Leadership lessons, connected with faith and wisdom.

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Podcast Episode 30 (part 3): You Don’t See What You’re Not Looking For

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part three in the series titled “Complementary Contradictions.” Here is the transcript of the podcast.

There are times when you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, you may hear conflicting counsel that seems to be contradictory to each other, but which is actually complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. That’s what we are going to be talking about in the next weeks, in both the www.LeadershipEzra.com website articles and on the weekly podcast. We will be looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, or at least differ from each other, and we are going to pair them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader.  Today, in part 2, we are discussing the second half of a pair, and will be talking about the idea of “You don’t see what you are not looking for”.

In the last episode, we talked about the idea that you see what you are looking for. The point we made was that, whether we realize it or not, we all develop perceptions of how we need to experience the world around us. Those perceptions tend to be based on either past experience or future expectations, or a combination of both.  We either have an experience, positive or negative, real or imagined, or we have a specific expectation that we are anticipating, and we then form a perception based on which we look for a certain outcome, and only see the things that confirm that outcome. Consciously or not, we decide what we are looking for, and only see what affirms or confirms what we expect to see.

In today’s episode, we are flipping the coin to the other side.  On the one side, we tend to see what we are looking for, but on the other side, we also tend to not see what we are not looking for.

Have you ever been looking for something in your refrigerator or medicine cabinet, and you can’t find it no matter how much you look, but then someone else grabs it right from under your nose? My wife needed to use some Vaseline, so I went to get it for her from the linen closet. I looked high and low but couldn’t find it. I went to the store, and when I found the Vaseline, all that I could see were (in my perspective) large containers. In my mind, I thought that it only came in smaller containers, but I didn’t see those there.  Wouldn’t you know, when I got home, I immediately found the Vaseline that we already had, in a larger container in the linen closet. I realized that I had looked right at it in the closet but hadn’t seen it because I was looking for something much smaller.  I didn’t see what I wasn’t looking for.

I’ve done the same thing countless times in the food pantry or in the refrigerator, looking for something with an unconscious image in my mind of what the thing looks like, and in these instances, instead of seeing what I was looking for, and because it’s what I was looking to see, I completely overlooked the thing that was right there in front of me. Once again, I didn’t see what I was not looking for.

Think about when there is a constant, repeating noise, like a ceiling fan or the humming of an air conditioner, that you tune out after a little while and don’t even notice that it is there anymore.  Your mind is focusing on other things, so it tunes those things out, and eventually, you don’t even realize that they are there.  That’s what is happening here.  It’s too overwhelming to see everything, so your brain filters out what is not necessary or relevant, and even though it’s there, you don’t see it. Therefore, if you have a picture in your mind of what you are focusing on, your brain filters out the other things. 

This idea applies to your leadership.  Whether it’s people or circumstances, it’s easy for us to miss something important because we are not looking for it.  It may be because we don’t want to see it, or because we are looking for something else, or because we are not paying attention. Regardless of the reason, we miss something important, and it results in a difficult challenge.  Once, when I was a new head of school in a new school, I was also serving as the student government advisor so that I could be connected to the student culture.  Based on my previous school experience, I had a great idea for a homecoming week activity, and I pushed the student leaders toward it.  In my mind, it was a great idea (it had worked great someplace else, so, of course it would here!), and I was only thinking about how good this would be for the students and expected them to respond that way. I didn’t even see that they were not receiving it well. It was later that their discontent with the idea – and with me – came out when someone else pointed it out to me. Because I didn’t see what I wasn’t looking for, I had a mess to clean up.

Do see how that happens? Or should I ask, do you not see how that happens because you weren’t looking for it? And just like the discussion last week of seeing what you look for, the struggle of not seeing what we are not looking for leaves me with a couple of thoughts:

1) Be self-aware.  Recognize how your own expectations and viewpoint can cause you to miss something important, and step back to make sure you are not allowing a “predetermined bias” to prevent you from seeing what you need to see.

2) Be intentional about gathering information and listening carefully before you decide what you are seeing or what you are looking for.  Otherwise, you won’t see what you are not looking for.

