Politics a reflection of kids or Vice Versa?

I was just reading this article online and I was struck by how this sounds so much like kids, teens, some co-workers. And we wonder about why there is such a general distrust of people and a sense of dishonesty (can I say that without seeming politically incorrect?)?

This is a quote from a politician in Michigan when asked about his direct involvement and knowledge of a very ethically questionable situation. “I did not lie. I'm saying I didn't answer the question, I was evasive." *

Wow.  And he goes on to say (in essence) not to judge him on this one issue, but look at his entire body of work.  Don’t we hear that from co-workers or young people when they are caught in questionable situations? “Don’t judge me just on this; look at the overall body of work.” But if a structure is inherently weak in one area, doesn’t that weaken the entire structure? Doesn’t that call into question the entire building’s integrity? If you knew that a builder was using substandard material in one area (to save you money and allow you spend more on other areas of your home, for instance) wouldn’t you begin to question their overall integrity, and what were they compromising on and NOT telling you? 

And when people see elected leaders doing this, and getting away with it, and trying to rationalize and justify these types of actions, they say “Why can’t I do that too?”

Seems like we need to get back to some basic parameters for morals and ethics. “Right!” you say, “but who’s ethics? What if I don’t agree with the standards you set?”  Seems like we have a possibility of being like the people of Israel from Scripture where everyone “did what was right in his own sight” (Judges 21:25).  How about if we use the standards that God set for us? Then we don’t have to waffle and try and hedge and twist things to meet the situation. The Ten Commandments are a good start. (Exodus 20). Or Christ’s command to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as our self. (Matthew 22:36-40)  These seem to be pretty basic, and universal. They apply to basic ethics for living our lives. How is it that people can move so far away from these?

As we stray from these precepts (old word, but it fits) we begin to twist and bend things to meet our needs (sometimes very selfishly and to the harm of others).  Others begin to mimic this behavior and soon many are doing this. And then we wonder why the little 5 years says “I didn’t lie, you didn’t ask the right question!”

What are ways we can get back to these basics? Think concrete and definitive ways that we can positively/proactively move this process. Yes it takes prayer, yes it takes God being very much involved in the process. But don’t we have to actively listen and obey?  We need to be a part of this too, don’t we? How can we get life to reflect our Creator instead of selfish little kids?

• for the full article, you can see: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/07/house_speaker_jase_bolger_i_di.html

Musings about God and free will

Wow.

Ever notice how once your kids are born you spend all their early years trying to teach them to be independent, to think for themselves, to make decisions, and be responsible. Yet as they get into their later teen years or young 20’s, you  want them to check with you more often before making those decisions, and to listen more carefully to your advise.  At this point, we aren’t too sure we really meant all those things about being independent. “Think for yourself but only as far as I agree with your decisions” Interesting twist. And as they get older (and us), they slowly start giving us advise and get agitated when we don’t take their recommendations.

This seems to be difficult for me as my kids get older and more independent. I want them to be independent, but I am nervous as they step out for themselves. Will they make the right decisions (from my perspective of course)? And what makes them think they are experienced enough or knowledgeable enough to make suggestions to me as they get older?

I think in the same way, God is concerned about the choices we make as we get older and more independent. He gave us free will and the ability to make decisions and choices; but do you think He still is anxious about the choices we make? I don’t want to mess up my theology too much, because I know that that He is all-knowing, but in working with the analogy of a loving Father, I think God still feels anxious (that may not be the right word for God’s emotions) for our decisions. He knows the results of our choices, and I believe He cares so much for us, that He is concerned for the ramifications of our decisions. Just like we are concerned about the choices our kids make. And as we grow older, we find ourselves praying to God about circumstances, and we seem to chip in our own ideas about how those prayers should be answered. We say “Your will be done, but if you taking requests (and you say we have not because we ask not, so I’m asking) here is how I think it should be answered in order to make ME happy.” What amazing hubris! To think we can tell God how to answer our prayers and then get steamed if He doesn’t do it our way! Do you think God gets annoyed with us, when we ask His opinion and don’t listen or respond to His answers? Do you, when your kids do this?

Yet God gave Adam and Eve that free will and the right to make their own choices; He knew how that would shake out and what the results would be like today. And yet He still loved us enough to give that choice to us, anyway. Pretty amazing. Just like what we wind up doing with our own kids.

Does this make sense? Do you see any of this?

