I love creative personalities!  I love their genius.  I love their passion.  I love their perspective and unique interpretation of life.

I stumbled upon leadership of creatives.  My business degree did little to prepare me for the dynamics of leading different personalities, especially those of creative artists.

I had the privilege of sharing my thoughts on what it takes to lead creative types at the new online magazine Sunday Magazine.

I’d love for you to hop on over, read, comment and check out these great resource for navigating the creative process.

I recently came home from a particularly long and stressful day at work. All it took was a well intended “how was your day?” inquiry from my husband to trigger an emotional explosion that I would instantly regret. I didn’t even realize it was coming. A decision I was facing was wearing on me much more than I realized, and as I let go of all I was holding in I startled myself and probably my husband (although he played it very cool). I let go of some of the leadership fears I was stuffing inside, and given the force with which they came out, I’d apparently been stuffing for a while!

That little explosion was a reminder to me that leaders aren’t always the popular ones. That’s really what I was mad about. I needed to make a decision that wasn’t necessarily popular, but I knew in my heart it was right and it was the best thing for our organization at the time.

As I observe what gets celebrated in leadership circles today, I fear that leadership tends to be portrayed as more glamorous than it really is…

This is the beginning of a guest post at Ed Stetzer‘s blog.  Hop on over to read more and join the discussion!

“We should bring to God what is in us, not what ought to be in us.  The “oughts” will keep us from telling the truth.  They will also keep us from feeling the truth.  Especially the truth about our pain.”  C. S. Lewis

I felt myself breathe a huge sigh when I read this.

There is a conflicting tension we face as leaders where we want to lead authentically but yet oftentimes it’s not appropriate for us to wear our every emotion visibly.  Those we lead are counting on us for strength, encouragement, hope and belief.  If we visibly give in to every doubt, fear and concern we have we wouldn’t generate a lot of confidence among those we lead.

But because of that responsibility we can be tempted to do the same thing in our time with God.  We pray the right things rather than pray the honest things.

C.S. Lewis goes on to describe how Jesus prayed as he neared his death…

“We are told he agonized with ‘loud crying and tears (Hebrews 5:7).  We are also told that he fell to the ground, where he prayed fervently and profusely (Luke 22:44).”

When is the last time  you cried out to God like that?  Are you praying what you think you ought to be praying or are you being honest and vulnerable with the one who doesn’t need you to have it all together? 

I’m spending a couple of days at the ARC All Access conference.

The ARC – Association of Related Churches – is an organization that Cross Point partners with for church planting.  In it’s 10 year history the ARC has planted over 250 church across the U.S.  It’s a great organization that I’m proud we support.  When you give to Cross Point, 14% of everything you give goes to missions including church planting.  I’m hearing amazing stories of new church plants that we’ve been able to help support!

The conference kicked off last night with a powerful message from Robert Morris, Pastor of Gateway Church.  It was an honest sharing of four mistakes he feels like he’s made as a leader and cautioning us of doing the same.

Here are my notes:

Exodus 18 – the passage where Jethro comes to visit his son-in-law Moses and gives him some correction

1) I haven’t prayed enough.

Stand before God for the people rather than standing before the people for God.

You need intercessors.  Find trusted people who will be praying for you daily.

2) I haven’t studied enough.

If you’re gonna teach, you have to study.

3) I haven’t trained leaders enough.

If ministry is a burden rather than a blessing, you’re not doing it God’s way.

4) I haven’t led my family enough.

I appreciated Robert’s honesty and challenge.  While simple statements, it’s easy to find myself in everyone of them.

How about you?  Which one of these four do you think you’re the most susceptible to?

I was so excited when this book landed in my mailbox!

Jo Saxton is one of those wonderful women who I immediately connected with.  After several quick introductions we finally had the chance to get lost in conversation backstage at Catalyst Dallas last year.  While our discussions wandered among various topics, we did spend some time talking about the importance of developing women leaders.  It’s an overflow of who we both are and I was delighted to know she would be putting her wisdom to paper and blessing us with this book!

Obviously if you are a women in leadership, you need to get yourself a copy of More Than Enchanting: Breaking Through Barriers to Influence Your World.

If you are a guy in ministry trying to help the women around you thrive in their leadership, you should pick up this book too.

Here are a few key things that I highlighted… just to give you a taste!

• When he made us, he left his mark on us, his imprint seared deeply through our being – so much so that it’s only in oneness with him that we are complete, that we realize the fullness of our design.
• The Bible tells us that, yes, women are designed for intimate relationship, but we’re also designed for responsibility.
• The ezer is an amazing mix of strength, power, proactivity and vulnerability.
• At that time a women’s testimony was not recognized in a court of law.  Yet Jesus entrusted the most important news in human history to a woman and sent her to share it.
• Some of exploring the area of calling involves simply being intentional with the life we’ve been given.
• For both of these queens (referring to Jezebel & Esther), the nature and effectiveness of their leadership influence is not determined by their skill and talents, or even by the opportunities given them.  It’s determined by what is happening in their hearts.
• When we fail to deal with anger, it stagnates into unforgiveness and bitterness, which in turn produce their own pungent toxins like cynicism and sarcasm.
• Tiredness affects our perspective, our decisions and our capacity to stand under pressure and withstand temptation.
• Leaders are notorious for supporting other people while failing to reach out for the support that they themselves need.
• Insecurity  strangles the life out of us when it dictates our relationships.  It wreaks havoc with our capacity to lead.
• We don’t want to be blase about boundaries, but nor do we want to prevent the opportunity for a generation of Christian female leaders to be equipped and empowered for the church and for the workplace.
• Isn’t it a tragedy (and not a little insulting) when we isolate our sisters on account of our narrow views and insecurities?
• As busy influential leaders, what could it look like for us to set aside a season where we are more intentional about our marriage and relationships rather than our tasks, roles and dreams?
• Leadership is not just about my opportunities, my role and my chance to shape something.  Some of us have been waiting for our calling and our gifts to be validated for so long that we find it hard to empower others, feeling that we’ve barely had our own turn!
• We need courage to be the women Jesus calls and commissions us to be, so that we too can break with convention when necessary to step into his plan for our lives.