 The pair of principles we’ve discussed these two weeks go together:  You see what you’re looking for, and you don’t see what you’re not looking for.  With these two ideas working together, you can become much more careful and prudent about seeing what you need to see, which in turn will lead to better decisions and, therefore, better leadership.

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Complementary Contradictions (part 3): You Don’t See What You Are Not Looking For

Sometimes, you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, these seeming contradictions are, in reality, complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. In this series of articles and podcast episodes, we are looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, are opposite, or at least differ from each other and pairing them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader. Last week, we explored the idea that “You see what you are looking for,” and this week, the idea that  “You don’t see what you are not looking for.”

Have you ever spent hours looking for something that you lost, only to find it sometime later in an obvious and open place? I have, and it usually causes me to mutter something like, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, it was right in front of me!” Don’t those experiences make you wonder why you couldn’t see it in the first place? This tendency seems to reflect an idea referred to by Chabris and Simons in The Invisible Gorilla (2010) as “the illusion of attention.”

The illusion of attention is the idea that “we experience far less of our visual world than we think we do,” as Chabris and Simons state, so, “when people devote their attention to a particular area or aspect of their visual world, they tend not to notice unexpected objects, even when those unexpected objects are salient, potentially important, and appear right where they are looking.” They go on to explain that “we know how vividly we see some aspects of our world, but we are completely unaware of those aspects of our world that fall outside of that current focus of attention,”, and that “we are only aware of the unexpected objects we do notice, not the ones we have missed.”. What this all really means is that, although we believe we notice everything, especially if we are looking, we tend to miss a lot of what is right in front of us, primarily because we are not looking for that specific thing in that specific way. Therefore when I am looking for something that I have lost, without realizing it I am expecting it to look a certain way and be in a certain place, so I then overlook it when it is not in that place or it looks different than what I remember or expect; essentially, “your moment-to-moment expectations, more than the visual distinctiveness of the object, determine what you see – and what you miss.”.

The same illusion of attention takes place in the context and environment of an organization, and in ways beyond the noticing of specific physical objects. When leaders are analyzing the present culture of the organization, planning for the future, or trying to identify issues and opportunities, it can be very easy to look around or look ahead with an unconscious expectation of what you will see; the result is that you will likely see what you are looking for but will miss what you are not looking for, and not even realize it. There may be an opportunity to tap into someone’s strength or ability, there may be an idea or a new method developing in a department, or there may be a problem that needs to be addressed, but because you are not looking for it, you miss it. And when you miss it, you may lose an opportunity or create greater difficulty.

So how do you open your eyes to see more of what you might otherwise miss? I remember a number of years ago the popularity of 3D optical illusions (also called stereograms) – pictures that looked like flat geometric patterns, but when you stared into the picture and allowed your eyes to relax and un-focus, looking beyond the flat image, a 3-dimensional image would appear. There was more to the image than the first look revealed, but it required intentional effort and a different way of looking. In the same way, when you are leading an organization, there must be intentional effort to see, and to see beyond what is in front of you or what you are expecting to see. How do you do that?

  • First, recognize our tendency to not see what we are not looking for.
  • Then, remove any expectations of what you think you might see.
  • After that, you can work at zooming out and zooming in – trying to step back and take a wide-angle look at everything, then looking at more specific details, then stepping back for a wide-lens look again, and so on.
  • Finally, you can also try to look through different eyes, by trying to see through the approach or perspective of other people or other angles.

It’s fairly easy to miss things that you are not looking for.  I’ve done it when I was trying to introduce a new change that I assumed everyone would get behind, and because of what I was therefore expecting to see (their support), I only saw the examples of support and completely missed the grumbling from those who were resisting.  You could probably guess that this eventually created difficulty in the change implementation because I had failed to see it and address it early.  I looked, but I didn’t see because I was only looking for what I expected to see.  So, as Chabris and Simons said, “looking is not sufficient for seeing”; because our tendency is to only see what we are looking for, it takes a conscious effort to see things that you are not looking for.

Chabris, C., and Simons, D. (2010). The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us. MJF Books: New York, NY.

