They say it takes three weeks to create a habit. It's been three weeks since my last blog post -- a reprehensible length of time -- so I thought I better post immediately so non-posting doesn't become a habit.
It's been a very full three weeks. Come to think of it, when are my weeks not full? I've seen many examples of leadership and followership over these three weeks, both good and ill. I'll try to touch on these in the next few, short, blog posts.
I keep coming back to the NCAA basketball tournament. I was in Denver two weeks ago to watch the 2nd and 3rd rounds and saw six games in two days. Some very good stuff ... and some dreadful stuff.
Jimmer Fredette was the nation's leading college scorer this year, and I could see why in the two games I saw him play. Against poor little Wofford, he had the ball about 90 percent of the time: he took what seemed like every other shot, dribbled the ball upcourt and held it long each possession, made a series of ill-advised drives looking for fouls. Just a terrible display of selfishness and basketball. He looked like the kind of leader who feels he has to do everything himself. He scored 32 points on 10-for-25 shooting (team 24-for-61).
In the second game, against Gonzaga, he was a mostly different player. He passed a lot more, set up his teammates for open shots, and hit some amazing long-range shots at just the right times to tear Gonzaga's heart out. He looked like the kind of leader who is comfortable in front and comfortable supporting and serving in the background. He scored 34 points on 11-for-23 (team 31-for-59).
I just looked up the stats and was stunned to discover that the stat lines were basically the same. In the first game, it felt like he took every shot; in the second, it felt like he rarely shot.
And that might be the most important leadership lesson of Jimmer Fredette: it's not all about the results ... it's about the people, and the process.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The Assumptions of David
I've found it to be a truism that good leadership and followership both avoid assumptions. Except when they're appropriate, of course.
We've likely all heard about the dangers of assuming: it makes an A-- out of U and ME (spells assume). And yet the paradox is that we have to build our lives on assumptions. Evangelist Cliffe Knechtle always used to talk about how our daily lives were based completely on faith: the faith that cars would stop at a red light so we could cross the street and the like.
I live my life assuming that I'll wake up tomorrow, that my car and house will still be here, that I'll have electricity and Internet and fresh water and enough food or money to buy food. We take out 10- to 30-year mortgages and 3- to 6-year car loans. We lay out 5-year personal and professional development plans. Our lives are built on assumptions that we don't even think about.
Recently my senior pastor spent a month in Malawi and blogged about this idea. Here is what he said that struck me: "We in the U.S. take a whole lot of stuff for granted - hot showers every morning, the ability to flush the toilet every time you use it, the ability to jump on a computer and have internet access. Or the fact that your children are not reading and doing their schoolwork by candle light because the power is out. It sounds romantic, but it really is not. I hope to return even more grateful for all these daily things and not take them so for granted. I also pray for the ongoing development of nations like Malawi, who enjoy the comforts as much as we do, but have also learned how to live without them much of the time."
"Comforts" is a great word choice here. We so often assume that God wants to bless us materially. By materially here I don't simply mean physical stuff, but things in the material realm. This would include all those non-essentials which we think of as "essentials" to the good life. I currently have the luxury of choosing to leave my high-paying job and am now trying to reorient my eyes, my brain, and my calendar and checkbook around this new, more obviously dependent reality.
There are many in the world who do not have this luxury, for whom there is no choice but simply the daily reality of living with less. And, curiously, they are often living more full, more satisfied lives. What is this paradox? How can this be? Could it be that the abundance of our lives is not just disconnected from, but potentially inverse with, our earthly comforts? Could this be the foundation of the beatitudes from Matthew 5: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? Could it be that when we have the kingdom of earth, we don't desire the kingdom of God enough?
And, therefore, maybe we won't inherit it after all? Sobering thought, is it not?
We've likely all heard about the dangers of assuming: it makes an A-- out of U and ME (spells assume). And yet the paradox is that we have to build our lives on assumptions. Evangelist Cliffe Knechtle always used to talk about how our daily lives were based completely on faith: the faith that cars would stop at a red light so we could cross the street and the like.
I live my life assuming that I'll wake up tomorrow, that my car and house will still be here, that I'll have electricity and Internet and fresh water and enough food or money to buy food. We take out 10- to 30-year mortgages and 3- to 6-year car loans. We lay out 5-year personal and professional development plans. Our lives are built on assumptions that we don't even think about.
Recently my senior pastor spent a month in Malawi and blogged about this idea. Here is what he said that struck me: "We in the U.S. take a whole lot of stuff for granted - hot showers every morning, the ability to flush the toilet every time you use it, the ability to jump on a computer and have internet access. Or the fact that your children are not reading and doing their schoolwork by candle light because the power is out. It sounds romantic, but it really is not. I hope to return even more grateful for all these daily things and not take them so for granted. I also pray for the ongoing development of nations like Malawi, who enjoy the comforts as much as we do, but have also learned how to live without them much of the time."
"Comforts" is a great word choice here. We so often assume that God wants to bless us materially. By materially here I don't simply mean physical stuff, but things in the material realm. This would include all those non-essentials which we think of as "essentials" to the good life. I currently have the luxury of choosing to leave my high-paying job and am now trying to reorient my eyes, my brain, and my calendar and checkbook around this new, more obviously dependent reality.
There are many in the world who do not have this luxury, for whom there is no choice but simply the daily reality of living with less. And, curiously, they are often living more full, more satisfied lives. What is this paradox? How can this be? Could it be that the abundance of our lives is not just disconnected from, but potentially inverse with, our earthly comforts? Could this be the foundation of the beatitudes from Matthew 5: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? Could it be that when we have the kingdom of earth, we don't desire the kingdom of God enough?
And, therefore, maybe we won't inherit it after all? Sobering thought, is it not?
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