Leaders Master Adversity

Marine Lt. Patrick Cleburne “Clebe” McClary and Captain Max Cleland are two American heroes. Each of them volunteered and served with distinction in the Vietnam War.

In 1967, First Lt. McClary became platoon leader of the 1st Recon Battalion in Vietnam. On his 19th recon patrol, deep in hostile territory, Clebe and his unit engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Suffering devastating injuries, he lost an arm, an eye, an ear, and half his face. Yet he continued to be a leader for his men in the battle.

Clebe’s valiant struggle with the pain and disabilities that followed is the epitome of adversity. He spent over two years in military hospitals; it took 24 surgeries just to rebuild his face. Today, he has an amazing testimony about how adversity can be conquered through courage, determination and strength.

During one of Clebe’s many surgeries, the men he led in his command gave him a plague that read, “In this world of give and take, there are so few who are willing to give what it takes.”

Max Cleland was the youngest person every appointed as administrator of the United States Veterans Administration. Appointed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, Cleland considered this quite an accomplishment because he is a triple amputee.

While serving his country in Vietnam in 1967, Captain Cleland jumped from a helicopter to the ground and ran clear of the helicopter blades. While watching the helicopter leave, he then discovered a grenade on the ground where the helicopter had been. Apparently, the grenade was Cleland’s which had fallen there as he jumped. As he reached to throw it, it exploded.

When his fellow soldiers reached him, no one thought he would live. Both legs and one arm were gone. There was a hole in his windpipe, and other problems existed such as loss of blood, inflection, and severe shock.

Through his struggle, Cleland found a source of peace which helped him overcome adversity. Today, he has an amazing testimony about how adversity can be conquered with courage, determination and strength.

I doubt many people have experienced such loss and devastation as Clebe McClary and Max Cleland. Whatever circumstances and adversity that you are experiencing, reflect on it and compare it to the adversities of these men.

When faced with adversity in our lives and leadership we need to count our blessings. Our sentiments should be expressed in the following poem attributed to an unknown Confederate soldier:

I asked God for strength that I might achieve’
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things,
I was given poverty, that I might do greater things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for—
But everything I had hope for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men, most richly blessed.

What adversities have you experience in life?

What has been your attitude towards your adversity?

How can you lead people to master adversity?

Are you willing to give whatever it takes to be a leader?

Dr. Jerry

Expanding Leadership Influence

Navigating a boat when the waters are calm is easy. It’s when the wind becomes turbulent and the waves begin to swell that an oarsman needs to have capabilities equal to the challenge of bringing a boat to safety. Certain skills are especially critical if the boat has passengers.

Turbulent economic, political and spiritual storms’ in our society has brought uncertainty and challenges for many organizations and ministries. It’s through these difficult times that effective leadership is critical. It’s easy to lead your organization or ministry when things are going well and people are generally happy. But, when your followers are plagued with uncertainty, your leadership really needs to shine.

These suggestions will develop your influence in your organization or ministry and lead those who follow you to the shores of security and safety.

Be a dependable leader. Your followers need to be able to rely on your stability as a leader. Determine to let you life back your lips. Walk your talk. Keep your word. People need a leader they can listen to as an authority and look to for guidance and advice. Be reputable, credible, respected and trustworthy as a leader.

Be a skilled leader. You can always sharpen your skills. We never become too educated or have too much experience to be learners. Continually challenge yourself to go deeper and further than you have ever gone in your development as a leader. Continually evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and improve on both. You must stay a step ahead of those you are leading. Be competent and accomplished as a leader.

Be a servant leader. Follow the example of Jesus in your leadership. Exude confidence and assurance as well as humility. Servant leaders are confident and competent due to character not credentials. They are identified due to influence not commendations. Servant leaders put people before position or prestige. Display trust in your followers and they will have trust in you. A leader is to focus is to be more on their development as followers than on your own ambitions.

Be an accessible leader. Those you lead need to be able to relate to you and
interact with you. Although you are to be out in front of those you lead, don’t run off and leave them. Your followers need to like you and be able to identify with you.  Maintain a positive perspective in every circumstance in order to inspire and cause your followers to want your leadership. Leaders who see the best in situations and in people tend to receive the best out of situations and people. Be an accessible leader who is personable, charismatic, a motivator, and optimistic.

Be a persuasive leader. Leaders are most effective when they have honed their power to persuade, be collaborative, build a consensus and form alliances. They are able to effectively and efficiently convince others to support their ideas and points of view. Through the power of persuasion, you can encourage people to work together toward a common purpose. Leaders with the power to persuade are able to gain agreement and approval from people in a diverse group much more easily. To help facilitate the development of your own power of persuasion, align yourself with others who are already skilled at persuasion. 

Are you a dependable leader?

What skills do you need to develop as a leader?

How can you serve and be accessible to your followers?

How can you develop your persuasive skills?

Dr. Jerry

Facing the Unknown

The “unknown” is a black hole I try to avoid. We’re thrust into it with little or no warning—and it’s usually out of our control. If only we could predict the twists and turns in life.

