Power....Am I Powerful?
Ego...do I have a lot to boast about?
Am I rich...hey, i've worked hard, I deserve these benefits.
I have struggled lately with the abuse of power and have posted about it. I've also struggled with those who flaunt their wealth or their talents (ego) to leverage those over others. We live in a society where status is important. In the South, we particularly flaunt our "status". The fact that our great-grandfather was a founder of the city grants us "status" as an elite member of the community. That granddaddy owned the city's largest mill helps secure our "place". Irregardless what kind of human being I am, if "Daddy" was somebody, it gets me a ticket to the "party". It is not just "old" money but "new" money as well -- that I sold my business and am suddenly "wealthy", it secures my place in the pecking order and I can look down on "old" money because "I earned it".
Then I re-read this quote from Erwin McManus and it struck at what has been nagging at me...
"Jesus sentences stand like quivering swords of flame because He did not come to bring peace but revolution. The Gospel is a cutting-edge, rolling thunder, convulsive earthquake in the world of human spirit. By entering human history, God has shattered all previous conceptions of who God is - the life He has planned for us is much like the life He lived.
He was not poor that we may be rich.
He was not mocked that we may be honored.
He was not laughed at so that we could be lauded.
We are not to fill up what is wanting in the suffering of Christ."
Wow, there it is. Our wealth, our power, our "place" in society ... rich, honored, lauded. We all crave it. Non believers crave it and so do believers. We crave "status". Yet Jesus came as a poor man, not a king. He was mocked and laughed at.
Are we to take that He was poor, mocked and laughed at and turn that into a play so that we may become rich, honored and lauded? The Church has even failed in this - Pastors (at times) seem to turn the entire message into somehow being about them or "their" teaching ministries, etc. CEO's do it - the sweat and blood and toil of the employees is somehow turned into "their" (CEOs) success story, their picture on the cover of Fortune, their rapid accumulation of wealth. Dads do it - the success of their son on the baseball field is somehow turned into a reflection of their ability as a Dad. Our daughter's hard work and acceptance to UVA or Duke is somehow the result of all we as parents have done for them.
Christ came that we may lead a different life than this culture draws us to. He didn't do all He did so that we can put ourselves up on a stage. He came that we may be poor, we may be humble and we may serve others.
Soar!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Follow on to "Servant" post
As a follow on to my post about trying to articulate to managers of a company about Servant leadership. I ended up laying out a 4 page summary of my observations and passed it up to the CEO. In this document, I laid out Servant leadership and tried to show where the company was missing the mark and how, if it changed course and began to embrace a Servant model, that it could change the course of business history. The company is wrongly focused. Managers spend all their time worrying what their bosses think and very little time engaged with their direct reports. That upward focus has created an atmosphere where only the good news travels up and executive management has almost no idea of what is really happening to the morale of the salesforce.
My suggestion - turn from being upwardly focused and, instead, be 100% downwardly focused. Give up your power and turn down to your direct reports and empower them - take up an attitude of saying "I am going to do everything I can to make you as successful as you can be in your job - I'm going to know you and your business and when a problem arises, I am going to fight with you until we beat it." Give up your power and give it to those below you to make them better.
Seems like a pretty simple concept.
It fell on deaf ears - ears, it seems, that are simply incapable of hearing. Sort of like witnessing to a lost person - unless God ordains that they will hear - they are incapable of hearing. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him "let my people go" but also added, "I will harden his heart so he will not hear you."
Management's (of this particular company) heart has been hardened - so it would seem.
The CEO called me and basically said "Thanks for sending this, I'm glad you care so much..."
The regional director came to see me and said, "Let's talk about your email and this servient...serve....serving..." I said, "Servant?" and he replied "Yeh that's it, servant leadership - I'm not familiar with that - it must be something important to you..." and then he changed the subject and never addressed that part of my email.
The local manager said "Sounds to me like servant leadership means I would have 15 bosses instead of one and i'd spend all my time trying to make everyone happy."
--------------
It is a heartbreaking effort. Try as we may, sometimes, people just can't hear. We have to keep after it and stay true to the Word and the truth and that truth shall set you free.
Soar!
As a follow on to my post about trying to articulate to managers of a company about Servant leadership. I ended up laying out a 4 page summary of my observations and passed it up to the CEO. In this document, I laid out Servant leadership and tried to show where the company was missing the mark and how, if it changed course and began to embrace a Servant model, that it could change the course of business history. The company is wrongly focused. Managers spend all their time worrying what their bosses think and very little time engaged with their direct reports. That upward focus has created an atmosphere where only the good news travels up and executive management has almost no idea of what is really happening to the morale of the salesforce.
My suggestion - turn from being upwardly focused and, instead, be 100% downwardly focused. Give up your power and turn down to your direct reports and empower them - take up an attitude of saying "I am going to do everything I can to make you as successful as you can be in your job - I'm going to know you and your business and when a problem arises, I am going to fight with you until we beat it." Give up your power and give it to those below you to make them better.
Seems like a pretty simple concept.
It fell on deaf ears - ears, it seems, that are simply incapable of hearing. Sort of like witnessing to a lost person - unless God ordains that they will hear - they are incapable of hearing. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him "let my people go" but also added, "I will harden his heart so he will not hear you."
Management's (of this particular company) heart has been hardened - so it would seem.
The CEO called me and basically said "Thanks for sending this, I'm glad you care so much..."
