Dave Travis Now

WE still believe in Conferences!

I get asked all the time – Why Doesn’t Leadership Network do conferences anymore?

Well – I point them first to our online events that allow us to reach far more people than ever before. In fact there is one next month – Staff Infection. (Go check out the cool intro vid)

And while we will do around 50 leader gatherings this year, almost one a week, these are almost always CLOSED, INVITE ONLY communities and labs where we help teams go from ideas to implementation to impact using our processes so they aren’t really conferences.

BUT WE STILL LOVE TO GO TO CONFERENCES!!

In fact our team has been out across the fruited plains this spring to multiple gatherings of church leaders.

We still believe conferences are a great way to connect with other leaders to be inspired, find new resources and make new friends.

We’ve had folks at Catalyst West, All Access, Uprising, and several others. And in the next few weeks we will have team members at

Exponential – in Orlando next week

Advance2011 – In Raleigh the next week

Catalyst Dallas – In Dallas (duh) the week after that.

And probably a few more my staff is sneaking off to that I don’t know about.

So – go find one to attend near you. Let us know what you find. Give us a shout via email or twitter and let’s try to connect.

Just use the #leadnet hashtag and we will find you.

Black History Month –February 1–#BHM2011 Dr. Benjamin Mays

This is my first installment in the Black History Month series. This series contain inspirational quotes from Black Americans that are good for all people. While some friends will want me to use “African American History Month”, I will use the traditional name to identify it with American born and raised leaders.

The blog post is to give a little background while my twitter @davetravis – will get regular updates of the posts.

Today’s twitter for #BHM2011:

Dr. Benjamin Mays - “It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach.”

The full quote is here: “The tragedy of Life doesn’t like in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having not goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for, not failure, but low aim, is sin.”

Dr. Mays is best known as the president of Morehouse College here in my hometown of Atlanta. I had the privilege to meet him once after he retired from that post.

He continued on in service to the Atlanta community as President of the Atlanta School Board for some years.

He was a mentor to Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other leaders of his era.

I was blessed to be given the quote by a funeral home director here in Atlanta. It is on the back of his business cards. I noted the originator’s name and asked him about his connection. He like many Morehouse men, told me of Dr. May’s strong influence on their lives.

Links of Interest for the Week

Spoke briefly to Todd Wilson of Exponential this week. They are really gearing up on the 10-10-10 initiative for church planting. They had a big promotion this week. This looks like a really good idea and networks lots of folks interested in Church Planting.

http://101010initiative.org/

An article in Church Executive caught my eye on Women in Church Leadership:

http://churchexecutive.com/archives/churches-lose-strength-when-women-are-excluded-in-leadership

I appreciate all the articles usually in the print version of Church Executive. There is also a regular email you should check out. And they have a fairly new web site here:

http://churchexecutive.com

Apparently Ed Young Jr and my old friend Geoff Surratt were on CNN this week with some video about multi site movement:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/07/14/virtual.preaching/

And speaking of multi site churches, an article about a church in Illinois taking over a warehouse for a new site:

http://www.galesburg.com/news/x41631636/Warehouse-to-become-satellite-for-church

This young lady is the daughter of one of our former board members. She runs a not for profit called Universal Giving. I love how she is so transparent about her own need to grow as a leader. Here is one of her recent posts:

http://pamelahawley.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/how-this-ceo-needs-to-grow-flow-chart/

I don’t normally point to our own blogs, but this post over at our books blog by Warren Bird on Hispanic Churches is a must read for understanding our shifting US landscape:

http://books.leadnet.org/2010/07/hispanic-churches-in-the-united-states.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/lnbooks+(Books+%40+Leadership+Network)

I saw a wave of annual reports from churches at the end of last year, but I love the way this church has done a six month vision check in on their blog.

http://blog.buckheadchurch.org/2010/07/15/six-months-

If you have done one for your church, I would love to see it. Please email me the link.

Old friend Doug Lawrence over at Church Central on keeping the relationship strong between pastor and worship leader: http://www.churchcentral.com/blog/3-Ways-to-Have-an-Ideal-Working-Relationship-with-a-Senior-Pastor

I am a Google Chrome user and this was really helpful to maximize the tool:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/use-chrome-like-pro.html

Our research director, Dr. Warren Bird, also sent these along to me.

