Big Is The New Small

Right now I’m typing this while I’m riding down the highway in Atlanta. I’m not driving but I’m riding (blogging while driving is a better title). I’ve been so busy I had to go ahead and download the wordpress iPhone app so I could stay current with my BigIsTheNewSmall.com peeps.

I have about an hour ride to the Gwinnett Center to do a book signing and speak at the #Orange Conference. If you want details about the conference look at the advertisement over to the right.

It’s crazy how many things we can do while we’re mobile. As soon as I got off of the tram at Atlanta Airport there were 2 ladies holding up traffic in front of me as they were texting while walking.

I’m blogging while riding, the guy I just looked at in the black convertible mustang next to me is texting while driving, many of you are reading this while walking, going or doing something.

I need make time to write a blogpost titled I’m doing absolutely nothing and the body of the post to be blank.

Be Still!

Is our forever connectedness and doingness (made up word) a good thing or a bad thing?

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It is an idiom that people, leaders and organizations say, which means if a system or method works well there is no reason to change it or it would be a mistake to try to improve something that works.

This is actually the quickest way to allow mediocrity, complacency and the status quo to reign supreme.  I say, If It Ain’t Broke, Fix It, which means if things are going well and you are having success is even more of a reason to make it better and change it along the way. Mix it up, change and change often.  It doesn’t necessarily mean changing what you do at the core; however it does mean that if you want to remain successful and ahead of the curve you must Fix It, improve it, make it better or make it different.

I would say that Chick-fil-A’s Classic Chicken Sandwich with toasted buns, two pickles in the foil white bag was far from broke.  The Spicy Chicken Sandwich was their way of fixing something that was already working extremely well.

Remember a company called Blockbuster Video that initially didn’t adjust to the Internet and Netflix type of companies.  People were renting movies from Blockbuster, always have, always will. Try Again!   No matter the city you are in, you can pretty much buy the fixtures from the going out of business Blockbuster stores.

Broke or not, you must Fix It!

Thoughts?  How have you seen this played out?

This is the sickest (translation – BEST) Baby Announcement Ever…  My man Jonathan Meisner & Michelle Meisner just took baby announcements to a whole nutha level.  This is a talented couple and Jonathan is a awesome videographer/video producer.

Follow them @jmeisner14 and @michmeisner.

Share this with your friends and share your thoughts below.

A key component of leadership is getting the most out your followers.  I was blessed with an opportunity to learn from an amazing leader by the name of Marvin Wiebener in the early days of my leadership.   As a 25 year old prison Warden, I had the opportunity to work for Marvin, who truly maximized the potential of his followers.

There were some key principles in Marvin’s leadership that ensured he got the most out of his followers.  Not only did he get the most out of his followers, he elevated their leadership to the next level.  I have always tried utilize these same principles in my leadership.  Those principles are something I have coined into the term BECC.

• Believe- Believe in those that you lead, not just “kind of” believe in them but “truly” believe in them.
• Encourage- Encourage them to do better, encourage their interests, encourage them with praise.
• Challenge- Challenge them to do better personally, spiritually and professionally.  Challenge them to dream BIG. think BIGGER.
• Correct- Correct them when they get off track, out of focus, or out of line.

Marvin was not only my boss, he gave me my first major leadership break and he was my mentor.  He is still one of my mentors to this day.  Marvin is an old retired marine, who is now an author of fictions books. I learned more about leadership from Marvin, than any of the leadership books that I’ve read.  Marvin believed in, encouraged, challenged and corrected me.  As a result I have believed in, encouraged, challenged and corrected others.

Leaders like Marvin will always have a lasting impact on those that they lead, often times past the tenure of their working relationship. This past week I received an e-mail from Marvin after he received my book.  This few sentence e-mail demonstrates the BECC principle.

“Congratulations on the book and thank you for the acknowledgement. You are a natural born leader with all the talents of an all-pro wide receiver. As I’ve said in the past, you can do anything you want, even become governor, but remember–family comes first.” ~Marv

BECC

Share your thoughts and experiences with these type principles or similar.

It’s Friday… but Sunday Is Coming!

#FistBump to @trevorwilliams for sharing the link.

I want to thank everyone who has purchased or will purchase a copy of the book #ChurchDiversity : Sunday The Most Segregated Day Of The Week.

I am giving away some Church Diversity T-Shirts right here at BigIsTheNewSmall.com.  Everyone likes FREE stuff and not only can you win a FREE shirt but you get to represent #ChurchDiversity in style.

If you would like an opportunity to win, follow these simple steps:

• Follow @ChurchDiversity and like my new ScottWilliams author Facebook Fanpage.
• Tweet or Facebook this something about Church Diversity the book w/ either this link to amazon http://amzn.to/hjeC3M or this link http://bit.ly/ghVxIm to the “Sunday Morning” Church Diversity book trailer and a link to this post http://bit.ly/WinCDt. Be creative, use your own words, use the #ChurchDiversity hashtag, take a picture of your book, say something simple like: “Read this… #churchdiversity” or “check out this new book by @scottwilliams.”  Again the only requirement is a post and a link with @ScottWilliams in the link so I can easily know who posted in each hour or a tag on Facebook.  Here are a few sample tweets:  Check out the new #ChurchDiversity book by @ScottWilliams & win a cool t-shirt here: http://bit.ly/WinCDt or Check out @ScottWilliams new book #ChurchDiversity avail on amazon. http://amzn.to/hjeC3M or  Check Out @ScottWilliams #ChurchDiversity book trailer here http://bit.ly/ghVxIm & win a t-shirt here http://bit.ly/WinCDt. Leave a comment below stating that you completed the above steps and that you would like to win a t-shirt. (in your own words) Please share which design & size that you would prefer. Design #1 CD, Design #2 Stacked Church Diversity.
• Check back throughout the day to see if you won.  I will be giving away 1 on Thurs. evening April 21st and 1 per hour beginning Fri. April 22nd. 8:00 a.m. CST.  One Tweet or Facebook Post per hour and you can enter each hour.  If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook leave that in your comment below and we will group all of those individuals at the end of the day and choose one winner.