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Podcast Episode 29: Complementary Contradictions (part 2)

There are times when you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, you may hear conflicting counsel that seems to be contradictory to each other, but which is actually complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. That’s what we are going to be talking about in the next weeks, in both the www.LeadershipEzra.com website articles and on the weekly podcast. We will be looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, or at least differ from each other, and we are going to pair them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader.  Today, in part 2, we are discussing the first half of a pair, and will be talking about the idea of “You see what you are looking for”.

Whether we realize it or not, we all develop perceptions of how we need to experience the world around us. Those perceptions, it seems, are often based on either past experience or future expectation, or a combination of both.  We either have an experience, positive or negative, real or imagined, or we have a specific expectation that we are anticipating, and we then form a perception based on which we look for a certain outcome, and only see the things that confirm that outcome.

I once worked with a teacher who was a dynamic and engaging teacher, and students loved being in his classroom because of it.  However, despite his fantastic communication skills in the classroom (which he enjoyed), he struggled with the task of giving students feedback, especially in the form of analysis and grading of assignments that the students turned in.  He was an English teacher who, ironically, did not enjoy reading and writing responses to the students’ work.  As a result, and even though they enjoyed his teaching methods, they were getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of timely feedback, which they needed in order to make changes and improvements in what they were learning.  They began to complain to their parents, who then started to email him, and he was not consistent or timely in responding to those emails.  Perhaps because he didn’t enjoy conflict, perhaps because he knew where he was dropping the ball, and sometimes simply because the parents emailed using an incorrect email address.  Regardless, I began to hear that “Mr. Teacher never responds to my emails!” When I met with him to discuss this, he showed me copies of emails that he replied to in an effort to show me that, to say he never replied to emails was not true.  However, when I pressed, he had to admit that there were a number of parents to whom he had not replied or to whom he had taken a week or two to reply.  So I helped him see that he had created the perception that he did not answer emails by failing to do so consistently.  And now, because of that perception, he had a reputation as the teacher who never responded.

We talked for a while and put together a plan for him to change that perception.  It’s probably more accurate to say that I gave him a plan that I expected him to follow.  In essence, I told him that he needed to reply to every single email within the next 24-hour business day, without fail, for the next 9 weeks.  I believed that he could change that perception if he would prove to the parents with his actions that he was not the person, at least not anymore.  But I also told him that if he missed, even one time, then the parents would probably jump on it and tell me, “See, he never responds.” Why would they do that? Well, it’s because you tend to only see what you are looking for.

You see, the past experience of these parents had resulted in a future expectation of the teacher’s behavior.  Therefore, even if he did do what he was supposed to do most of the time, they would likely only notice the times he missed.  They formed the idea that he did not give feedback to their kids, and he did not communicate to parents, and any time he failed to respond to a parent therefore affirmed what they believed to be true.  Even if it largely became untrue with changes in his behavior, they were still looking for him to not respond based on their past experience, so they would only see the times he lived up – or down – to that expectation.

We need to recognize that this is a part of our human behavior. Whether in positive ways or in negative ways, we look for what we expect to see.  If there is something you regularly do in your leadership that people value, even if you don’t do it all the time, they will see it when you do because that’s what they are looking for.  The same is true for the opposite – if you do something enough times that frustrates people (and sometimes it only takes a couple of times), they will form the perception that that’s what you do, then they all see the times you do those things. 

Where does this leave you?  With two important thoughts:

  1. Be self-aware.  Recognize that you will do this just as much as anyone else, and check yourself to make sure you are seeing things in truth.
  2. Be intentional about cultivating and protecting the reputation of your character.  If you want people to see you as a leader of integrity, make sure they see it consistently so that they will give you grace with your mistakes, because they know that’s not what they would normally see.  They will only see (and remember) what they are looking for. 
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Complementary Contradictions (part 2): You See What You Are Looking For

Sometimes, you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, these seeming contradictions are, in reality, complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. In this series of articles and podcast episodes, we are looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, are opposite, or at least differ from each other and pairing them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader. This week, we will explore the idea that “You see what you are looking for,” and next week, “You don’t see what you are not looking for.”

You have probably heard as often as I have that “perception is reality,” but the problem of perception is that you tend to see what you are looking for, whether it is there or not.

