LEADERSHIP IN LIFE - Volume 1 Number 7

WISE, INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE

Mike Prom - Director

November, 2008 – Vol. 1, Num. 7

Simulcast 2009 – Friday, May 8

In the 1800’s when people were heading west for a new life and opportunities, two wagon trains left at the same time from the same departure point and were headed to the Oregon territory. As we know, wagon trains took a long time and had to go through difficult circumstances to get to their destinations. With these two particular wagon trains, the one group decided to never stop, just keep moving everyday out on the trail. The other train made the decision to each week, stop for one day of rest.

Well over time both trains arrived in Oregon. Want to know which one arrived first? It was the train that stopped one day each week to rest. Even though the other train did not follow that pattern and kept going without rest, spending more days physically moving on the trail, they came in second.

That seems odd that a group that stopped systematically beat a group that kept going. Obviously the group that stopped were more productive the days they were working. People (and animals) were not made to always be going, never having a break. We are wired that way. Our bodies need rest, rejuvenation in order to function. Over time productivity will be hindered when we do not slow down sometime, somehow. Statistically we humans are involved in more accidents when we are tired than when we are firing on all cylinders.

Slowing down does not seem to be the American way. In order to get ahead, we got to keep going. It may be also that we are afraid of slowing down. What will we do? Or someone will get ahead of us! For those of us who have children soon realize that our children are not impressed that we are always working (whatever that work may be). They want us. It is just like I have often seen where a child will take the face of the parent and with their little hands on each side of the parent’s cheeks, turn mom/dad’s face to look right at them because they want our attention.

Technology has done us a disservice in that we have become basically one hundred percent available to vitually everyone. That makes it very difficult to slow down to focus on your family and yourself for at least one day a week. Last month many questions were posed about having significance in your life. I can not tell you how important it is to ask yourself some of those questions and ponder what the answers may be.

Life is short, our time with our families is shorter and figuring out who you really are affects eternity. Honestly, life is basically all about relationships. If we do not slow down, life may become much shorter than what you want (death) and/or we lose out on what life is truly all about. Very few people on their death bed have lamented that they did not work enough or should have put in longer hours at work. Rather so often, the laments are about relationships that were lost or not reconciled.

If we do not intentionally place time in our lives to slow down even once a week, we place in jeopardy potentially our health, our joys and our relationships. Yes, there are periods of time when things come up that we burn the candle at both ends, but that is not healthy for long periods of time. If we desire to be leaders, then we must impact people through relationships, not our resumes. Which wagon train would you have wanted to be a part of?

ILLUSTRATION

When you see geese flying along in a “V” formation, you might be interested in knowing that science has discovered why they fly that way. Research has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately behind it. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly fells the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the “V” and another goose flies the point.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed. Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunfire and falls out, two other geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the goose until it is either able to fly again or dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group.

QUOTES ON CHOICES

“There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make makes you.” John Wooden, legendary college Basketball Coach

“The secret of a person’s successes is discovered in their daily agendas.” John Maxwell

“Be aware that the natural tendency is to mentally set an almost unreachable standard for success while simultaneously creating a definition that is easy to obtain.” Tommy Newberry

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” William Jennings Bryan

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE - Volume 1 Number 6

WISE, INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE

Mike Prom - Director

October, 2008 – Vol. 1, Num. 6

Simulcast 2009 – Friday, May 8

SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE – “THE ONE THING”

How would you define success if that question was posed to you by someone starting out in your field? Answers would be given all over the chart. Is there just one right answer to that question? As it has been said of climbing the ladder of success, that it is a great climb until you get to the top and realize you were climbing up the wrong ladder or building.

An interesting phenomenon occurs for a fair number of people when they reach their late thirty’s and early forty’s. They have worked hard to become successful in whatever venture of life they have chosen. Yet they share that even though they have gained success, they are still lacking significance in life, where they have really tapped into who they are and the impact they want to leave on others. Success does not guarantee significance. Significance is knowing who you are and what your purpose in life is. What makes you tick? What is your passion, the spark that needs only a little breeze which then will ignite a blazing inferno?

