Mike Foster

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Mike Foster.  Mike is a speaker, author, and consultant helping people live and tell a better story. He is the Co-founder of “People of the Second Chance” a radical grace movement made up of activists, artists and imperfectionists. He serves on the Executive Team of PlainJoe Studios and is the author of “Gracenomics: Unleash The Power of Second Chance Living.” He lives in Southern California with his beautiful bride and his 2 young children.  Here are Mike’s thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year.

Stop trying to be what others expect you to be.

I know very few leaders at peace with who they are and where they are at in their life and career.  Too many of us are privately and publicly clawing, scratching and slaving our ways to “just a little bit more” and “just a little bit better.”  The stupid game of managing our reputations and putting forth the best versions of ourselves is flat out exhausting.

Perhaps this year we can commit to finishing last in the rat race and stop wasting so much emotional energy trying to be what others expect us to be.  I think Steve Jobs put it best, “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”  There is only one authentic version of you, so this year be that version.

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Dave Travis

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Dave Travis.  Dave is currently the Managing Director of Leadership Network. He is a frequently cited source in various media outlets including – AP, WSJ, CNN, New York Times, CBS, various metro dailies and has appeared on NBC nightly news. Dave lives in Atlanta and Sky Valley, GA.  Here’s our interview:

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

DAVE:  Stop doing things that are not contributing to 80% of your results.  These things naturally add up over time.  Our habits and practices must always be changing.  Many past successful actions are no longer yielding the same results.  Part of this is due to the natural law of diminishing returns.  Be willing to lay those things aside and devote more time and energy to actions that are making positive contributions.

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

DAVE:  Focus on the vital few things that yield the highest results for you personally, for your team and for the organization.  You will know what to do to achieve personal results but you will need feedback from your team and organization on how to positively impact these areas.

You can follow more of Dave’s thoughts and updates on Twitter.

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Penelope Trunk, Sam Rainer, and Maurilio Amorim.

Penelope Trunk

Penelope is co-founder of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals.  Here are her thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop dumping human resource problems in human resource departments.

Start disbanding the human resource department and make hiring managers take responsibility for their department’s churn rate and their own ability to build a network of high-potential people who want to work for them.

Sam Rainer

Sam is a pastor, writer, speaker and researcher.  He is president of Rainer Research, a research and consulting firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health.  Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop condoning processes that make your life as a leader easier but stifle the creativity of your followers.

Start creating a climate for your followers to hold you accountable for specific goals.  Dual accountability is one of the keys to a successful leader-follower relationship.

Maurilio Amorim

Maurilio is the CEO of The A Group, a media, technology and branding firm in Brentwood, TN.  He consults with some of the country’s largest ministries, leading churches and Christian publishers.  Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop trying to get incrementally better at doing what you do by tweaking products and service.

Start dreaming up something that could be a true “game changer” for your business or ministry.  Create something that captures people’s hearts and imaginations instead of striving for a 5 to 10% bump in revenue or attendance.

Lance Witt

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Lance Witt.  Lance loves those who serve on the front lines of ministry and is committed to helping them stay healthy and “finish well.”  He helped develop and lead the 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community campaigns while serving as an executive pastor at Saddleback Church.  Lance is a speaker, author and ministry coach.  Here’s our interview:

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

LANCE:  Stop ignoring the dysfunction.  Many churches and ministries suffer from what I like to call “terminal niceness.”  We just aren’t very good at hard conversations.  For the most part we are polite, sensitive and we hate conflict.  This causes us to beat around the bush and make nice.

One of the byproducts of our “terminal niceness” can be dysfunction at the team level.  As a leader you can’t afford to stick your head in the sand.  Turn on your “team health” radar and aggressively seek out the truth…even if it is hard to face.  There is too much at stake for you to live in denial.  You might not see it (blind spot), but if the dysfunction is there, I promise that the people on your team see it.

In his great book, It’s Your Ship, Michael Abrashoff says, “your people are more perceptive than you give them credit for, and they always know the score-even when you don’t want them to.”

