Catalyst Part 1

Reflections on Session 1 of Catalyst....

Andy Stanley – pastor of a large church in Atlanta – opened the Conference with a great message on leadership from Daniel 4. He reminded us that “The Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them to anyone he wishes.” And because of that we must remember several key things. First that leadership is stewardship and is temporary. Ultimately we are stewarding something that God is doing that will long outlast us. Because of that we are always accountable in our leadership – to him, not to man. And if we lead, we must lead with:

1. Diligence - God has specifically called and put you where you are then you need to get up every morning and lead w/every diligence you can find because you are there ON PURPOSE.
2. Fearlessness – If God is sovereign, who shall we fear? We are not working for men. We are accountable to men, but we don’t work for them or need there approval.
3. Humility - This should be our hallmark. Why aren’t Christians known for their humility, for their ‘level 5 leadership’? There is no room for an ounce of spiritual arrogance in spiritual leadership
   

Interesting how God continues to expound on this approval of God vs. approval of man idea and how we shouldn’t feel feel any pressure or stress if we are walking in the ways of the Lord.

In typical Catalyst fashion, the Marcus Buckingham introduction was all out crazy. Plenty of references to Marcus’ house in England (where he’s from) – Buckingham Palace, a Beatles ‘worship’ medley, a parade of British flags and the Royal mounted guard (of some sort – more like the knights of the roundtable) and a question as to why the British anthem is “God Save the Queen” (Is she not saved?). Buckingham, if you don’t know, is a great cutting edge developer of management. He has written 3 books – First Break All the Rules, Now Disover Your Strengths, and The One Thing You Need To Know.

This was the first time I have ever heard Marcus and all I can say is – wow. This is a sharp guy who truly understands culture, organizations and developing managers. He focused mainly on his idea of developing strengths not focusing on weaknesses. He was saddened that more Americans are actually focused on fixing their weaknesses today than they were 6 years ago when his book first came out (41% in 200, 36% now focus on improving their strengths over fixing their weaknesses).

"Very few of us," he concludes, "actually spend the majority of our time doing those things that bring the best out in us." I am very lucky that I feel like I'm in the 2 out of 10 people who are doing this on a consistent basis.

He had an incredibly real and vulnerable segment on managers, and how he wasn't a good manager even though he's a heckuva consultant on mangement. The one thing you need to know about great managers, he notes is that they “find out what is unique about each person and capitalize on it.”

I could go on for hours about Buckingham, but it’s best left to his books. I will leave with this illustration of the differences between the myth of developing your strengths verses in your own life and in the context of teams and managers verses the truths:

	3 myths	3 truths
As you grow...	your personality changes	You become more and more who you are
You grow the most	In your weakness areas	In your areas of greatest strength
What the team needs is	For you to ‘chip in’	For you to volunteer your strengths most of the time