Just the right words.

Leadership w/Churchill: failure

The proverbial Chinese wise-man everyone quotes once said, "failure is the mother of all successes." True, many great achievements occurred in the shadow of large pursuits gone sour. Most world class leaders are intensely familiar with the crushing weight of their personal miscues, intentions gone awry, plans that didn't happen according to the script. Still, a good number of these leaders persisted, learned whatever lessons could be extracted from the circumstance, and did not usually allow the failure to define them.

Such is true of Winston Churchill. His life is the continuing saga of several miscalculations. At the same time, biographers consistently mention his endurance and staying power in the reconstructions of his life. The bulldog of a man overcame many losses. From defeat he discovered the fortitude to inspire and lead his nation and the world in the cataclysmic events of Word War II. Today he is remembered for his wisdom, wit, mastery of the language, studiousness, volumes of writing, and leadership, among many other admirable traits, rather than his defeats. Only serious historians can call to mind the things on the liability side of Churchill's balance sheet, such are they over-shadowed by the accomplishments of his multifaceted life.

Google the word "Gallipoli" if you want to study Churchill's greatest strategic military blunder. If you're interested there are a couple of good sites that give a brief overview of the World War I battle plan that failed and haunted Churchill his entire career. Go here, or here if you'd like the summary. As First Lord of the Admiralty during WWI Churchill developed and championed a plan to attack and capture the Dardanelles as a third front against the Kaiser's German Army. The campaign was a dismal failure, resulting in a horrible loss of human life---252,000 British/French casualties, another 300,000 Ottoman Turks. The disaster caused the failure of the government, the formation of a coalition cabinet, with the proviso that Churchill be left out of leadership. Many thought it the end of his political career.

Of course, Churchill had suffered other political losses, being denied a seat in Parliament before finally winning the seat from Oldham in 1900. Though the fiasco at Gallipoli forever marred his reputation, causing several other political losses along the way, he eventually was asked to serve in the cabinet of Neville Chamberlain, as First Lord of the Admiralty again, and succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister of England in May, 1940. His elevation to lead Britain was the pinnacle of his long and varied career in politics and public service, a career marred by many failures.

Churchill knew how to learn from mistakes and continue toward those causes that stirred his inner passions. He believed that "success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." He is also quoted as saying, "success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."

In the Bible this is called diligence, endurance, perseverance, all graces of our faith in Jesus. Much of the New Testament warns about losing heart, giving up, letting failure define the day. Jesus told his disciples that some people would not listen to the message of the Kingdom. He challenged the twelve to shake the dust off their feet and move on. After a disappointing ministry in Nazareth, his disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven to engulf the ungrateful village. Jesus rebuked them and then moved on to another village. Jesus was resolute and missional, intentional about the work the Father had given him to finish. Even death on the cross was not a failure. He endured it for the joy set before him (see Hebrews 12:2).

Into every life some rain must fall. Trouble comes to everyone. Failure happens to every leader. But, world class leaders take some lessons away from their dark moments, and keep on keeping on!

what dat?

A judge in New Orleans canceled court sessions last Friday. He feared jurors could not be impartial this close to Sunday. You see, the people in the Big Easy are all hyped up over  Super Bowl XLIV, featuring for the first time, the who dat? New Orleans Saints. So, craziness is surging in NO. The citizens are either too drunk, to jacked, or too manic to operate court. Glad I'm not scheduled for open heart surgery down there this week!

Super Bowl mania has spread farther than Emeril's kitchen too. Millions across the fruited plain are re-arranging their lives to watch the big game. It is a multi-billion dollar stimulus package that will energize not just the sports enthusiasts in the house, but people who love the entertainment value, the musicians, and the cool commercials. Sports bars will be crammed, living rooms packed, man caves stocked with snacks and beverages, pals circled around the big screen to share the excitement. They say Sears, Best Buy, and all the other electronics stores broke the sales charts with sales this past week, everyone getting prepared for the game.This is big deal stuff.

Get over it! The Super Bowl isn't the anti-Christ. People who watch the game are not necessarily reprobates. You're not going to hell because you stay home Sunday night to watch the game. The mania surrounding the Super Bowl is not the end of civilization as we know it. It is a big thing, though. Today the Wall Street and Hollywood elements of the Super Bowl are farther than the originators could have ever imagined. It's so big they canceled court in NO Friday. 