In the movie “City Slickers”, Jack Palance and Billy Crystal are on a dude ranch, riding horseback out on the range. Palance is lamenting about the guys who come out to the ranch for a two week stint and think all their problems will be solved. So he asks Crystal if he knows what the secret of life is and holds up his index finger. Crystal does not get it so Palance tells him that it is one thing. Stick to that and everything else does not matter. Crystal questions what that one thing is and Palance replies that is what he has to figure out.

Do you know yourself? Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to be in the world.” Developing yourself builds self-confidence which will attract and inspire others. Do not lead others until you can lead yourself. You cannot lead people where you have not been. What changes do you desire to make and why make those changes?

We do not ask these questions because we are too busy doing what we think is right which can answer the success questions of life. But is the “right thing” your “one thing”? Business leader Peter Drucker teaches the difference between efficiency and effectiveness is efficiency is doing things right while effectiveness is doing the right things.

Changing jobs is not necessarily what will help you find true success which is significance in life. Begin with yourself. Ask yourself if you could snap your fingers and know that you could not fail, what would you do? At the end of your life, you would love to be able to look back and know that you did something about …? The area where you feel you could make the most significant contribution would be…? What is your personality like, what talents and abilities do you have, is God a part of your thought process?

Consider these questions, write down your thoughts about them. Involve a friend or find a coach to lead you through the process. I have helped people through this process and when they begin to understand who they are and what their purpose is in life, you could not pay them enough money in the world to replace the joy they have found in their lives. One of the saddest statements a person offers about him/herself at the end of their life, is, “If I only would have ….”

THE THREE C’S OF GROWTH

These three words will determine your growth.

Choice – It allows you to start growing.

Change - It allows you to keep growing.

Climate - It allows you to enjoy growing.

John Maxwell

QUOTES

“Most people spend more time planning their grocery shopping than designing their future.” Tom James, Personal Development Coach

“How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single minute before starting to improve ourselves and our world.” Anne Frank

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and job to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” Hellen Keller

“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” Tom Brokaw, News anchor

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE - Volume 1 Number 5

WISE, INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE

Mike Prom - Director

September, 2008 – Vol. 1, Num. 5

Simulcast 2009 – Friday, May 8

Educational guru William Glasser has indicated that one of our basic needs as humans is the freedom to choose. Your motivation to accomplish a task greatly diminishes when you feel trapped and do not have a choice to do that task. It may be a matter of attempting to get out of the situation rather than accomplishing the task. Heaping guilt upon people to do something they have no voice in is not a good motivator. Telling them they have to do the task because you are the boss does not motivate your people either. It does not gain you points with people no matter if it is a paid position or a volunteer situation.

Giving people the opportunity to choose, letting them have a voice goes great distances for morale and enthusiasm. A motivated worker in any situation is one of the greatest assets going for you. Plus it reinforces being a servant leader, as you show in reality that you do value the opinions and feelings of those you lead. Find ways to involve your people, no matter what level they are at.

When I do not want to involve people, I have to check whether I am being selfish and worried that by involving people in decisions or activities, they will not think the same way I think nor do the activity exactly as I do it. You do lose some “control” when you involve others and give them the freedom to choose. It is the struggle to work through. Am I here to serve them or are they to serve me?

This is not saying that you simply become a wash rag and get blown in any and every direction. If you are in charge, you are the bottom line and have to be the one who takes responsibility, which means there will be times that the choices made by others under your responsibility will be halted or curtained for the betterment of the whole. Establishing relationships with the people you are involved with will make those tough situations go much more smoothly when they arise.

Giving people some say, some freedom to choose will enhance relationships and be a key motivator in accomplishing what needs to happen. You will also show you care about them as individuals. Where freedom to choose is squelched, you see a look of hopelessness in the faces of those people and that is a look that is extremely difficult to change when people know there is no hope on the horizon.

The Bridge Builder by W. A. Dromgoole

An old man walking a lonesome road,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and wide and steep,

With waters running cold and deep.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The rolling stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow traveler near,

“you are wasting your strength with building here.

Your journey will end with the passing day,

You never again will pass this way.