Here’s what happens: a person will form a perception about someone or something (usually based on an experience), and then will only see those things that reinforce that perception, therefore confirming its truth to that person. For example, if I have had an experience of clumsily stubbing my toe, I might begin to form the perception that I am not graceful. I might then walk around my house for two weeks without stubbing my toe, but the next time I do stub my toe, I will say to myself, “See, look how ungraceful you are.” Rather than giving credit to how rarely I do it, I see the occasional time that I do, and see it as a confirmation of my clumsiness.

This happens all the time in organizations. Someone has a bad customer service experience, an unmet (or unrealistic) expectation, or has misinterpreted something due to misinformation or lack of context, and then they form a perception about you or about the organization. From that point forward, they tend to only notice those things that reinforce that perception.   So if they have formed a perception that you don’t care about your constituents, you may be demonstrating care frequently, but the next time you ignore their needs or don’t act helpful (whether unintentional or not), they see that as confirmation and reinforcement of their perception. Once that perception is in place, they will interpret everything through that lens. They will only see what they expect to see, or what they are looking for.

As a school administrator, I have had several instances of a teacher being perceived as a poor communicator. In most of those circumstances, it began with the unintentional failure of the teacher to respond to a parent’s email. In some cases, that parent’s email was flagged as spam, but more frequently, the parent had misspelled the teacher’s email address, so the email was never received. Because there was no response, the parent began to believe the teacher did not communicate well with parents, and any email after that that did not receive a response reinforced that belief, and the parent began to spread that view among other parents. At that point, if the teacher answered a hundred emails and missed one, the one miss would reinforce the perception that had been formed. Once the issue came to light, it usually was a difficult process to correct that perception.

This can be frustrating, especially if you know the perception is wrong, and it can be very challenging and difficult to change. So what do you do when this happens? There are four practical steps you can take:

  1. Look for the truth in the perception. There was most likely some event or circumstance that initially prompted this perception. It may have been no fault of your own, or you may have simply messed up. Regardless, look for the mistake that has been made that needs to be corrected, whether it was a one-time event or an ongoing problem.
  2. Re-set. Address the cause of perception and take any necessary steps to correct what needs to be corrected. Communicate what you are doing to those who have been affected so that they can have an adjusted view (but also remember, they will likely be hesitant to believe any different until you prove otherwise).
  3. Over-compensate. For a period of time, you will need to go overboard to counter the perception. People will be watching closely to see if their perception is valid or not, so you will be under scrutiny. This is going to be challenging and requires work, but it must be done until expectations have been properly re-aligned.
  4. Create a new expectation. With the expectations appropriately established, now you can communicate the new (and realistic) expectations. If you have proven that you can be trusted, and have set realistic expectations that can be met, then you will start a new cycle of validating the new and positive perceptions.

Remember that we can be just as guilty of this perception error as anyone else; therefore, it is important that we become self-aware of this problem of perception in ourselves. Check yourself to make sure that you are seeing things correctly and that you are not letting a single experience, misinformation, or incomplete information become the filter through which you are viewing everything. To change those perceptions requires intentional work because remember, it is our tendency to see only what we are looking for.

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Podcast Episode 28: Complementary Contradictions, pt. 1

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part one in the series titled “Complementary Contradictions.” Here is the transcript of the podcast.

There are times when you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, you may hear conflicting counsel that seems to be contradictory to each other, but which is actually complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. It may be because they are two sides of the same coin, both of which are true depending on where or how you approach the situation. It may be because they are opposite but equally valid ideas that are intended to be applied in different circumstances. Or it may even be because they are parallel ideas that are intended to be used in unison. Regardless, they can be paired together, and both can be used in different ways, at different times, or side by side.

That’s what we are talking about in this series, in both the website articles and on the weekly podcast. We are looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, or at least differ from each other, and we are pairing them up to see how they actually complement each other, using them both to make you a better leader.

Today, in part 1, we are starting by introducing the overarching concept for the series.

