leadership lesson

You are currently browsing articles tagged leadership lesson.

Leadership Lessons from Toy Story; Communicate Change Openly and Directly

August 11, 2010 in Canadian, Leadership, Leadership Summit, missional by Scott Cochrane | 6 comments

One of my favourite scenes from the original Toy Story movie is when Woody assembles the toys for a “staff meeting”, where he intends to inform them that their owner, Andy, has had the date for his birthday party changed.

Knowing that this news is likely to evoke a strong reaction, Woody starts by bringing them a couple of fairly innocuous pieces of information (eg, “Does everyone have a moving buddy?”) before delivering the real news.

Almost under his breath, Woody nonchalantly looks on the second page of his agenda and mumbles, “Oh, and one minor note, the date for Andy’s birthday party has changed…to today.”

Watching Mr. Potatohead, Rex, Ham and the others totally freaking out is pretty hilarious.

The leadership lesson for Woody? How you deliver this kind of news is as important as what the news itself actually is. In this case, news of this importance required clear, open, up-front communication.

Similarly, at the close of this year’s Global Leadership Summit we delivered some fairly significant news; that starting in 2011 the Canadian Summit is moving to the end of September. And while we had no reactions nearly as intense as those of Woody’s friends, this news is worthy of open discussion.

Here then, is the background to this move.

At the start of June we met with our Summit host pastors, along with Bill Hybels, and asked them how we could extend the impact of the Summit. I was surprised to hear them say that we should move the dates.

After getting feedback from church leaders across Canada, two vital themes emerged. The first was that the single greatest factor which limits the impact of the Summit is the time of year.

Secondly, Canadian church leaders want the Summit to more fully reflect our own country’s leadership issues. This move will allow us to not only capture the entire U.S. Summit experience, but also enhance it with new content.

Moving forward there’s another Toy Story leadership lesson to be gleaned. Woody made the mistake of simply announcing this change and then moving on. We want to engage in dialogue. So here are a couple of questions I’d love to get your input on:

  • How can we leverage the Summit to impact more church leaders in Canada?
  • What are the most pressing leadership issues facing the Canadian church that could be addressed in the Summit?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Leadership Lesson from Ice Cream Cake

July 16, 2010 in Disciplinie, Leadership, Leadership Summit, Temptation, Uncategorized, random by Scott Cochrane | 4 comments

I did something remarkably stupid the other day.

It was so ridiculous I can’t believe I not only did this, but also that I’m about to tell you about it.

I had just completed a 10k run along Okanagan Lake, and returned home feeling great. I went to the freezer to get ice to put in a glass of water and was confronted with a left-over ice cream birthday cake from Dairy Queen.

I ate it. I ate it ALL.

I sat down on my deck, admiring the view of where I had just run, and ate a thick slice of ice cream cake.

As I wiped the last bit of chocolate icing from my chin, it was only then that I paused to consider the absurdity of the situation. Here I had done something reasonably healthy in completing a good run, and had basically nullified its effectiveness by wolfing down a million calories and a boat-load of fat from this ice cream cake.

Now, at the risk of hammering an illustration pretty hard, I think we sometimes do this in our leadership. I’ll call this the Ice Cream Cake Syndrome.

I’ve noticed, for example, that a lot of people attend The Leadership Summit every year, get all fired up about their leadership, but immediately afterwards put their conference binders on the shelf, never to refer to them again. They then plow back in to the grind of daily life.

It’s kinda like eating ice cream cake after a run. By not paying attention to ongoing leadership development, it nullifies a lot of the benefit of the Summit experience itself.

At a recent gathering of our Summit host pastors from across Canada we asked them how they place the Summit in the context of an ongoing leadership development plan. Check out their answers in this 2 minute video and see if it sparks some ideas for you.

What is your plan for ongoing leadership development?

Let me know how you develop your own ongoing leadership development plan and I’ll share these with other leaders. And let’s commit to avoiding the Ice Cream Cake Syndrome!

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Power of Trusting Your Pilot

March 26, 2010 in Canadian, Disciplinie, Leadership, Tension, Uncategorized, action, joy by Scott Cochrane | No comments

airplaneMy role with The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada requires a fair amount of travel, and it was on one such trip several years ago that God drove home an important leadership lesson that has never left me.

I needed to fly from Kelowna to Regina, and I found out a couple of weeks in advance that instead of Air Canada or Westjet I’d be flown there in a small, private propeller airplane.

I was not happy about this trip. In fact, I was scared silly. This was a small plane; it was like a Volkswagen Beetle with wings. And just the thought of flying in this tiny plane over the Rocky Mountains filled me with dread.

I talked to one fellow who had flown on this plane before. He told me that one of the biggest differences I’d find flying in this plane versus a commercial aircraft is that, when you fly on Air Canada or Westjet over the Rockies, you’ll look down and say, “Oh look…there’s a river…there’s a lake…” But when you fly in this little plane you’ll look down and say, “Oh look, there’s a squirrel”…

But then an interesting thing happened. About a week before I was to leave, I met the plane’s owner who was also the pilot. His name was John, and I discovered that the more I talked with John, and the more I found out about his experience as a pilot, I found that my anxiety about the trip was slipping away.

You see, not only did I now know the pilot, but more importantly I had confidence in the one who was literally in control of my life. And I discovered what a profound difference it makes when the pilot is not some anonymous person who happens to wear a white shirt with wings on the collar, but instead is someone you know, someone you have personally found to be trustworthy.

That experience has helped me enormously when I’m facing a daunting leadership decision or challenge. Because it reminds me that in Christ we have the most trustworthy of “pilots” who is right there with us.

Leaders face decisions and challenges that can easily cause us to feel overwhelmed. But remembering to have confidence that Christ is in control, it changes everything.

How does the reality of Jesus’ trustworthiness impact your leadership?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,