BLOG: G2G 13-17

This section is rather interesting as a reader because not only does it talk about how to transform a situation and people, but the challenges in getting there because the steps are difficult, but in the end it is worth, The first example is Roger Briggs and what he did when he became a teacher in Boulder, Colorado and how he transformed the school he was teaching at, but also finding great teacher to partner with him on this journey. Then there is Wendy Kopp, a Princeton graduate who wanted other graduates from high end universities to teach low-income kids for their first couple years after graduating. She began gathering support and reaching out to recent graduates and began filtering the good from the great because she knew what it was going to take in order for this process to be successful. Both these people had to convince others that it was worth filtering out, holding to the strict standards that have been set, and willingness to commit to a long term project.

 The hardest part of moving from good to great is the process because as Christians we are to be more like Christ and less like ourselves, but the only way we do that is the process. It's like the refiners fire or the potter's hand shaping us into what we are meant to be. Often as Christians we get content with where we are at and forget that we are to look more like Christ and less like ourselves; you see this is the same transition from good to great. A great leader in the church will motivate you as a follower, he will challenge you, and at times test you with how far you are willing to go with your relationship with Christ. You see in the New Testament there is constant language talking about being transformed which means to look like Christ, to throw off everything that entangles us and run the race marked out for us. However we need to remember we have the greatest teacher and that is Christ himself, he is the perfect example of how we should be striving to be greater than who we are now. People give up along the way, get content, or get scared that God might ask them to do something beyond what they are comfortable doing and for whatever reason people just stop right there, Sometimes the journey is was separates the good from the great, not the number of messages preached or how popular they became with the culture. To be great you don't need to have a huge impact, just look at Roger Briggs he started small and made a huge impact on the students where he taught.

Blog: G2G 9-13 Issue Two

From the start of this section of the book Good to Great right a way we see is a picture of what leadership should look like in a cooperate office as "Frances Hesselbein was named CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.(G2G9) " She goes on to explain that she is not at the top of cooperate ladder for her orgaization, rather she plays an integral role as she makes people aware of the realities facing younger girls such as teen pregnancy and alcohol use which helped bring a realization of what they are facing in our society. This whole sections focuses on what makes a level 5 leader and how we as becoming leaders can avoid making the mistakes. The big focus is on the level 5 leader who is at the top of the pyramid and defined by, "someone who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." The essence of a leader is different than the use of power, a leader is someone who inspires you to do something while power can be used to force you to do something that you may or may not agree with.


This book has a lot of ways that a person can become a better leader and by doing so they go from good to great; not overnight though as everything is a process. It is often easy for me to see the good leaders who want to improve versus those who are content with where they are at. If we are going to good leaders for our churches then we need to be willing to improve and become something better than before, emulate Christ. Leaders don't sit behind the desk and wait for their staff to do what they ask, but out front with their people working with them. That is something I always appreciated in the military was most of our leaders were there before and knew what was expected of us, they understood the challenges we faced. Sometimes people have false expectations, humility, and accountability which causes failings whether morally or ethically.

Blog: IYH 280-299

There are three topics covered here, the first being how we can use meetings to maximize our productivity and the second being One on One Meetings, and thrid using the input from others in coordination to focus on the goals. Starting with "Meetings Can Be Maximally Productive" there is six basic steps that the book lists to help beginning with: 1) What's the purpose we are here or the agenda?, 2) Get peoples opinions, ask them for their thoughts, 3) Use your knowledge and know the facts, 4) Decisions need to be made for or against, to move forward or not, 5) Hand out tasks to each person, everyone needs to play a part, and 6) Be willing to follow up with each to mark progress or to discuss problems. One on One Meetings is short with 4 clear points ranging from having a clear focus, listening to each, affirming what the other person said, and agreeing on what the next steps should and making them clear so no neither person is confused.At the end we Coordinating Input From Others: Keep It Focused and how the leader of employees, volunteers, or fellow staff takes their input then uses to help project the goals of the group. There are different paths each person will take that the leader is guiding in sharing their input, but the trick is keeping everyone on task, making sure it's relevant to the topic at hand. Here are four basic steps to ensure the input is on track with the topic.


There are a couple things to draw from this section that directly correlate with my experiences not only with the Army, but in life in general the first being utilizing the meetings for maximum efficiency. To often than not meetings are long, drawn out processes that don't really accomplish anything therefore when being in meetings that are actually working toward a goal there is a relief. I have found this to be true in my life when being a volunteer, in the Army National Guard, and working with other volunteers  at times to understand the tasks at hand. One on One meetings are tricky in my opinion simply because if the leader isn't well versed in these type of meetings the other person can be left feeling unheard. It is necessary to have skills in one on one meetings

Blog: Death by Meetings

The basic thoughts behind this podcast is at what point do meetings become pointless and how can we as leaders keep them beneficial because there seems to be a point where meetings become useless. We've all been in meetings that have been painful to sit through and that nothing was really accomplished, so the challenge is to only have meetings when it is really necessary. Also the need to understand when people disagree with your ideas or have a negative response; that it's not an attack on your person. There becomes a point when people hate meetings, that is what needs to be avoided and I think there needs to be an evaluation of how the meetings are going to help understand what is happening or not happening.

