Jordan Rippy

Jeb Bush delivered a great speech on leadership in the final session of The Forum. Jeb was governor of Florida from 1998 to 2006. I hope you’ve enjoyed these updates on each session. Click here to check out all of The Forum re-caps.

Six Common Features of Leadership

1. Leaders need to ask the ‘why not’ question.
2. The power of B-HAG’s. (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goals)
3. Leaders stick with it.
4. Leaders must communicate.
5. Leaders have to have a servant’s heart.
6. Leaders need to say what they’re going to do and then do what they’ve said they’re going to do.

• “You’re either in your ascendancy or in your decline.”
• “The single-most indicator of poverty and despair is a dysfunctional family.”
• “Culture resists people who stick with it.”
• “The worthy things require hard work.”
• “The first step to communicating a message is having a message of substance that requires hard work.”
• “FUP = Follow Up Please”
• “Listen before you communicate.”
• “Things that never happen always happen.”
• “When you’re popular you are watched - not followed.”

Wayne Cordeiro pastors New Hope Christian Fellowship, one of the fastest growing churches in America. New Hope is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. This guys really sufferin’ for Jesus.

Four Levels of Leadership

1. Control Leadership
2. Corporate Leadership
3. Character-based Leadership
4. Christlike Leadership

• “You can teach what you know, but ultimately we will reproduce what we are.”
• “Don’t confuse the source of your income with the avenue by which your salary is provided.”
• “Don’t correct to data. Correct to the Word of God.”
• “Does the Bible take time or save time?”
• Amos 8:11 - There is a famine of hearing God’s word. We are so hungry, we’re eating everything except the Word of God.
• When we don’t learn to feed ourselves we develop a dysfunctional body.

Key Warren is the wife of Rick Warren. She is an author and humanitarian. Her most recent book is called Dangerous Surrender.

21st Century Disciples

• To be disciples we have to be dangerously surrendered, seriously disturbed, and gloriously ruined.
• “A surrender to God is a dangerous surrender not because God is bad but because God is so powerful.”
• “If it’s not a control issue that keeps you from becoming a disciple, it will be fear.”
• “Where is your point of dangerous surrender?”
• Jesus spent a third of his ministry healing. He obviously cares about the body and not just the soul.
• “We bring people to Jesus so that He can deal with their brokenness.”
• “Jesus preached an upside-down Kingdom.”
• “If you want to truly be a disciple you’ll be about the least, the last, and the lost.”
• Effective ministry comes not from a place of authority, but a place of identifying with those to whom you are ministering.
• People often find a seat at God’s table because someone offered them a seat at their physical table.
• “Your job as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be the visible presence of the invisible God.”
• Guilt comes when we live our lives only for ourselves.
• The anecdote to evil is doing good in Jesus’ name.
• Rick Hick Warren?

• “The vision is a mental picture of what could be and should be.”
• “Vision always leaks.”
• “Talent, leaders, and resources follow vision.”
• State the vision simply, cast it convincingly, repeat it regularly, celebrate it systematically, and embrace it personally.
• “Memorable is portable.”
• Too often the vision is engraved on the walls but not practiced in the halls.
• “Once you have a statement that sticks you have the rest of your life to define it.”
• “What would go undone if your organization ceases to exist?”
• “The more inconsistencies that people see in you the better they will feel about themselves.”
• “Vision has no auto-pilot.”
• “Urgency propels vision.”
• “Uncertainty creates the need for leaders.”
• “Only do what only you can do and you will attract the people who can do what you can’t do.”
• “If you’re going to cut off my arm don’t start with my hand.”

I’m a little surprised by the lack of security for former secretary of state Colin Powell. No metal detector, no bag check…All I see is one Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy. Don’t worry Colin, Polk County’s got your back. Here are some notes from Powell’s basic, straight-forward talk on taking charge in leadership.

• Powell looks fantastic for 71.
• “Don’t go through life looking through the rear-view mirror. Look ahead out the windshield, not back on the things of the past.”
• “When you raise people up, they are less likely to resort to violence.”
• “Working forward is the only option.”
• “The emphasis on leadership should be on followers.”
• “Recognize the value of each and every follower and make sure that they realize that value.”
• “Don’t motivate your people, inspire them.”
• “Inspired people self-motivate.”
• “Invest in resources so that the followers have the best possibility of success.”
• “Recognize and reward your followers.”
• “You’ll know you’re a good leader if your troops will follow you only out of curiosity.”
• “You can’t let the crisis of the moment overshadow all the good that has happened.”
• “Real leaders face the reality of a situation and don’t pretend it isn’t there.”
• “If you’re a leader, you’re a problem solver.”
• “Don’t let your ego get so close to your position that when your position falls your ego goes with it.”