The regional director came to see me and said, "Let's talk about your email and this servient...serve....serving..." I said, "Servant?" and he replied "Yeh that's it, servant leadership - I'm not familiar with that - it must be something important to you..." and then he changed the subject and never addressed that part of my email.
The local manager said "Sounds to me like servant leadership means I would have 15 bosses instead of one and i'd spend all my time trying to make everyone happy."
--------------
It is a heartbreaking effort. Try as we may, sometimes, people just can't hear. We have to keep after it and stay true to the Word and the truth and that truth shall set you free.
Soar!
Dangerous Book for Boys
I read a book review in the Wall Street Journal on a new book entitled, The Dangerous Book for Boys. The book had been a hit in England and Australia but HarperCollins was unsure about its viability in the US. They initially ordered just 90,000 copies for print in the US. Over 400,000 copies have now been sold and next month, it is the feature book at Barnes & Noble for Father's Day. At the rate it is selling, it is estimated it will sell 4 million copies in America. Why?
The book purports to aim itself at a very un-book friendly audience - 10 year old boys and tries to answer the question: What do boys need to know? It includes instructions on how to skip a stone, fold a paper hat, make a battery and hunt and cook a rabbit. It also includes a description of the Battle of Thermopylae but also how to play Texas Hold-em poker and how to use the phrases Carpe Diem and Curriculum vitae.
Here is the irony and here is where it ties into this entire blog and most everything i've been trying to articulate...
"The unapologetic message is that boys need a certain amount of danger and risk in their lives, and that there are certain lessons that need to be passed down from father to son, man to man. The implication is that in contemporary society basic rules of maleness aren't being handed off as they used to be."
"The book is also aimed at Boomer dads, who nostalgically yearn for a lost boyhood of fixing lawn mowers and catching snakes with their fathers - even if that didn't really happen as often as they think it did."
One dad bought it for his son and suspected it would get lost behind his PSP and iPod. The boy took to it immediately, demanding that his dad test paper airplanes into the night even missing American Idol. He added "That's the good news. The bad news is that he now expects me to build him a treehouse."
Isn't that what we all long for? A dad that is involved in our lives? A dad that shows us how to do things? A dad that bestowes on us a masculinity that can only be taught?
Why else would 4 million American men buy a book like this? It taps into something deep within each man - that need for a father. Who put that need into man? The Holy Father - he put that deep need into each of us - the need for a father that is willing to move into our lives and have a real relationship with us.
Some men are lucky - they have fathers that stay involved in their lives, that show them how to fish, how to build a treehouse, how to hunt, how to fix a lawnmower, how to deal with tough situations at work, etc. Others aren't so lucky - their fathers, perhaps so wounded by the absence of their own dads - are completely "taken out" and incapable of engaging their sons.
That need we all feel is there for a reason. God put it in us. He so desires a living, vibrant relationship with you. Talk to Him. Share your struggles, your dreams, your fears and your hopes. He knows. He cares. He loves you.
Soar!
I read a book review in the Wall Street Journal on a new book entitled, The Dangerous Book for Boys. The book had been a hit in England and Australia but HarperCollins was unsure about its viability in the US. They initially ordered just 90,000 copies for print in the US. Over 400,000 copies have now been sold and next month, it is the feature book at Barnes & Noble for Father's Day. At the rate it is selling, it is estimated it will sell 4 million copies in America. Why?
The book purports to aim itself at a very un-book friendly audience - 10 year old boys and tries to answer the question: What do boys need to know? It includes instructions on how to skip a stone, fold a paper hat, make a battery and hunt and cook a rabbit. It also includes a description of the Battle of Thermopylae but also how to play Texas Hold-em poker and how to use the phrases Carpe Diem and Curriculum vitae.
Here is the irony and here is where it ties into this entire blog and most everything i've been trying to articulate...
"The unapologetic message is that boys need a certain amount of danger and risk in their lives, and that there are certain lessons that need to be passed down from father to son, man to man. The implication is that in contemporary society basic rules of maleness aren't being handed off as they used to be."
"The book is also aimed at Boomer dads, who nostalgically yearn for a lost boyhood of fixing lawn mowers and catching snakes with their fathers - even if that didn't really happen as often as they think it did."
One dad bought it for his son and suspected it would get lost behind his PSP and iPod. The boy took to it immediately, demanding that his dad test paper airplanes into the night even missing American Idol. He added "That's the good news. The bad news is that he now expects me to build him a treehouse."
Isn't that what we all long for? A dad that is involved in our lives? A dad that shows us how to do things? A dad that bestowes on us a masculinity that can only be taught?
Why else would 4 million American men buy a book like this? It taps into something deep within each man - that need for a father. Who put that need into man? The Holy Father - he put that deep need into each of us - the need for a father that is willing to move into our lives and have a real relationship with us.
Some men are lucky - they have fathers that stay involved in their lives, that show them how to fish, how to build a treehouse, how to hunt, how to fix a lawnmower, how to deal with tough situations at work, etc. Others aren't so lucky - their fathers, perhaps so wounded by the absence of their own dads - are completely "taken out" and incapable of engaging their sons.
That need we all feel is there for a reason. God put it in us. He so desires a living, vibrant relationship with you. Talk to Him. Share your struggles, your dreams, your fears and your hopes. He knows. He cares. He loves you.
Soar!
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