So, the question for me is not, who dat? I'm thinking about what dat?, the phenomenon of the Super Bowl, the way this thing has mushroomed to such gigantic proportions. Not being a professional sports fan I'm a little on the ignorant side about the teams, and I'll have to admit that I haven't watched a Super Bowl game since the Packers and Chiefs played in 1967. Really, I'm in awe of how big this thing has gotten. I'm wondering how we could create this kind of hype for Jesus and the church.

You know, what dat?

OK, so I lied---

OK, no excuses here. I could say that I didn't know, of that I really didn't mean it, or that I was just kidding. Blogging about the "unplugged" thing for this morning could have just been another of those pastoral hyperbole gigs we usually refer to when we are "ministerially speaking", you know, exaggerating to make a point. So, when I wrote about being "unplugged" from the tech connections of life---lap top, Blackberry, iPod, web cam, Blue Tooth hands-free, Keurig, and other electro-digital whizz bangs, I was writing in total ignorance. I meant it at the time. Little did I know that my new Nook would arrive Friday. I mean, the last e-mail from the B & N people indicated it would be shipped 2/12/10. When it showed up yesterday it made a liar out of me. Mea culpa. I am not "unplugged".

It's a cool device and I've already downloaded bios of Truman and Roosevelt, and the NIV.  Yesterday I learned how to import pics for my screen saver and wall-paper. Today, the goal is music. Reading is better for me if there's some soft piano music in the background.

Honestly, it's like being in first grade again, you know, learning to read all over. The tech manual that Harriet downloaded when her Nook arrived a couple of weeks ago is penned in another techie language that I'm having a hard time translating. Upload, download, eject, dismount??? You got to be kidding me. Unless I've totally misunderstood this thing I'm not supposed to ride it. Don't go there!!!

So, this a.m. I'm not unplugged after all. It was a good thought, good advice, and something I may try on another day. But, today, me and my new Nook (named Bulldog, BTW), are going to get acquainted. Except for the dismount thing!

Happy Saturday---

Unplugged, just for a while

The first time I ever hear the word "unplugged" in my recent life it was when someone gave me the Eric Clapton disc by the same name. It's "unplugged" in the sense that it records Clapton sans electric amplification. That would be, Eric playing an acoustic guitar. It's good stuff and provides a soft version of the Clapton-esque Layla that is quite nice.

Today "unplugged" means different things to different people. You can go the the super cool and often profane Urban Dictionary to get the lowdown on the term, if you're so inclined, by hitting this button. It's not crude in this instance and shouldn't offend anyone.

I'm thinking "unplugged" today in the hopes of actually being "unplugged" for a few hours before our definitely "plugged" Saturday evening worship @ Northwood, say, 5:30 p.m. What I mean is that I hope to stay away from the Blackberry, the laptop, the iPod, and out other tech connections to just plain chill for a while. This really hasn't happened very much lately. And, that's OK, my achiever theme likes activity and work, and being busy.  "Unplugged" is not my preferred status, the relater in me wanting to stay connected as much as possible.

But, the disciple part of my make-up understands the necessity of occasionally stepping aside for a re-fill. I mean, Jesus went apart from the crowds and busy-ness to a quiet, secluded place, at an hour when the hustle hadn't started, for some personal time (see Mark 1:35).

So, let me encourage you to get away from everything for just a moment today for some personal re-fueling. You'll be better equipped for the demands of your day when you do. And, the people around you may notice a difference as well.

Unplug.

Leadership w/Churchill: audacity

Some pictures are so vivid they linger. The picture of "Tank Man", taken during a street protest in Tienanmen Square, Beijing, China, June 5, 1989, is one of them. It captures an anonymous man, holding two shopping bags, standing in front of a column of Chinese 59 tanks. He halted the column for a brief few minutes before street police took him into custody, his whereabouts unknown since then. What attracts us so, making this lone figure a cult hero around the world. Courage? Perhaps, the bravery to stand so decisively against the oppressive regime running China. More than anything, though, I think is the audacity of this one single guy thinking that his act of protest could actually slow the government's response to the protest that rocked Tienanmen Square that week. Surely, we love people who think big.

Churchill said, "The first quality that is needed is audacity." Facing the blitz, when the Nazi Luftwaffe bombed London and surrounding cities for 57 straight nights, killing 43,000 civilians in the process, Mr. Churchill announced that Britain would never surrender, that their citizens would fight the Nazis on the beaches and in the streets, door to door, hand to hand and would win. With the sound of German fighter aircraft and bombers overhead, pounding the English cities, perhaps softening British resolve in the face of a land invasion, Churchill spoke to them about victory, an audacious thought.