“This SBC attractional evangelism study might interest you.

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=33294

Note that the used one of my favorite methodologies, which Jim Collins popularized, of comparing an A group with a B group.”

It did interest me. Thanks Warren. I always appreciate good research.

Also: note the “T.D. Jakes Scholars” model of credentialing his staff. It’s the best seminary-connection yet that I’ve read about:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/070810dnmetjakes.1cbf823.html

I agree with Warren and I don’t know why more of our large church clients don’t take this path for training and educating staff. I know there are lots of obstacles to clear with some seminaries but I think the results could be great for both parties and students.

OK, email me with links you think I should see at Dave (dot) Travis@leadnet (dot) org.

And finally for the week: I don’t know the band but I love this album title : What we lose in the fire, we gain in the flood. The Mynabirds.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

What I told the School Superintendents – Part 1

Back in April I had the opportunity to talk to a gathering of public school superintendents from across the country. The group, organized by an organization that acts very similarly to Leadership Network, had come to our Dallas Collaboration Studio to talk about Megachurches and to investigate how we do our work.

For more on the group see http://www.schlechtycenter.org/

It was great fun that day. I had fun telling my stories and drawing on the white boards trying to help many of them get their heads around how megachurches help build communities.

Think for a minute – what do you really know about large scale school systems from the inside? We all have impressions, based on perhaps a school system in our own community or something we saw on the news once or twice. Or perhaps one of your parents was a school teacher. (Like my mother) So we see many schools through their lenses.

It’s the same with other “outsiders” when looking at the megachurch movement in the US. They saw something on the news once, or read it in the paper, or perhaps they are a part of A CHURCH that has its own distinctives, but they don’t have a sense of the diversity and breadth of these organizations.

So my task that day was to talk about Leadership in Large Churches and to talk about the practices that could be adapted by schools.

This series of blog posts will try to capture some of the things I dropped on them that day that were a result of our dialog.

The first one is “This is the best time ever to be a leader.”

More on that tomorrow.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Why is Ed Young Jr. Last?

So the haters of the twtpick list we are doing for THE NINES speakers have really picked up on some of the names down towards the bottom of the list. http://twtpick.in/4k

Every time I turn around people have suggested more names, but Ed Young Jr is at the bottom. I know Ed is not some folks cup of tea or anything, and I can’t vouch for his rap video ability, but this is what I do know:

1. Ed has better hair and wardrobe than I do. Ed is just cool. I am the total opposite.
2. I can only recall meeting Ed in person one time but he was very gracious and very kind to me. Graciousness and kindness go along way with me and those are the type of people I like. (By the way there are some others down near the bottom that apparently lots of folks “dislike” but they have also been very kind and gracious to me. Always.)
3. I am told that Ed goes out to speak at lots of Pastors Conferences and always “leans in” when he is there. He participates joyfully.
4. A lot of my friends go to the Winter conference Fellowship Church does in Dallas and they LOVE IT! They love the creative arts stuff. I have not been personally and I am not much of a creative but they think it is fantastic. They rave about it.
5. I’ve only heard Ed speak a few times and he is 10 times the communicator I will ever hope to be.
6. I know Ed’s dad has had some recent heart surgery and has been the focus of many prayers as I have lived that myself.
7. I am told by other Dallas pastors that Ed often reaches out to them when they have a need and he hears about it. That goes a long way in my book.

OK, THE NINES is going to have LOTS of different speakers. Some you will not like, some you will. Some will be of your theological tribe and some will not. Some will be pastors and some will not. Some will be Christian leaders and some will not.

We think the day will help all participants learn about leadership and reflect on their own experience and come away with some practical insights for acceleration. I hope you will join us.

Watch this space for more news coming soon on THE NINES.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

My Answers to Skye Jethani’s questions.

Last week Skye Jethani had some issues with our twtpick experiment to find some new speakers for THE NINES. He blogged about it. After an email from me, he called. It was a good, pleasant conversation.

In order to help folks understand what we were doing I posted a clarification on our blog and Skye was kind enough to post an excerpt over on Out of Ur, site of his original post.