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build you this bridge at eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head,

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today,

A youth whose feet must pass this way,

The chasm that was nought to me,

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.

He too must cross in the twilight dim-

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

QUOTES ON CHOICES

“There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make makes you.” John Wooden

“The secret of a person’s successes is discovered in their daily agendas.” John Maxwell

“Be aware that the natural tendency is to mentally set an almost unreachable standard for success while simultaneously creating a definition that is easy to obtain.” Tommy Newberry

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” William Jennings Bryan

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE - Volume 1 Number 4

WISE, INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

LEADERSHIP IN LIFE

Mike Prom - Director

August, 2008 – Vol. 1, Num. 4

Simulcast 2009 – Friday, May 8

Putting the words, servant and leadership together may seem to be a contradiction of terms for leaders. Yet a fair amount has been written in recent years about the servant leader concept.

Being a servant leader is not a contradiction, rather it opens a whole new way of leading people. It is not the idea of being soft and letting people do what they want, nor being spineless when the situations arise where a leader needs to be firm and unmovable.

For whom would you rather work? The person who puts you down, does not lead by example nor is interested in you as a person, or would you want to work for someone who takes an interest in who you are as a person, encourages and builds you up and is available when needs arise at work? That is a no brainer for the majority of people. When I am a servant leader, I am thinking of those for whom I have a responsibility to oversee. I look out for their best interests, caring about them as people rather than simply the means to the end product or result.

What that means is I lead by example by not talking about people behind their back, that I deal with conflict straight up meaning if I have a problem with someone, I go to that person and deal with the conflict. More morale has been destroyed by violating that principle.

I make myself available to listen and get feedback. I look for ways to help because my desire is to make my employees or those under my responsibility strive for excellence, letting them know that they play a vital role in the success of the organization or business.

If I am being a servant leader, then expecting my employees to be on time or when it is the end of a break, begin work immediately. I need to be on time and give my employer the full amount of time required of me.

The argument will arise stating that there just is not enough time in one’s day to be out among the workers, to take time to be available. The higher up you go in leadership, the greater the value that needs to be placed in your greatest resource available to you – your people.

It is amazing to observe and listen to different work situations, about the good and bad you hear and see and the vast majority of time, it relates back to the one in charge. If you think that just because you have a title, you will get the respect and loyalty that title brings, you are totally fooling yourself. If there is bickering and a lackadaisical attitude among the employees, I can almost guarantee that it comes from the leader of that group if the leader has been there for some time.

If you want to change the environment in your work place, start with yourself. It will affect not only you, but also those around you. Serve your people and watch for changes.

ILLUSTRATION

Turtle Leadership

Some years ago a successful businessman named Allan Emery drove to an airport to pick up a well-known pastor from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By all accounts and standards, this pastor was an impressive man, but the person least impressed seemed to be the pastor himself. That impressed Emery, who thought, “He seemed to see himself as a spectator to what God was doing.” When Emery tried to credit his passenger with at least some of his church’s sizeable achievements, the pastor shrugged.

“Allan,” he said, “when I was a schoolboy, from time to time we’d see a turtle on a fencepost, and every time we did, we knew he didn’t get there by himself.”

QUOTES ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP

“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it” Plato

“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” John Kenneth Galbraith

“ To lead people, walk beside them…As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear and the next the people hate…When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” Unknown

“In my beginning days, I also wanted to sit down and say, ‘Listen to me, listen to me’, and I realized that if I really wanted to lead people, I needed to walk slowly through the crowd, and keep my ears to the ground.” John Maxwell

“What is the most difficult instrument to play? Second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm or second French horn or second flute, now that is a problem. And yet if no one plays second, we have no harmony.” Leonard Bernstein, orchestra conductor

SOUTHERN AFRICA HIGHLIGHTS, JULY 2008

SPEAKER OF THE PARLIAMENT

CRAIG, ROSS, ME & MARTY

NDOLA TEAM – LEWIS, HENRY,PAUL,
CLEMENT, ALLAN, CAPTAIN,
(KNEELING) PHYTRIC & SAMUEL

ALLAN WITH TRANSLATOR

SAMUEL

Three adventurous partners, Craig Brooks, Ross Nelson and Marty Aubol, joined me for a three week jaunt to Zambia. Landing in Zambia July 4^th, Craig and Ross, both pastors, taught in Lusaka while Marty took a five hour bus ride with fellow Zambian Pastor Captain, to Mongu, which is in the western province of Zambia. Marty, a veteran of two previous WILD trips, endured the ride which was cramped and lasted several hours longer. The week’s experience for all three was positively impacting.

