Big Is The New Small

Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching.

If you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.

Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.  Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.  Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”  Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.

Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. To Be a Responsible Citizen.

This is a profound rant that describes how we should live and what we should do (aka Romans 12:6-21 MSG ).  Sometimes I have to read the Message Version, because the “real talk” speaks loud and clear.

This Is How You Should Live…  Don’t try to be something that you aren’t!

In the world of leadership you will often times hear various leadership phrases and sayings that I like to refer to as Leadership Colloquialisms.  You know the phrases that every leader has come to be familiar with such as: Walk The Talk, Lead By Example, Attitude Reflects Leadership…

Let’s unpack the Leadership Colloquialism known as “Leading-Up.”  Leading-Up basically means that a leader challenges and exerts their leadership prowess at that next level or higher.  This doesn’t mean that the leader attempts to flex their leadership muscle with their boss.  It simply means that a leader challenges, leads-up and ads value to the organization by being willing to push appropriate organizational envelopes.

Leading-Up is less about the leader being willing to lead-up and more about the leadership culture embracing leading-up.  Leading-up absolutely will not occur if the culture doesn’t truly embrace it.  I love creating a culture of leading-up and having team members that are willing to lead-up.  Not only am I regularly challenged, but it also affords me the opportunity to learn from individuals up and down the organizational chart.

If you want people to Lead-Up, create a culture that allows it.  If you want people to Lead-Up, be prepared for strong opinions.  If you want people to Lead-Up, don’t hire yes men and women, hire leaders.  If you want people to Lead-Up, you better walk the talk and remember that attitude reflects leadership captain.

Share your thoughts on Leading-Up and your experiences with the ability or inability to Lead-Up!

There are many different uses for Twitter, as well as many different types of Twitter users.  This post will categorize the types of people you will find on Twitter into a Top 10 list of sorts.

10 Types Of People On Twitter:

1. TwitStalker- This person enjoys stalking not only celebrities but also many of the people that they follow.  These are the people that will hardly ever send a tweet, but know what everyone on their list is doing.  Twitter search is their best friend.
2. TwitHater- This person hates on other Twitterers.  They’re the ones that say “So and so’s tweets are stupid, I can’t believe they have that many followers, There is no way they can keep up with all of those people and will even say Twitter is stupid, even though they have an active twitter account.”
3. TwitWit- Nitwit is defined as being scatterbrained, silly, foolish or stupid person.  I think you get the drift on this one.
4. TwitReplier- This person rarely tweets anything of their own; however if you look at their profile page you will see @reply  after @reply.  Their motto is “You talk and I’ll talk back.”
5. TwitPro- This person has the word guru or the likes in their profile.
6. TwitBot- The annoying but yet sometimes effective robots in the Twitterworld.
7. TwitSeller- This person attempts to sell more things than Craig’s List and E-bay combined.
8. TwitFeeder- This person uses their Tweets as an RSS feeder allowing you to know that their latest blogpost is up and ready to go. Sample Tweet- “New Post: 10 Types Of People On Twitter.”  They will even tweet this post similar tweets promoting the same blogpost several times a day.  There is a good chance they have read Twitterblogoly.
9. TwitStar- This is the annoying, stupid, ridiculous, XXX slime of the Twitterworld.  They promote their pornography mess anyway and anyhow.
10. TwitOl’Boy or TwitOl’Girl- (Sing the Dukes Of Hazard song as you read this one: “Just GoodOl’Boys, Never meaning no harm…”) This is the regular good ol’ Twitterer. This person simply tweets, re-tweets, responds and interacts in the Twitterworld in their own unique way. Never meaning no harm!

Do any of these Twitter Types resonate with you or those you follow?  Share your thoughts!

Again, there are many more types of people on Twitter than this list of 10.  Please add your own Types Of People On Twitter to this list.  Ready, Set, Go!

I’m Not A Leadership Expert; However, I embrace the fact that God has given me the gift of leadership.  Just like any other gift, the gift of leadership has to be developed.