Jerry Porras and Jim Collins turned the business world on it's ear a few years ago with the publication of their book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Collins: New York, 1994). Their research indicated that business success over over the long-haul could be attributed in part to the willingness of leaders to develop BEHAGs for their company, that is, BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS. These companies were guided by leaders willing to move beyond the status-quo to chart new territory, to pursue something revolutionary, to think, as they say, outside the box.

Jesus communicated an audacious mission to his disciples when he asked them to follow, and become fishers of men. This was truly an out-of-the-box stretch for the first Christ followers, fishermen who made their meager living in small boats on the Sea of Galilee. Who knows that they thought when those bold words registered with them. Nevertheless, they walked away from their boats and families and went with him, audacity and all. They were on the front edge of a movement that has changed the world.

Every believer should read the classic Your God is Too Small by J.B.Phillips (Touchstone: New York, 1997). Read by millions since the first edition in 1953, this little devotional book de-constructs the false gods of pop religion to reveal the majesty, glory, and power of the Lord God of the Bible. I like this book because it helps to differentiate between audacious faith and la la land. It''s a quick read with power.

This is all to say that Churchill's great leadership derived partly from his audacious spirit. He inspired the nation through a confidence in democratic principles and a reliance of moral uprightness that moved him to high goals and objectives, BHAGs for the times.

Don't forget, nothing is impossible to God! And, yes, all things are possible to him that believes. Is this audacity? Not quite. It is promise. You can believe it. 

Now, go change the world!

Leadership w/Churchill: criticism

When you think of Winston Churchill you think of the tenacious, cigar chomping bull-dog of a man who led Britain and the Allies during the conquest of Europe. He was the guy of blood, sweat, and tears, the man who promised to fight the Nazis on the beaches, in the landing grounds, in the fields, and on the streets, and summed up his own personal character by promising that England would never surrender. Churchill was the immovable object people are always talking about, a stalwart.  

Yet, biographers agree that Churchill usually took criticism meekly. Sure, he knew how to place his toes on a line and never cross it, and understood what it means to go out on a limb. His dogged determination and enduring spirit gave Englishmen the strength and courage to face the horrors of the blitz and experience deep personal sacrifice as they went underground day after day. He was often alone in the dark night of decision making, a formidable rock of a man who could tear opponents to shreds with his acute verbal skills and usually outlast the opposition, stubborn to the end. Underneath all of this self-assured veneer, however, was the heart of a true learner who knew that life's lessons often arrive on the wings of well-aimed criticism. He said, "Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." Also, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Ouch.

Many leaders struggle with criticism. And, I have to tell you, this is the hairball of leadership for me personally. Face it, leadership at just about any level involves deep investment, a buy-in to the work, the task, the cause.  Leaders establish ownership of the assignment and pursue it with vision, passion, purpose, goals, objectives, partnership, and a crate of other tangibles that move the thing forward. Some leaders also know the intangibles, you know, calling, a sense of mission, a driving impetus that fine-tunes the processes and enables the leader to be single-minded about his work. Spiritual leaders are typically more prone to avoid criticism, often equating their decisions and movements as a mandate from God, therefore, above question.

Yet, criticism is part of the leadership package. In the spiritual spheres, especially the church, it is how the body functions, the internal communication system that keeps the entire body moving in the same direction. Read through 1 Corinthians 12 to discover the miraculous and mysterious functioning of the Body of Christ, the church. Each part is important. Each carries out an assigned function. Ignoring criticism may just be a deaf ear not listening to the input of another significant body part.

OK, I get it! The fingers are pointed right in my own direction, at me, myself, and I. So, let's go confessional. Of the leadership lessons from Scripture and the biographies of world-class leaders, this may be the most personal and the most difficult, because I don't do the criticism thing well. When it is conversational and offered in the right spirit it is easier to swallow. When it comes in bullets and grenades I tend to go defensive. So, each day I pray for the grace to take criticism, to extract the value from it, and discard the rest. It is what leaders must do! Churchill provided this valuable leadership lesson, the grace to meekly take the criticism of others.

Jesus faced criticism too. The Sons of Thunder offered to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritan village for their insult to him. Luke tells us that Jesus rebuked them (See Luke 9:54). On other occasions Jesus asked the counter question to make the criticism a teachable moment. Then, in the glory of the Gospel, Jesus faced a painful death without a word.