To further show that it is good in both of our understandings to have disagreements without being harsh, we have agreed to ask each other questions so folks can see a clearer picture.

Skye has posted over at Outofur.com the answers to my questions and I have cross-posted the answers as well on our Learnings Blog.

Skye is, of course, a journalist and editor and I am not. So my answers tend to ramble on. Forgive me.

Skye: You've noted that the Twitter poll has been really effective at generating more names of possible speakers for THE NINES. What other criteria do you use to select the speakers?

Good question and we get it a lot. To keep from rambling on too much, I gave an answer in May in response to our SAGE online conference. You can find that full answer here:

http://learnings.leadnet.org/2010/05/how-do-you-pick-the-speakers.html

I also answer why sometime speakers choose not to participate there.

But in summary, we ask for nominations from our staff, about 15 people. Most of those staff are based across the country and have some wide relational networks. Now many of those nominated comes from those we work with in our regular programs.

As I said in that post: “Most of the speakers have been a part of one of our Leadership Communities, Labs, or the like. Or we have known them forever through our history. So, if you have never been a part of one of our programs, it is hard for us to know you.”

In order to get a blend of speakers we do seek out some interesting stories from people that are friends of friends. And we try to mix people our clients have heard before with people that few have heard. If you were to go back and look at THE NINES last year, Aha! And SAGE this year, you would find that to be true.

I would just also say that we choose to platform people that we think have a story that needs to be told, particularly if they are an 'unknown' voice. We try to cast a wide net.

We ask a lot of people, and sometimes speakers choose not to participate and I cover that in that previous post.

And I will also say – we ask God to have people say “yes” that can help leaders expand and clarify their own leadership as a Christian leader. That means I can listen to someone that I disagree with and still learn something and gain clarity on my own leadership. There are some people on our list that I think I can learn from even though I may not like how they lead, their church, their views, or other assorted baggage they may bring with them.

I think most viewers and participants at any conference are very discerning about what to keep and what to throw out.

Skye: Given all of the shortcomings you and Todd have acknowledged about the Twitter poll, why have you decided it's worth keeping up?

I am the king of shortcomings and failures so people pointing them out really doesn’t hurt my feelings. (or feeling as some of my staff would say)

But like I said in a previous post, despite the fact of sending surveys to thousands of people after last year’s THE NINES asking for recommendations, we got back pitifully few names. And the ones we got were mostly people we had just had on THE NINES. The few that weren’t were people we had slated for future online conferences. So, bottom line, not a lot of new names.

In addition, we did ask some friends on an informal basis and got a few new names.

While I knew almost all of our Aha! And SAGE speakers from being the old man at Leadership Network my guess is that very few others knew the majority.

Now our blog doesn’t have the readership that yours does, but as we have asked via our twitter and blogs, we still tend to get the same names.

Here is the first tweet from two weeks ago from Todd Rhoades, our digital guru:

“I'm making a list of "Speakers You'd Like to See on THE NINES this year" on TwtPickin. http://twtpick.in/4k // Please RT.9:51 AM Jun 14th via twtpickin”

Todd put it out there to his twitter followers. It says, “tell us who you would like to see.” Some have said we should have considered all the implications and unintended consequences of everything we try. Honestly, if we did this, we would never get anything done. If you worry about how a few will respond, we wouldn’t reach very many people.

But we liked the idea to try it. We like trying new things. If things don’t work, we just don’t do them again. We’ve had some faulty programs and events in the past and we just move on to the next idea. We are ok with people not liking the idea.

We had no idea so many people we see or use it. We hoped we could get at least 100 new names and a 1000 people to look at the page. Obviously we have surpassed those numbers.

The site lets people nominate whoever they want, whether we like them or not. Plus it lets us see who nominated them and who is saying “I would like to hear this person speak.” So there is no anonymity to hide behind.

Sure, the template technology, which allows very little tweaking, is limiting. I didn’t figure people would use the “dislike” button much and just eyeballing it, people are using the “like” button 10 times more than the other one. One has to really read into the page to look at this as a 'like'/'dislike' of the individual. This page was created to solicit names of speakers people wanted to hear/see at THE NINES. In that context, 'like' means I'd like to hear them; 'dislike' means I would 'not like' hearing them. Nothing more.

