I have been to many leadership conferences and Catalyst is by far one of my favorites.  It’s only a couple of weeks away, (Oct. 5-7) in the ATL.   Here are 10 Simple Things That Makes The Catalyst Conference Great.

• 1. The BIGness – There is something refreshing and inspiring to see 12,000+ leaders from around the country pile into Gwinnett Center ready to be inspired, challenged, encouraged and changed.
• 2. The Hype – Catalyst is a hype machine, if you can’t attend you will still follow the discussions and read the notes of the various talks.  The #CAT11 Twitter stream and The Catalyst Hype Machine go hand- in-hand.
• 3. The Speakers – Seriously where else can you get Andy Stanley, Dave Ramsey, Mark Driscoll, Francis Chan and one of my favorites Cornell West all on on the same stage and all for one single admission price.
• 4. The Entertainment - Where else can you see a guy break a Guiness Book Of World Record by jumping 3 Stories from 35 feet 9 inches in the air into a kiddie pool with 11 inches of water or a man shot out of a canon right before Bishop TD Jakes goes up to speak.  Catalyst is just down right fun!
• 5. The History - This conference is filled with many years of history and memories.  Catalyst has experienced the longest successful run of any major Christian Conference in recent history.
• 6. The Connections – Catalyst is a great place to make connection with ministry leaders from every nook and cranny you can imagine.  Catalyst is a social media playground, as you are able to make first time and continued connections with your blogging, Twitter and Facebook friends.
• 7. The Unexpected - You can always expect the unexpected.  The unexpected will show up in the form of an emotional moment, a speaker not meeting expectations, a speaker making some uncomfortably bold statements, a rising star being born and the list goes on and on. Expect The Unexpected!
• 8. The Traffic – Catalyst wouldn’t be Catalyst without attenders being stuck in Atlanta Parking lot they call a highway.  You can try to beat it, but 9 out of 10 times you will come out on the losing side of the traffic battle.  It’s just part of the experience.
• 9. The Teaching- The teaching is always second to none and you are guaranteed to walk away with some new tools for your life and leadership toolbox.  You will learn or your money back.  I’m not sure about the money back guarantee, but I would be willing to bet not many people would request a refund.
• 10. The God Moments - There will always be those moments where you will find yourself day-dreaming about the BIGness of God.   It’s awesome to watch God orchestrate the collective hearts of 12,000 people in a room. You will experience those God-Sized whispers challenging you to dream BIG. think BIGGER.

What Makes Catalyst Great?  Share your thoughts and experiences on the Catalyst Conference?

Flavor Fest is the Largest Urban Christian Leadership Conference on the planet. It’s happening October 6-9 in Tampa Florida. My man Tommy Kyllonen aka @UrbanD813 and his team lead and host this conference every year. I’ll be there in 2012. Check out the promo video and invite your friends to Flavor Fest 2011.

This is funny…
When was the last time that you tried something new? Remember life is about trying.

I have been reading blogs and writing this blog for quite some time now, around 5 years to be exact. I have seen lots of trends in the world of blogging during those 5 years.  One of the more copious trends is individuals who set out in a furious sprint to be an avid blogger, only to find their blog desire come to a screeching halt.  As a matter of fact probably 50% of the bloggers that are featured on my blogroll probably have not updated in well over a month and many have forgotten about their blog altogether.