Early in my leadership experience, it was emphasized to me that I needed to know my weaknesses so that I could work on them and develop them into strengths in order to become an effective leader. I wanted to lead well, so I set about trying to do just that.  However, I did not consider my personal nature and how that affected my leadership style.  You see, I am a very analytical introvert.  That means that I take time to think about things first. In fact, my first response is not going to be as good as my later response, so I would keep my first response to myself until after I had taken time to process my thoughts.  I did not want to assert myself aggressively into settings or conversations.  I did not enjoy conflict.  I liked to ensure an orderly process and procedure that made sense, and could be more focused on the procedure than on the people involved in the process.  The challenge this created for me was that I began trying to be someone I was not, rather than trying to learn to lead well according to my giftedness.  And therefore, I was becoming miserable.  Then I read a book that seemed to give the opposite advice.  The premise was that I needed to know my strengths and weaknesses so that I could focus on working within my strengths while letting other people whose strengths offset my weaknesses work within their strengths.  The end result would be that all the gaps would be filled, and I would be doing only what I did well.  I dove into this, in part because it let off the hook of improving things that I struggled with. The challenge that this new – and opposite – perspective created for me was that there were things I needed to take the lead on and address, even though they were hard for me, but I was leaving them for someone else which then was calling my leadership effectiveness into question.

So, after first trying to focus only on my weaknesses, which made me miserable, and then trying to focus only on my strengths, which made me ignore things I needed to address, I finally figured out that there was truth in both approaches and that they actually needed to be used together. I figured out that they were complementary contradictions. Yes, I need to emphasize my strengths to my advantage while also using the strengths of the team around me to offset my weaknesses, but I also need to grow as a leader by learning how to strengthen the areas in which I struggled, and still be myself.  For example, when I started as the head of school at a new school, I knew that my introversion made it hard for me to be gregarious at public events, like concerts and football games, and that I am not someone who can “work the crowd.” But at the same time, I knew that it was important to connect with people and that I am good at engaging with people one-on-one.  So, I would go to events and stand where people would pass by me and let opportunities for face-to-face conversations happen organically.  In doing that, I connected on a personal level with a lot of people, without having to do so in an extroverted manner that didn’t match my strengths.

The truth is, those two different approaches to leadership both had elements of truth.  On the one hand, when working with a team, it is important to have a variety of strengths within the team that work together well while filling in gaps.  But on the other hand, sometimes the team is not there (or the work you are doing is by yourself), and you don’t have that luxury, so you have to become competent at the things that are more difficult for you to do.  Or, on the one hand, It is important for you to focus on strengths so that they become even better, because a lack of exercise in those areas will lead to diminished strength.  But on the other hand, at the same time, you still need to identify the things that are challenging for you just because they are not in your wheelhouse or not things you enjoy, and work to strengthen those to a greater level of ability so that you can do them when necessary.  Failing to do that will likely cause important things to be neglected, which will have consequences.

This all serves as an example of the point we are making in this series that there are leadership principles and practices that may seem to be contradictory to each other, but which are  actually both true, depending on the need or the circumstance.  Before you choose one or the other, perhaps you should first think about the valuable lessons found in both and figure out how to apply them cooperatively. 

Coming back full circle, that’s what we will be doing in the next few weeks. One week, we’ll talk about “When a plan comes together,” and the next week, we’ll talk about “When a plan falls apart.” Or, one week, we’ll talk about “Do what works,” and the next week, we’ll talk about “If it doesn’t work, do something different.” You get the picture. We will be identifying and discussing complementary contradictions as pairs of principles that play well together so that you can become a better leader by incorporating both pieces of advice, not just one or the other.  

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Without Compromise, pt. 9: A Quick Review

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon).  When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students.  As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles, that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”). 