Again check back to see if you won, winners will be chosen from our highly scientific random arbitrary give away system.

Update: Thurs. evening winner Willy Maxwell

Fri. Morn up to 9:00 winner Michelle

Next Winner Alonseo

I’ve talked about this before, but I’m gonna get straight to the point; I am not trying to sound holier than thou, but I’m gonna keep it real as it relates to Cussing Christians.  I’m not talking about words like sucks, screwed, freakin’ etc.

Not to minimize those words, but I’m talking about the four letter words and their cussing cousins.  There is no need for me to share them, because we’re all grown folks and all have probably heard or spewed them at some time or another ourselves.  I personally don’t use them, nor do I judge people who do; however I do feel as Christ followers we have a responsibility to encourage people to do better.   Doing better can come in the form of encouraging our Christian brothers and sisters to use better language.   The expectations and standards aren’t the same for my Non-Christian friends.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:9-12

I have been around too many Cussing Christians and Cussing Pastors; all I have to say is we can and should do better.  Salty springs don’t produce fresh water and salty words don’t produce fresh fruit if you know what I mean. Do you want to be salty water or fresh water?

Share your thoughts on Cussing Christians and Cussing Pastors… Are words like sucks, screwed and freakin’ acceptable?

You won’t want to miss the Catalyst Conference in Dallas, happening May 11-13, 2011, where 3,000 young leaders will converge, including high-octane speakers, powerful worship, innovative programming, and an experience unlike any other.

Hear from leadership authorities including Andy Stanley, Matt Chandler, David Platt, Christine Caine, Donald Miller and Craig Groeschel , along with several innovative thinkers and practitioners like hip hop legend Rev Run, best-selling author Scott Belsky, International Justice Mission founder Gary Haugen, long-time activist Dr. John Perkins, ESPY winner Scotty Smiley, and charity: water founder Scott Harrison.

Plus, Catalyst Labs will feature innovative thought leaders like Michael Hyatt, Mark Batterson, Scot McKnight, Bob Goff, Mike Foster, David Kinnaman, Samuel Rodriguez, Amena Brown, Esther Havens, Shaun King, Dino Rizzo, Gayle Haggard, Jon Acuff, Lecrae, Margaret Feinberg, Chris Seay, Bianca Juarez, Jo Saxton, Vicky Beeching, Eugene Cho, Tyler Merrick, Jenny White and others.

Best Rates on Catalyst Dallas tickets ended on Thursday, March 31st.  You can still save 15% off of the current rate using code FOB.  If you have any questions call 888.334.6569 to speak to a Catalyst Concierge, or register online at www.catalystdallas.com.

It’s amazing how quickly Twitter has evolved into a household name.  Twitter’s purpose and application is even understood by those who are not Twitter users at all.  In other-words, everyone knows something about Twitter, because it’s everywhere.

I have talked to guys who are high level leaders in their organization and they told me that their company is, “now using the social media stuff and even set up a Twetter.” Yes he said “Tweeter” and he was excited that they would be able to become more connected to customers and potential customers.  You don’t have to be a Twitter aficionado to know that it’s a powerful information and connection tool.

Everyone leverages Twitter in different manners and it’s kind of “to each is own” type of deal.  Some businesses use it for advertisement, some people use it simply to find information, others use it to stalk people (in a good way), some news anchors use it at the end of their news casts to stay connected, celebrities use it as an extension to connect with fans and the list goes on and on.

I’m not sure if this is a trend; however I think you could see more authors using their Twitter handles as their author name on the cover of their books.  Especially if their Twitter name is their real name.  For several years I have been advocating the Reasons You Should Use Your Real Name As Your Twitter Name. Although there are hundreds of other Scott Williams in the Twittershphere, I have had @ScottWilliams since Twitter launched in 2007 and it has made it relatively simple to use it as part of my personal brand.

I am releasing a book week and I chose to use my Twitter handle @ScottWilliams on the cover as my author name (you can see in the above pic).  Due to the fact that it’s my real name, there is no potential for a negative effect, only potential for natural connection with readers via Twitter.  Even if someone doesn’t purchase the book, they at-least might remember the Twitter handle because of the uniqueness.

I know a couple of ladies who wrote a book titled @StickyJesus in which they used their Twitter handles as their author names.  Authors @TamiHeim and @ToniBirdsong uniquely blend biblical truth and social media know-how with inspirational true stories of people engaging, connecting, and changing the world for Christ through social networks.

Again, I’m not saying that this is going to be a trend, I’m simply saying that having your real name or a version of your real name as your Twitter handle allows for flexibility, visibility and potential.

Have you seen any authors who have used their Twitter handle as their author name?  Do you think it could be a trend for authors and recording artists?

Exclusive interview with Seth Godin from GiANT Impact on Vimeo.

Exclusive Interview: Seth Godin Talks Leadership

Seth helps distinguish between being a manager and a leader.

Share your thoughts on this video or the difference between a manager and a leader.