Expectations.  I’m beginning to believe they are the life or death of relationships, both personal and professional.

For a season I believed that all expectations were wrong and that I just shouldn’t have them.  And in many cases I’m way too guilty of having too many unrealistic expectations of those close to me.  Some of my expectations are rooted in the traditions of the family that I was raised in.  For instance my family was very purposeful to celebrate milestones like anniversaries or birthdays.  Without even realizing it I was raised to believe that everyone should love celebrating my birthday.  You can imagine the challenges that that expectation has created for me.

But I’m growing to believe that expectations aren’t all bad.

The key is clarity.

Whether in personal or professional relationships, expectations need to be clarified.  Clarity helps people understand the reason behind the expectation.

For the sake of focus, let’s talk about how expectations play out in a professional setting.

At the most basic level, our job performance is an exchange of expectations.

If I work for you, I expect to be compensated.

If you compensate me, you expect me to work.

Fair enough.

But for most work environments that expectation is not clarified enough for day-to-day activities.

What level of performance are you expecting?

What does success look like?

How do I know when I’ve achieved it?

There are many gaps that occur between your expectations and mine if we don’t take time to clarify them.

Vague expectations are extraordinarily dangerous for professional relationships.  Here’s why:

• Vague expectations don’t inspire people’s best.  We can’t shoot for a target when we don’t know what it is.

• Vague expectations can cause people to not feel valued or necessary.  If they don’t know what’s valuable to the organization, they don’t know if they are achieving it and making a difference.

• Vague expectations are a breeding ground for mediocrity.  Without clarity we coast.

Where do you see drift in your organization?  Do you need to clarify some expectations to help everyone get back on track?

What expectations do you need to clarify for your team today?

I’m typically not a sucker for sappy greeting card commercials but this one got me…

Our words carry incredible power…

Life

Death

Belief

Doubt

Hope

Healing

That little diddy you try to teach your kids… “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

That’s just a bunch of rubbish.

Words can hurt, but more importantly they can bring life.

You have that choice today with each and every interaction.

Speak life-giving words today!

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

“The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4

“The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.” Psalm 37:30

I had high hopes for this post.

In honor of my 30-something birthday today I was going to share 30 leadership learnings.  For about an hour I crafted this wonderful list that I was so excited and eager to post, but as I hit “save” I got a nice message that said “your attempt to save FAILED”.  Every attempt to retrieve it failed as well so here I sit with a non-existent list.

However, I bet the collective wisdom of this group has far more than 30-something leadership lessons to share…

So for my birthday I would love for you to share the best thing you’ve learned about leadership.

Bonus: I’ll send my favorite leadership book to the person whose post number is my actual age.  (I know you all know I’m not 15, so be generous and share your wealth of knowledge for the first 30-something and then the competition will be on. )

Have a great Monday everyone!

WARNING: This is a rambling post of me processing out loud.  Please read it as such & join the conversation with that perspective in mind.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day.

I kind of stumbled upon that information.  I wasn’t even aware the day existed.

According to Wikipedia “The UN theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is Empower Women – End Hunger and Poverty.”

I appreciate the heart of acknowledging and honoring women, and the theme is an important one.

But I’ll be honest… I have trouble with these kinds of days.

I guess I’m trying to unpack why that makes me uncomfortable.  There are some good things that have come as a result of a day like this but on the flip side I feel like in some cases it turns into reverse discrimination.  Somehow it feels like it gives us a right to elevate ourselves over the opposite gender for a day.  That doesn’t seem like a journey towards equality and respect.  It feels like we’re trying to flip the tables.

Of course I am horribly concerned about the oppression of women in some parts of the world.  I guess my fear is that days like this give women like me an opportunity toward arrogance and pride rather than a passion to be fighting for the women who don’t have a voice.

What do you think?

Don’t get me wrong.  I know there is good that has come from this day.  I guess I just wish it was International Injustice Day or something like that.  I wish it was more about fighting the injustice than elevating a gender.

Tell us your stories… what are some good things that have happened as a result of International Women’s Day?

You need to be here with us this year!

Catalyst is still one of my favorite environments for leadership rejuvenation.

Here are all the details:

Catalyst Dallas Conference – May 9-11, 2012

3,500 young leaders will converge, including high-octane speakers, powerful worship, innovative programming, and an experience unlike any other.

Hear from leadership authorities including Andy Stanley, John C Maxwell, Perry Noble, Judah Smith, Matt Chandler and Jud Wilhite, along with several innovative thinkers and practitioners like singer/songwriter Kirk Franklin, design expert Nancy Duarte, Global Humanitarian Rudy Rasmus, author and adventurer Bob Goff, inspiring adoptive mother of 13 Katie Davis, and Stuff Christians Like Jon Acuff, along with musical guests Israel Houghton and Gungor.

Plus, Catalyst Labs will feature some of my dear friends and innovative thought leaders like Michael Hyatt, Margaret Feinberg, Pete Wilson, Lysa TerKeurst, Jeanne Stevens and others.

Best Rates on Catalyst Dallas tickets end TODAY Thursday, March 8, so hurry up and register. Call 888.334.6569 to speak to a Catalyst Concierge, or register online at www.catalystdallas.com. You can use Rate Code FOB for an additional discount off your ticket price!!

Catalyst will sell out, so make sure and register early!

Can’t wait to see you there… by the way, let me know in the comments if you’re gonna be there!