Whirlwind leadership

Thunderstorms recently. Big ones. Many tree limbs were tore down and hail (in some areas) and power outages all over the area. I heard over 200,000 people in the Detroit area were without power and it would be several days before service could be restored. As I thought about this storm, my mind wandered to ideas of leadership and change management (I know kind of an odd juxtaposition, but then that is my mind!)

Ever notice that some leaders are like the big storms? They come into a leadership position (workplace, church, community group, a teen group, whatever) and they immediately begin to whirl around and make changes and toss ideas around, make changes, exert their authority.

They have read the old leadership books that talk about the fact that leaders are on a “honeymoon” for the first six months and people are more willing to accept the ideas of change early on in their position, and so you must strike while opportunity is hot. So these new leaders whirl in and change this, change that, reorg this area, throw out that procedure, and make sure they put their stamp on everything in the area. Then like that storm last night, they exhaust themselves and move on to a new position and start all over again.

There is some truth in being able to make changes early in a tenure. But with the idea that real leadership is based on relationships and trust, then that means it takes longer for you to develop credibility with the people you are working with. This means (to me) that you go slower at first. You establish yourself as a leader, let people learn to trust you, get some “wins” under your belt and leverage that increased confidence into being able to do more with the folks you are working with.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not manipulation, this is truly developing trusting relationships with those you are working with, in order to create a sense of “buy in” and camaraderie in order to pull together to make lasting and significant changes and improvements in the workplace. As you develop this sense of trust and find out the strengths and weaknesses of your team members, you can “pitch” projects to them that play to their talents. This lets them know that you are trusting them and they will enjoy themselves more, and work harder for you to accomplish the agreed upon goals. What a concept! It helps to spur innovation and creativity. Staff morale will go up. And you aren’t seen as a whirlwind that rushes in, makes wholesale changes without regard to others or without understanding WHY things are done as they are, and then rushes out again. Staff will trust you, and share more with you (not just about themselves, but about the work processes). You will become one of the team and not just a BOSS.

What a concept.

What do you think? Have you ever experienced the “whirlwind” boss?

Shifting sands of culture

Ever thought about the classic rock that we listen to now was so evil back in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s when it came out? Now folks are reminiscing about how they wish all the “good” music would come back and not this drivel that is being passed around today.

And the TV’s shows from back then….I wasn’t allowed to watch The Smothers Brothers or Laugh In or Sonny and Cher because they were to racy or controversial. They would be pretty tame today.

Interesting how society’s values have changed. We have spent so much time pushing the envelope that it seems like the envelope has been stretched so far it cannot return to its original shape. Like a rubber band stretched too far, it becomes unable to serve as it was formed. Has our society pushed things so far that we have a hard time setting boundaries and knowing right and wrong and everything is relative?

I think that there are moral absolutes, but boy is it hard having that conversation with others. I remember listening to teens in our church youth group several years ago talk about how it was ok to cheat (creatively respond) on homework and exams in order to get better grades to get the scholarships to let them get a better education to allow them to serve God better. Really? That’s how that works? And these were kids raised in the church with parents in positions of leadership, who should know better. You try to discuss the odd juxtaposition of thoughts and they didn’t get it.  But it isn’t just teens. Remember a few years back when a school district in the south was caught tampering with standardized tests to raise their scores to allow the schools to qualify for more federal aid?  They justified doing what was wrong in order to better serve the community at doing something good for the students. These were educated people, people in places of responsibility and authority in the schools. How do you have a rationale discussion with people that these things are really crossing the line and are not to be accepted?

It’s interesting how far people will go to justify that what they know is wrong, is actually ok in that it helps them. Isn’t that kind of like “the ends justify the means”? And I have heard churches say that they must change to meet the changing needs of the community and the changing expectations of those who are unsaved. I understand that. Paul said that he would be all things to able to save some (loose translation of I Cor. 9:22). But I think that means finding ways to fit into the culture to make Christ relevant without compromising the integrity of the Gospel. He did not mean intentionally sinning in order to save some. Just as Jesus used parables that the people could understand, Paul is saying we must be as relevant with our testimony to those who don’t understand all the buzzwords and coded acronyms that we toss around so freely in the church.

 Just thinking that while other standards may change, our standards and convictions related to Christ and the church should not, cannot change.

What do you think? Am I too “old school”?

Middle age crazy or New opportunities?

I have been doing a lot of thinking about trying my hand at writing “something.” I have purchased books on how to write, how to get yourself published, and how to make money doing this. But at the root of everything is a thought that I have no idea what to write about. It doesn’t seem like I would have anything to add to the tomes on leadership, or customer relationships, or developing strong teams. It has been written by folks with more credibility than I.

