Leading or Maintaining

A couple of weeks ago I was involved in a discussion on leadership. One of the participants brought up the concept of maintaining an organization as opposed to active visionary leading. This caused me to quickly remember a basic concept of leadership: there are certain aspects of maintenance that are not compatible to visionary leadership. A leader must decide if or when they are in a leadership role or a maintenance role.

There is nothing wrong with maintain an organization if the organization has created and built the infrastructure that necessitates maintenance to keep it alive. Maintenance alone will eventually lead to the death of an organization if there is not a vibrant leadership component taking place. Many organizations are maintaining systems and infrastructure that needs to be allowed to die so that new life can be born. Others are trying to maintain systems that are not completely developed and are therefore expending energy on incomplete processes that will not bring productivity. Their people will become frustrated and eventually leave the team or organization.

There was a time when iceboxes helped preserved food by keeping it cold. They allowed for a new era of food storage and the boom an entire manufacturing segment: various sizes, colors, styles and material components. Iceboxes brought new jobs, new businesses and lifestyle changes. Eventually the success of food preservation by cooling and freezing in ices boxes led others to invent more efficient and effective iceboxes: refrigerators. There were probably some icebox manufacturers and users who swore by their iceboxes and their ability to do a good job. Some probably said that those new refrigerants and electric motors were going to ruin food and destroy an entire industry built on hardwork and dedication. Some probably set up institutions aimed at maintaining and preserving the industry and the good name of iceboxes. We all know the outcome. Visionary leaders realized change was imminent and prepared for it.

The tools required to maintain are different from those needed to lead. Visionary leaders look from the present to the future; maintenance looks from the present to the past. Leaders learn from history, live in the present and prepare for the future; maintenance preserves history. Good leaders prepare for the future while establishing processes and teams to maintain the best of what has been established. Maintaining what adds value to an organization is a requirement of leadership. Being bold and determined not to be held back or distracted by the dead weight of traditionalism, mediocrity and complacency is also a task of visionary leaders. Operating a strong, growing organization is worlds away from maintaining one that needs new life breathed into it.

Resist the temptation of getting into maintenance mode before building a strong, vibrant, effective and sustainable organization that can monitor and measure it's progress against an established mission and vision.

It's Not The Economy

Some trust in Wall Street,
Some trust in Main Street,
Some want a bail-out,
Some what a hand-out,
Some bought security in 401K,
Some look to Obama,
but we trust in the name of the Lord.

God's economic security plan is not from Wall Steet.
He does not need the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank to lower his interest rate.
God does not need the Chinese investment bankers to buy His loans.
He is the Creator of the Universe;
He is the King of Kings and the Lords of Lords;
He is the Mighty God; a strong tower; my deliverer and my provider;
He is Jehovah Jeirah.

When we say integrity does not matter, morality and values are outdated and not appropriate for the modern society;
When sharing your faith is seen as forcing values on others and
killing 3 million babies is a choice and not murder,
Who is to say that raiding companies of all their assets is wrong?
What moral compass is there to stop raiding of companies, taking $30 million dollar bonuses and wiping out saved retirement accounts?
Where are the boundaries to putting people in houses they could not ever afford and charge them interest without every applying a dollar to principal?
Is it okay to ask us to pay more takes and not pay your own?
Why does out tax money go to the bankers who hoard it in their safes gaining interest who continue to foreclose on family homes while refusing to lend to businesses to finance expansion?

The economy is not the issue. The economy is the symptom.
The disease is now manifested. It is lack of integrity. It is lack of moral compass breading the inability to know right from wrong, absence of conscience and unbridled greed. Reprobate.

I think the Bible (that not so politically correct book) calls it sin, a willful violations of known laws of God. The cure is not found in politics or economics. The French don't have it and the terrorists cannot destroy it.

This one bail-out plan cannot come from Congress:
the White House cannot change it;
Wall Street can't trade it;
Main Street can't sell it;
Congress cannot write a bill to fix it;
The press cannot spin it and the pharmaceutical companies do not have a drug for it.

The cure is repentance and a turning back to God, the true and living God and Jesus Christ his Son: a divine transformation that comes from the inside out under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

The ecomony - an unpleasant and painful distraction.