There are many “Leadership Experts” out there, although they may have the label “Expert” that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have arrived.   They are always in training!  In my opinion George Barna is a Leadership Expert, at-least from the perspective of having research and empirical data to back his leadership thoughts and philosophies.  Barna says this: “Leadership is a gift and calling from God… Genuine leaders are interested in leadership and like sharing it with others.”

I’m Not A Leadership Expert; However…

• I ask God for leadership discernment.
• I encourage, develop and foster leadership growth in those around me.
• I lead out of the natural leadership gifts that God has given me.
• I don”t try to lead like so and so.
• I ask God to reveal and revive my leadership weaknesses.
• I believe that everyone can be a better leader tomorrow than they are today.
• I ask God for confidence and boldness.
• I embrace that genuine care and concern for your team is Priority #1.
• I care less about what people think and more about what’s right.
• I Lead!

I’m Not A Leadership Expert; However, I believe that leaders have a responsibility to to not only grow and develop their team, but a responsibility to grow and develop themselves.   I’m Not A Leadership Expert; However, I know that genuine effective leadership does not happen without effort.

Share your thoughts!

Today I am writing this post for another blogger Ben Davis, who had a host of bloggers writing leadership posts for what he’s calling Leadership Week.  He asked me to share something about leading in the world of Social Media.

My post is below, you can check it out, as well as posts from other bloggers here.

When you read the phrase “Blind Leading The Blind” what generally comes to mind?  The general thought is that people who don’t know what they’re doing leading people who don’t know what they are doing.  I’d like to look at this phrase from a totally different perspective.

In the world of social media there are leaders that grow to have a strong voice and garner a specific following.  These leaders establish themselves through their daily blog posts, daily tweets or daily facebook updates.  They develop a voice that people want to listen to.   Many of the people who follow these social media leaders have never physically met or seen them and vice versa.  Blind Leading The Blind!

Leading in the world of social media can sometimes be more difficult than leading in a traditional leadership/work setting.   The social media leader has to lead purely through relational and content equity.  There is no positional equity, hierarchical leadership or formal boss.  The social media leader has to answer this daily question from each of their followers: “Why should I listen to, or follow you?”  In other words, what are you providing that makes people want to follow you; especially when there are thousands of others who are only a click away.

Here are 5 Quick thoughts to be a successful Blind Leading The Blind social media leader:

1. Can You See What I’m Saying? Find your voice.  Online voice should be a natural overflow of your IRL (In Real Life) voice.  They should not be mutually exclusive, but rather one in the same.
2. When You Look At Me Who Do You See? Don’t try to be a copycat or phony.  Authenticity is crucial, so Keep it Real!  “Do You! It’s A Statement… Not A Question.”
3. Can I See You? Be accessible, helpful, respond to tweets, write a guest post for someone, remember that your online success is based upon those who choose to follow you.  Key word… choose!
4. Can You See My Muscles? Be willing to flex your leadership muscle by tackling the tough issues and providing overall value to the online community.
5. Can You See Me? People can’t follow you if you don’t give them anything to follow.  Just like the newspaper, you need to deliver regular content.  You don’t have to be hyperactive, just active.  Write something, tweet something, share something!

Share your thoughts on any these 5 Blind Leading The Blind thoughts or add some additional to the list.  Why do you follow social media leaders?

I sent out a simple tweet asking this question: “If leaders would do more [blank] & less [blank] things would be better 4 their followers. @replies will be blogpost thx”

The responses were relatively consistent.  The Overall theme is that people would be better off if their leaders were less micro-managing and more empowering, in addition to doing less talking and more doing.