So what to write about? Maybe I am in the middle age crazy part. I want to branch out to new things, I feel like God is calling me to stretch myself, yet I am afraid to take that step out of my comfort zone. My Sunday school class and small group have really been pushing me in this area. “Get out of your comfort zone!”  But it is so comfortable! That’s way it is a zone! It’s bigger than just a room or a closet. It’s an entire zone! And how do you step out to do these new things with any level of credibility? I guess that is part of the trusting God part. People tell me I should write and share from experiences, but what do I know that would add to this body of knowledge on the Internet?

I really think this would be an interesting side trail in my life. Who knows? It might open other opportunities, or maybe It is just about sharing thoughts that others might be able to use to help them in their career, or their ministry, or just in their journey of life. Not saying I know it all (we know that isn’t true!), but I think I’ve been knocked around and been involved in enough things that maybe someone could learn from my mistakes.

What do you think?

What is Real Leadership?

What is Real Leadership?

I have had a chance to think about my leadership/management “style” a lot lately. I have been challenged about how I lead and what I do well and what I need to improve on. Mix that with some of my TV viewing and I get an interesting juxtaposition of thoughts.

I enjoy watching a couple different TV shows that talk about leadership – that may not be what they are aiming for, but it is what I watch them for – “Undercover Boss”, “Shark Tank” and Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” These are interesting when you watch and listen to what is going on. One of the main takeaways that I have noticed is that to be a good leader you really need to talk, and listen to your employees. You need to develop enough of a true relationship with your employees that they trust you enough to share the hard stuff with you. If there isn’t any trust, you may only get lip service, or they will only tell you what you want to hear, and suddenly you are going down roads that you shouldn’t be travelling.

I noticed how on the “Boss” sometimes the CEO is absolutely surprised at how “corporate” is making things so difficult for the rest of the employees, and they never knew it. They listened to their boards, or a select focus group, but never got down to the employees to see how these changes and policies were affecting the rest of the company. I have been struck by how often the employees have said that the reason they never spoke up about policies because “they never thought anyone cared.”

On “Shark Tank” and “Apprentice” I have been amazed at how much goes into building relationships to form trust for creating business partners, or teams for a task. There is a lot of communicating going on, and listening, and sharing expectations and understandings, and backgrounds. These are a lot of key components to developing high performing teams or companies.

My thoughts are mixed in that I have been told that I need to stop working on these “soft skills.” I have been told that these are areas without a lot of “real” impact. As I think about it, and observe the areas, I think that these are the areas that really help to improve the climate and culture of the work place. When these are in place, employees are more productive, more creative, more resourceful in finding ways around problems.  Seems to me that when companies ignore the relationship area of the workplace, that things go “south.” Why would you want to ignore them and harm your business?  Strictly focusing on the hard skills and the things that can be measured, leave you vulnerable to missing the boat on some great innovations and great team members that can help grow the business over the long term.

Thoughts?

The Meanderings of an older Mind

Ahh! The joys of growing older.  Your brain can flow all over the place.

I sit in my house tonight and have been just thinking about “stuff.” Old time rock and roll, education, my kids.

Hmmm, shouldn’t call them kids. Brittany is a college graduate about to start her first teaching job this fall in IL and is looking for an apartment and all the stuff that goes with that.  Danyne is about to be a sophomore at ONU and is living and working at ONU this summer. Colleen is a freshly minted high school sophomore interested in getting her driver license. Where did the time go?

I still feel 18. My hair isn’t quite the same shade it was then. (Darlene’s is! How is that possible?) I am still in school – granted it is for a Masters, but it is almost 30 years after I got my bachelors. Why’d I wait so long? This has been fun! Taxing, strenuous, challenging, but fun. Why did I wait? Oh yeah, Life happened – work, kids, church responsibilities, school board stuff. Only four more months and I graduate. What a deal!

I was thinking this afternoon, that it was good that I got off the school board. Lots of stuff going on that I am glad I don’t have to deal with, but I am seeing what my yard is like for the first time in 17 years. Pretty sad. I didn’t know what it was like to sit in the back yard on the little swing like chair my mother in law got us and play with the dog. Amazing. It is pretty nice. Did you know sunsets are pretty neat when seen from outside and not from within a board room?

Well this isn’t really very thought provoking tonight, but I thought I needed to keep something fresh out here.

See Ya!

John