I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
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Church Marketing Sucks
May 2008 Archives
May 28, 2008
Finding Your Soul
Filed under: Reading Room
On the Personality blog I wrote a review of the book by Hamid Bouchikhi and John R. Kimberly called The Soul of the Corporation: How To Manage The Identity of Your Company. It's a brilliant study on why organizations need to be aware of their soul and how their identity flows from that. The case studies were very enlightening and provided great context for the authors' arguments.
I'm planning to use some of this stuff for a few upcoming talks I have later this year. It's also a great setup for so much of the consulting work I do.
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May 24, 2008
Foursquare Convention 2008
Filed under: Brad Works
Jamaica and I arrived in Houston yesterday for the annual Foursquare Convention. We're here for eight days, mostly because of all the pre-convention logistics to work through. So while Jamaica gets some focused study time for her upcoming LSAT, I'm swirling in event minutiae. There are just over 3,000 people registered and we'll have close to 3,500 in total attendance.
A few things I am anticipating...
- The Monday night opening is going to be quite dramatic. We've partnered with the local arts district here in Houston and several singers/actors are helping out.
- Houston Mayor Bill White is bringing greetings Monday night.
- Israel & New Breed are live Tuesday night--almost 20 people in their crew!
- Mr. Smiley (a.k.a. Joel Osteen) shot a video greeting that we're rolling on Monday night.
- Kirbyjon Caldwell--of recent Bush wedding fame--is speaking Thursday night.
- We've got a special guest from NASA sharing on Wednesday night.
- The Foursquare national leader from Myanmar (Burma) in town. He'll share updates on Monday.
- We're debuting a new video on Thursday night about Foursquare that people are going to love.
I'm grateful for the hundreds of volunteers that have gathered together from Foursquare churches in the Houston area to help pull this thing off. And special props, as always, to the core convention crew: Steve Cauble, Mitchie Sarmiento, Mike Fullerton and the rest of my team for making the journey enjoyable.
Here we go!
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May 18, 2008
The Shack
Filed under: Reading Room
Two weeks ago somebody in the office asked me if I had read a booked called The Shack by William P. Young. I had never heard of it. Last week, I saw that Mark Batterson was reading it after having it recommended to him by our mutual friend Brad Lomenick. I went ahead and ordered it (thanks Amazon Prime). This book is gaining major momentum--500,000 sold in the first 11 months--and it's self-published.
William Young is a great storyteller. I started the 253-page book yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. It's the first work of fiction I have read in a long time. I'm not a fan of fiction, especially "Christian" fiction. This book is a rare exception.
The story is about a father of a kidnapped daughter who everyone presumes is dead. Mack is tormented by the loss of his daughter and is trapped in a world of grief and guilt. One day Mack receives a letter--presumably from God--that invites him to the scene of the crime. What Mack finds there is what changes him forever.
The Shack is a mix between Pilgrim's Progress and The Chronicles of Narnia, although not as theological or fantastic in its content. It's written perfectly for the big screen, which I later learned is already in the works.
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May 15, 2008
Asking the Right Questions
Filed under: Brad Works
It seems that I've been spending a lot of time lately building teams, especially as my spheres of responsibility continue to expand. I was in a meeting today with the dean of admissions at USC--I'm considering their EMBA program--and he asked me how I build great teams. Finding the right people and building good teams has always been an instinctual and intuitive process for me. I've blogged a little about hiring before, but there is a lot I still need to learn.
One thing I am learning is what questions to ask. Some of those include:
- What books have you read that you would consider to be a key part of shaping who you are (personally and professionally)?
- What websites, blogs and magazines do you read regularly to keep you at the top of your game?
- What else do you do to keep you at the top of your game?
- If you could write a book, what would you write about and why?
- What do you look for in a good team? How would you go about building that "good" team?
- What do you look for in a good manager/supervisor?
- What should a supervisor/manager know about you to keep you performing at your best?
- How do you react when your good ideas don't seem to be going anywhere?
