Tag: Leadership

Lessons on Leadership

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Leadership Passion Vision

Passion

What makes you come alive? What are you giving your one and only life to? Clarify the vision so you can cultivate the passion. When the vision is unclear, there is a proclivity for passion to be diluted. Think about seasons in your journey when ambiguity seemed to saturate your view of the future. As you gained clarity, did you notice how your passion gained intensity? Passion becomes contagious as you gain momentum in activating the vision God has birthed inside of you. Take a moment to consider the individuals who have inspired you over the years because of their passion. Maybe a specific family member comes to mind. Maybe a teacher, a coach, or a pastor comes to mind. God has a way of sprinkling our path with strategic deposits of inspiration from individuals throughout the journey of life. What did you notice about each individual? They were infectious. Their passion infused you with motivation to embrace the adventure of awakening vision inside of you. They inspired you to go to the next level of living. Passion is the fuel to fulfill God’s vision. God does not expect you to live the Christian life in your own strength. Doing God’s work God’s way demands God’s power. To join God in His activity will require the enablement God provides as you walk with Him in full surrender. Let God ignite your passion to put His compassion into action. If you spend time in God’s Word to get to know God’s heart you will learn how to view life from God’s perspective. Everything that has eternal value will flow from your daily intimacy with the Lord. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you have the Person of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. He will guide you. He will empower you. He will help you see what you have not seen so you can do what what God created you to do. Leveraging Leadership Lifters, Stephen Trammell

Categories
Clarity Passion Vision

Vision

Vision enables you to see life from God’s perspective and to maximize opportunities God places before you. Vision allows you to see what God wants you to seize for His glory. God invites you into His story and gives you eyes of faith to see what the eyes of flesh fail to see. Renew your vision for joining God’s activity.  How’s your vision? Have you been captured by what captivates the heart of God? Renewing your vision and passion for life and ministry honors God and benefits others. Orient your life around God’s priorities and anticipate your vision to become clear. Cultivate a vision for your daily intimacy with the Lord. That’s your number one responsibility and your most treasured privilege! You get to determine your level of intimacy with God. Renew your vision for physical fitness and soul care. Your personal health is a vital asset to implementing vision in others areas of your life. Don’t neglect your health and your mental well being. Nurture vision for your marriage or your singleness. You should include becoming the kind of person that would be a blessing to your mate or to your future mate as God leads. Do you have a picture of what could be and what should be? Maintain a growing relationship with your children and your grandchildren. Embrace the vision to be fully present and to maximize moments for building memories and making strategic deposits. Let them stand on your shoulders! Expand your vision for your impact vocationally. View your workplace as your mission field. Commit to being a difference maker and grace dispenser. Your life matters and God has entrusted you with a career path so you can continue the ministry of Jesus. When we became followers of Jesus Christ, God adopted us into His forever family. We belong together because we belong to God’s spiritual family. God has called us to serve Him by serving together and by serving others. People matter to God and how we invest in the lives of others has eternal implications. Can you see it? Leveraging Leadership Lifters, Stephen Trammell

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Conflict Leadership Opposition

Friction

Motion causes friction! As you fulfill the vision God gives you with the passion God supplies for you, expect the enemy to generate tension. When you are on mission with God you can expect opposition. Often the friction you encounter as you are on mission with God is related to difficult people that come into your path.  Conflict is an ongoing reality in a fallen world. Don’t be surprised by the pervasive cynicism and skepticism in our culture. The human condition projects the gravitational reality of our fallenness. Decipher the cultural current and learn to swim upstream without losing your dream. Conflict is an opportunity to glorify God. As you know, it is not a matter of if you face conflict, but when you face conflict. The differentiator is how you respond to the reality of adversity. You can bring glory to God by how you navigate the canvas of conflict. Conflict will be absent when we get to heaven. That puts the race into its proper place! Conflict has a timeline as well as a deadline. You won’t have to combat conflict in heaven because conflict will not be allowed in that holy place, our eternal home. How much does it take to discourage you from fulfilling the dream God placed inside of you? Anticipate opposition. Expect resistance. Anything worthy of making an eternal difference will require perseverance. Border bullies will awaken and vision vandals will appear. Be tenacious. Be resilient. Be loyal to the vision God has given you. What if you allow the friction caused by your motion to sand off the rough edges of your character to refine you, reshape you, and propel you? Let the friction forge your faith. Let the tension transform your trajectory. Let’s go to the next level in our leadership! Leveraging Leadership Lifters, Stephen Trammell

Categories
Leadership Leading for the Lord Work

Influence

Leadership is influence with integrity. Everyone is a leader at some level. Everyone has a God-given sphere of influence. You may not fully comprehend the parameters of your sphere, but God has placed you on this planet to be an irresistible influence for His Glory. What are you doing with the influence God has given you? What are you doing to maximize the moments God has orchestrated for you? The ultimate servant leader, Jesus, reminds us, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48 ESV). Your life is a stewardship of the influence God has entrusted to your care. Every moment of your life matters to God so make every moment count for God. Don’t waste your life, invest your life in what matters most. Think of what will matter ten months from now and then consider what will matter ten years from now. Let’s go deeper! What’s going to matter in eternity when you stand before God to give an account for your one and only life? Leverage your influence for God’s glory. You are placed on this broken planet to make an eternal difference. Live each day with an eternal perspective. There’s more to life than you can see, so plan your life for eternity. Learn to say NO in order to say YES to God’s best. You will be bombarded by endless options to diffuse your impact. Be selective and learn the value of saying NO! Reserve your YES for God’s best! Make wise decisions to reduce potential regrets. It takes knowledge to take something apart; it takes wisdom to put it back together. Walk in wisdom. Consider reading one chapter of the Book of Proverbs each day and you will read through the entire book of Proverbs each month. Your influence has the capacity to inspire others and to lead them into an eternity shaping relationship with Jesus Christ. Be a leader for the Lord by allowing Him to live His life in you and through you! Following Jesus Every Day, Stephen Trammell