And like I said on my previous post, a high dislike factor means that this person may have some interesting things to say.

It won’t stay up forever, once we get ready to release the “official” site for this year, I think we will leave it alone.

Skye: Have you been surprised at all by the feedback you've received from folks other than me?

Well we have certainly been surprised by how many people have looked at the page and how many suggested folks.

So far, and I know you don’t like it, this little experiment has generated tons of potential speakers. (Over 400) A lot of people, over 12,000, have made a comment. We never get that kind of feedback with any other technology. The number of comments is about ten times the number of any other list on their platform. Which means that the topic of Christian Leadership is ten times more popular than iPad apps right now.

Todd had a call from someone on the list who wanted to be taken off, and we took them off. I had one call from a pastor friend who felt bad for someone near the bottom and said I should have mercy on them and take them off. I told him that I like that person and they had always been gracious to me and that it wasn’t going to influence whether we would invite that person or not.

I was surprised by some names at the bottom of the list because I think they may have a good contribution to the conversation. In fact, I will blog about that hopefully later this week.

Other than a very few bloggers and a few comments on your blog, it’s been pretty quiet, except for the thousands who did vote, and the hundreds who submitted speakers. :)

Now part of that is that we have a pretty solid list of people that don’t like Leadership Network, the churches we serve and how we do it. (Not saying you are in that camp) But part of my job is to keep us focused on our mission and plan and focus on those that are receptive to our point of view.

About the weirdest thing I read was that someone said 9 minutes was not long enough and that 20 minutes is also too short. We think both of those are way too long for this type of format. We find that good communicators can make a good point in six minutes.

Skye: How might a pastor without a publishing deal, a big church, or massive name recognition get a shot at speaking on THE NINES or any other Leadership Network event? How do you try to cultivate new, wise voices?

Well, I sound like a broken record ( I guess you have to old to even know what that is anymore) but I would encourage people to go look and see who spoke at our last three online events and you will see that most of these aren’t authors and don’t speak “on the circuit.” Now many do lead innovative, growing churches but that is sort of our niche. I make no apology for that.

I think some of the best content was on SAGE and Aha! But we only had about 20,000 viewers for those. Go back and check those out! http://sage.leadnet.org and http://aha.leadnet.org

The lists do tend to be dominated by churches that have been in our Leadership Community programs because we get to know them over time. Our Leadership Communities and Labs are high commitment and highly selective. That’s where our process of helping churches double their impact in half the time works. Those are our core efforts.

The things like these online Conference is maybe 5% of what we do. It’s a visible 5% but something that we try to do on a shoe string and borrowed time.

And we have used this list project to gather some new names looking carefully at multiple blogs, twitter trails and web sites to check some folks out. I added four dozen blogs to the additional 250 I already follow to check in with folks. And we are going to seek out some videos from some folks that we have gleaned from the site to try. And others we will save for future online conferences.

Now you suggested that we take three minute videos and look at them.

Actually, we already had in the plan something like that and we will announce that soon.

But we don’t have a full time staff to work on this. We sort of throw things together and hope they work. Even with that, I don’t think we could preview all of them. So, Todd has cooked up a plan for that. At least I hope he has. Like I said, we use this to experiment.

If you are looking for slick and polished stuff, by all means go to one of the really great Christian leader conferences that are happening this fall. We announce a new one in our Leadership Network Advance about every issue. And we go hang out and meet lots of folks at them when we can. But we hold these parts of our program together with bailing string and bubble gum and save most of our firepower for our Leadership Communities and Labs.

In 2009, we had 51 “live” gatherings for Leadership Network things and 1 online conference. Sure the online conference reached a whole bunch of folks, but it’s not our core deal.

Skye: On a positive note, what can we look forward to about THE NINES this year? How will it be different than the last conference?

I hope were having Skye Jethani to share with us!

Well it is going to be shorter. ONLY 9 hours instead of 13. Speakers are going to be limited to 6 minutes.

All kidding aside, we have several new layers we are adding this year that we aren’t quite ready to announce BUT here is what I can tell you:

Everyone can still come for free.

