Initiative

First of all I want to sing the praises of Amazon's Kindle electronic reader. My wife bought me one the other day. Best invention ever! Not for everyone, but it works for me.

And so we continue....
A number of years ago I was speaking with a "Top Producer" real estate agent. He said, "Every morning I get up look in the mirror and say I have to get a job today." What he recognized was that the sales he made last week or even yesterday were in the past and his "job" was to go out and get more sales.

All of this takes initiative. No matter what our chosen field of work, service or ministry is, to be successful, we have to be initiators.
John Maxwell puts it this way, "If you want to achieve great things as a leader, you must be willing to initiate and put yourself on the line."

Being an initiator will take you places others will not go. People will shake their heads in wonder as to why you would take on a particular challenge, task or project. It will cause you to walk alone, it is lonely. Initiative will cost you personally. Initiators are driven by passion and vision and the real reward is the outcome they dream of. Initiators jump into action about the time everyone else gives up. Being an initiator is hard work and risky. It demands your time, attention, personal sacrifice, comfort and security. It will cost you all of that and more.

If you are going to be an initiator be prepared to be mis-understood. Not everyone will get on board with you. There will be many that question your sanity. Although you need to listen to the critical thinkers and the voices of reason (thank God for these people, we need them) you will need to process their thoughts and carry on.

Maxwell goes on to ask these questions:
Are you an initiator? Are you constantly on the lookout for opportunity, or do you wait for it to come to you? Are you willing to take steps based on your best instincts? Or do you endlessly analyze everything? Lee Iacocca said, "even the right decision is the wrong decision if it is made too late?"

May God give us more initiators.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Patrick M. Lencioni authored the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. It is an engaging story of some of the traps teams fall into as they endeavor to work together. The principles really are applicable in many contexts.

I am not going to get into all the book has to offer, but one of the quotes in the book stands out. "Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think."

The downfall of using political language or withholding the real facts is that we may be setting people we care about up for future failure. I have done this and regretted it later in that I have robbed people of the opportunity to grow, or in some cases allowed a situation to get worse or out of control. The temptation to be kind may actually cause more damage.

Then there are times when my own frankness or honesty has created its own damage. Or it may hinder us from really hearing the other persons point of view. There are times when we need to just shut up, listen and learn.

In all of this I have to admit this is a daily learning and growing thing for me. I have deeply regretted the mistakes I have made on both sides of this issue. It is a daily challenge to find the balance and to do well in this. How about you, what are the secrets of your success?