Thanks to everyone who responded.  Here are the 21 Responses:

1. ScottWilliams More developing and less micro-managing.
2. vinceparker If leaders would do more of following Christ & less trying to be Christ things would be better 4 their followers.
3. turnedout more doing and less talking. Having meeting after meeting with no forward progress is boring and exhausting. Get out and DO!
4. chadRarnold More doing and less talking.
5. jvoeltner If leaders would do more [to communicate their vision] & less [micro-managing] things would be better 4 their followers.
6. scribblin …more inspiring, less criticizing….
7. CyndiAKADisneyq Serve more and stop looking to be served.
8. Jake_Roberts If leaders would do more delegating & less on their own, things would be better 4 their followers.
9. vinceparker If leaders would do more leading & less managing things would be better 4 their followers.
10. beckylaswell More planning-ahead & less knee-jerk reacting. More actual friendships & fewer people seen as projects.
11. chuckdennie If leaders would do more PRAYING & less WORRYING things would be better 4 their follower.
12. pastorjeremy If leaders would do more [hearing from God-His Word] & less [hearing from culture] things would be better 4 their followers.
13. pastorjeremy If leaders would do more [listening] & less [imaging-promoting self] things would be better 4 their followers.
14. alittlesongbird less talking, more listening. when appropriate, of course.
15. kizmogirl Blank #1 = Praying Blank #2 = Preaching
16. steven_anderson more Leading & less Talking
17. YvonneLyon listening/talking
18. Jay Shelton [Facebook]- More (Releasing) and Less (Micromanaging)

Share your thoughts on any of these or add to the list.

I’ve always been intrigued by leaders, coaches and teams that use the phrase “Surrounded By The Best!” You would think this would be an obvious or natural response for all leaders “I Want To Be Surrounded By The Best!”  The reality is that many leaders desire to be the best and surround themselves with mediocrity.

The word best is an illusive term; however it’s defined as being of the highest quality, excellence, the best work, desirable etc.  With that definition in mind, a leader should want the best, understanding the fact that they are responsible for developing their team to be the best.  If you look at sports teams that have a tradition of winning and being the best, you will find a head coach that surrounds himself with the best assistant coaches in the business.  You will also find a program where everyone in the country is trying to recruit and hire those assistant coaches.  Why?  It’s simple, they are high quality, desirable and the best.

I was visiting with an executive level leader last week and he was talking about his senior leaders philosophy as it relates their leadership team.  His senior leader said this “I want guys on my team who are high capacity, high quality, I want the best.  I want guys on my team whose phone rings from people outside of our organization.  I want the guys that other guys want.”  I shared a post early this year entitled The Best Leader that outlines OU Head Football Coach Bob Stoops’ leadership and the sending out of 6 head coaches in the last 6 years.

If you want to be Surrounded By The Best, you must embrace these three things:

1. It’s your responsibility to develop your team and give them opportunities to be the best.
2. You have to give those that are “The Best” room to fly, dream big and try new things.
3. You must openly embrace that best will not only be sought after, but sometimes the best will leave and take those best practices other places.

Anyone can be the best with hard work, commitment, dedication, learning, leading and having the willingness to be Surrounded By The Best.

Share your thoughts on Surrounded By The Best.

The LeadNow Conference is a great Conference being held next week in Dallas, Texas.  This event has a great line-up of speakers including: George Barna, Francis Chan, Mark Batterson, Matt Chandler, Anne Jackson, Slam Poet Amena Brown and more.  LeadNow is calling this generation to trade in their pursuit of the American Dream for a world that desperately needs Christ.!

To learn more about the LeadNow Conference and their desire to create a movement of traders click here.

If you would like a chance to win a free ticket maybe even a pair of tickets to LeadNow (each valued at $249) you can do so right here at BigIsTheNewSmall.com. It’s as easy as 1-2-3  1.) Subscribe to BigIsTheNewSmall.com  2.) Find my tweet @scottwilliams offering a chance to “Win A FREE Ticket To LeadNow Conference” and re-tweet it.  3.) Post a comment right here stating “I have subscribed, re-tweeted and would like to go to LeadNow.”   You can also share if there is a particular speaker you would really like to hear from. If you don’t have Twitter, you’re still eligible to win by simply commenting.

Be sure to use and follow the hashtag #RN09 (RightNow 2009) for all of the LeadNow conference happenings.  Everyone who comments will have a chance to win. Comments will be accepted until 11:59p.m. central Saturday Oct. 31st. READY, SET, GO!