Keith Seabourn

Management and Leadership

August 1, 2012 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Bestselling author Seth Godin says:

Management and leadership are totally different things. You think you are being a leader, but you are probably being a manager. Managers figure out what they want done and get people to do it. Managers try to get people to do what they did yesterday, but a little faster and a little cheaper with a few less defects. But this is not leadership.

Leadership is about finding the right people, agreeing where you want to go, and getting out of the way. Leadership means embracing the failure of your people if it will lead to growth. Leadership means not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow, just knowing its going to take you where you want to go.

Watch the video on Michael Hyatt’s blog.

Godin obviously has his preferred explanation of leadership and management based on his successes in life. He didn’t go bankrupt although he almost did. But more startups fail than succeed, so his rosy “Leadership means not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow, just knowing its going to take you where you want to go” is foolish apart from a trust in God’s sovereignty and plan. Perhaps a better philosophy is: Leadership doesn’t meant you know what is going to happen tomorrow, but it does mean you are confident it will take you where God wants you to go.

There are good insights in this video. He actually covers many topics with a common theme of modern leadership.

Management and leadership.
Being willing to lead through the hard decision to fire unprofitable customers. In my leadership in a non-profit mission organization, I translate this into making the hard decisions to cancel a project or terminate an agreement that has become a barrier to moving ahead with our strategic plan.
Do remarkable work that people cannot live without. Don’t settle for being a little cheaper or better than the next guy.
Don’t wait for improved conditions, rather ship now, deliver results now.
Put your work out there and allow a tribe to gather around who like what you do rather than going after those who don’t like what you do.

You are connected

April 8, 2012 by Keith Seabourn 4 Comments

div.ksLink
{
color: black;
font-size: 12pt;
width: 250px;
margin-left: 50px;
background: lightgreen;
text-align: center;
}

Did you know?  You are connected to the Mountain of Fire Celebration Centre, a recently planted church in the small village of  Sensi, Kenya?

This is David

who was completing his PhD and thought that his research could be used to advance missions in remote areas by training and discipling via a mobile phone. It was David

who shared an idea with Keith

who realized this was an important strategic direction and committed the Global Technology Office to lead Campus Crusade in this area. It was Keith

who asked Jerry

to give leadership to helping get prototype mobile learning courses developed and implemented. It was Jerry

who worked with George

the African leader of the Go North church planting program, who recognized that mLearning could deliver needed training for this project to plant 20,000 churches in Africa.

At the same time Mike

had joined Jerry’s mLearning team. Mike leads a Bible study group in Orlando in which there is a Kenyan banker

who is named Robinson

who is also helping plant churches in Kenya. He had helped Nahason Mayaka plant the Mountain of Fire Celebration Centre church. But Nahason lacked basic pastoral training. From Mike, Robinson learned about the Pastors Training in Leadership in a mobile phone which became possible in Kenya when coordinators were identified

who Kay

and Mark and Karin trained to use mobile phones to train church planters in their country. Kay and I are able to participate in this chain

because of You

and your prayers and gifts in response to God at work in and through you.

Kay and I thank you for the critical part you contribute to helping ministry happen around the world!

No trash-talking former things

March 15, 2012 by Keith Seabourn 1 Comment

We should not disparage the former as we are casting vision for a new way to do things. This cartoon says it well (click on the image for a larger view):

I was in a meeting recently where vision was being cast for a new way to train others, and a new way to think about building multiplying groups. The former ways were denigrated as part of promoting a new way.

I’m guilty of this sometimes, so I’m not casting stones. We should remember this cartoon and not denigrate previous efforts as we move forward.

Trash-talking former strategies has no place in leading into the future.

We stand on the shoulders of many that have gone before.

How can we lead into the future without trashing the past?

You must wait until tomorrow

March 13, 2012 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

“I’m sorry, sir, there is no flight.”

“Has it been cancelled?”

“No sir, there is no flight from Nairobi to Bamako today. You must wait until tomorrow.”

“But I have a ticket for a flight today, 13th March.”

“Yes sir. I can see your ticket. But there is no flight today. You must wait until tomorrow.”

So started today’s adventure. I got up at 3:45 am. The bus to Nairobi picked us up at 4:45 am as planned. So far, so good.

We got to the airport about 5:45 am. My flight is scheduled for 9 am. The checkin line is nice and short. Only one person ahead of me. Things are going well.

Then I had the conversation with the airline checkin attendant. Things are not going so good, now. She continued, “But I can see it is not your fault. So I will check you in for your flight tomorrow. I will give you a hotel voucher and meals. You can come back tomorrow.”

So, I’m in a nice 5-star hotel in downtown Nairobi.

I have meal vouchers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have internet. It’s a nice place.

But I’m supposed to be in Mali this afternoon. I guess there is work for me to do here in Nairobi today rather than in Mali today.

I’m reminded of a lesson I learned from Henry Brandt: I am going to be in Nairobi today. I have no choice. But I do have a choice about my attitude. I can be in Nairobi as a happy, contented, peaceful person, or I can be in Nairobi as a frustrated, angry person. The choice is mine. But I am going to be in Nairobi.

I decided choose to be contented and at peace because I’m confident God knew I was going to be in Nairobi today. And he has made provision for my attitude through his Holy Spirt.

How do you handle unexpected changes?

Sam survived

March 11, 2012 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Sam had no idea that a bomb-filled car had just entered the church parking lot. After the explosion, he stumbled outside and shook the dust and debris from his clothes.

I asked Sam how he felt after surviving the bomb blast.

Sam is part of the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in Nigeria. He lives in the city of Jos, where Kay and Iived for many years during our time in Nigeria.

Sam was attending church when a car bomb exploded. This is the church where Kay and I attended for almost 10 years. The church where Kay played the piano. The church where I preached on several occasions. The church where we trained people in the basics of the Christian life, how to share their faith with others, how to follow Jesus closely. This is the church where the pastor cancelled the service one Sunday and the congregation walked 2 miles to the main market and shared Christ with vendors and customers.

I viewed photos of the wreckage. Broken glass, twisted metal, parts of the car that housed the bomb. But the photo that wrenched my heart was a debris-covered pew. Like the pew I sat in for 10 years. Like the pews where I helped serve communion. Like the pews that held people learning how to walk daily in the power of the Holy Spirit and how to introduce their neighbors to Jesus.

I asked Sam about the aftermath of the bomb blast. He said that as people walked out of the rubble and dusted themselves off, a growing awareness spread that the sovereign God who controls everything had spared their lives. The bomber had been thwarted. He couldn’t get into the building. He couldn’t even get very close. He had detonated the bomb far enough away that only one person died, almost everyone had been spared even though the building is severely damaged. Relief spread, but also a sense of being spared for a purpose.

This has been a good day to meet old friends and to make new friends. Especially an old friend whose life was spared.

It made me think: What if next Sunday was my last day? Or what if it was yours?