Leaders / Designers

As our team here at PotentialStudios.tv is just about to start working on the next series, I started thinking, what if we approached leadership decision making like we do a new series design project.

A clean sheet.
 Every design starts with a clean blank sheet of paper, even if we are given a direction to go in or an idea from the creative planning team, we still begin with a clean sheet of paper. Every good leader should begin the process in this manner. Leave your ideas and assumptions at the door and lead from your values.

Hear what is being asked. 
The really good graphic designer will listen to what the needs are first, than design second. We need to grab a hold of the idea and bring the idea to fruition. A great leader will always listen first and ask question second.

Visualize.
 Designers, by nature, “see” our designs in our head first, by using our imagination. Leaders “see” the result before it becomes reality. They use their “vision”, so to speak

Inspiration.
 Designers need creative inspiration. We do research by viewing magazines, web sites, other designers’ work, to spark our creative juices. Leaders find inspiration from other leaders, read magazines, books, web sites and talk with other leaders to help them with the decision or project in front of them.

Rough Sketch.
 Design is about color, placement, typestyles, energy, and creativity. The end result is NEVER what we started with. We always hit the delete key far more than we do the save command keys! Leaders should always “rough draft” their decisions or projects. Brainstorm, brianmap, use whatever is available at the time, just always be willing to hit the delete key far more than the save command keys.

The Details.
 Designers spend a lot of time on the details. Color, white space, symmetry, etc. It’s never the main elements that makes or breaks the design, it’s the details. Many leaders fail to spend time working through the details of their decisions or projects. Take time for the details, it will make a difference.

Add your own feel. 
There’s a difference between technique and style. Every designer uses the same basic techniques, but no one has the same style. There are times you can look at a new design and instantly know who designed the piece. Leaders are much the same way. Leaders far to often, lead too much from technique and not enough from their own heart. Embrace the style God gave you and go with it.

Be Proud. 
Designers love to leave the own personal touch on everything they design. Leaders should ask themselves, “Am I proud enough to put my name on this project or decision?” If leaders truthfully asked them selves this question, it would certainly change the way leaders start new projects in the future.

Just thinking out loud.

Think Forward

As leaders, we were once praised for our ability to react to difficult situations; as a leader today we must “think forward,” analyzing what's ahead of us and minimizing obstacles that sit in our paths. We must anticipate challenges, cultivate consensus on desired outcomes, and develop and implement processes for reaching goals. We must take time every week to scan the environment we work in and develop solutions and/or mechanisms that ensure that we just don’t survive but continue to thrive even during these challenging times. As today’s leaders, we can’t take a wait and see attitude to see what happens; we must be out there making things happen.

Quote for Life

“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.”
Talleyrand

Silence Is Golden

I took a much needed break yesterday. I spent the day floating in the pool on a raft smoking cigars. I needed solitude.

One of the most underrated spiritual practices in our culture, I believe, is solitude. I get so into doing that the thought of solitude makes me cringe. But lately I’ve seen that if I fail to seek solitude I many times fail to really seek God. I never stopped praying, but I found that what I was praying was growing evermore shallow. It wasn't that I didn't seek God, it’s just that I was spending more time seeking answers from Him than I was seeking Him as the answer.

So I took a day - a personal day during my vacation - and I went and just talked with God. I prayed. I worshiped. I journeyed. And there in the quiet of the pool floating alone - I realized how desperately I needed that time.

Yesterday, I commitment to seek solitude like this, once a quarter. That time brought so much clarity to my relationship with God, to my focus in life and ministry, that I cannot afford not to seek it out solitude on a regular basis.

The old saying is true in my life, "silence is golden."

Inspiring People

If you're leading people where they want to go, is it really leadership?

Inspiring people into the unknown and challenging them when they wander, is leadership. When others don’t or can’t see the vision it’s our responsibility to lead them there. Leadership, in its truest form, is leading people where they don’t want to go – or where they need to go but lack the vision to get there.

If your leading people where they want to go, it’s likely that you are not really leading; you are just supervising a trip.

Don't Just Go Through The Steps

We must be doing leadership right for ourselves before we can package it and present it to others to follow. In order to lead others we must first lead ourselves well. This is only amplified if your attempting to lead others to a deeper walk with Christ.

Spurgeon once said:
I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account.

How will you grow today? Not just as a leader but as a follower of Christ? Don’t just go through the steps of just showing up. Don’t ride the shirttails of your leader or the passion of others. The truth is, there’s no substitute for the real thing. Learning and leading on your own.

Preparation

Preparation is key. Lincoln once said,
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax."

What would happen if we all lived our lives with this same perspective. Imagine how productive we could be if we spent 6 hours of every 8 hour day sharpening ourselves. I believe that you can’t walk others down a path that we have never walked down ourselves. Before we attempt to lead anyone else we must lead ourselves – especially spiritually.

Can you imagine how much more effective we would be if we prayed 3 times as long as we prepared. How much more effective we would be at anything if we devoted ourselves 3 times as much at planning as we did actually doing?

“Work Smarter, Not Harder” – philosophy worth living by.