I love Gary Hamel’s writings in the Wall Street Journal on management. Last week, he had an interesting article on the ideals that have made Apple the company that they are today. This was his list:

• Be passionate. “I think, for a company to generate years of exceptional returns unless it first devotes itself to the pursuit of an exceptional ideal.”
• Lead, don’t follow. Apple “always sets out to radically redefine a category with a distinctive product or business model.”
• Aim to surprise. “Apple seems committed to exceeding expectations—to evoking a “Wow!” from even its most jaded customers.”
• Be unreasonable. “Reasonable people don’t produce breakthroughs.”
• Innovate incessantly and pervasively. Apple “must be relieved that innovation is still a sideshow in so many of their competitors.”
• Sweat the details. “Great design isn’t just about bold strokes, it’s about getting all of the tiny things right that conspire together to make a product truly exceptional.”
• Think like an engineer, feel like an artist. “A company can’t produce beautiful products if the bean counters win every argument.”

This is just a snippet of Hamel’s thoughts. Check out the rest of the article for more insights.

I think he pretty accurately describes what makes Apple unique. What would you add to the list? Do you think any of these attributes have a place in the organizations we lead? I do.

Related Posts:

• Management Rewired
• Leadership Summit: Gary Hamel
• Leading vs. Managing

I read this fascinating article last night from Forbes about how General Motors destroyed its Saturn division. Among other things, David Hanna, the author of the article, suggested:

“Saturn, a GM company that had great promise in the early 1990s, ultimately failed because senior GM leaders couldn’t see the benefits of new ways of doing things and a new kind of organizational culture.”

We’re all familiar with the demise of GM, so this is a very vivid image of what can happen when an organization becomes so stuck in its traditional approach of doing things that the world passes it by. Ultimately, when organizations stick to “the way we do it,” the safe approach of avoiding innovation and change becomes the riskiest approach.

Hanna goes on to explain:

“There were just two underlying forces behind Saturn’s demise: GM’s insistence on managing all its divisions centrally with a tight fist, and the demand by leadership at both GM and the UAW that Saturn get in line with traditional ways of doing things.”

That highlights one of the biggest challenges in leadership. Leaders have to choose between control and innovation. You can’t have both. You can define the desired outcomes. You can create the boundaries, but you can’t expect your team to be creative, innovative or artistic if you try to control every element of the execution. If you must have full control, you just need to know that you are also choosing to shut down new ideas and innovations in your organization.

Unfortunately, the Church is notorious for religiously keeping things the way they’ve always been but hoping we’ll somehow achieve different results. Avoiding new approaches. Top-down, centralized leadership. Preserving the traditional ways of doing things. Sound familiar?

It’s a great reminder that our past successes can be one of the greatest contributing factors to our future demise. GM used to have a winning formula. It worked in previous generations. It doesn’t work now.

I used to drive a powder blue Chevy Impala just like the one pictured above. Thirty years ago that was a great ride. In essence, GM still wants to make cars like it was 1979 and expect to get the same results. By sticking with that approach, they’ve gone from 45% of the market share 30 years ago to under 20% today.

It’s easy to look at churches that might still be “driving the Chevy Impala” and easily draw conclusions for why they are in decline. Before you do that, though, I think it’s good to remember that GM was once a very successful company. When you experience success, it’s tough to let go. You want to control the formula because it works. You are reticent to try new approaches. The only problem is that eventually the world around us is going to change. When that happens…

You, too, will be driving the Chevy Impala.

Related Posts:

• Are You a Linchpin?
• Doing, Saying or Leading?
• Change
• How to Start a Movement
• My Next Stops

Last week I had the opportunity to connect with Seth Godin to talk leadership. Here’s a recording of our conversation. It’s less than 15 minutes, so I’d encourage you to pause and be stretched by Seth’s current thoughts on how we may need to approach leadership differently. We hit on topics like leading artists, authority, faith and religion. I think you’ll enjoyed the conversation.

Seth Godin Interview

If you’re curious to hear more, here’s my Amazon link to Seth’s newest book on this topic, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

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fyi… Seth isn’t paying me to endorse his book. I’m inspired by his writing, and thought you might be as well. His publicist sent me a free copy of the book, and I devoured it. I think you will too.