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Ron Edmondson

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Ron Edmondson.  Ron is the pastor of Grace Community Church.  He is passionate about planting churches and helping established churches thrive.  Here’s our interview:

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

RON:  Stop trying to compare yourself with everyone else.  Learn from others, be inspired by others and be challenged as you watch others but never try to be like others.  Be uniquely who God wired you to be.  Too many churches and church leaders are disappointed in their results because they set their expectations based on what others are achieving.

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider starting in 2012?

RON:  Start being more intentional.  Nothing really happens without intentionality.  This is true in our work, home and personal lives.  I get frustrated when I see people with huge potential floundering due to inactivity.  I recently tweeted, “If you keep looking for excuses you will keep finding them.”  I’ve learned that if you don’t set goals, make a plan and discipline yourself then you will likely be disappointed with the end results.

You can follow more of Ron’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

David Foster

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with David Foster.  David is an author, speaker, entrepreneur and church planter.  Here are David’s thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year.

Stop trying to force results.

It is easy to see other people’s success and wonder why we aren’t experiencing the same results.  This causes us to try to “make” something happen.  Sometimes this is caused by pride; other times it is due to a desire to do great things for God.  Too much of the time it is simply because we want to be known and celebrated like the other Christian celebrities we envy.

The truth is, your church, your life, your organization and even your family is only going to grow but so fast.  Stop trying to force the results others are achieving.  This makes you feel angry, weird and frustrated.  Trying too hard hurts the people on your team and leads you into all kinds of self-destructive behavior.

Start trusting your mission.

If your mission is worthy, focus on advancing it during the new year.  Be aware that the mission of the gospel, your family and your organization will only be advanced so far and so fast.  God teaches us that there are seasons of growth.  Scriptures give us analogies like “sowing, reaping and planting.”  Stop trying to force the fruit and start advancing the mission.

Ministry is messy.  It doesn’t matter if it is conducted in a church or a high-rise office building, your focus should be on your mission and long-term health.  Don’t “use” people to achieve your agenda.  Rushing ahead while trying to be an overnight success only leads to pain, sorrow and disappointment.  Advance the mission slowly while making forward progress.  You will be surprised at how far you can grow and go in 2012.

UPDATE: Mack Harris, Emily’s dad, passed away this morning. Here’s the post from earlier today.

My father-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2010. After a couple of rounds of chemotherapy, he enjoyed about nine months of remission. Unfortunately, that ended last fall. Now he’s living his final days here on Earth.

Mack Harris on the right. Emily Morgan second from the left.

Emily, my wife, has been back to Ohio every month for the last several months. She was there again last week. She has spent some cherished time with her dad and mom. Last night, she wrote this on Facebook:

With four kids in three different schools, a teenage driver, and a husband who travels, I typically have my cell phone pretty close by. These days, however, with the news of my dad’s death potentially days away, it’s never more than an arm’s length away. I keep the volume on at night and my heart drops each time it rings. I dread the call. I don’t want it to come. But it’s coming.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about bad news. Nobody ever signs up for bad news or puts the welcome mat out for it, yet we all get it. It’s a part of life. The potential for illness, death, unemployment, or financial hardship is there. But how do we prepare for it?

To say that we’re ready for any hardship would be pompous and assuming. But to be prepared is quite different. To know that hard times are part of our human existence and to take steps, in advance, to lessen the pain is the only way to be prepared for the news. The death of a beloved father is less difficult, for example, when there is open love and communication, with nothing left unsaid. The news of unemployment is less difficult when there’s money in the bank. And, when the economy tanks, it’s less difficult to believe you’re going to make it when you’ve learned to work hard and live well within your means. It takes little steps, really, to be prepared. Those little steps, over time, get you to a place where you can grieve without guilt, search for a new job without panic, and live your life without regret.