Meanwhile Allan Kasungami and I flew to Namibia on the 5^th, to teach at a church in the capital city, Windhoek. What a city. Windhoek is on the edge of the desert and very modern. I was reminded of cities in the SW part of the USA with the arid lands. It is the only African city I have been in where there a re overhead passes on the road system. Namibia has the notoriety of being the country with the widest gap between the rich and poor. The poorest area where squatters lived reminded me of the dump in Monterrey, Mexico, where people where given land to live. The new president’s Statehouse makes the White House look like a hunting shack. Also on the trip I had the opportunity to sit in the Speaker of the Parliament’s seat for a few moments. What great Namibian power I had for a short time!

Allan and I taught each night during the week. We averaged about 40 people per night. As we teach on spiritual leadership, there is always the tension between what truth is cultural and what is biblical. No difference in Namibia. It is culturally acceptable and found in the church for the husband to not only have a wife but a girlfriend. One woman asked if you can be a good spiritual leader in the church if you are not a good husband.

In the area of character, we spoke about the life of Joseph in Genesis, Samuel (1 Samuel 12) and then the qualifications Paul put down in

1 Timothy 3. Among the church group that night, we had a level of honesty which I have not seen in a long time as several male leaders shared of their struggles to stay sexually pure to their wives. God was piercing hearts that night. The leadership did meet with us later in the week to receive advice of where to go with developing leaders after we left. This church is strategic for leadership development not only in Windhoek but regionally.

Our accommodations were great and we were fed well (steak, lamb, liver), including a traditional meal of an actual sheep head that had been roasted. (It was looking at me, pleading to not be eaten.) I ate a little. It was okay. At the home I stayed, they had a satellite dish. Sports Center was on the day we left for Zambia and I noticed breaking news that Favre was asking the Packers for his unconditional release…I did pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming that up. (Weird dreams can result from the precautionary malaria medication I am taking.)

During our second full week in Africa, we all traveled five hours north to Ndola, Zambia. Here eight pastors joined Marty and me for three very full days of strategic planning for WILD. From Tuesday morning until late Thursday night, we discussed, prayed and planned WILD’s future in southern Africa. Mixed in was training on team development and becoming emotionally healthy to be spiritually healthy. I was able to do the teaching and training those three days which the team responded well to. If we accomplish our strategic objectives by following through on our action steps, WILD will have made a quantum leap forward in development in Africa. That would have been worth the trip right there, but God did much more.

One of the objectives the pastors laid out was to establish a regional director for WILD in Zambia. This director will be the point person in southern Africa and work closely with me in preparation and the continuing development of WILD’s presence in that region. To me that was key to have laid the groundwork for this position before leaving Africa. That was accomplished and I am beginning to look for the person to fill this voluntary position.

Another unexpected blessing was meeting Samuel Yawila, possibly the denomination’s (Evangelical Church in Zambia’s -ECZ) only partially funded youth pastor in all of the over 800 churches. Samuel sat in on the strategic planning at the request of Allan. He gave some good insight during the sessions but Marty and I really got to know him the last several days we were in Zambia as Samuel ended up to be our hosts those days.

Samuel has a great heart for the Lord and a vision of reaching the 30 and younger people group for Christ. He gets no salary but the church he serves at, Northrise, pays for his housing where we held our strategic planning. He has had very little training so I am sending him the training material I use with youth leaders here in Wisconsin. His job is youth pastor and trust God to supply his needs as again, he gets no salary. There are several colleges in Ndola so he works with high school students through college age students. This guy is the real deal as far as wanting to serve the Lord by reaching the youth of Africa.