10 Reasons Many Blogger Start… Only Few Finish!

• 1. Don’t have the right motivation to start a blog: Often times bloggers want to be the next Seth Godin or have so many people read their blog it crashes servers.  That’s definitely a motivation; however a great place to start from as it relates to motivation is simply this – write because you have something to share and you want to share it… period.  Ask: What’s my motivation?
• 2. Don’t realize the commitment: The commitment that it takes to whip out consistent content is often times overlooked.  Just as sure as the next calendar day is coming, so is the commitment to write another blogpost.  Having the commitment to produce consistent content is key.  A blog is like a newspaper and if you expect it to be delivered daily and all of the sudden it’s not… you will start reading another newspaper.  Same things is true for a blog.  Ask: Am I committed to this?
• 3. Don’t take the time to develop a strategy: Strategy is very important, how, when, why etc.  Abraham Lincoln says is this way, “If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend 6 hours sharpening my ax.” Ask: Do I have a blogging strategy for success.
• 4. No one is reading:  It takes the right motivation, commitment, consistency, strategy, good content & patience before people will start reading.  There are some overnight success blog stories, but most success is a result of bloggers grinding it out.  Ask: Am I willing to write even if no one is reading?
• 5. Nothing To Write About: Bloggers will quickly lose motivation as they lose creativity and inspiration.  What once started as a great place to share creativity, turns into an “Oh no, I don’t have anything to write about.”  This is where a strategy for the what and how to write will be helpful.  It’s important that bloggers find sources for inspiration and push threw the periods of creative blocks.  Even if you don’t have anything to write, write something, it’s the consistent act of writing that’s helpful.  Ask: Am I going to be intentional to seek out places for consistent inspiration & motivation?
• 6. Not willing to learn: Every blogger has their own style and rhythm; however it’s important from bloggers to learn from other bloggers.  Bloggers could address every concern in this post if they would simply learn from others who are a few steps ahead of them.  Do you have a photography blog, make it a consistent point to read some of the best photography blogs in the world.  Need some inspiration or want to learn from one of the best bloggers there is, read Seth Godin’s blog.  Simply put, bloggers give up because they are not learning from the bloggers that finish strong.  Ask: Am I willing to learn from other bloggers?
• 7. Lack Of Discipline: Discipline is defined as activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill.  Most bloggers simply lack the discipline to make it work over a period of time.  Ask: Am I gonna put in the work over time to create discipline?
• 8. Lack Of Comments: Often times bloggers confuse comments with the degree of engagement.  There is sometimes a positive correlation between readers and comments; however over the years I have come to realize that some of my more popular posts didn’t necessarily always have the most comments, as a matter of fact on average you get about 1 comment per 100 readers.  Some bloggers have created communities that can drastically skew that number either way.I believe the Twitter Effect On Blogging has impacted comments overall.  Bloggers must be willing to write even though no one is commenting and try the 10 Techniques To Get More comments On Your Blog. Ask: Will I still write even though no one is commenting?
• 9. Don’t Want To Invest The Time: Blogging is a serious time commitment and most people do not want to invest the time necessary for the blog to be successful.  Michael Hyatt outlines a very detailed post on How To Write A BlogPost In 70 Minutes Or Less. That may seem like  a lot of time, if you want to be good, you will have to invest some time.  Ask:  Am I willing to invest the necessary time needed for my blog to be successful?
• 10. The Time Has Come: I believe that there is a time for everything, including a time to start and a time to finish.  Sometimes bloggers need to be intellectual honest and admit that their blog season has run it’s course.  It’s okay to just move on. Ask: Has my blog season come to an end?

Don’t simply start the race… Finish!

Why do you think Many Bloggers Start,  Only Few Finish?  Share your thoughts and experiences of bloggers not finishing the race.

I have seen the original spoken word version of this video in the past.  This new version of the video brings some cinematography and visuals to help tell the story and poses a real question: How Bad Do You Want To Be Successful?

When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breath, you will be successful.  Most people say they want to be successful but they don’t want to give up anything.  You have to give up something, often times many things to succeed.

Want some inspiration…  Watch this video.

Share your thoughts on this video and what it takes to be successful.

Leadership Development is one of those terms that people throw around with ease, often times without embracing the true essence of what it’s all about. The reality is that leadership development is one of the ultimate callings of leadership. Without leadership development, there cannot be the reproduction of more leaders.  Without the reproduction of more leaders, the evolution of leadership begins to cease.

The problem with leadership development is the fact that it takes time, creativity, patience, thoughtfulness and too many other descriptive words for a single blog post.

Leadership development requires a leader to focus on the success of those they lead, while simultaneously focusing on the vision of the organization.  Those things do happen simultaneously and are not mutually exclusive.

If leaders have a genuine interest and commitment to make sure that those that they lead are successful, that’s development.  It requires varied approaches, pushing through struggles and recognition that if individual team members win in their respective role, the overall team wins.

