David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell - book review

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  I just finished reading this book.  Honestly I found it, like all of Gladwell's books, to be thought provoking and I'm pretty sure it will take a while for the information to process inside my brain.

The  premise of the book looks at the disparity of the David (underdog) in contrast to Goliath (Giant - favored winner), and how things are not always what they seem.  I particularly liked the interpretation of the original story of David and Goliath.  Like most of Gladwell's books, I'm pretty sure I don't agree with all of the applications he makes from the foundation, there is plenty there to make you stop and think.

There is a connection here, for me at least, between how we perceive strength and weakness WITHIN the context of Family System's Theory.  By that I mean there is an interconnection within a system which understands that the part of the system with the least perceived power, is in fact the most powerful in the system or can be the most powerful, because of the impact upon the whole.  That may sound complicated but as you read through the various accounts in Gladwell's book it becomes obvious that what we have always understood as power and its application may actually be wrong.

I think this took a lot of strength to write and I am impressed with Gladwell for tackling a subject which forces us to literally come face to face with our humanity, and to do so in such an interesting and intriguing fashion.  On more than one occasion I found myself wondering how I would have responded and feeling uncomfortable with the truth I suspected.  It challenged my understanding of power and my response to, and use of power.

Get the book.  Read the book.  Find someone else who has read the book and Talk about it.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet, that is the Question!

I'm confident that most of you reading this blog (yes, both of you) don't tweet.  In fact you might not even be sure what to "tweet" even means.  So, first a quick definition.  Tweeting is the 140 character post available to be made through Twitter.  "Ahhhh, now you say, of course, Twitter. No, I don't do that."  I often wonder about the amazing ability of intelligent people to stick their head in the sand in an attempt to avoid having to deal with change.  Of course as it is commonly used by most, Twitter is meaningless drivel suitable only for people who are sycophants or narcissists (yes, you'll have to look those up). 

HOWEVER, as with most technology there is a way to redeem this brilliant software application and make it truly useful. 

• For instance because almost every news item or article appearing on the internet already comes with a link to "tweet" it is amazingly easy to share these items with other individuals.  My twitter account (@rlupchurch) is targeted at sharing leadership thoughts, and articles I feel are relevant for the church and higher education.  It allows me to add my voice to the conversation.  
• Using twitter also serves another purpose, every time I tweet, whatever I post is saved in my account so I can always find the articles I liked or the comments I've made.  
• I also have the ability to follow others who use twitter and see what they think is important, and I restrict who I follow tho those I feel will enrich my life in some way. 
• If you coordinate your work group, your church, your family, it is possible to use the medium to pass along useful pieces of information that keeps the whole group on the same page and focused on the goal.  CEO's and other leaders should be making intentional use of this application to make sure they are passing along vision to their organization and keeping their team on track. 
• Finally, if I know another individual's twitter account name, I can intentionally post something which will show up in their feed

There are probably alot of other interesting things you can do with Twitter.  The important thing is not to write off any new technology simply because it is new or being used in ridiculous ways by others.  Instead think about how to redeem it to a better use for you and your organization.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution - book review

I'm nearly through this book:  The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChessney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling.  I'm a big fan of Execution and I'd have to say that this may be one of the most practical and useful books I've read on the subject. 

The authors focus on four specific disciplines that, if embraced, will drive execution toward ANY goal, especially the WIG (Wildly Important Goals) you and/or your company need to accomplish. 

I like how the book is divided into sections that focus on explaining the disciplines, then on how to install the disciplines at the team level, and finally how to install the disciplines at the organizational level.  Honestly this is a great practical book for anyone or organization serious about strategic planning AND achievement of strategic goals. 

The 4 disciplines are:

1. Focus on the Wildly Important
2. Act on the Lead Measures
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Creat a Cadence of Accountability

The authors are candid about the pitfalls faced when installing the 4 disciplines as well as provide concrete examples of how how to address them.  This is a book to inspire any leader and become one of the often consulted manuals on effectively leading teams and organizations.  I know I will consult it often and use theses disciplines.  Honestly this is almost like having the secret ingredient to success, except putting the 4 disciplines into effect will require some serious work, which most will avoid unless the urgency is great enough.

It always comes back to urgency.  If we don't feel the iceberg is shrinking under us we neglect to act, often until it is too late to act at all.

Good read - highly recommend to read and to buy - you'll want to underline it and refer back to various parts over and over again.

Behind the Leader's Perception & DEFAULT MODE

I may have mentioned this before, I can't remember; my Myers Briggs personality type is ENTJ.  There are a lot of positives about this personality type and just about as many negatives.  I've taken the personality profile several times over the course of my life and, with a slight variation of the strength of each of the areas, the final result is always the same:  ENTJ.

I like that my personality is typically well adjusted to making decisions and taking stands.  I don't like that I am more committed to goals than relationships.  This list could go on and on.

One of the things that comes from this is the fact that I have an innate need to be perceived as competent, in fact that may be an understatement: I have an innate NEED to be perceived as EXCEPTIONALLY competent.  This can drive me to learn more and exhibit high performance attributes.  It can also undermine my motivation when it becomes obvious that I simply don't have either the skill, knowledge, or stamina to excel. 

A perfect example which I only understood in retrospect, was playing video games with my children.  In those early days we had a nintendo (first generation) game system and the children were quite young.  I could win easily and even enjoyed losing on purpose sometimes to build their confidence (I know you may not agree with this).  As the children got older, particularly the boys (no I'm not a chauvinist, my daughter just never seemed to have much interest in video games - ahhhhhhh!! now I see it - perhaps she suffers from the same affliction as do I!!) would begin to beat me more and more, no matter how hard I tried.  Finally it reached a point where I began to suspect they were actually letting me win sometimes to boost MY confidence.  At this point I began to find more and more reasons why I couldn't play until I stopped playing these games altogether  (we still played board games, etc.).

Let me bring this into the area of leadership.  Our personalities will often drive behavior which we attribute to one thing, which in actuality has its source in something else altogether.  When we don't understand this we are likely to make decisions contrary to our, or the organization's, best interests and when things go wrong be completely baffled as to why. 

I recently heard a quote which goes something like this: "Understanding others can lead to wisdom, understaning yourself can lead to enlightenment."

Now I'm going to describe DEFAULT MODE to you.  I made this up although I'm sure there is a psychologically correct term.  Default mode has two parts:

1. You will operate within the strengths and WEAKNESSES of your personality unless you consciously make an effort to understand and overcome those weaknesses.  When you make this effort you demonstrate enlightment and increased ability to lead yourself and others.
2. Even when you know and are attempting to overcome your weaknesses, under times of stress, weariness, or pain you will revert back to Default Mode unless you expend exceptional energy to avoid it.  Knowing this means being aware when any of the the terrible three (stress, weariness, and pain) are present and taking extra precaution to prevent them from derailing your control (enlightenment).  Figure out now how to de-stress when stress comes (and it will).  Figure out now how to get sufficient rest and protect it as much as possible.  Figure out now how to control your pain appropriately so that you can respond at the time of need.

This may be one of the most important things I know.