I am Jamaica's husband, Personality's cheerleader, Foursquare's comm director, CFCC's apostle, and more.
I'm also blogging at:
Personality™
Church Marketing Sucks
May 15, 2008
Asking the Right Questions
Filed under: Brad Works
It seems that I've been spending a lot of time lately building teams, especially as my spheres of responsibility continue to expand. I was in a meeting today with the dean of admissions at USC--I'm considering their EMBA program--and he asked me how I build great teams. Finding the right people and building good teams has always been an instinctual and intuitive process for me. I've blogged a little about hiring before, but there is a lot I still need to learn.
One thing I am learning is what questions to ask. Some of those include:
- What books have you read that you would consider to be a key part of shaping who you are (personally and professionally)?
- What websites, blogs and magazines do you read regularly to keep you at the top of your game?
- What else do you do to keep you at the top of your game?
- If you could write a book, what would you write about and why?
- What do you look for in a good team? How would you go about building that "good" team?
- What do you look for in a good manager/supervisor?
- What should a supervisor/manager know about you to keep you performing at your best?
- How do you react when your good ideas don't seem to be going anywhere?
- Describe a write-home-to-momma moment--something that you have been responsible for that you are really proud of.
- Describe a moment you don't want anybody to know about--something that you have been responsible for that you're not so proud of.
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May 14, 2008
Problem Spotters Should Be Problem Solvers
Filed under: Rant
Remember in grade school when someone--never you, of course--had a bad case of flatulence and someone would blurt out a cheesy excuse like "He who smelt it, dealt it" or "He who sensed it, commenced it"? (Apparently there are tons of these corny phrases.)
I think a parallel exists for people that spot problems. The person that points out the problem is probably best suited to solve the problem.
"We need a more more unified team."
"There's got to be a better way to build this."
"That design is awful, surely we can do better than that."
"Why can't we say it this way?"
"Are you sure we can't automate that?"
"Does it have to cost this much?"
The next time you point out problems, blurt out critiques, or offer your humble opinion, maybe you should also consider a follow up response and come up with a few solutions.
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May 9, 2008
Harold Taber's Baker's Dozen
Filed under: Inspiration
I was invited by a Personality client to UCLA last night for a small gathering of business professionals from the SoCal area. The topic was "doing business as mission" and the room was loaded with people right in the middle of it. Although I was asked to come and lead one of the round tables, the real highlight was getting to know some of the people there.
One of those guys was 69-year-old Harold Taber. After being the group president for Coca-Cola Bottling of Los Angeles and selling it back to Coke in 1987, he bought Hansen's and took it public in 1992. Harold's life story is pretty amazing, including beating cancer twice. In addition to being on the board for Hansen's, Harold is also the director of mentoring for the MBA program at Biola.
Harold shared with me his "Baker's Dozen."
1. Employees are an organization's greatest asset.
2. Develop people through work rather than getting work through people.
3. Organizational values drive behavior.
4. People leave managers, not organizations.
5. Servant leadership is focusing on those to be served.. customers, clients, etc.
6. Leader insurance... Mentoring.
7. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses.
8. Attitude is not something you can teach or train.
9. Ethics trump law.
10. Focus on character, not image.
11. Accountability > Responsibility > Authority
12. Efficiency, doing things right vs. Effectiveness, doing the right things (Drucker)
13. Investors bet on management, not the product.
After last night, I was definitely re-energized about my desire to get an MBA and the impact that could have on so many people.
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May 3, 2008
Change the World, I Don't Think So
Filed under: Rant
One of the 18-minute presenters at the Q conference last month was culture-thinker/author Andy Crouch. He opened his presentation with a little research he did about books that have been written on the subject of changing the world.
In the first seven years of this century (2000-2007), there were 154 books published containing some iteration of the words "change the world.” Crouch estimates that by 2010, there will be 220 titles. In comparison, only 140 books were published over the entire 100 years leading up to 2000. The allure of changing the world is obviously on the rise.
I can relate. For as long as I can remember, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I always responded with an audacious, "I want to change the world!" Lately, I'm beginning to think this inclination is not only unhealthy, it's also counter-productive. In my humble opinion, the idea of changing the world has derailed a generation from actually accomplishing it.
There's a reason for this, and I think it has to do with how humanity has progressed over the centuries when it comes to knowing and being known.
Continue reading "Change the World, I Don't Think So"
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May 2, 2008
Personality Confidence Evaluation Tool
Filed under: Brad Works
Last week on the Personality blog we announced that we had been developing a tool that measured how confident an organization is in their communication. Earlier this week we rolled it out to our Think subscribers, and then today we made it public on the Personality site.