The underlying basis of the story is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured.  In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit, against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20).  But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

How did they do it? We have talked about a number of lessons in the last couple of months. You may find different lessons that are valuable for your own leadership, but I see at least these:

  • The Foundational Lesson: What you believe and how you live go together.  Know what you believe and why it matters; just as importantly, your actions must match your beliefs.
  • The Lesson of Circumstances: In all circumstances, God has an intentional purpose for your life; you often have no choice over the circumstances, but you do get to choose your response, your trust, and your obedience.
  • The Lesson of Ability:  God has gifted you with talents and abilities that are unique to you, and He wants to (and can) use them for His purpose.
  • The Lesson of Wisdom:  The importance of intentionally pursuing knowledge (grasp of accurate information), understanding (knowing why it matters), and wisdom (knowing how to apply it godliness and life-decisions).
  • The Lesson of Integrity:  The importance of consistently matching your behavior (conduct) with your beliefs (convictions), with the refusal to compromise regardless of the pressure (while balancing truth with love).
  • The Lesson of Relationship:  Relationships matter, and they open the door to impact.  Seek and build positive relationships among believers, and be gentle, loving, compassionate, and considerate to all.
  • The Lesson of Outcomes:  God is involved and active in your life, even in the midst of trials and challenges. Learn to see and trust His hand in the process and in the outcome.  Be intentional about maintaining a community of believers to walk through life with you.
  • The Lesson of Purpose:  You have a part and a purpose in God’s story.  See your life experiences through that lens, and find where your identity and abilities align with the opportunities God places in front of you.

Remember that the intent of this was to learn from Daniel how to keep ourselves from compromising our faith when we face the pressure to do so.  The starting point of the eight lessons is recognizing the importance of aligning beliefs and behavior, or convictions and conduct.  The basis of all the other elements is knowing what you believe and ensuring that your words and your actions reflect it.  If these things don’t match: 1) you will be labeled as a hypocrite; 2) people won’t believe you and therefore won’t follow you; and 3) you won’t have the internal strength to keep from compromising.  My challenge and encouragement to you is to resolve this first, then review the other principles and lessons to apply them in your own life.

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Leadership Ezra = Resources to help you connect your faith to your leadership

I am a connect-the-dots kind of person. Therefore, one of the ways God has taught and grown me is by helping me connect the dots between scriptural truth and life application.   That’s the basis of these “Leadership Ezra” resources – a book, a website, and a podcast – that are now available to help you grow in leadership from a biblical foundation.  

The book, Leadership Ezra (order your copy on Amazon), is all about connecting the dots between Scriptural truth and life application, specifically within the realm of leadership, using a story in the Bible to do so.  In this case, the story is actually the story contained in the book of Ezra, a book comprised of two different journeys of return for the people of God.  The experiences in this book demonstrate and illustrate lessons that can then be applied to your practice of leadership today.

The website, www.LeadershipEzra.com, is intended to be a resource to help leaders with this same connection, again providing principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying it to the practice of leadership. If you are new to leadership, if you are struggling in your leadership, or if you simply want to learn more and grow in your leadership, here you will find counsel and insight to help you be more equipped to lead and to do it in a godly way.  The goal is to help you lead like Ezra:  know God deeply, live by His Word, and apply that wisdom in your leadership of others.

The podcast, also called “Leadership Ezra” and available on Apple Podcasts, is likewise all about connecting biblical truth with wisdom for the practice of leadership.  These are short 5-10 minute episodes that share an illustration and provide some explanation and application of topics from the website. The episodes are helpful handles to understand and remember key ideas.

These three resources work together to connect three dots: “Faith…Wisdom…Leadership.” Aimed at Christians in leadership, including those who are leading in Christian schools and ministries, my purpose is to connect these dots so that I can help people lead well. 

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Podcast Episode 18 – Without Compromise (part 1)

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article of the same name, “The Most Important Thing.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the question we are going to talk about today.  This discussion is going to be the first in a series, all based on a study of Daniel Chapter 1 and corresponding to articles posted on the website.  The big idea we will be discussing is how you can navigate pressure – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way – without deviating from your values.  It’s really going to be a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith.  And today, that begins with an understanding of the most important lesson.

When I was a senior in high school, I had a job working in a local meat market and butcher shop.  My job was to come after the shop was closed in the evening and clean everything up from the day.  Keep in mind, this was a butcher shop so that included cleaning up after the slaughtering and process were done for the day! It was not only messy work, but it was also lonely work, because I was there by myself after everyone else had gone home.