Related Posts:

• Are You a Linchpin?
• An Introvert Interviews an Extrovert on Introverted Leaders
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I just wrapped up the newest book from Seth Godin called Linchpin. It was a gift from his publicist, and much appreciated. Great read for those of us who want people to find fulfillment in their life including their careers. If more bosses grasped the value of linchpins, the world would be a much better (and happier) place.

Here are some of the thoughts that grabbed my attention:

• “A genius looks at something that others are stuck on and gets the world unstuck.”
• “The compliant masses don’t help so much when you don’t know what to do next.”
• “The world works too fast for centralized control… It turns out that pushing decision making down the chart is faster and more efficient.”
• “Art is never defect-free. Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them standardized, not worth talking about.”
• “Every day, successful people race to give away their expertise and to spread their ideas.”
• “It’s impossible to make art for everyone. There are too many conflicting goals and there’s far too much noise. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland, and ineffective.”
• “If you don’t pinpoint your audience, you end up making your art for the loudest, crankiest critics.”
• “Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you’re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they’re busy hiding out in the comfortable zone.”
• “The temptation to sabotage the new things is huge, precisely because the new thing might work.”
• “It’s not an accident that successful people read more books.”
• “E-mailing is fun, but it rarely changes the world.”
• “Great bosses and world-class organizations hire motivated people, set high expectations, and give their people room to become remarkable.”
• “Telling people leadership is important is one thing. Showing them step by step how to be a leader is impossible.”
• “Real change happens when someone who cares steps up and takes what feels like a risk.”
• “A team at rest tends to stay at rest. Forward motion isn’t the default state of any group of people, particularly groups with lots of people. Cynics and politics and coordination kick in and everything grinds to a halt.”

This is just a tease. I think you’ll love the rest of the book. If you’re interested in checking it out, here’s my Amazon link.

ps – Seth, thanks for the kind acknowledgment. That was a fun surprise. You inspire me.

Related Posts:

• Interview with Seth Godin
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When I talk with church leaders across the country, one of the most frequent questions I get is about processing change. Though I love change, I know most people don’t. Even when good change happens, it’s sometimes hard to handle.

West Ridge is going through some changes right now. We’ve experienced growth in the last several months that has necessitated changes. We’re planning for more growth, so more changes are coming. With that in mind, Brian shared a message today on “How to Deal with Change.” If you’re a leader, particularly in the church, I’d encourage you to watch it. It provides a great example of vision-casting and change management. If nothing else, it’ll help you understand Brian’s heart for the mission of West Ridge Church. Honestly, I think it’s the best message on “change” I’ve heard at a church.

Pray for us as a ministry. We’re experiencing opportunities and challenges that we’ve never faced before. We want to do what God wants us to do, because we know people’s lives are at stake. Sometimes what God wants, though, doesn’t involve just pushing the “easy” button. I think this is one of those times.

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• West Ridge Church Highlights
• West Ridge is Hiring a Media Director
• Announcing Our New Communications Dude
• Change
• Hiring a “Chief Launch Officer”

Ron Sylvia shared this quote in one of his Next Coaching Networks. This comes from Bob Russell who was the senior pastor for 35 years at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. During Bob’s tenure as senior pastor, the church grew from 100 people to more than 17,000 in attendance every weekend. Bob shared:

“My first few years here I was the pastor. I did all the weddings, funerals, hospital visits, etc. Then my role changed to preacher, and I mostly led through my sermons from the platform. It has only been in the last few years that I have become the leader.”

Interesting perspective. I’ve seen lots of pastors in all three categories. This isn’t just a “senior pastor thing” though. We all need to step back and assess whether we’re doing it, saying it or leading it.

Related Posts:

• Driving the Chevy Impala
• Are You a Linchpin?
• Change
• How to Start a Movement
• My Next Stops

Catalyst West Conference is just around the corner on April 21-23, 2010 in Orange County, California. That’s where you’ll find 3,500 young leaders, some great speakers, powerful worship, innovative programming, and a leadership experience unlike any other. I was there last year for Catalyst West and absolutely loved it.