Aside from this being an obvious way to tickle the ears of new business prospects, I feel really good about how this has turned out and the potential help it can be to organizations that struggle with these issues. In our early tests and from feedback we've seen this week, people really appreciate the accuracy of the results. For those that submit their results to us, we take it a step further and send them an 11-page PDF called The Confidence Factor. It breaks down the Confidence Evaluation score and gives practical ideas on how to move your business from stuck to stellar.
Props to the Personality team for doing such a great job with this!
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April 27, 2008
Resisting Institutionalization
Filed under: Rant
Last week one of the Foursquare veeps sent me an email with a PDF attachment of an article written by Josh Packard, an assistant professor of sociology at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. It's a seven page summary about some research Packard has done on the Emerging Church. Despite Jamaica's sincere intrigue, I've never taken any considerable interest in conversations about this subject mostly because it doesn't interest me so much. Nonetheless, there were arguments that Packard makes about institutionalization that got my attention.
Packard points out that "routines are dangerous for groups and people which value diversity in individual expression." In other words, routine can be the enemy of innovation. The more routine takes root, the more groups of people become institutionalized.
The cause of this institutionalization is varied, arising from such diverse sources as government regulations (e.g., mandated organizational components of filing as an official 501(c)3 nonprofit, tax exempt, organization), internal norms and habits developed during professional training (e.g., seminary), and mimicry of perceived success (e.g., utilizing ministry models such as A Purpose Driven Church).
Although Packard is making his case in the context of the church, the reality is that the danger of institutionalization is not confined to the church. It can suck the life out of businesses, schools, government and any other place that people congregate.
Continue reading "Resisting Institutionalization"
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April 26, 2008
The Journey of Desire
Filed under: Reading Room
A few months ago Jamaica gave me a copy of John Eldredge's book, The Journey of Desire. She already knew I wasn't a big fan of Eldredge from back when I tried to read his Wild at Heart. I couldn't get through the first couple chapters without feeling bored or neutered. John is a man's man and I am not. I can't relate to camping stories and fishermen tales. I don't really care to either.
Nonetheless, I told Jamaica I would read this one. She was really inspired by the quantity and quality of quotes that Eldredge incorporates into Desire, and she wanted me to share in the inspiration.
After a bumpy beginning--three pages into the book and I'm already hiking and swimming with John in the Tetons--I knew the next 209 would be a challenge. Three months later I made it to the end and I'm glad I did.
The Journey of Desire boils down to this:
- We are desire.
- Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished with it.
- Desire fuels our search for the life we prize.
- We must go into our desire if we are to meet God.
Unpacking the above took me on a journey of patient redundancy, but I found some treasure. All quotations that follow are from John Eldredge unless otherwise noted.
Continue reading "The Journey of Desire"
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April 19, 2008
Q Thoughts
Filed under: Inspiration
Last week I attended the Q conference in New York City at the beautiful Gotham Hall. It was my second year to attend Q after checking out the first one in Atlanta last year.
As expected, Q was a great place to think about big ideas and discuss them with big-idea people. The size of the event is intentionally small--about 350 I would guess--which makes way for some great conversations. The bulk of the crowd were pastors, although I did hang with other types as well--a former Amazon exec, ad agency creatives, educators, etc. Great mix, although everyone kind of looked the same which kills me.
Scott Hodge did a marvelous job blogging the entire 3-day event, so for my purposes here I'm just going to highlight the stuff that I've been chewing on since I've been back.
Jim Wallis: Change the the direction of the wind
The controversial Jim Wallis had some great things to say about politics and social justice. Politicians hold their fingers to the wind to determine what they should be thinking about or voting on. If the wind is blowing one way, so will they. As Christians, we need to quit trying to change politicians and instead change the wind. Martin Luther King, Jr. never endorsed a candidate. Rather, he had the candidates endorse his agenda.
Dan Merchant: The gospel of love is dividing America
He is the producer of a docu-drama-dy called Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. I saw the preview at Q and then found out this week that Dan is a part of the Foursquare tribe up in Beaverton, Oregon. Small world. Looks like it's going to be a great movie with the pompous, pace and perseverance of a Michael Moore flick.
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April 18, 2008
Pangea Day is May 10
Filed under: Media
I bumped into the story of Jehane Noujaim when I saw that she won the TED Prize wish a couple years ago. Jehane's dream is to see people around the world share the same film experience at the same time. The idea has grown into a giant global project called Pangea Day and it's happening Saturday, May 10.
4 hours. 7 languages. 24 films. Wow.
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April 17, 2008
Mary Poppins on Broadway
Filed under: Stuff I Like
This past weekend in New York I got to hang out with my brother Craig for a couple days. He just moved to Manhattan a month ago and is loving it. On Saturday night we went to the Broadway performance of May Poppins and it was amazing. It's been awhile since I've watched the movie--the story is powerful. Seeing it on stage was really moving--props to the producers for the production values. The effects and stunts were incredible. Great show!
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