I got very excited about Samuel because he is an answer to the prayer of who will reach the youth of Africa (the 30’s and younger) because whomever does reach that generation (Muslims, Communists (China is flooding Africa with money and people resources) or Christians) will own the continent for generations to come. On the 20^th I had the privilege to speak at Northrise, Samuel’s church and of the 100 or so in the audience that day, 80% were easily young people. That was like throwing raw meat to a hungry lion – I was pumped to preach to them. Here was the hope of Africa sitting in front of me.

This gives an overview of what occurred over the three weeks in Africa. Already for next year, there are at least three churches that have asked WILD to train them and the leadership of the ECZ has asked me to go to Angola to train refugees who lived in Zambia during Angola’s civil war and now have returned to their country.

Because of Him,

Mike

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS OF A GOD KIND

One other story I need to share that shows how God is working and using

WILD. Returning from Namibia, Allan and I flew through Johansasburg, South Africa. We had to go to the Transit Counter to acquire our ticket to Zambia. While in line, the guy in front of me noticed that I was wearing a Badger sweatshirt. He (Justin) inquired if I was from Wisconsin and told me he was from north of Detroit. So we exchanged our stories about why we were in that part of the world. I explained about WILD and that I had worked for a youth ministry for 27 years. Thus people consider me like a youth pastor.

There was a young couple ahead of Justin, Allan and I who had a year old son named Isaiah (Could they be Christians? Why else would you name your child that name.) The husband, Ken had stepped out of line to play with Isaiah. When the wife heard that I was a youth pastor, she whipped around and said her husband was a youth pastor and they were headed to Malawi to be a youth pastorate at a church. So she called Ken over to join in on the conversation and talk to this youth pastor.

Ken asked why we were in Africa, so I told them and explained WILD. I mentioned I was wearing my Badger sweatshirt and had gotten my missions understanding through the Navigators on campus at Madison, thus the philosophy WILD had with giving out training materials for free. They got excited and said they were Navigators too. His eyes lit up and wanted to know more about WILD.

How did we make contacts for WILD? Well we told them that this is the way God was establishing most contacts, by “chance” encounters. Ken asked for a business card and Allan had a WILD card so Ken took it and said he would email me as it was their turn to go up to the ticket counter. (I have not heard from him yet – please pray that he does make contact.)

Through all this Justin was listening. I thanked him for asking where I was from and that God had used him to bring Ken and his wife to connect with us. I do not know where Justin is spiritually, but he got a huge dose of God and Jesus in those 5 minutes. There are no “chance” encounters in God’s sovereignty as we shared with Justin. He is another prayer request, for his salvation.

Update July 11

Wanted to quickly let you know that things continue to go well.  Met 
with the church council leaders last night and talked about what the 
next steps were.  Very positive.

Health wise I am doing well and having time with Allan and another 
pastor from Zambia this week has also been very beneficial for both of 
them.  We have been treated royally here and it is one of the best
cities I have been to in other countries.

We leave Namibia at 2 tomorrow, 7 am your time.  and get back to 
Zambia at 2 p.m. your time.

I am not sure the next time I will be able to email.  It could be 
several days as on Monday we will travel by bus to Ndola, half hour 
from Henry's home town.

Blepo
Mike 

Update July 10

It is thurs. afternoon and it is chilly today.  I am wearing a Badger
sweatshirt all day.  Wanted to let you know I have been eating
interesting things.  Yesterday, for lunch at a fancy resturant which
the leadership of the church we are working with hosted, we had lamb.
It was fine.  Last night at the home of my host, we had liver and
onions.  It was prepared okay but still is not my favorite meat.  This
noon we ate with the leadership again at the church and as part of
their meal, they served a sheep head.  It was roasted and it tasted
okay.  I had a small piece.  It had the charcoal flavor.  So the
adventure this week is food.

Teaching is going well.  The leadership could not meet with us this
noon to discuss what they will do with leadership development once we
leave, so we will meet tonight after the teaching time.

The church wishes that we could stay a few more weeks to help them
wrestle even more with the leadership training.  Staying in Windhoek
is pretty easy, especially where I am staying.  Now if I were staying
at by the squatters' area, that would be a different story.