It is a lesson of leadership. One that I pray for God to teach me everyday. How about you???

 

Leadership w/Churchill; learning the hard way

Churchill the leader was first of all Churchill the learner. The learning lab was a life-long venue that kept him in the game for a very long time. Let's not over-look the very obvious fact that his was not an education primarily received in a formal classroom. Churchill was one of those rare people who soaked up the lessons of life like a knowledge sponge. This man was the leader of the hour for Britain and the Allied nations because he absorbed the value of every life experience, good and bad, and learned from them. His biography teaches us that the learn and lead buttons are inter-connected. A world starving for world-class leaders must know this.

Great leaders rarely start at the top! Churchill was born to a noble family and had a leg up on many of his peers. The British social system was highly structured and a name, money, good connections, the right schools, and public service were prerequisites for national leadership. Being a word-smith, grasping the lessons of history, having a quick wit, and being good on the stump were helps, of course. But, lineage and social standing opened the doors and Churchill knew how to use them. Still, most people fortunate enough to have all the advantages of good breeding ended up as mid-level bureaucrats, living off of their inheritances and serving in some obscure government post or as a vice assistant latrine orderly in the sub-minister associates office.They coasted.

Not Churchill. He served as a subaltern in the Army and won battle ribbons for postings in the Middle East. It should be noted that he participated in the final cavalry charge recorded in the history of the British army. He had the audacity to run for office, a risky venture for one so well-born, not assured of office just because of his name. Shoot, the Brits are very fickle at the polls, often turning long-standing members out for no reason at all. He lost several times. Still, he learned from defeat and stored the lessons away for when they would be most strategic for the nation. He learned the hard way---often the bitter life lessons hammered into him from defeat, public criticism for many of his stances, most often alone. A unique trait for one so verbally gifted was the way he often stored the hard lessons away without a word, recording them in his internal memory banks for use at a later time.

Mistakes? Count on it. Like any politician or leader, the public service of Winston Churchill is marred by several poor decisions and doggedly clinging to positions that were right in principle but wrong at the time. He didn't make, however, the same blunders twice. This was because he was a learner. Life taught him things. 

On a teaching tour of the Galilee, Jesus told a multitude to "...learn from me..." (Matthew 11:29). A fully devoted Christ follower is a life-long learner. This discipleship thing we're always talking about is about growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), a spiritual learning process that moves us from infancy to spiritual maturity. The great leaders in Scripture were mostly ordinary individuals touched and taught by God, willing to follow, learn, and then lead. 

The absence of world-class leaders today is remarkable. Information is perhaps the most valued currency of the times, maybe second only to the speed with which it is available. Yet, many people elected or appointed to serve are party hacks or political robots who cannot think because they have not learned. Marshall Goldsmith, a member of the Drucker Foundation Board of Governors, and founder of Keilty, Goldsmith and Company, in The Leader of the Future (Josey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco: 1996), writes, "The learning organization will need to be led by people who model continuous learning in their own day-to-day behavior." You see, the learn and lead keys are side-by-side, developmental and progressive. Leaders are learners.

Churchill said, "I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." Here, here! it is the way of a leader.

Leadership w/Churchill: awareness

Churchill grew into his personality. Early in life he was kind of sickly, thin, not a very imposing figure at all, truly unremarkable. An average student, his personal transformation into one of the greatest leaders the world has known happened from the inside out. By the time he was Prime Minister of England, the bulldog that lurked in his heart had bubbled to the surface. He was the English bulldog on the outside too.

Reading The Spirit of Churchill by Deborah Davis-Brezina has provided fresh insight into the life and times of a genuine leader. I'd like to say that Churchill's leadership qualities grew out of his deep abiding faith and commitment to Christ. He was a professing believer, and did attend the Church of England on occasion. His life and writings reference God in many places and it is quite obvious he relied on Divine guidance in making crucial decisions and guiding the nation and allies through World War II. His radio broadcasts inspired the English and European people during very dark war time hours. On many occasions he called on God to give courage and strength to the people, the soldiers, and commanders. 