IF you want to buy a beautiful program book with a tentative schedule and run order with notes from many of the speakers, that will be an option.

We are going to have a group party option too!

And a super duper, maximum learning option as well I think.

Perhaps a surprise location that will intrigue some and anger others.

Hopefully, some guests and color commentators “live” that day.

If I sound vague it’s mainly because we have thrown lots of ideas on the page and are now trying to figure out if we can do them all. I am not afraid to have us fail boldly at this type of thing. We learn each time and try and improve the next time.

Hang with us. The best is yet to come. Or at least the better.

If you follow @leadnet on twitter you will get the latest information about our event this year.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

An Open Dialogue about THE NINES' Poll

Introduction: Last week, Skye Jethani, over on Out of Ur, made it clear he didn’t like our twtpick technology as a way of gathering names for Speakers for THE NINES.  I gave an explanation in this space and Skye agreed to run an excerpt. In order to give it a full hearing, we have exchanged some questions for each other. Here are Skye’s answer also cross-posted at http://www.outofur.com/archives/2010/06/an_open_dialogu.html#comments

I hope to post my answers to Skye’s questions tomorrow.

Skye Jethani, managing editor of Leadership Journal, and Dave Travis, managing director of Leadership Network, have been talking about the controversy surrounding THE NINES' poll. Jethani thinks it was a mistake--a poorly communicated idea that has deteriorated into a popularity contest among church leaders. Travis says its been a helpful way to generate new ideas and speakers for THE NINES online video conference. They've decided to have an open dialogue about the issue. Dave Travis has started by asking a few questions about Skye Jethani's objections to the poll. Later this week we'll be posting Travis' response to Jethani's questions.

Dave Travis: Skye – you really didn’t like the list idea at all did you? What was your main issue?

Skye Jethani: Based on the explanation you and Todd gave, I understand the list was intended to build buzz for THE NINES and to do some trolling for new voices. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that motive. It’s the execution that’s worrisome. The open source list has no instruction, no context, no explanation for how to participate, and no details about how you intend to use it. Anyone visiting the page simply sees a list of a few hundred Christian leaders with “like” and “dislike” voting options next to his/her name and photo.

I believe very often “the medium is the message.” The message you intended was one of open participation; you wanted to let the audience have a role in nominating and selecting the speakers for THE NINES. That’s a fine thing. But the medium you chose, this Twitter poll, communicated something very different. It encourages the ranking of church leaders with a simple thumbs up or down. It’s one thing to “like” or “dislike” a person’s book, sermon, or theology. But this site communicated something more, something you did not intend. It asks visitors to “like” or “dislike” a person. In my view that crosses a line and encourages very unchristian values. Again, I know this was not the intention but that is the danger of using a new medium without much reflection. As Todd said, “From the time I saw the application until the page was posted was probably all of three minutes.” Those of us responsible for leading leaders in the church should exhibit more caution when presented with a new medium.

That’s good feedback. I know you have seen some of our thinking now but my guess is that you are still uncomfortable. I get that. Share with the readers some of that queasiness.

Both you and Todd have acknowledged the way the list can be misused and misunderstood. You did not intend for it to be a popularity contest, although that’s how many have seen it. You’ve recognized the problem with the application not allowing you to post instructions, directions, or guidelines for voting. You’ve regretted the “like” and “dislike” language. On your blog and on Out of Ur you’ve listed the numerous shortcomings of the format. So, my only question is--why keep it up? Sure, its generating buzz--and I’ve become an accomplice in that through my objection to the poll--but any positive input it’s provided can be cultivated by other means (which I’ll discuss in a minute). So why not take it down?

One commenter on Out of Ur named Tim made a very good point. He reminded us that pastors face the “like/dislike” judgment every time they seek a new calling, every time they preach a sermon, and whenever a congregation votes them in or out. It often has nothing to do with his/her character, calling, or heart. Tim is absolutely right. Wonderful men and women in ministry face superficial judgments and popularity contests all the time, and over time it can eat away at their souls. As those seeking to equip and encourage these leaders, we owe it to them to not feed the widespread and destructive view that their values is based on such superficial things. Although not your intent, I’m afraid that is what this poll communicates.