One day, in the late spring, I was doing my job while listening to a Detroit Tigers baseball game on the radio (they won the World Series that year, with the dynamic team of Alan Trammel at Shortstop and Lou Whitaker at 2nd Base, and the outstanding pitching of Jack Morris).  My boss was a heavy smoker, and on this evening, he had left a pack of cigarettes behind, which had never happened before. As I was cleaning the front, I came across the cigarettes and was faced with an ethically dilemma.  I had never smoked before and had been vocal about my faith with classmates and adamant that smoking, and the use of substances, didn’t mesh with my faith.  But now they were right in front of me, and no one was around to see it.  I had the chance to pick up a cigarette and smoke it just to see what it would be like, and no one would know.  I picked one up and held it in my fingers, looked at it, wondering what it would taste and feel like, then put it away and never lit it up. 

Why did I make that decision?  In retrospect, that’s a simple answer:  I had already established my internal framework to guide my decision-making process, driven by my worldview that was based on my commitment to Jesus Christ and to the Bible. So, when the situation presented itself in front of me, I had actually made the decision ahead of time by doing that.  As tempting as it might have been as a teenager to try a cigarette, my beliefs and resulting personal principles directly corresponded to my behavior.  Therefore, I didn’t smoke because I couldn’t smoke and still be true to myself.  My behavior reflected my pre-established beliefs.

One of the most important – if not the most important – things you need to do to prepare yourself to stand against compromising your faith is to understand that your beliefs and your behavior are inseparable.  I’ve quoted my dad on this before, but as he used to say, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your walk talks.”  Your beliefs will result in your behavior, and your behavior will be a reflection of your beliefs.  Because this is so, two things will inevitably happen:

1) when you are confronted with a circumstance that challenges your faith and your values, how you respond will be a direct result of the worldview belief system that you have intentionally developed, and

2) Everyone around you will make judgments about who you are based on how they see you act in these circumstances.

Here’s what you need to take away:  What you believe and how you live go together.  Know what you believe and why it matters; just as importantly, your actions must match your beliefs. 

The bottom line is that your walk needs to be consistent with your talk, and that happens when your talk is consistent with your worldview, with what you hold to be true as your foundational belief system. Therefore, if you want to be able to navigate circumstances that challenge your faith and your integrity and come away without having compromised, then you must be purposeful about solidifying your worldview.  You won’t have one without the other.

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Podcast Episode 17 – It’s Time for a Self-Assessment

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article of the same name, “It’s Time for a Self-Assessment.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you done a self-assessment lately? That’s the question we are going to talk about today, because it’s a perfect time to do it.  Self-assessment and self-reflection are important to your growth – both personal and professional.  The beginning of the calendar year is viewed as a time to reset and to make resolutions or set goals for the year.  Put both of these things together – the importance of self-assessment and the start of the new year – and it becomes the perfect time to do a self-evaluation to prepare your personal improvement plan for the coming year.

Years ago, my siblings and I, with our families, were all visiting at my parents’ house.  My dad was talking about wanting to build a deck on the back of the house outside of the back door, and in the course of the conversation we decided that the best time to do it was while we were there, so that we could all help.  So, my dad grabbed some paper and drew a sketch of what the deck would look like, made a list of materials and supplies he would need, and order them from the local lumberyard to be delivered the next day.  When the materials came the next morning, the four of us – my dad, me, and my two brothers – went to work, following my dad’s plans and instructions, and built a beautiful deck before the end of the day.  It’s a wonderful memory for me, but the point of the story for today’s question is that before we built the deck, dad did an assessment to determine what we had, what we needed, and how we needed to do it.

That’s the purpose of a self-assessment.  It’s to reflect on where you are, where you want to be, and what it’s going to take to get from where you are right now to where you want to be in the next year (and beyond).  This process for me evolved over time.  It started rather simply.  When I first became a teacher, I took time in the summer to determine where I wanted to go in each of my classes and laid out a plan of what I would need to do to get there.  Then when I moved into administrative roles, that became my annual practice in preparation for the next school year.  I would reflect on the previous year, and determine what changes and growth needed to take place in the next year and prepare a plan of implementation.  I didn’t turn this process into a truly personal growth plan until I started my doctoral program, and a process of self-reflection and assessment was built into the early stages of the program.  It was then that I started taking time every December and January to reflect on my previous year and set some personal growth goals.  Over time, as I grew in my leadership, this process grew into a more formalized process with categories and a template that I use every year to determine my 1- and 5-year goals.  A few years ago, I added in the stop of determining my personal “word for the year,” a word that became my focus for that year.  (A personal note here – for quite a few years before I did this, my wife would give me word or phrase to hold on to each year that she felt would be great help to me.  My wife is amazing).