So, what are you doing to prepare? Do you need to ask for forgiveness? Do you need to say “I love you”? Should you cut up the credit card, sell the car, or cancel the membership? Little steps, over time, produce results that will help you live a life that is not without hardships, but that is more likely to help you through them.

We are going to miss Mack. He’s been an incredible husband, father and grandfather. Now, though, we’re praying for the opportunity in front of him. He’s professed faith in Jesus Christ. Though he’s never been paid in ministry, he’s been in full-time ministry. His path is clear. Heaven awaits.

Please continue to pray for Mack and Priscilla Harris and their family.

Ben Stroup

As part of the current series addressing the shifts leaders should consider making in the new year, I connected with Ben Stroup. Ben is a writer, blogger and consultant and he helped me produce the eBooks that I’ve released in the last twelve months. Here’s our interview:

TONY: What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

BEN: Stop being efficient. The larger the organization or church, the more likely they are to move toward efficiencies. Manufacturing is built around the goal of creating consistencies that can be scaled based on needs or demand. The goal is to adjust the quantity rather than the substance of each unit. The more units, the more profitable the product line becomes because you can spread the cost over more units.

This is fine when you are working with widgets, but people are not widgets. People are emotional, inconsistent, and unique. Organizations and churches should be engaging with people (inherently inefficient) rather than simple reproducing previously agreed upon standards. One path feeds the organizational process while the other path becomes a catalyst for change and impact.

We still have to focus on growth. If an organization or church is not multiplying, it is not fully alive and growing. There is always an element of efficiency that is part of growth, but it shouldn’t limit our strategy and tactics as it relates to connecting to and engaging with our core audience. Organizations and churches that will thrive in 2012 will exchange efficiency for effectiveness and reintroduce a level of humanity in the midst of their process development planning.

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Jeff Henderson

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Jeff Henderson,  the Lead Pastor of Gwinnett Church which is a campus of North Point Ministries. What are some of the shifts leaders need to make going forward? Here are Jeff’s thoughts:

Stop comparing.

There’s far too much time and energy wasted on studying the competition. We will never find our true potential by comparing ourselves to others. Only by comparing ourselves and our organizations to our own potential will we find unchartered territories and possibilities.

The people and organizations you respect the most do just that. You can too. Stop comparing yourself to others. Start comparing yourself to your own God-given potential. This is where true uniqueness and creativity is found.

Start thinking more.

Leaders do. That’s what we do. But the pace of doing can prevent the necessity of thinking. This year, carve out more “think time” in advance. Examples: 10 minutes a day. One hour a week. One day per quarter.

If you commit to this, you’ll discover a powerful principle: Great thinking leads to better doing.

You can follow more of Jeff’s thoughts on the Gwinnett Church blog.

Eric Geiger

As part of the series on leadership to start this year, I connected with Eric Geiger, Vice President of the Church Resource Division at LifeWay Christian Resources. We talked about the shifts leaders need to make going forward. Here’s our brief interview:

TONY: One thing leaders should consider stopping?

ERIC: Something good that is stealing energy and resources from the best…

For church leaders, this may be a program that yields little fruit or a meeting that is always on the calendar but never results in any life-giving ministry decisions. A lot of leaders stress better time management to their teams, but if teams are devoting energy to ineffective ministries or programs, then time management only makes the waste more efficient. And who wants more efficient waste? More efficient waste never changed the world.

For this reason, a “stop doing” list is actually more important than a “start” list because only when you stop doing something will you have liberated energy and resources for what matters more. As Von Goethe said, “Things that matter the most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least.”

Some may argue that all the waste has already been eliminated, that everyone is operating at full capacity on what matters most. But such an argument is actually a confession that additional capacity has not been developed. The person has just admitted he or she has stopped growing as a leader or stopped growing the people he or she serves. The truth is that when we grow our teams and ourselves, there is new margin because organizational capacity has been raised. In the same way, business process consultants articulate that whenever a process is improved, new waste is created through greater productivity. The art of leadership is focusing the newly created energy on what produces the most value, which leads to Tony’s second question:

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