The bottom line is that Leadership Development takes time, energy, focus, putting your arm around a team member and helping them to win.  Often times leaders confuse Leadership Development with an event, program or formula.  Events and programs are only minor elements to a successful Leadership Development equation.  Genuine care, concern and individualized focus on team members’ success trumps a program, event or Leadership Development lip service every time.

Genuine Leadership Development always inspires a deep inner desire for self-development. Talk about a win-win situation.  The leader genuinely cares about the development of team members and moreover the team members are inspired to care more acutely about their own development.

Leadership is more than a title, position or a corner office.  It’s about propelling the vision of the organization that you are leading while simultaneously helping others win.  Remember it’s always easier to get rid of someone than it is to develop them.  Leadership is always about making the right decision and a swift decision to fire someone without genuine development, often times is not the right decision.

If you look at Jesus and his Disciples, he kept the vision in focus while simultaneously putting his arm around his Disciples and developing them over time.  Development takes time, Leadership Development is Leadership.

I appreciate the founder of  Firestone Tires, Harvey Firestone sums up the call of Leadership development.  He says,  “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”

If You’re Not Developing… You’re Not Leading!

How would you describe Leadership Development?  Share your thoughts and experiences?

Is Not…

• 1. Email: Stop thinking that you you have to answer every tweet, read every tweet and when you miss some tweets, stop feeling like your twitter inbox is full.  Imagine Twitter as a River and Not as a Lake. Twitter is not email!
• 2. A Chat-room: Don’t think that it’s appropriate for  you and your friends to have an open stream of conversations that last 15-20 tweets, unless your are directly @replying to them.  DM is a great place to chat. Twitter is not a chat-room!
• 3. A Porn Site: Take your soft porn and bikini profile pics somewhere else, everyone knows that you just cropped the pics from the web and you really aren’t impressing anyone and don’t get me started on the random, ridiculous spammy links to vulgarity.  Fortunately, twitter porn people seem to be dying a slow death, you know why: Twitter is not a porn site!
• 4. Your Little Black Book-  For those of you that may be too young to know what a Little Black Book is, it’s a term that was often used for personal address book or personal rolodex. If you think that you have to personally know everyone that you follow or follows you, you are missing the point of Twitter.  You don’t have to personally know all of your tweeps; however you can make some great friendships and connections. There are many great applications and list features to help you manage your Twitter rolodex.  Twitter is not Your Little Black Book!
• 5. The Barney Show- Don’t feel like you have to sing the “Barney Song”  with everyone in the Twitterverse “I follow you, you follow me… we are one big happy twamily, with a great big follow from me to you, won’t you say I’ll follow you to.”  You can reciprocate follows if you want to, especially if they seem interesting, seem like someone you want to connect with, a celebrity you like, add value to the conversation, have similar interests/backgrounds, are not spammers etc.  Additionally, there is definitely nothing wrong with following everyone, as it’s a matter of preference.  The bottom line is don’t feel obligated to follow-back anybody and everybody, keyword “Obligated.” Twitter is not The Barney Show!
• 6. A Courtroom: Just because you have a contrarian opinion about something someone tweeted, doesn’t mean they’re going get into a courtroom debate with you in the TwitterSphere.  They tweet an opinion and you comment on that opinion, or you tweet and they comment and it should probably stop there.  Don’t try to round up 12 of your @ buddies to be jurors and get your back in some kind of war of the TwitterSphere debate.  Twitter Is not A Courtroom!
• 7. Facebook: There are many similarities between Twitter and Facebook and many people have Facebook and Twitter linked together; however they are not one in the same.  The two platforms perform two different functions, although some people are still divided about which one they prefer.  Twitter is simple, easy and a great place to get instant information and Facebook is not.  Facebook is making a bunch of cha’ ching and Twitter is not. Yet!  Although they both may be from Arkansas and are kissing cousins.  Twitter is not Facebook!
• 8. Faceless: Although Faceless may be an Arkansas relative to Facebook, it’s not related to Twitter.  Faceless is absent of a face.  Make sure that your profile pic. is a real picture of you or your brand’s logo.  The pic. should be a tight shot, preferably a head-shot; no full-lengths or far-away shots. Don’t waste your time with the Avatars; you’re too unique to have some computer generated version of you. The Twitter Egg for a profile pic is the lamest of lame, if you take the time to set up an account, take 2 minutes to add a pic.   Your profile pic. is one of the most important aspects of your profile, as people need to know who you are before they listen to what you have to say.   If you are using your brand or logo, make sure it’s scalable to make sense for a Twitter profile pic.  Check out these examples of the 30 Types Of Twitter Profile Pics.
• 9. Google+: There seems to be a lot of chatter about the greatness of Google+ and I’ll be honest and say I have an account, I’ve made some connections and see some potential; however I’ve simply yet to become a fan.  I’m a fan of Twitter, I’m not yet a fan of Google+.  Maybe I’ll be converted at some point, as of now it’s Google-.  Twitter is not Google+!
• 10. Monkey-See–Monkey-Do - Although I’ve shared many things that Twitter is Not, it’s important to realize that Twitter is a place for you to be you.  Don’t feel like you have to be a copy cat, or follow this trend, or because everyone is now doing this or that — you feel like you have to do this or that.  Stop with the mimicry, be yourself.  Twitter is not Monkey-See–Monkey-Do!