Personally I have been a part of mandatory meetings which have been the death of me, but never meetings in a corporate or work setting because most of my jobs haven't required them. This podcast however highlights necessary information for those who are facing these meetings which are causing them to hate their jobs. The leaders or whoever is running the meetings needs to take ownership and figure out what needs to change in the meetings for them to be effective. Meetings are meant to be a time of information sharing or brainstorming ideas that can be used to further organization or business's projects and plans for the future.

Blog: IYH 646-665

Communication is necessary when working others to complete goals, tasks, or just sharing personal information with a friend. However there are proper ways to communicate and then there are wrong ways to communicate and in this section there are desirable ways along with examples listed along with their definitions. Right a way there are three basics for ongoing communication: why, their task, and result, each playing a different role when working with others, this lets your co-workers or the people you are leading know that you care. TLC2 talks about two seperate equations for TLC, the first being Two-way, Leading edge, and Circular; the second Tools, Leadership, and Consideration.

Basically what is being outlined in this part of the book are effective tools for proper communication and ways to acknowledge the people you are leading that they are being heard. With poor communication skills co-workers, volunteers, and employees will go about being frustrated and not feeling like you or I am hearing what they have to say. There are plenty of times in my life time when poor communication has caused serious issues between individuals or two parties which causes a lot of unnecessary frustration on both parts. This book and the material in it share very basic concepts, but are still valuable tools. I know I talk a lot about my military experiences, but communication was paramount and in some cases life or death. So when we talk about communication there needs to be an application to what we are learning or what good does it do? We go about reading it, but really do we learn anything?

Blog IYN: 248-251

Sometimes there are challenges which almost seem impossible when alone, but there are times when a group of people working together runs into those same challenges. This is when the competency of the group is outweighed by the size of the obstacle or challenge. What needs to happen to overcome the challenge is a higher level of competency, but some observations must be made before that can happen. When empowering people, the challenge must be lower then the competency, when the challenges are beaten then they get higher and so does the competency, and for one to maintain the empowerment competency must improve. There are other problems that one can run into when empowering employees is they can reach capacity of their skills or the empowering plateaus in which case they need harder challenges.

In my life there has been times when I had to face obstacles where in my eyes the obstacles were bigger than anything I could climb, for a long time it burdened me. Then something happened as I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, my squad leader called me out. Even when I came back to Christ obstacles just seemed to be another piece of the puzzle with managing school work and life. Empowering people doesn't just impact them, but it directly impacts everyone else they come into contact with because they see what you accomplished and they push the limits in their lives. My story seems like one challenge after another honestly, but I'm a better person for it.

Blog: IYH: 60-69

When working with employees to reach their goal one needs to take a certain look at what is needed and this part explains five helpful tips that you can teach your employees, volunteers, and ministry workers. There are five basic skills 1) Communication, 2) Initiation, 3) Direction, 4) Education, and 5) Delineation. Starting with communication this is something that needs to be constant, but not overbearing in the sense that they think you are micro managing them and they need to know that they can ask you questions. The only stupid question is the one that's not asked. Initiation is the being able to start the process, to be willing to volunteer yourself for projects knowing that this will not only benefit you, but others around you. Direction is simple, by showing others where they need to go or what the best path for them to take you give them a vision. Direction is key when working towards a common goal. Education is the means of having proper training so your employees know that they have been equipped. Delineation is the ability to allow your employees to make contributions and not putting the organization at risk.

This section is pretty self explanatory honestly, it just highlights what you need to instill in your employees, volunteers, staff, and so on to have a successful organization, but the reality is here is how many business miss this. The five skills that the book highlight are good, but my experiences don't really line up with them, but there are definitely aspects of these five that I've learned in my life and they have helped me when working with others toward a common goal. One job stands out specifically this summer where me and two co-workers were helping this lady pack her belongings so she could move back to Texas. My boss who just happens to be my friend leaves me inside to help them as I am the more experienced packer/mover which allowed me to make decisions on what goes where and work closely with the client and her mother. I had all the skills necessary to accomplish the tasks that were before, it was rather humbling in the sense because not only did the client trust me, but my friend did which was great because the job went smoothly. Everything this sections talks about I would say is much needed in the working world and in our churches because sometimes I think we forget about our staff at our churches and they may not be sure of themselves when they get tasked with a big project. But this is applicable to every day life as well, to mentoring and I would even say raising children.