Do you want to have influence? Do you want to make a difference in the world in which you live?

Then, you have to be really, really intentional about doing it–especially when you don’t seem to be getting any results for doing it.

Make the choice to put something into where you are, as opposed to what you can take out of it. This is the choice to give. It takes incredible humility. When you begin to give, you might receive praise or you might not ever get recognized for it. However, if you do get recognized, don’t take the bait. Keep giving. Keep pushing the praise away from your heart, so that your purpose does not become diluted.

You could potentially spend your whole life trying to make a difference and never see the fruitfulness of your difference. But, that must not stop you. You must believe from the very core of your being (your heart) that you are a difference-maker, not a difference-inspector. Most people like the role of inspector–a checker, a watcher and a criticizer.

But, if YOU want to make a difference, don’t play those roles. Play the role of a giver. When you walk into a room, into an organization or into a relationship–walk into put something into it, not take something out of it. If you are gifted, then use your gift to benefit others.

Why do you do it?

That’s the question “Why?” Why am I here? Why am I doing this? Why is the question of motivation. Everyone is motivated by something or someone. Something is at the core of everyone who is doing. Why is really a question about purpose. When people, relationships, families, groups and organizations understand their purpose they can leverage their energy into fulfilling that purpose. This makes life, work and everything in between incredible clear. Purpose brings clarity. The reason your life is so muddled, so confused and so unbalanced is your why is unclear. Unclear whys produce unclear lives.

Michael, Jr. the comedian has an insight into this topic.

“The key is not to know what, the key is to know why. Because when you know your why, you have options on what your what can be.“

Simon Sinek in his book, “Start with Why” addresses the same concept. He says,

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.“

I agree with him. If you really want to connect with people then you have to connect at the deepest level: the level of the heart, the level of why. When people believe your heart, they believe your why. What has to follow why. But, we don’t do that. We simply start doing. We live and lead unintentional lives. Unintentional lives lead to unintentional consequences. Unintentional lives are untethered lives. Living untethered means you are prone to wander, prone to drift and prone to great frustration. 

Here’s the problem, most people have stopped long enough to figure out why they are doing what they are doing. This explains why about 85% of Americans in the workforce are not satisfied working where they are working. It’s not that they work itself is unfulfilling, but they simply don’t know why they are doing it or why they are there.

Make the choice to make the choice. You can’t sit on the fence any longer. You made the mistake of reading to this point in this article. Make the choice to be intentional. This means you have to get involved. You have to get over yourself and over your preferences and align your present circumstances with your purpose. This is incredibly liberating and empowering. When you align people to purpose the result is empowerment. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

“Overwhelm a problem with talented people” –Rob Morris

Leaders that are outstanding at recruiting, developing, retaining and launching new leaders have a different mindset than those who don’t. Spend ten minutes with one of these leaders and you will quickly see, they simply think differently than most of their contemporaries. Do you want different results? Think different thoughts.

A recent talent summit I got to spend time with three phenomenal leaders who have this growing others mindset in buckets (Rob Morris, Chris Walker & Luke Cook).

Mind-attitudes on developing talent in your organization:

1- “Everything is a journey,” (Chris Walker). Not only is everything a journey, but everyone is on a journey. Some people are headed in the wrong direction and some people are heading in the right direction. If you want to develop leaders, then you better get good at understanding the journey. You also better understand that you yourself are on a journey. So when it all falls apart one day, don’t panic –it’s all apart of the journey.

2- “Courage to do what I needed to do,” (Rob Morris). Because developing people is a journey, there will be some people that don’t belong in your caravan (the journey you are on with others). Far too often leaders lack the courage to confront their own inability to make the tough decision. Developing others takes a courage a mindset because you will have to confront others and sometimes even cut them out of your organization. It takes courage to promote someone new over existing leaders, it takes courage to acknowledge you failed as a leader, and it takes courage to let someone you care about leave the organization for the overall health of the organization. There is no true leadership development without a courageous mindset.