There are so many things that Twitter Is and even more things that Twitter Is Not! Share your thoughts on any of these 10 Things Twitter Is Not and add some additional things to the Twitter Is Not list.

It wasn’t long ago that I was having a conversation with a leader of a major Christian organization. Somewhere in our conversation the statement was made about a particular pastor truly being a “Good Guy.” We both kind of paused for a minute and I had this moment of realization that there seems to be this presupposition that maybe most are not “Good Guys.” This doesn’t only apply to pastors, but Christians in general.

I will hear people describe certain pastors, Christians, leaders etc. as seriously one of the “Good Guys.”  This doesn’t imply that everyone else is bad; however there is something to the pre-determined distinction of being one of the “Good Guys.”

Maybe you have never thought about it, but you have probably found yourself in a conversation or thought process of referring to some as: “A really good dude,” “The Real Deal,” “Seriously a good guy,” or “One of the good guys in ministry.”

Am I reading too much into this, or is there something a little off base when the assumption would be that christian leaders, leaders who are Christians and pastors are not the “Good Guys?” Or the fact that only a small percent seem to get the “Good Guy” disclaimer?

What happened to the Good Guys?

Have you ever thought about this?  Do you have an opinion as to why?  Share your thoughts.

This is the christian version of a drive by shooting, I think innocent bystanders may have been injured. Watch this video and share your thoughts!

I found this link from my man @holycowcreative and he got it form @jesusneedsnewpr. (HT: to those guys for the name and link)

When it comes to work, life, achievement and success we have always been trained to “Focus On Your Job!” If you want to get better, you need to Focus On Your Job! I would agree that it’s important to give attention and priority to our jobs, as they are the primary source of paying the bills, providing for our families and fulfilling the mission of the organization we have committed ourselves to.

Additionally, I would argue that you “Shouldn’t Focus On Your Job!”  What I mean by this is I think it’s equally, if not more important for people to spend time focusing on their dreams and passions. If you only focus on your job and not your dreams, I believe that you can squelch your inner creativity, energy, passion and zeal.

I have always encouraged those that have worked for me to spend time during the weeks and months focusing on their dreams and passions.  Sometimes that time would be within the workday and others would be outside of the workday.  It’s not a matter of when you give time to your dreams, it’s a matter of giving your dreams and passions some dedicated attention and focus.

As I look back at some of my employees I encouraged to “Not focus On Their Job,” I can see the path of their dreams becoming a reality.  Several individuals whom worked for me when I was a young prison warden, are now business owners living out some of their dreams, by operating their own counseling agencies, one of them being one of the largest in the state of Oklahoma.

Theses particular individuals were all super-performers for our organization, while simultaneously spending time focus on the dreams and passions that God had placed inside of them.  It was a Win-Win situation.  I have seen this play out effectively with many individuals, on several different teams and in numerous types of environments.

I know this may seem like are asking individuals to slight their job or not give their priorities full attention.  That’s not the case at all.  It’s a simple matter of helping those on your team to be energized, motivated, encouraged, inspired and better by sipping from the inner fountain of their dreams.

Dreams are like stars, although you may never touch them — if you follow them, they will lead you to your destiny.

dream BIG. think BIGGER.