- Describe a write-home-to-momma moment--something that you have been responsible for that you are really proud of.
- Describe a moment you don't want anybody to know about--something that you have been responsible for that you're not so proud of.
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May 14, 2008
Problem Spotters Should Be Problem Solvers
Filed under: Rant
Remember in grade school when someone--never you, of course--had a bad case of flatulence and someone would blurt out a cheesy excuse like "He who smelt it, dealt it" or "He who sensed it, commenced it"? (Apparently there are tons of these corny phrases.)
I think a parallel exists for people that spot problems. The person that points out the problem is probably best suited to solve the problem.
"We need a more more unified team."
"There's got to be a better way to build this."
"That design is awful, surely we can do better than that."
"Why can't we say it this way?"
"Are you sure we can't automate that?"
"Does it have to cost this much?"
The next time you point out problems, blurt out critiques, or offer your humble opinion, maybe you should also consider a follow up response and come up with a few solutions.
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May 9, 2008
Harold Taber's Baker's Dozen
Filed under: Inspiration
I was invited by a Personality client to UCLA last night for a small gathering of business professionals from the SoCal area. The topic was "doing business as mission" and the room was loaded with people right in the middle of it. Although I was asked to come and lead one of the round tables, the real highlight was getting to know some of the people there.
One of those guys was 69-year-old Harold Taber. After being the group president for Coca-Cola Bottling of Los Angeles and selling it back to Coke in 1987, he bought Hansen's and took it public in 1992. Harold's life story is pretty amazing, including beating cancer twice. In addition to being on the board for Hansen's, Harold is also the director of mentoring for the MBA program at Biola.
Harold shared with me his "Baker's Dozen."
1. Employees are an organization's greatest asset.
2. Develop people through work rather than getting work through people.
3. Organizational values drive behavior.
4. People leave managers, not organizations.
5. Servant leadership is focusing on those to be served.. customers, clients, etc.
6. Leader insurance... Mentoring.
7. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses.
8. Attitude is not something you can teach or train.
9. Ethics trump law.
10. Focus on character, not image.
11. Accountability > Responsibility > Authority
12. Efficiency, doing things right vs. Effectiveness, doing the right things (Drucker)
13. Investors bet on management, not the product.
After last night, I was definitely re-energized about my desire to get an MBA and the impact that could have on so many people.
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May 3, 2008
Change the World, I Don't Think So
Filed under: Rant
One of the 18-minute presenters at the Q conference last month was culture-thinker/author Andy Crouch. He opened his presentation with a little research he did about books that have been written on the subject of changing the world.
In the first seven years of this century (2000-2007), there were 154 books published containing some iteration of the words "change the world.” Crouch estimates that by 2010, there will be 220 titles. In comparison, only 140 books were published over the entire 100 years leading up to 2000. The allure of changing the world is obviously on the rise.
I can relate. For as long as I can remember, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I always responded with an audacious, "I want to change the world!" Lately, I'm beginning to think this inclination is not only unhealthy, it's also counter-productive. In my humble opinion, the idea of changing the world has derailed a generation from actually accomplishing it.
There's a reason for this, and I think it has to do with how humanity has progressed over the centuries when it comes to knowing and being known.
Continue reading "Change the World, I Don't Think So"
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May 2, 2008
Personality Confidence Evaluation Tool
Filed under: Brad Works
Last week on the Personality blog we announced that we had been developing a tool that measured how confident an organization is in their communication. Earlier this week we rolled it out to our Think subscribers, and then today we made it public on the Personality site.
Aside from this being an obvious way to tickle the ears of new business prospects, I feel really good about how this has turned out and the potential help it can be to organizations that struggle with these issues. In our early tests and from feedback we've seen this week, people really appreciate the accuracy of the results. For those that submit their results to us, we take it a step further and send them an 11-page PDF called The Confidence Factor. It breaks down the Confidence Evaluation score and gives practical ideas on how to move your business from stuck to stellar.
Props to the Personality team for doing such a great job with this!
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