Here’s what we can control—whether or not we land on our feet.

So how have I dealt with the “unknown”? I’ve moved toward it head-on. No, I don’t want to walk blindly into it. In fact, my first reaction is a knotted stomach, sweaty palms, and the temptation to run the other way.

But, over time, I’ve embraced the unknown because ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Here’s my challenge to leaders in these uncomfortable moments in life: 

Turn aside and look.

In Exodus 3:3, Moses stood before the burning bush (aka his unknown) and said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight.” This implies:

• Turn: a change of focus, direction, and attitude.
• Aside: pulling away from things that have previously held our attention.
• Look: embracing the new and different with the spirit of curiosity, not fear. 

Take small steps.

Big steps can produce fear. Taking small steps is a stealth solution to approaching the unknown, much like a cat sneaks up on its prey:

• Make baby steps concrete and sure.
• Locate the smaller issues within the larger situation.
• Acknowledge small accomplishments and savor them before moving on. 

Master your skills. 

• Cultivate the strengths within you and your ministry.
• Uncover your weaknesses—as well as knowing your strengths.
• Train, train, train. With enough of it, you’ll know how to react when crisis comes.

What have been some of your unknowns in ministry?

How has moving toward the unknown moved you to a greater place of security?

What small accomplishments do you need to savor?

Dr. Jerry

Leadership Fluency

Fluency in leadership can be obtained through practice and saturation.

Think about how a child learns. He’s surrounded by those who know more than he does and mimics their actions. Though his arms may not have the same dexterity or agility, he tries none-the-less. Even though he may not understand what’s being said, he attempts to make the same noises.

Eventually he acquires the physical dexterity and verbal skills needed to become articulate and a person of action. It takes time, growth, and countless hours of practice.

It’s the same with the leader.

If you’re new to leadership:

• Surround yourself with those who’ve been leaders for some time.
• Mimic the actions of leaders you respect and want to intertwine your life with.
• Listen to their speech and vocabulary, and follow their example.

It may seem unusual at first, but that’s how we learn. Before you know it, you’ll begin to see you’ve become fluent in the language of leadership. Over time, you’ll become a bit of what you have mimicked.

Isn’t that how it is with the Christian life? We mimic Christ as we become Christ-like. Should it not be the same with leadership?

The Apostle Paul said, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9, NLT).

Every leader needs to intertwine the roots of their leadership with a Barnabas (someone to encourage us), a Paul (someone who is walking in faith alongside us), and a Timothy (someone whom we’re developing in faith).

Who’s your Barnabas?

Who’s your Paul?

Who’s your Timothy?

Dr. Jerry

Leadership is a Language: How to be Fluent

Northern California was covered with coastal redwood trees until the late 1800s. Due to logging, they began to disappear.

In 1905, Congressman William Kent bought 295 acres of the redwoods for $45,000 and donated it to the U.S. government. Then, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Muir Redwoods near San Francisco a national monument, named after conservationist John Muir.

More than 1,000 years old, these redwoods are just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. They’re extremely tall, but they have shallow roots and literally hold one another up because their roots are intertwined—individuals yet interdependent.

As leaders grow tall in their own skills, they should also naturally intertwine their roots to hold and support one another.

For more than 40 years, I’ve been leading people in ministry. Early in my journey, I learned to surround myself with stronger leaders that could inspire and challenge me to grow. Today, we call that “mentoring” and “coaching.”

Tragically, many haven’t yet acquired any of the skills above, frustrating and hindering any movement forward in their ministries or organizations.

To be effective, leaders need to consistently intertwine their roots with others. I like to call leadership a language. That means:

• Being fluent in that language.
• Communicating as a natural process.
• Conveying to others the intent of your words.
• Enabling the hearer to create action.
• Having or showing mastery of a subject or skill.

Who are you intertwining your roots with?

How are you developing the language of leadership?

How are you equipping the next generation of leaders?

Blessings,

Dr. Jerry

Essentials of Leadership: Character

When I was a teenager I spent most Saturdays and every summer helping my dad in the masonry vocation.  Dad was a bricklayer. I learned from an early age all aspects of the trade. One of the most fundamental principles that I will never forget was the importance of building a structure on a solid foundation. I also learned it was hard work.

Several times people would ask my father to build a structure without a foundation. They would seek to convince him that the ground was hard as a rock and no foundation was really needed. Dad would never attempt such a fruitless effort. He would explain that without a foundation, the structure would develop cracks and eventually crumble and collapse.

Dad believed so firmly in the essentials of a foundation that he would recommend that it be at least 18 inches wide and 18 inches deep. Within the foundation, there would be steel bars tied to one another to reinforce it. Consequently, the stronger the foundation, the higher and bigger the building could become.

In like manner, building character is not effortless. It takes time. The foundation of your character is deep and intertwined with the attributes of integrity, trustworthiness, dependability, humility, faith, etc. It is these traits of steel that will result in you becoming a strong leader and a godly person in a world that is coming apart at its foundations. A foundational character will be able to build deeper and stronger leadership abilities within relationships.