3- “The Key to concentration is elimination,” (Luke Cook). Leaders who are great at selecting and developing talent have a more focused mindset. Your intentions must become intentionality! This means you often must eliminate all the things that are urgent, but not important. Leaders who have this mind set, can more quickly filter through the pressing for the perfect. Simply put if you don’t focus your organization and your own mindset on talent development, then all the other things that are urgent will prevent you from what is important. Elimination is the key.

4- “Don’t forget, you’ll attract who you deserve,” (Rob Morris). If you look around and you don’t have the talent you feel you deserve then you haven’t looked in the mirror lately. If you want to attract better talent, then become more attractive. You are the magnet that will draw or repulse talented people into your organization. If you can’t seem to keep talent and they keep leaving you, it’s your fault. Start looking in the mirror. Start a personal board of directors (mentors & truth-tellers) who can speak into your life on all sides. Listen to them. Adjust. Recalibrate. Change. This mindset makes no excuses and takes ultimate responsibility in the organization for the talent attracted, kept and developed.

5- “Choose adventure everyday,” (Luke Cook). It’s your choice. It’s your mindset. You can choose boring. You can choose mundane. You can choose stagnation. Or you can choose adventure. Leaders who are great at developing talent see the journey as an adventure–really a shared adventure. Leaders who don’t have this adventure mindset get more frustrated, make new systems that won’t work and send their budding talent off on wild goose chases that produce more misadventure than adventure. This mindset is contagious, exciting and shouts “we are going somewhere beyond here…we are going on adventure!” Talented people love adventure.

“Talent isn’t passed down in the genes, it’s passed down in the mindset”
Carol Dweck

Do you find it difficult to hire, recruit, develop and retain great people? 

Good news, you are not alone. It is increasingly more and more difficult to seemingly acquire and keep the best talent. There are many reasons why this is so difficult, but I’m going to share with you the one thing that can change your organization in regards to your talent crisis, regardless of the valid reasons.

This one thing is not a revolutionary idea, a magical concept or a some well-kept secret. In fact, its so obvious that its most often forgotten, overlooked or simply dismissed as too easy. But it’s not easy. It is the game-changer for the crisis you are facing in your organization.

The solution to finding, recruiting and hiring the best people: YOU.

Rule #1 – Unlike magnets like attracts like with people. Good people want to work with other good people. The person they want to work with (and ultimately for is you). If you are having a hard time keeping people that you once thought were great, there is a chance that it’s not actually them. It might actually be you. If you want to attract better people, become more attractive to the kind of people you want working in your organization. Too many leaders are too busy pointing out the flaws of those that work with them, when really are they are doing is projecting their shortfalls on those around them.

Rule #2 – Treat those you are recruiting as potentials not prospects. When you treat someone like a prospect all the excitement and attention you give them in the beginning is creating a false expectation of what reality will be like. When you recruit prospects, you are creating possibly false expectations both on your side and their side. When you treat them like potentials, you are always casting a vision to grow towards both for them and for you. Potentials means you are not going to invest too much emotional energy in the process. When you overly invest emotionally in the recruitment of someone you think can be a game-changer and then they don’t work out, it can create a warped-thought pattern in how you will view future potentials. Prospects exist in what they can do for you. Potentials exist for what you can do for them.

Rule #3 – Don’t measure the talent, mold the talent. The question you must be asking yourself, “Does this person have a teachable spirit?” I will go a long way out of my way to work with someone or recruit someone who has a teachable spirit. You mold people and measure results. People get results, people aren’t the results. Now, good people get good results. But, not always at first. So, be careful of using your mental measurement of people. Rather, determine, “Can this person imitate what I do and how I do it to at least the level I can or higher?” If the answer is yes, than by all means move forward. If the answer is no, move on.