This year you’ll hear from leadership authorities including Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Erwin McManus, Kay Warren and Reggie Joiner, along with several innovative thinkers and practitioners like best-selling author Donald Miller, Dallas Willard, Charlene Li, Scott Belsky, Eugene Cho, and Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International.

Arrive early for Catalyst Labs featuring innovative thought leaders including John Ortberg, Dino Rizzo, Michael Hyatt, Jeanne Stevens, Jon Acuff, Anne Jackson, Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite, Susan Isaacs, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, David Kinnaman, Margaret Feinberg, and others.

In addition, you will want to be there for the special evening session on Thursday with Louie Giglio and worship led by Chris Tomlin.

There’s a special registration rate of $229 available through February 18. To take advantage of this offer, call 888.334.6569 to speak with the Catalyst Concierge team, or register online and use rate code BLOG.

And, for those of you who love the contests, I’m giving away two tickets to Catalyst West today. Here’s how to win:

1. TWEET THIS: “Giving away 2 tickets to Catalyst West. Comment & RT to enter http://bit.ly/cw0uVu”
2. COMMENT BELOW: with your twitter name (so I can verify you did step 1…because I know you’re sneaky like that)
3. At 5PM EST TODAY: I’ll randomly choose two entrants below to win one ticket each!

Jump on board the Catalyst West bandwagon, and may the best Tweet win!

UPDATE: The winners of the free tickets are @taramiller8 and @God_IsMyJudge. Congratulations!

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Yep, my friends at Catalyst sponsored this post, but I accepted the offer because I believe in their events. I think you’ll be a believer as well.

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It’s a lot easier to embrace change when you’re the one initiating it.

When we decide change is needed, it’s a lot easier for us to receive it.

Change without vision is chaos.

Change to fulfill vision is a lot easier to understand when it’s shared through stories.

Many times the most successful or positive changes also produce the most criticism.

Change doesn’t happen unless someone is responsible to deliver it.

It’s easier to embrace change when we see it rather than when we hear about it.

Change, even the best kind of change, will always generate some measure of fear and anger and sadness.

In other words, someone will always despise the change and let you know about it.

It’s almost impossible to change a change that previously worked.

Test-driving a change is a lot easier than fully committing to the unknown.

Change is more likely to take hold when it’s followed by an immediate win.

When you think you’ve communicated enough about the change, you need to communicate more.

Organizations that don’t change die.

When change happens, it always gets personalized–it always ends up being about “me.”

Slow change is rarely positive change.

Change without metrics is foolishness.

If the change is easy, you’re probably not changing enough.

Resistance addressed appropriately makes change better.

If everyone already recognizes the need for change, you’re obviously not the leader.

Related Posts:

• Driving the Chevy Impala
• Are You a Linchpin?
• How to Deal with Change
• Doing, Saying or Leading?
• How to Start a Movement

What’s even more impressive is it only took David Sivers less than three minutes to make his point. This is his entire talk from the TED Conference.

Related Posts:

• Driving the Chevy Impala
• Are You a Linchpin?
• Doing, Saying or Leading?
• Change
• My Next Stops

My next FREE leadership training event will be in Seattle on Saturday, February 27 at The Rock Church. Join me for a morning of teaching and conversation on leadership and ministry strategy. The event will feature stories and learnings from my recent book, Killing Cockroaches: and Other Scattered Musings on Leadership.

This event is designed for both staff and volunteer church leaders. Though the event is free, you’ll need to register here so that we can plan appropriately. Here are the specific details:

Schedule

9:00 am     Check-in

9:30 am     Session 1: Building Teams and Empowering Leaders (Volunteer/Staffing Strategy)

10:15 am   Q&A

10:45 am   Break

11:15 am   Session 2: Finding Your Focus (Outreach/Discipleship/Communications Strategy)

12:00 pm   Q&A

12:30 pm   Event Concludes

Host Church

Seattle (February 27) at The Rock Church in Monroe, WA – get directions

Whatever you do, don’t come to the event alone! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard leaders say, “I wish my staff and volunteer leaders could have been here to hear what you had to say.” Just ask my friends who were at the recent event in Houston. I promise to keep the talks simple and practical.

Hope to see you in Seattle. Tell your friends!

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• Leaders Need to Drive
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