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Much has been said about the importance of availability in leadership. I think we can all agree that it's no longer enough to sit in the corner office and dictate from afar through a series of procedures and processes. Neither is relying on title or authority a sustainable method of implementation. Effective, influenced-based leadership necessitates investing in relationships with those we rely on to execute on a daily basis. To build and improve effective teams, leaders know they must be available, but lately I've been exploring what it looks like to be available to my team, while still effectively accomplishing the work I need to do. After much trial and error I've realized that availability is more than proximity or face-time. Si…

At Epoch, Bob Goff brought up the point that we should love our enemies. He started a school for his enemies – the witch doctors of Uganda. It got me thinking about my enemies and what I’m doing for them. I thought back to one particular enemy I did not interact well with. Before I went on the World Race six years ago, I asked myself a question. If I could choose five friends to go around the world with for a year, who would they be? “Nobody!” I answered myself. I was pretty sure there’d be plenty of drama, everyone would be difficult to get along with and that I would be misunderstood frequently. So, I went into the Adventures office and asked the staff for the Myers-Briggs results for each person on my squad. Then I bought two Please Understand Me books – one for myself and one fo…

Recently a few of my girlfriends and I decided to take on the Great Smoky Mountains… Fueled by [filtered] creek water and the adventure in our hearts, we hiked through the humidity to our camping spot. After setting up tents, cooking dinner and making friends with our neighbors we fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. Bliss.  In the morning, it rained. Rain is lovely when you have a cup of tea on a Saturday morning and no where to go. In the woods, not so much. Despite the weather we decided to take the trail our neighbors told us about – they said it was only a few miles to the top.  The heavens were relentless; our raincoats did not help. We ditched them and continued to climb. And climb. And climb.  I started getting frustrated. The rain was annoying. My f…

  I am not sure what planet you are living on if you haven’t heard of Kid President. Just incase you live on another planet, or you are a Walt Whitman type, here is my favorite kid president video. Recently, I had the joy of hearing the story of Kid President from Brad Montague, the creator. I realized during his talk that I have a ton to learn from kids. Here are 5 leadership lessons from Kid President & what I desperately need to learn from kids.   1. Be Real Kid President took the world by storm. His personality, love and candor have inspired millions.  Kid President is a real human, his name is Robby, and he is 9 years old. He speaks “straight up” and one of the funniest things about him is the simplicity in…

I have had lots of conversations recently about how difficult life is. Not in the facetious kind of way, but in all seriousness. Growing up has its share of aches and pains. Add in the pressures of society, leadership in the work place, and the strife to be like Jesus, and that’s a huge load. Our life is hard! And living well can be painful. We are navigating awkward situations, which demand our immediate attention, that have unforeseen consequences. Sometimes life is just the opposite of fun. It is hard. Life is difficult and stressful, and yet uniquely gorgeous. It can be so simple to get lost of the frustration of the trials, but how much more important is it for us to find the beauty and soul in the pain. We do not get the luxury of avoiding these uncomfortable circum…

It is no secret that “Collaboration is King.”  Although I am personally all for collaboration, there are guidelines and ways to do it more effectively.  Collaboration is a tool in which we need to learn how to use effectively because just as author Morten Hansen describes in his book Collaboration, “Bad collaboration is much worse than no collaboration.”   I am not an expert at collaboration by any means, but feel as if I have been privileged to be part of numerous projects that have lent itself to collaboration.  In my experience Hansen’s quote holds true, where collaboration can easily decrease productivity.     Collaboration is often stereotyped as breaking down cubicles creating free and open spaces for w…

I left my office job last year to squad lead for the World Race. It was pretty sudden, but fortunately a very competent man took my place.   While I was on the Race I was pretty serious about two things: Developing leaders Discipling the guys. I didn’t have time to waste, so it was difficult for me to invest in everyone.   Fortunately, the first month had everyone together in Guatemala. That made it easy!   I made it a point to get one-on-one time with one guy in particular. We’ll call him Juan (because I really don’t know who’s going to read these blogs). Juan is 6’4” and could bench-press me all day.   I don’t know why I thought it a good idea to challenge Juan to a pizza-eating contest, but I did. By the ti…

You know what they say when you assume. But it's something our minds naturally do. Our brain works to sift through all the incoming information and categorize it. Is that person friendly? Is this bridge safe? Is this food delicious? Our brain makes constant judgments about the world around us, so that it knows how to react. But is this instinctual habit hindering us in the work place? When you start a meeting with co-workers, do you already know what they want out of the meeting? Or rather you think you know? When you read an email, do you infer a positive tone behind it, or a negative one? We make assumptions about the needs and goals of our co-workers and forget to listen to what they are really saying. Even when we are "listening," we are thinking about the ne…

Before you read this, I challenge you to put your phone down, close your inbox, and just read. Whoever said multitasking is more productive obviously doesn't know the power of focusing and finding balance. It's evident in every aspect of our lives, from our cell phones to our work loads to everything we try to do in our "free time." Sit down at any table in restaurant and watch at relationships deteriorate because those at the table are actually in a whole other world keeping up with their online social profiles. Look at all the self-help books that give us 10 steps we just can't seem take one at a time. Or reminisce about your last meeting the complete waste of time it was when there was no agenda. Think about saying yes to numerous opportunitie…

Do you have a sense of urgency?  Should you?  You decide.   Exhibit A: In business and startups, a “sense of urgency” is a good thing. Yet many entrepreneurs confuse this with a “sense of emergency,” which insidiously saps the life from their business. – John Kotter   I’m not a big feeler, but the idea of insidiously sapping the life out of anything sounds painful and exhausting.  And Dr. Kotter seems to know a thing—or 8—about leading change.   Exhibit B: It is rare to find large companies that truly have a sense of urgency. Their circumstances rarely demand it. They can continue with business-as-usual and do pretty well. Nothing has to be done today or even this week. Nothing is really at stake—or so they th…