The war in Europe wasn't the only war Churchill fought. There were wars at home too, political wars with the opposition parties, and totalitarianism cells in his own country. Before he became Prime Minister of England Winston Churchill held cabinet and ministry posts in the government, as well as serving time in the army. He was one of the first British statesmen to recognize the threat of Nazism, Fascism, and later, Communism. Part of his personal genius was an awareness of what was happening around him and the country. He was human seismograph in the political arena, and could detect wrong with uncanny accuracy. Though his faith was private, he was steered by a moral compass that kept him on the right side of most issues. He knew what was happening around him. Long hours of study and preparation helped him see most problems from many angles, and gave him the ability to make sound decisions.

Churchill  didn't have his head stuck in the sand! He understood the many facets of leadership and knew that being an effective leader required fortitude, endurance, vigilance, character, and, yes, awareness. Today, there are many leadership pretenders who have been given superb gifts and talents to lead but lack this one trait, the grace to be aware. I call it a grace because this ability defies our human tendency to know everything, the arrogance that sometimes prevents us from exploring options and reviewing things from various perspectives. This is, of course, a symptom of pride. Unaware people are often prideful. They've got their position and that's that. Head in the sand.

Being concerned primarily with spiritual leadership, I see awareness as a biblical component of what God has called His leaders to be. When Jesus sent the twelve out of their mission, he counseled them to be aware, saying, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16). He didn't want them to be eaten alive in the dog eat dog world. In the same way, when David gathered the tribes of Israel for war against Saul, he depended on the "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). David the king and warrior needed someone who was aware of what was happening.

Churchill was such a man, a keenly aware leader who knew the blood, sweat, and tears that were needed to lead the allied forces in World War II, and the English people as they were bombed by the Nazis. This is the need today as we wage the spiritual warfare for the soul of our nation. We've got plenty of critics, way too many fog horns, and enough political wonks. What we need are leaders who know how to do their homework so they can be aware, and know the graces of speaking to these times.

I'd vote for that guy. I'd welcome him into my church, invite him to my office, sit down with him for counsel. Yes!

 

Leadership w/Churchill: more than a bulldog!

Winston Churchill was an informed leader and decision maker. In his long public career he was rarely on the wrong side of events. Historians like to celebrate his quick wit, mastery of the language, and tenacious heart. He is the man who said, "never, never, never never give up", or something like that. So, when people talk about Churchill, the topic is most often his perseverance, the bulldog of a man.

Of course, being a leader for the times is more than stubbornness or determination. You have to have qualities beyond single-mindedness to endure the crucible of effective leadership. In the case of Churchill, his dogged pursuit of what was right for his country during trial by fire wasn't his signature strength. More than the ability to stand in the face of opposition was his single-minded, sacrificial manner in preparing for decision making. You see, Winston Churchill took his decision-making responsibilities seriously. All leaders understand that guiding an institution, whether nation, church, organization, or business, involves making decisions. Great leaders make great decisions. To do so they prepare. This is why they, including Churchill, rarely come down on the wrong side of an issue. They've studied.

Churchill was a night owl. He would work long into the night writing manuscripts, studying battle plans, reviewing troop deployments, reading historical parallels, preparing speeches and responses to huge volumes of correspondence. He went into meetings and consultations with volumes of notes, a steel trap mind that stored enormous quantities of information, data from which he could provide decisions and leadership to guide the nation. He could stand his ground because he always knew which mountain was worth dying on.

Today many leaders squander their influence because their guns are only half-loaded when decision making time arrives. They've got the juice, the bravado, the toes-on-the-line courage to take their stand, the unbending stiff back to keep them rigid when the pressure comes. Trouble is, they are often wrong, on the wrong side of the issue. Their perseverance is wasted because they're too arrogant to prepare, too right to study things out all the way, too certain to dedicate the sweat necessary to get it right. Long on inspiration. Short on perspiration.

Reading another biography of Churchill is just what the doctored ordered in these leadership starved times. Shoot, President Obama drew some lines the other night, offended about half of the country taking his stands on just about everything, and drew the cheers of his drones by his stubborn stance on  some crucial matters. The problem is he is wrong on most of them.

And, it takes more than a bulldog to lead! Scripture encourages spiritual leaders to study to show themselves approved as workmen who do not need to be ashamed. What in the world do you think that means? It means to go deep before assuming your stance, to search out issues like a workman who won't turn up embarrassed because they've misplaced their clout. Churchill knew this! He understood the many nuances of leadership. He grasped the foolishness of being ill-equipped, of being a fierce, growling bulldog standing guard over nothing, just for the sake of looking mean.

Sad. It takes more than being a bulldog to lead.