We spoke about how Leadership Journal asks for input on writers and interviewees. Explain how that is different.

I know you desire to find new voices for THE NINES, and you want to involve more people in that process. That’s fantastic. No disagreement from me. In fact, that’s what we try to do when pulling together an issue ofLeadership Journal as well. We have two primary ways of accomplishing this.

First, we have a group of about 100 contributing editors--pastors from around the country, from a range of denominations, small and large churches, men and women, urban, rural, and suburban, anglo, African-American, Asian-American, Latino-American, some famous, and many not. As we begin working on each issue of the journal, we contact this group about the theme for the issue. We ask them two questions--what issues related to this topic should we cover, and what leaders/churches should we include? We often get referrals that our writers and editors follow up on. If we find a leader with a great story, a helpful bit of wisdom, or an interesting insight we’ll often include them in the journal. This ensures that each issues doesn’t just include the “big names” but also many “ordinary” pastors.

In the Spring issue of LJ, there was an interview with Francis Chan. We included him because he’s having a significant influence on may leaders in the church. But there were also fantastic articles by Doug Tegner, Brian Hofmeister, and Adele Calhoun--not exactly marquee names in the celebrity Christian world. We found these wise leaders by networking and seeking referrals. One of my greatest joys as managing editor ofLeadership Journal has been getting to know pastors throughout the country--extraordinary women and men with hearts for God and devoted to his work. Most are names you’d never recognize, but they’ve encouraged and educated me in many ways.

But there’s a second way we find great contributors--unsolicited manuscripts and queries. Every month we receive dozens, even hundreds, of queries and manuscripts from pastors around the world...and we read every one of them. Sure, many are passed on, but at least once a week we find one that really grabs us. An amazing story. A bold perspective. A fantastic idea. Not long ago we got a manuscript from Lieutenant Commander Bruce Crouterfield, a Navy chaplain in Iraq about what it means to bring the presence of God into the worst places. It blew us away! We published it. (You can read it here.) If we simply relied on buzz and popularity or even an open-source Twitter poll, Lieutenant Commander Crouterfield would never have been published.

In 1991 we received an unsolicited manuscript from a young, unknown pastor with a BGC church background called “One-Minute Maturity.” It was well-written, and Marshall Shelley, Leadership’s editor, saw potential. He published the piece and began cultivating the young pastor as a writer. Years later John Ortberg was hired by Willow Creek and has since published a few books.

Here’s my point. If Leadership Network and THE NINES want to find new, fresh, wise voices, there are far better ways than a thumbs up/down Twitter poll. Even if the poll produces some new names with a lot of “like” votes, there’s still no way to know whether the person has something meaningful to say. I’d suggest a more substantive process. Try inviting pastors to actually submit a short 3-minute video. Watch them. Have others you trust watch them. Find the best, most insightful, best communicators, and then invite those leaders to participate in THE NINES. Yes, it’s more time consuming than a web poll. No, it probably won’t get as much buzz. But I guarantee you’ll find some amazing, unknown, and brilliant people. And you’ll make THE NINES into a far more helpful online conference for the thousands who participate. And you’ll also avoid the pitfalls of the poll that you’re currently using.

Any surprises in the feedback to your original post?

No, not really. The feedback is a mixed bag. Some agree with me. Some think I overreacted. After blogging on Ur and other sites for a few years I’ve learned that people who disagree are more likely to submit comments then those who agree. You learn to take it with a grain of salt.

One thing we hear repeatedly on our sites and from our readers is that it’s wrong to publicly critique or disagree with the work of other Christians as in the manner I critiqued THE NINES Twitter poll you guys published. However, being in the publishing world means quickly understanding that writing books, articles, or even websites and polls is a form of public discourse. Last year I released a book. I’ve had some positive reviews, I’ve also had some very negative reviews. I don’t expect those who disagree with my book to do so only privately and one-on-one. Nor do I expect them to give me a heads up before publicly disagreeing with something I published. I wrote a book--that’s public dialogue and it means I open myself to public critique and disagreement. (Those in academia learn this well.) Leadership Network published a public poll, and the poll is open to public critique.

