Archive for March, 2010
ECFC excerpt and Twitter GIVEAWAY
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s here! Tomorrow is the “official” release date for Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.
And even though many bookstores actually started stocking it weeks ago, we still want to celebrate by offering something to you now. So over the next few days, look for promotions here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
TOMORROW (March 30) is an all-day giveaway on Twitter.
(Obviously, if you don’t already follow me there, now’s a good time to start.)
Just log onto Twitter 3/30/2010 at or after 9:00 a.m. EDT, when I’ll share how to enter. Your patience will be rewarded.
Now on that note, I’ll share a timely excerpt from Everyone Communicates, Few Connect:
Connecting Requires Patience
We live in an impatient culture. We use drive-through windows to buy meals, pick up our dry cleaning, complete banking transactions, and order prescriptions. I think Lisa Thorne’s comment on my blog describes a lot of us: “The good news is I move fast; the bad news is I often move alone.”4 Everybody is in a hurry, but that prevents most of us from connecting with others effectively. If you want to connect with people, you need to slow down.
I must admit, impatience has always been a weakness for me, and I have continually had to work on it. Early in my career, I wanted to do things as quickly as possible and move on to the next thing. If someone didn’t want to move at my speed, I breezed right past him or her. But that leadership style hindered my ability to connect with others, and my relationships suffered. The good news was that I moved fast. The bad news was that I often moved alone.
Moving at the speed of another person can be exhausting. It obviously takes energy to keep up with someone who is moving faster than we are. But isn’t it also tiring to move at a slower pace than we want to? Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The man who goes alone can start the day. But he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.” I find waiting very frustrating. It tries my patience. However, if I want to connect with people, I have to be willing to slow down and go at someone else’s pace. Good connectors don’t always run the fastest, but they are able to take others with them. They exhibit patience. They set aside their own agendas to include others. These things require energy. But I’ve discovered over the years that anything really worthwhile in life takes time to build.
From Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
On priorities: Which ball do you drop?
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In a university commencement address several years ago, Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, spoke of the relationship of work to your other commitments:
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.
I love this! Think about it: A glass ball is not only more fragile than a rubber ball; it’s also more valuable. So why do so many of us devote ourselves to keeping the rubber one from crashing?
Keep your priorities straight. Taking care of your family, your health, your relationships and your spirit is not a selfish act. It’s a sustaining one.
Leaders: Relate before you equip
Posted by: | CommentsAll good mentoring relationships begin with a personal relationship. As your people get to know and like you, their desire to follow your direction and learn from you will increase. If they don’t like you, they will not want to learn from you, and the equipping process can slow down or even stop.
To build relationships, begin by listening to people’s life stories — their journeys so far. Your genuine interest will mean a lot to them, and it will also help you to know their personal strengths and weaknesses. Ask them about their goals and what motivates them. Find out what kind of temperament they have. You may not want to equip a “numbers person” for a job that deals primarily with disgruntled customers.
And one of the best ways to get to know people is to see them outside of the world where you lead them (i.e. work, whether paid or volunteer). People are usually on their guard at work. They try to be what others want them to be. By getting to know them in other settings, you can get a glimpse of who they really are.
Try to learn as much as you can about your people and do your best to win their hearts. If you first find someone’s heart, they’ll be glad to offer you their hand.
Adapted from The Maxwell Daily Reader
The book is coming! The book is coming!
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On a boat in the Sea of Galilee, Israel, with my bride, Margaret.
Hello from the USA! Thank you very much for all your good wishes and prayers for us as we toured Israel. I truly enjoyed helping my friend and pastor, Tom Mullins, lead the group from Christ Fellowship Church. We had a fantastic time.
At any rate, I’m back on American soil for the time being. And we have a lot going on this month.
Remember the book? The one that YOU helped me create right here on the blog? Well, it’s finally on its way!
Two weeks from today (March 30) is the official publication date for Everyone Communicates, Few Connect in the US and Canada! If you’d like to read an excerpt of the “finished product” RIGHT NOW, go to Scribd.com, where you’ll find the prologue, chapter 1, and a very nice high-resolution picture of the cover. (Perhaps with YOUR face on it?)
If you read the book here on the blog last fall and found it helpful, please consider going over to Amazon and writing a review. And if you participated in the editing process, make sure to also share your opinion on how that went.
Are you following me on Twitter and Facebook? If not, now’s a great time to start. For the next 30 days, I’ll be sharing updates with quotes and thoughts on the power of connecting.
ALSO…
On Twitter beginning March 30, I’m giving away signed copies of the book (provided by the publisher, Thomas Nelson). Don’t miss out; giveaways will be Tweeted every day until they’re gone.
And finally, over the next two weeks, I’m speaking in Florida (also streamed live online) and North Carolina. Check Upcoming Events in the sidebar for all the details.
Have a great week!
First the gun, and now this: My song and dance debut.
Posted by: | CommentsAs you might know, I’ve been traveling these last two weeks. Most of the time, I had the privilege of touring Israel with a group from my church, Christ Fellowship.
From teaching about the Sermon on the Mount while actually ON the Mount to visiting the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, everything in our experience was wonderful and deeply meaningful.
Well, maybe not everything…
We also made sure to have fun. For example, as “captain” of my bus, on the first day I suggested that we come up with a better name than “The Blue Bus.” Creative, right?
Well, because my bus was full of smart-alecks, the name chosen was …
“Baalbusters.”
Yep.
Once we had a name, then of course we had to have a song. And then a handshake. And then matching ballcaps, and a banner…
Let’s just say that things might have gotten out of hand when we choreographed and performed the song.
And of course with the number of cameras and smartphones on the trip, we knew that everything would end up on YouTube or somewhere like it.
Little did we know that it would actually be posted on Vimeo, BY the Christ Fellowship team. In High-Definition.
I hope you enjoy:
PS I posted regular Twitter and Facebook updates while on the trip. If you want to keep up with my day-to-day experiences – and receive some of my favorite quotes and thoughts – be sure to follow me.
