Combustible Passion

• When people are passionate about what they do, they are far more effective at what they do.
• People come to church to follow Jesus, and get stuck with you (the pastor)!
• It is vital that when people follow you as the pastor, they do not hear a new sound, a different message than the one they heard that caused them to follow Jesus.
• You cannot be a “me too” leader and impassion people.  You have to be authentic… you have to be yourself, not someone else.
• It is amazing how many leaders think success is just maintaining.
• People follow people that move, not those who are standing still.
• As leaders, we need to do a quality check to make sure that the passion exists from the top down to the bottom.
• If you do something that is from your heart, that gets you out of bed in the morning, everything that comes short, God will make up the difference.
• People need to sense the passion that you have as a leader every day.
• Passion is more than emotionalism.  Passion is the fuel that makes the engine go.
• 2 categories of leaders:
  • Builders – leaders that will build out of nothing.  They are better at building than maintaining.
  • Bankers – These people can manage.  They can maintain the builders vision.
• Both types of leaders are needed.  You need to surround yourself with those that are not like you.
• You do not want people that are just like you, you need people who are good at what you are not good at.
• Good teams complete you, they do not compete with you.  They add to you as a leader.

Leader To Leader

• Authenticity: You have to be yourself.  You cannot portray yourself as something that you are not.
• Some people think that they get a certain job and they have to behave a certain way.  They are not true to who they are.
• Energy: You have to energize people around you. Energize them around a vision.
  • How do you energize?  It is not hyping them.  It is getting them to feel the vision, to feel where you are going.  That has to come from the leader.
  • One job of a leader is to raise the intellectual level of those around you.  That is why you higher people that are smarter than you.  If you don’t higher people smarter than you, you will not get any smarter.
• Candor: People need to be able to say what they think.
• Differentiation: He rated employees at his organization.  20% are game changers. 70% are team players and vital.  10% are really dead weight.  People are compensated on the basis of where they are at in the percentages.
  • Candor allows for differentiation.
  • People spend more time fixing the bottom 10%.  They cannot get better.  They need to go to another organization where they will succeed.
  • Attitude and behavior of the top 20%: filled with energy, excite people, good values and they have a gene of wanting to see people grow.  They are not afraid to have great people around them.
  • The vital 70%: Smart, hard working. Necessary and vital.
  • The bottom 10%: not a team player, not hard workers, negative.
  • Disrupters and boss haters are different.  They need to be listened to.  They have some brains.
  • The hallway whisperer is more dangerous than the person with candor.
  • You do all you can for the top 20%.  Raises, conferences, etc.
• Nonprofit does not mean non-performance.  (Many work as if it does!)
• Most leaders wait to long to make the change needed.
• Hiring is hard.  Succession is brutal.
• Leaders need to learn to celebrate the small victories.

Making Conscious Capitalism Work

• TOMS shoes was started as a response to give away shoes.
• Giving not only feels good, but it is a good business strategy, and that is ok.  It is also a good life strategy.
• Not everyone can do what TOMS is doing, but everyone can incorporate giving and serving into their culture.
• Why didn’t Blake start a non-profit instead? (His favorite question) Answer: Resources!  Being for profit gives the resources that are needed to make the greatest impact.
• Blake’s life did not change when he had the idea for TOMS. It changed when he did his first shoe drop and served people by giving to and putting shoes on people.
• TOMS has captured the attention of young people around the world.  Why? Young people today want to have a voice.  They want to do something that matters.  They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
• TOMS represents a lot of Biblical principles.  Probably the most important is the principle of giving of the first fruits.  They have given from day one, even when they were losing money.
• Advice to young leaders: start giving now.