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Clarity Personal Mission Statement Priorities

Clarity

Have you ever written a mission statement for your own life? Let me share a few personal mission statements I have seen. I exist to love God and to love others. I exist to know Jesus and to make Jesus known. I exist to leave the world a better place than I found it. I exist to take as many people with me to heaven as possible. God re-created you in Christ to reorient your life from selfish ambition to selfless ambition. Instead of living to benefit yourself, God empowers you to live to benefit others. When pride seeps in, your ability to serve others erodes. In humility, you consider others better than yourself. In humility, you esteem others above yourself. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV) Are you looking to the interests of others? Have you considered how you can invest in others? God has blessed you in Christ to be a blessing to others. You have been planted right where you are by God so that you can bloom for His glory and for the benefit of those in your sphere of influence. In humility, serve them. In humility, love them the way Jesus loves you. What if you adopted the following mission statement? I exist to bring glory to God by living to benefit others. How would that impact your relationships? How would that affect your attitude about waking up each day? You would be living on purpose and on mission with God. You would begin to see your home, your neighborhood, your campus, your place of employment, and your sphere of influence as your mission field. Now that’s leadership! Start today! Bring glory to God by living to benefit others! Following Jesus Every Day, Stephen Trammell

Categories
Cadence Leadership Routine

Rhythm

Unfortunately for our next door neighbors, I grew up playing the drums. Over a period of time, I noticed a trend developing. The more I practiced, the more I improved as a drummer. And yes, the more I practiced playing the drums, the more I irritated our next door neighbors. When the opportunity arose for me to be part of a band, my years of practicing paid off. You see, the drummer establishes the rhythm for the entire band to follow. My new rhythm-setting role accelerated one of my leadership goals. The band relied upon me to set and maintain the cadence to produce music captivating to the ear. They followed my lead and I wanted to succeed. What is your daily rhythm? If I were to shadow you for a day, what would I notice about how you allocate your energy? What would I detect about what distracts you, what ignites you, and what burdens you? Where do you allow side-ways energy that erodes your passion and diffuses your focus? Our model to follow is Jesus. He was never in a hurry, never off-balance, and never late. Jesus embraced a healthy rhythm of renewal and rest, serving and sacrificing, as well as growing personally and investing in others strategically. How to Get Back in Rhythm: Start your day with the Creator of the universe. “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35 The way you start your day sets the trajectory for staying above the fray. What I have learned about my rhythm is this: what I do first I do best. Therefore, I want to reserve my mornings for praying, reading God’s Word, reading life-giving books, journaling, and thinking. I love the mornings! Live to honor God and benefit Others. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 Selfishness catapults you out of rhythm. You are designed by God to live a life that honors Him and that blesses and benefits others. To line up with the heartbeat of God, shed selfishness and avoid the slippery slope of self-absorption. Find a need and meet it. Live beyond your skin. Posture your heart for servitude and watch how it inspires your attitude. Fuel your passion for God’s Purpose. “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.’” John 4:34 Don’t waste the energy God has given you by siphoning off deposits in lanes that have no eternal value. Stay in your lane. Be captivated by the privilege and awesome responsibility of doing God’s will and accomplishing His work His way. You are saved by God’s grace and seasoned with God’s salt to make an eternal difference with your one and only life. Focus your passion and fuel your passion by making the smile of God the goal of your life! Live each moment of every single day with the promising reminder that one day you will stand before God to give an account for your life and how you loved. This is your moment to establish a healthy rhythm that aligns with God’s design. Stay on beat. Keep the cadence by surrendering fully to the Lordship of Christ and allow Him to live His life in you and through you! Can you hear the music? Can you feel the rhythm? God’s heart beats for you! You are loved! You matter to Him! Following Jesus Every Day, Stephen Trammell

Categories
Margin Priorities Stewardship

Margin

Living in a fallen world has immediate and progressive challenges. Sinfulness and selfishness dominate our culture. We live with an immense amount of pressure to perform at home, at school, at work, and at play. Our lives are bombarded with information and endless opportunities to expend our energy. Do you have margin in your life? Margin is the space between your load and your limit. God has given you all the time you need to accomplish His plan. He has given you the freedom to establish boundaries that will benefit your health and elevate your productivity. Yet, you can choose to do life your way instead of God’s way and the consequences will cascade upon your capacity. Moses reached a breaking point due to being overextended and overwhelmed. The masses of people each wanted a piece of him. They wanted his time, his attention, and his decision-making prowess. Though serving as judge over Israel, Moses failed to exercise proper judgment over his own life. God came to the rescue by bringing Jethro into Moses’ life. “Moses’ father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone’” (Exodus 18:17-18 ESV). Moses couldn’t see the unhealthy path that he was on. Jethro saw it clearly and succinctly. Jethro was willing to help Moses order his life. What is overwhelming you right now? Has your load exceeded your limit? You may want to ask someone you know and love and trust to help you examine your life. Allow that person to give you feedback on what they see going on in your world. Their perspective could help you see what you are not seeing. Create space to assess your current reality and to address the lack of margin. Invite someone into your journey. Give them total access and full permission to say, “What you are doing is not good!” That takes courage. That requires a dose of vulnerability and transparency. You will be better because of your time together. Here are three steps you can take right now to help create margin in your life: Develop a STOP doing list. Develop a CONTINUE doing list. Develop a START doing list. You will become what you are becoming right now. What adjustments do you need to make to order your life for eternity’s sake? Pause. Reflect. Evaluate. Re-allocate. Create margin! Following Jesus Every Day, Stephen Trammell