Rule #4 – Don’t make it easy to get hired. Easy to get hired sets an expectation of low standards. You have one opportunity to set the high standard and that is in the interview, hiring and orientation process. In fact, through those stages the bar should get higher at each level of engagement. At first, this will be challenging. There will be times that you are so desperate you have to take what you can get. But, as soon as you get some breathing room, keep hiring. Part of the process is that you always hire, always interview and always recruit. Recruiting people should be a mission-critical objective for your organization. Contrary to some belief, there is healthy turn-over in an organization. Be selective. Be critical. Become a place that it is difficult to get a job. You might have to get creative, but it is worth it once you arrive there. Better people are attracted to the hard-to-get hired jobs. Losers take what they can get. Don’t let them get into your organization.

It’s up to Y-O-U.

 (c) 2016

Workers show up. Followers show out. Leaders show the way.

That’s it. Simple really, a statement that defines the three levels of engagement in your organization. Everyone in your organization is showing something, even if they think they are contributing nothing to very little. Leaders must understand this. If you want to be a more effective leader, then you must find ways to engage your workers to become followers and your followers to become leaders. 

Engagement is the elevator to loyalty.

It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that there is an environment that appreciates those workers and those followers in the organization. Engagement means connecting not catering. The leader must not practice catering to those in the organization. A leader who caters is a leader who is inconsistent and most likely manipulative. Catering is manipulation based on preference. Leaders must serve. Service places the needs of the mission above the preference of people. The leader can’t make anyone anything, but the leader can create engagement that is the platform for transformation. Appreciation is almost always a certain way to get people to listen up. And when your people listen up, you can take them up.

A little bit of thanks from the boss can put a lot in the loyalty bank.

Now, I have a friend who is a phenomenal leader. Yet, he never lost his ability to be the best follower. His name is Jimmy Collins. He went to work for this little restauranteur in Hapeville, Georgia several decades ago. The name of that little restaurant company that would become a world leader in food, hospitality, innovation and talent development: Chick-fil-A.

“As a result of taking care of Truett Cathy and his interests, my absolute loyalty was rewarded by his unwavering support, and I was honored appropriately.“

– Jimmy Collins, former President & COO of Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Jimmy would help guide, lead and serve Chick-fil-A for 36 years. He was with Chick-fil-A founder, S. Truett Cathy though ever major decision in the early years of building what is now a nearly $7 billion a year restaurant chain with over 2,000 units. He reflected on his life’s mission and career and wrote a book called Creative Followership. I highly recommend it.(http://creativefollowership.com/blog/)

I had breakfast with Jimmy several years ago and his wisdom was only surpassed by his humility. Much of what I am writing about today came from his concept of what he shared with me and my leadership team that morning. He explained to us that there are three basic levels of those engaged in your organization: Leaders, followers & workers. 

Loyalty is the key to longevity.

If you desire a long career, a long shelf life or a long ride in the organization that you are in, then start with loyalty. Loyalty is the measure of how healthy your organization really is. Loyalty is the measure of the strength and sustainability of the attachment of the heart strings to a thing. The greatest loyalty is always found coming from the heart. Many people in your organization are simply loyal to their position in the organization. Workers are people and people are necessary. Let me remind you, you need people. You just need to move more of your people from worker to follower.

Workers want recognition and reward.

Workers are those in your organization that are more loyal to their position than to their leaders. Workers are worried about benefits and salaries and money. Workers want promotion because they want recognition and reward. This is not inherently wrong, but it exposes the motivation of many in your organization. They are simply there to do their job, put their time in and go home. They may do a wonderful job, but loyalty does not extend to the deepest level: the heart. They may like their leaders, they may like their job and they may even like who they work with, but that’s it. It’s a “like it or leave it” mentality.

Followers want responsibility.

The best followers I have ever worked with didn’t want more money and didn’t want more benefits. What they really wanted was more responsibility. This is a great test for those in your organization who say they want to “grow” with the organization. If they are primarily concerned with growing their income over their output, then most likely you are dealing with a worker and not a follower. If you want productivity to go up in your organization, aside from getting better organized, put your best followers in the most critical positions. Followers increase productivity, because followers love to produce. 