I believe you need to have a similar process.  You need to have an annual process of self-reflection, self-assessment, and self-direction.  That means that every year, you should be taking some time to reflect on the previous year, assess where you are in your life (personally, professionally, physically, spiritually, in your relationships, and wherever else you think appropriate), and then you need to determine the progress, goals, and steps you want to put in place for yourself.  It doesn’t have to look exactly like mine.  In fact, there are lots of different templates and formats that you could follow, but regardless of how you do it, you should have one. 

Here’s what you need to take away:  It’s the beginning of the calendar year and a time of transition from one year to the next.  That makes it a natural time to review and reflect on the past year, evaluate the present, and determine the direction for the coming year.  Write it down in whatever format works best for you and refer to it throughout the year.  That will be your own personal improvement plan.

The bottom line is that self-assessment is important to your growth, both personally and professionally. Author Laurence J. Peter is said to have said, “If you do not know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else,” and you’ve probably also heard the adage, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” If you want to grow in the direction in which you intend, then you need to build this regular or annual discipline into your life.  Take time to self-reflect, self-assess, and prepare your plan for the next year.  And right now, at the beginning of a calendar year, it’s the perfect time to do it.

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It’s Time for a Self-Assessment

When I started my doctoral program, I first had to attend an orientation program with the other students who had been accepted as part of that year’s cohort. During those two weeks, we read books, listened to lectures, interacted in discussions and activities, and wrote. And wrote. And wrote.

Several of the writing assignments were specifically aimed at helping us to formulate our own personal IDP (Individual Development Plan) for the program, or, what we intended to accomplish and get out of our graduate school experience. One assignment in particular required us to take a variety of personality and ability inventories, outline our life experiences, and think through the things that most drew our interest and brought joy and fulfillment in order to identify our passion and calling.

It was this exercise that really helped me to clarify what it was that my experiences, abilities, and passions had prepared me to do, and why those things were driving me. Through this process of reflection and writing, I realized what I loved doing, why I loved doing it, and how I was making a difference, and it confirmed and affirmed in me what I was doing with my life. (For me personally, it was also an affirmation of how God had gifted and prepared me, and what He had called me to do for His Kingdom.) It was a very valuable thought process, one that became a touch point in later years for keeping myself in the place where I best fit.

In the years since, I have incorporated a variety of other tools and activities to help me refine my own skill set and passions, and to help me continually improve at what I do. One of those activities is a yearly practice in December of listing my major goals for the coming year and maintaining a list of 5-year goals. The categories that work for me include personal/family goals, spiritual goals, financial goals, intellectual goals, and physical goals. This annual practice is one of the things that helps me regularly self-assess, thinking about what I’m doing, how I’m doing, and what I need to do in the near future in order to grow.

It’s that time of the year when many of us have done or are doing some kind of self-assessment. We remember what we did (and didn’t) accomplish in the last year. We determine what we might want to accomplish in this next year. We try to make a fresh start. We make New Year’s resolutions.

So, as you make your resolutions this year, I would encourage you to be very intentional about this process. Identify your own specific interests, abilities, and opportunities. List your own one-year and five-year goals (and put them in a place where you can refer to them regularly). Take advantage of self-assessment tools, such as the (free) Myers-Briggs Personality Test; the One Page Personal Plan (OPPP) from Verne Harnish’s book Scaling Up;  the Rockefeller Habits, which incorporates the 5F’s (Family, Faith, Friends, Fitness, Finance); or use any other tool that works for you. Regardless of what you use, be purposeful about assessing yourself – reflect on your past experience, identify your current abilities and passions, and decide on your direction for the next year.

It’s a new year, a natural time for this kind of review. Do it, do it purposefully, and do it to grow. Happy New Year!

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