into action. You don't want to have to forever be coaxing people to do things.

I'd rather have to reign in a hyperactivist once in a while than have to wake him up from a long afternoon nap... What we're trying to build - the local church, the hope of the world - will not get built by hammock-swinging, pipe-smoking, video-watching, sleepy types. It just won't. It's way too tough a task!

45: Performance Buys Freedom

The statement sums it up. Staff members who are delivering what they've been asked to, get less interruption and question-asking than leaders who aren't delivering what they've been asked. Bill's main point here is: Crystallise your management philosophy. Don't vacillate between suffocation and abdication.

46: Sweat the Small Stuff

The consensus among far too many seasoned leaders is that they fly too high and run too fast to be expected to sweat the small stuff involved in leading their organisation. What's worse, the longer they lead, the more lax they become, justifying their increasing carelessness with the declaration that they're only 'big picture' people.

47: Doable Hard Or Destructive Hard?

Life and ministry is hard but then it was never meant to be easy. There are two types of hard however: Doable Hard (discipling someone who prior to becoming a Christian lived a very self-destructive life for example) or Destructive Hard (having too many items on a to do list to do any of them very well, for example).

Bill introduced this concept to his team. Some people talked about their difficulties with wide eyes and enthusiasm, others expressed how overwhelmed they felt. We have to keep our lives in the 'Doable Hard' column and get things out that end up in the 'Destructive Hard' column.

Bill reached a point of writing in his journal:

The way I am doing the work of God is destroying God's work in me. Something has to change. Soon.

49: Is It Sustainable 

He opens the chapter with a story of a guy who set off on a run going to fast and several laps in he's sprawled out on the floor: that guy looked a lot like I did in the early days of ministry.

They used to start new ministries whenever they could guarantee its appeal and viability but now he asks third option and question to the list:

Is it sustainable?

Don't launch things that aren't sustainable:

Crashes can sometimes cause terrible damage, both to the organisation and to its people. Hearts get broken, and faith gets shaken. How much better to ask all three questions: Is it kingdom-advancing? Can we launch it well? Is it sustainable?