Followers are the best producers because of influence. Followers are highly influenced by their leaders. Workers are marginally influenced by their leaders.

Why? Simple really, agenda.

Workers have their own agenda. Followers execute another’s agenda.

An agenda is a plan, a motivation or a mission. Present in body, doesn’t necessitate presence of heart or mind. Workers are great at going through the motions. Followers don’t just want the motion, they pair it with emotion! Followers begin to love who they work with or where they work. This is because they don’t have a competing agenda. Workers want to get something out of where they work. Followers want to put something into who they work for or where they work.

Leaders show the way. 

Leaders themselves must follow. Even if they have reached a pinnacle position in the organization, they must always have the attitude of a follower. The way to greater loyalty in the organization is paved on the path of humility. You can perceive yourself to be the best, most creative, most talented and most appropriate person in the organization. And you know what? You might be right. But, you still might get passed over for promotion. You might not get the appreciation you deserve. You might get frustrated by your leader. You might demonstrate absolute loyalty and still not get where you want to be. It is humility that will lock your loyalty in place. The way leaders must show is the way of humility. Lower yourself to bring others to higher places. Being right is not as important as getting it right and getting the right people in the right places. 

If you remember that you are there to serve your organization, then it is easier to follow. But, when you want the organization to serve you, following gets a lot harder. The best leaders serve. The best followers serve their leaders. Workers want to be served. 

“Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest.”

Proverbs 19:22, NLT

(I love hearing from you or how this article is helping your or organization.)

Leaders go to work. 

If you are a leader, then you have work to do. Your work never stops. The reason your work never stops is that your influence doesn’t stop. Your influence may fade or it may flicker, but until you lose your influence, your work doesn’t stop. You do get to rest, but you rest so you can get back to work.

Leaders are always departing. Losers are always arriving.

In my 38 year leadership journey, I have seen this principal to be true over and over again. There is a secret that sets great leaders apart from those who hold great positions: Great leaders never arrive. They don’t land. They touch down, refuel and take off again. Great leaders are always departing. There is a myth, a lie that says when you arrive as “the” leader, then you get to relax. A leader born of position will always seek perks instead of purpose and will trade apathy for passion. This is why organizations stagnate and drift–the leaders get lazy. Lazy and leader must never come together for then the organization and all the people associated will begin to suffer. Great leaders get up and go to work, because there is always work to do. The work may change, but the mindset, the mentality of this leader never changes: let’s get to work. Leaders born of purpose become passionate and they don’t rely on their position. Leaders are drivers. Losers are passengers. Leaders are chauffeurs. Losers want to be chauffeured.

Losers are always arriving. You know why? Because they are late. Leaders are not on-time, they are early. Being early signifies preparedness or readiness. Losers are on-time, because the leader was already there. You want to grow in your organization? Arrive earlier than everyone else—it costs you nothing but sleep. Leaders are always departing. Because they were already there. They came. They saw. They adjusted. They worked. They rested. And they departed.

“…laziness brings on deep sleep.” Proverbs 19:15

Losers are drifters. They will soon drift asleep causing their responsibilities and their organizations and their followers to follow a similar path. This creates great frustration in the organization and is often an unexpressed reason why talented people jump ship. Leaders are sentries. They are always on guard. Sleep is not precious to them, but time is. The worst thing for an organization is for the leader to fall into a deep sleep–erosion, implosion and destruction will not be far off.

A leader has power. 

But, what will the leader do with that power? Sadly, too many leaders born of position use their placement to elevate their personal status, explore their appetites and benefit their friends. This creates a power vacuum where are the power is held on high. Power on high is dangerous for humans. It creates an unstable organization. Power must flow throughout the organization. An organization is like a circuit board. The power must be distributed appropriately through the circuits in order for the board to function properly. When a leader hoards power, it actually short-circuits the organization. Because like a power surge, the leader wields the power sporadically creating upheaval and unnecessary strain in the organization.

Leaders empower others. 