The Leadership Matrix

• “Your leadership abilities may be diminished and minimized by trying to be a certain kind of leader.”
• “Jesus was the greatest leader who ever lived.”
• At it’s best the church is a movement of preachers and teachers. At it’s worst it’s managers, wardens, and prison guards.
• “The church should be a movement of vision and imagination.”
• “We should not be calling people to buy into a certain vision, we should be calling them to be a part of a culture and community of vision.”
• The church should be a place that empowers people to fulfill their God-given vision.
• We are the ones who need to worship God. He does not need our worship. What God needs is for us to care about humanity.
• It’s not about how long you live. It’s about how well you live.
• We live in a culture that is primarily focused on prolonging our lives rather than deepening them.
• Our mission is not be popular in Christianity, our mission is to be lead people to Jesus.
• “Different people are great leaders in different contexts.”

Erwin McManus was awesome. You should definitely check out his book, Soul Cravings.

Marcus Buckingham is a researcher and an author. This talk is based on his most
recent book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work. Here are some take-aways from his session.

• Marcus has a sweet accent.
• “Build on your strengths and manage around your weaknesses.”
• “All greatness is local.”
• “At work, do you have an opportunity to do what you do best everyday.”
• “What percentage of a typical day do you spend playing to your strengths?”
• “Put your own oxygen masks on first before your charge around trying to help everyone else.”
• “Your strengths are not things that you are good at. You may be able and good at doing something that you hate doing. That is a weakness, because when you complete the activity you feel weaker.”
• “We have a whole generation of young people that are growing up being characterized by who they aren’t. It’ why we focus on the F and not the A.”
• “We should focus on strengths because we will get the most return for our investment.”

Craig Groeschel rocks my world. I recently read his book, Going all the Way. A must read for all married couples.

Innovative Leadership

Mark 2:1-5

• “You have everything you need to reach the people that God wants you to reach.”
• “Limited resources + increasing passion = exponential innovation”
• “God often guides by what he withholds.”
• “There are times where God blesses you with divine limitations, because if he gave you exactly what you need you would not see what He wants you to see.”

Four qualities of innovative leaders:

1. Innovative leaders care deeply about those who do not know Christ.

• Mark 5 - the person with the real need couldn’t get in to the church because the church was so concerned about what was going on inside. They had their backs to the person in need.
• “Innovative people are not innovative because they care about being innovative. They are innovative because they care about people who need to meet Christ.”
• “When was the last time you busted through an obstacle to get someone to Christ?”
• “You must lead your church to love people who don’t know Christ.”
• “If your going to reach the people that no one else is reaching, you’re going to have to do the things that no one else is doing.”
• “Who is God calling you to reach that no one else is reaching?”

2. Innovative leaders break the rules.

• “You have to care more about reaching the people than the world’s meaningless rules.”
• “What is God calling you to attempt that hasn’t been done before?”

3. Innovative leaders offend pharisees.

• “The things that are closest to the heart of God are the most offensive to the Pharisees.”
• Don’t worry when you’re offending pharisees and they’re criticizing you, be worried if they’re not criticizing you.
• “What new thing is God calling you to create that will be hated to day and embraced tomorrow?”

4. Innovative leaders redefine success.

• “Success was not when Jesus drew the big crowd. Success was when the purpose with the need was forgiven and healed.”
• “Success is not about how much we take in, but how much we send out.”
• “Success is not about drawing a big crowd. You can offer free beer and get a huge crowd.”
• When you look at 7 billion people, there are no megachurches. There are only microchurches with megavisions.
• “What heart adjustment do you need to make to honor God with true success?”

Last session of the day. Dad, Shea, and I have pretty much been on the fourth row all day. Blanchard is speaking about Leading Like Jesus.

• “The key to any kind of relationship is to catch people doing something right.”
• “A great carpenter sees the finished product before it’s done.”
• “A great carpenter knows how to use a variety of different tools.”
• “A great carpenter knows how to use a variety of different materials.”
• To be a great carpenter you have to learn from a master teacher.
• “Servant leadership is love in actions.”
• Weak leaders hate feedback
• Driven people think that they own things, so they will spend time protecting what they own. People who are called think that everything in life is on loan.
• If you’re using servant leadership as a management technique to get better results and it’s not tied to Jesus in any way, your ego is in the way.
• “God for us, Jesus with us, the Holy Spirit in us.” - Henri Nouwen
• Jesus is like a caddy. He can’t hit the shots for you, but he can tell you where the trouble is and he knows your strengths and weaknesses.

Patrick Lencioni’s talk on “The Minisry of Management” has definitely been my favorite session so far. If you’ve never read any of his books you should definitely check out Death by Meeting. Here are some notes from his talks today.

Five Dysfunctions of a Team

1. Absence of trust
2. Fear of conflict
3. Lack of commitment
4. Avoidance of accountability
5. Inattention to results

Three Signs of a Miserable Job

1. Anonymity
2. Irrelevance
3. Immeasurement (When you’re this good - you can make up words.)

This post doesn’t even begin to do justice to Patrick’s talks today. You need to read the two books that these talks were based on.