Character is a fundamental characteristic of what it takes to be an effective leader. Character reveals who we are. We can never become a leader or person of influence until we first develop a character of integrity and trustworthiness. People do not want to know what you know until they have confidence in who you are as a person. Character is the inherent complex of attributes that determine a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions. Remember that although it takes hard work, time and energy to build up a person’s character it takes only one word or deed to tear it apart!

Stephen Covey, author of the Habits of Highly Effective Leaders states, “In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.”

R.C. Samsel writes, “Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect. Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character.”

G. Alan Bernard, president of Mid Park, Inc. says, “The respect that leadership must have requires that one’s ethics be without question. A leader not only stays above the line between right and wrong, he stays well clear of the gray areas.”

Too many people are seeking to build their character and influences upon the world and its instability not knowing that it will ultimately lead to destruction and demise. The essential fact you must absorb is that only in Jesus Christ can we withstand the trials of time, temptations, and tribulations to become the person of character that God wants us to be.

Only through acknowledging your frailties, weaknesses and putting your trust in Christ can you build a character that will stand the tests of time and eternity! The Bible says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay that that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). To truly be a leader of influence, build your life on the foundation of Christ and His character will become yours…His life will become your life!  The consequence will be your ability to lead like Jesus with a servant heart.

Are you establishing your character upon a firm foundation?

What attributes of character do you need to work on strengthening?

Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life?

How are you mimicking the examples of Jesus’ leadership?

Blessings…
Dr. Jerry

Leadership and Endurance

Most people consider themselves lucky if a new car lasts 5 to 10 years. Make it to 200,000 miles in your vehicle and the car company might give you some notoriety. That makes 93-year-old Rachel Veitch a notable exception. Veitch is retiring her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente after more than 576,000 miles on the road.

Mechanically, it’s worn through three sets of shocks, 18 batteries and eight mufflers. Veitch bought the car in February 1964 for just $3,289. She credits the longevity to a “near-obsessive” approach to the car’s maintenance.

Yet for all the miles she has put on her vehicle, it doesn’t come close to the world record. Irv Gordon’s 1966 Volvo P1800 is scheduled to reach 3 million miles this year. Gordon has held the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for most miles on a noncommercial vehicle since 1998.

Genuine leadership can be compared to the durability of these automobiles.  With proper care and development, credible leadership can take you a long distance and serve you well for many years.

Leadership is about people. Through maintaining healthy relationships, your investment in the lives of people will result in your longevity as a leader. This maintenance is nurtured by learning to listen, encourage, admonish and delegate responsibilities to others. Biblically it is called discipleship. The more you make people your priority the more you will be able to call yourself a leader.

Any automobile that provides many years of service calls for endurance, so the time, maintenance and care you invest in people will enable you to endure as a leader that survives the test of time. If you embrace the attitude of being a vehicle of servitude, those you take along with you in your leadership will be characterized by endurance as well.

Consider these characteristics of endurance as a servant leader of people.

• Never lose sight of your ultimate goal of developing people.

Effective leaders focus energy on short-term objectives in leading people. People like to experience results. Seek to be a leader who is a mentor. Invest your time and energy in moving a potential leader along toward reaching their maximum potential.

• Set personal examples for your followers with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.

Effective leaders have an attitude of gratitude. Our attitudes impact us personally as well as those around us. Stay positive and be grateful. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality. People who follow you will silently  ask: Do I matter to you? Can I trust you? Will you add value to my life and development?

• Take care of yourself. Maintain your stamina. Let go of guilt.

Effective leaders focus more on people than issues. As leaders pay more attention to people the accomplishing of issues becomes easier. You can’t always control what happens to you but you can control how you react. Francis Chan says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Taking time for your health physically as well as spiritually will cause endurance in things that matter the most.

• Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

Effective leaders are not egotists. Harry Truman said, “You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.” Do not forget that other people were instrumental in helping you get to where you are as a leader. As a leader you are foremost a servant.

• Master conflict. Don’t let anger control you, engage dissidents in a healthy manner, and avoid needless power struggles.

Effective leaders manage their own attitudes before they can be trusted with the morale of other people. Positive attitudes are contagious. Love & kindness are character qualities. Both involve actions as well as attitudes.

• Find something daily to celebrate and something to laugh about.

Effective leaders don’t waste time. Prioritize and manage your time wisely. Most of us have more demands on our time than we have available. Learn to divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually in your relationship with God, family and yourself. Also, remember that your effectiveness is commensurate with your ability to laugh at yourself.

• Be willing to take big risks.

Effective leaders are visionaries. Their progress and innovation is centered on their conviction that future outcomes will reward present sacrifices.

• Never give up. There’s always another move.

Effective leaders are committed to durability for the long haul. The Apostle Paul says we are to run the race with patience or endurance if we are to finish well.

How much time do you spend investing in other people?

What visible examples are you leaving for people to pattern themselves after?

What is one thing you can celebrate as a leader?

What risks have you taken recently?

Blessings,
Dr. Jerry