Great leaders empower others. Empowering means to pass the power. Because leaders are always working, they realize it is mission-critical that those working with them have that ability to make decisions and the freedom to execute those decisions, regardless of success or failure. Power is authority, not position. Leaders don’t ever give all their authority away, but they allow others to carry and make decisions. Despite that, leaders still hold themselves accountable for their followers actions. The leader is always accountable. Losers are dismissive of accountability because they are held by their belief in their position or title. Leaders are dependent on accountability because they are held by their belief in their people and are dependent on those people.

Leaders expect to work. Losers expect the work to get done.

This is why leaders go to work, there is work to be done. Losers show up with the expectation that the work will wait on them. This is why the best leaders seem to have the best timing–they aren’t taking time off. And when you are available, when you are present and working, then when opportunity comes knocking, the leader has the insight and foresight to open the door.  They are fully engaged in the organization or operation. I didn’t say the leader has to have his or her hands on everything, but that mentally they are aware and active of what is or isn’t transpiring in their organization. Losers make excuses, point fingers and blame others. Losers are people who consider themselves leaders or important, but depend on seniority, status, title or a position for their leadership authority.

There is a massive difference between showing up to work and going to work. People who show up to work are those that arrive and say, “I’m here.” As if their presence alone is enough to justify their existence. When you just show up for work, you are actually signifying that work is not that important to you and you’ll leave excellence to someone else.

But, when you go to work, your attitude and mindset are different. Your approach is that you are taking responsibility for your work. You own your work. When you show up, you are saying “someone else owns this, but I expect to get paid.”

Leaders go to work. Losers show up to work.
You want to make a difference in your job? Then, arm yourselves with the attitude that you are going to work. This means that you are going to get something done and make a difference. Those that go to work are owners. Those that show up for work are renters. Renters want everything done for them. Owners get stuff done. Owners change the world–their world. Renters watch the world change and make comments. Leaders are owners. Losers are renters. Organizations where leaders don’t take ownership of issues, problems and concerns, yet take the credit for success, results and positive trends are shallow and self-centered. If you want to be a leader, if you want more responsibility, don’t wait for someone to give it to you–act like an owner and take it. I didn’t say steal it. I didn’t say usurp or undermine your leader. I said, get to work and and out work all those around you. Leaders don’t get out-worked. I didn’t say leaders are work-a-holics. No leaders are owner-a-holics. They own everything in their purview and their organization. This is not co-dependency, this is responsibility.

Where else can this principal be applied?

Apply this to your marriage, your relationships, your parenting and your activities. If you just show up in your marriage, then you are heading for trouble. You have to go to work. This is love. Love is ownership. Love is not renting space.Stop showing up and expecting things to be great. Make them great by going to work. Leaders get stuff done changing their world in the process. You can’t change your world and not be changed yourself.  Losers show up and expect stuff to get done by someone else.

You have a choice. Leaders don’t need permission to get work done. Now, get to work.

(c) Redwall Leadership. 2016.

Why can some people produce great leaders and for others it’s like trying to find their way across a busy street blindfolded?

There is a secret to producing the next generation of leaders. But, first there a few obstacles that if they exist in your life, thought process or development style, you will hinder, retard or reject the next great leader. Actually, they will probably just leave you first. Great leaders have something in them that you have to draw out, sharpen and shape. Do you know what it is? Leadership. Either people will follow or they don’t. You can never be a true leader without people that follow you from the heart. If you can’t win the heart of the people you lead or are trying to develop, then you will face the continual frustration of what could have been or what might have been. Your leadership tree will bloom rarely and produce little to no fruit.

“The price of greatness is responsibility“

~Winston Churchill 

You’ll never develop great leaders if…

…If you don’t give them real responsibility. Developing leaders absolutely need real responsibility. This means you have to release control of certain things into their hands. Real responsibility means they have the ability to fail. You aren’t leading if you don’t have the ability to fail. Now, as the overall leader in your organization, you are the safety net. But, get far enough away from the leader that he/she feels the air between their decision and the safety net. If you are constantly cutting off or jumping in to the decisions your developing leaders are making, you aren’t allowing them to learn by experience. Now, when do you cut them off or interrupt them? When they are making excuses. Responsibility means you will be held accountable for your actions. Responsibility means having the power and control to manage something and be held accountable for your actions. Too many coaches or teachers or instructors or bosses do not give their charges real power to influence real decisions. And then, they don’t really let them own the responsibility.

Responsibility = Release 

The secret to discovering your next great leader: responsibility. Who in your organization already is taking the most responsibility? Who is highly responsible right now without much prodding or pushing from you? This is a person to watch. People you are watching can be promoted too early, too soon and stifle and stop all future growth.

Leadership Secret: Give lots of responsibility before you give a promotion, title or raise. The best leaders like the responsibility more than the recognition. Responsibility before praise. Praise before promotion.

…If you are impatient and rush the development process. A great leader must have the attitude of a farmer. A farmer understands that in developing his crop that there are seasons and soils that affect the development and fruitfulness of the plant. A leader who can develop other leaders understands this too. If you are frustrated with your inability or your people’s inability, then chances are, you might not be that good at reading the seasons in your team members lives. As a leader who wants to develop other leaders, you only have the ability to water, prune and to observe the growth of the leader. You can’t make a leader grow. The developing leader is ultimately responsible for his/her own growth. But, you must nurture and cultivate–this is your responsibility. Neglect will kill your growing plants (people). For clarity, you cannot nurture that which doesn’t exist. Make sure you are working in reality–the leader must have the nature of a leader. You cannot make a nature, you can only nurture. 

Nature = Leader 

Nurture = Leadership Development 

The farmer is ultimately concerned with yield. Yield is the measure of the entire amount that will be produced. If you rush development, you will produce a deformed leader. The leader will be lacking the growth that only comes from time and seasons. Yield takes time. You must be patient with the immaturity of your plants. If you are patient, then you are more likely to see a strong healthy, mature and reproducing plant appear. Focus on the yield. Start small. Measure. Examine. Does this plant (person) have the ability to produce (results)? Stop promoting people who can’t get healthy results. Stop pushing people who can’t get results. Leaders have the natural ability to get results. Focus on your people getting better. When they get better, they will get better results. Growing your leaders will grow your yield. 

Yield = Results 

…if you don’t grow through reinventing yourself continuously. The farmer is concerned with the quality of the soil that the leader is planted in. If the leader is not examining the environment and climate that the one that is being developed in is healthy for growth, then a large part of the frustration may come because the soil has not been tilled correctly. Soil always need to be tilled. Now, get this, I’m about to mix my metaphor. You, the leader, are not only the farmer, you are also the soil. If your people aren’t growing, it’s ultimately because they choose not to grow or you aren’t growing. Most often, the leader has grown stagnant. Each generation of new leaders changes. If you want to develop people better, then you have to grow. You have to learn. Then, you have to share those learnings with those you are training. You must cultivate your own soil, before you cultivate the soil of those seeking to grow out of you. Leadership trees only grow branches that grow fruit and reproduce, if they are healthy. 

The Secret: Leadership Development must be viewed as a process, not a product. The process requires cultivating, planting, nurturing and pruning. The process is always on-going, fluid and dynamic. It’s a field plowed by fewer and fewer, but the harvest is well worth the work!

presented by

(c) Redwall, LLC. 2016.

“You want to change your results, then change your decisions”

Dan T. Cathy

Did you know that the average adult makes about 35,000 conscious decisions every day? And that’s just a regular day!  Now, step into leadership, management, ownership or parenthood and those decisions accelerate in both quantity and severity.

You’ve heard the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Sadly, on a daily basis we spend a large part of our life and decision-making rehash the same decisions over and over again producing the same kinds of results.

Do you want to see, to experience and to produce different results? Then, you must start thinking differently. Because when you think different, you decide differently. And decisions are the doorways of behavior. 

You don’t need a new vision, a new plan or a new dream until you first have a new thought. What does a good mentor, counselor or coach do? Ultimately, they are stretching your minds to a point where you begin to think differently. When you think differently you begin to see things differently. Seeing things differently helps you decide differently—the place where you make your decisions.

The reality is that no one can see the future. For if we could, we wouldn’t have to think, we simply would just have to react. Good reactions stem from good mental discipline.

The Example of the High Speed Chase 

Think of it this way: a high speed car chase. Law enforcement most often gets the bad guy. Why? Law enforcement trains and is equipped for the eventually that a bad guy will get in a fast car and attempt to drive at high speeds away from law enforcement. The bad guy doesn’t train to elude police, but law enforcement trains to catch bad guys at high speeds. The bad guy is using thinking (albeit reckless and dangerous) that is reactionary. The good guys (yes, law enforcement #backtheblue) are responding based upon countless hours of training and teamwork. There is a difference between reacting and responding.

Reacting is your thoughtless, automatic movement to stimulus. Reactionary thinking is really careless thinking. It’s like impulse thinking. This is acting without planning. There are times when you need reactionary thinking, but almost everyone of them involves an immediate response to a dangerous situation. But, most people freeze in those situations. When you just react in your marriage, in your business or in your relationships, you are almost always at a disadvantage. It’s like trying to be a one-legged dancer. It just looks and feels awkward.

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” 

Proverbs 27:12

Responding is the calculated activity to a situation or circumstance. Responding the work of a prudent person. A prudent person is a wise person committed to thinking through, thinking around and thinking beyond a situation or circumstance.  To calculate requires thoughtful preparation and mental discipline. Two highly trained dancers working as a pair are a beautiful thing. The graceful lines, the calculated movements and the perfect positioning are all evidence of countless hours of preparation, discipline and training. They make it look easy and seamless, but it’s only because they are responding appropriately and timely.

“The future’s coming at us faster than we think“

Louie Giglio 

When the future comes fast, our responses born of our thoughts must be measured, disciplined and calculated.

Worthy of the Calling

Dan T. Cathy challenges leaders to get their thinking in alignment. When a vehicle is out of alignment two things happen: the rubber that meets the road gets warped & it begins to drift. When your thoughts are out of alignment this warped thinking leads to drifting. Drifting always leads to the ditch!

“New days require new thinking”

Each new day requires new thought. You don’t have a crystal ball and you are not Michael J. Fox in a Delorean time machine. You can’t change yesterday, but you can begin to think differently about today, which can lead to a different tomorrow.

1. Think Differently. This means new thought. New thought often needs a new process. If you leave your thoughts like a river to flow where they will, then they will always take the path of least resistance. But it you want sharp thoughts, then you must grind your thoughts against truth, reality and a better tomorrow. If you want sharp thoughts, then you better find a grind stone. Who or what is sharpening your thoughts?
2. Think Forward. The world is moving. The world is moving faster. It won’t stop for you. You can’t call a timeout or hit the pause button. If you don’t have a vision, then you don’t really know why you are going where you are going. A vision provides the reason to move. A goal sets the direction of how and when to move.
3. Think Cool. This really means getting your thinking off yourself and on to others. The Apostle Paul said, “I become all things to all men, in order to reach some” (paraphrase, 1 Corinthians 9:22). Trends are simply movement. If you want to figure out why people are thinking the way they are, then you must understand them. You don’t have to love or live the trends to follow them.
4. Think Shared Ownership. This is really a stewardship mindset. Your thoughts must land on personal responsibility. If your thoughts lead you to dismissive or dissociative behavior, you are thinking like a renter and not an owner. Ownership is one of the most powerful elements an organization, a relationship or a business can have in the thought processes of its people. When you take ownership of your marriage, you take responsibility for making it better. Owners want profit. The question is how profitable are your thoughts? Are they paying dividends or dead-ends? 

Your thoughts only matter if your results matter. Better results flow from better thinking. Test your thoughts against trusted sources and trust people. This is where good thoughts become great.

“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.“

Philippians 4:8