From time to time Leadership Journal or Christianity Today will publish a negative book review. The angry letters and blog comments flood in. We’ve often seen Matthew 18 tossed around in such cases. “How could you publicly criticize another Christian like that?” they say. “What about Matthew 18?” But that text is about rebuking a brother/sister for sin, not disagreeing with a brother/sister about an idea. For some reason people have come to think that agreement should be public but disagreement private. In the world of publishing, including online publishing, that’s just not the case.

That’s one reason I’m grateful for this dialogue. We obviously disagree about the poll. It’s not personal. It’s not ugly. It’s not about sin. Yes, opinions are strong, but they don’t have to be kept behind closed doors. It’s about what’s helpful and what’s harmful. And talking about the pros and cons of THE NINES poll can help us all learn and grow more. That’s what public dialogue, and public disagreements, are all about.

Just to make sure, you liked THE NINES last year, you just didn’t like the perceptions of the list. Right?

Absolutely! I was delighted to be a part of THE NINES. Given the tight budgets so many are facing, the idea of a free online conference is a wonderful service to many in ministry. And if invited to participate this year, I will without hesitation. I say keep THE NINES, just lose the poll.

Skye Jethani

Managing Editor of Leadership Journal

Grant by Jean Edward Smith – A Review

I got turned onto this book because a CEO of a major corporation said he was reading it and it would be worth the time.

(Affiliate link here)

Every year I try to read a few military, presidential or political biographies for Leadership purposes. Both types of leaders have to lead very large institutions and as much as you think they might have command and control authority, most of the leadership actually comes from influence.

A well written biography for me shows us the persons great strengths and their great weaknesses. They accomplished much because of both and both are instructive.

Living in the southern United States amongst various battlefields always draws one to the American Civil War histories. I have read the biographies of most of the major generals on both sides and of both presidents. Grant is an excellent bridge character.

On the one hand, the Union Army accelerated its victories under Grant’s leadership but Grant was wise to protect much of the South’s Army, especially its officers, knowing that peace was coming and the nation would need healing. Further, he was pressed into the Presidency after the failings of Andrew Johnson.

Grant is generally remembered as a failed president, but a close examination of his two terms will show a few spectacular failings but lots of good things despite very difficult circumstances.

Some takeaways:

1. I never had grasped how much Grant modeled his military style and operations from his mentor in the Mexican War – Zachary Taylor. His tactics and strategies learned from Taylor carried him to great victories in the future conflicts. Grant was not a star pupil at West Point, but Taylor saw something in him to nurture. And the emphasis on supply lines was well learned by Grant.

1. Grant, even when he was the commanders of all the Armies, traveled and “lived” very simply. It was said that he had a simple breakfast, such as a cucumber sliced with vinegar. He had two small tents, one for sleeping and one for meetings with other generals. A few chairs, a writing table. This was contrasted to many other generals, on both sides, who had elaborate staffs and headquarters operations.

Grant’s example is to travel light.

1. This was the age before much of the electronic communication. Telegraph lines existed but were unreliable. Grant was apparently the master of clear, concise, written communications, a gift I wish I could develop more. His orders were clear to understand for the other units. And coordinating lots of fighters over a wide terrain, takes clear and reliable communication. I think of that often with my own dispersed staff. I have the advantage of telephones, video calls and the like, but clear assignments in writing are invaluable.

1. Take initiative – whether on the battlefield or the Executive Office, Grant believed in seizing opportunities and “taking the fight to the enemy.” His sources of biggest frustrations were generals that waited for conditions to change and be just right, instead of taking the fight directly to the front lines when the enemy was vulnerable. To put it in modern terms, when the momentum is with you, keep the lines moving forward.

Not a short book, but well written and well paced between Grant’s early days as an Army officer, his failure as a private citizen, his organization of volunteers that vaulted him into war leadership and ultimately the Presidency. I would commend it to you as a great vacation book.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw

(fyi: simultaneously released over at http://books.leadnet.org as well)

Wait a second! What in the world is this review doing in Leadership Network Books blog for goodness sake? Who in the world is minding the store over there? Have they gone completely mad?

Who would feature the famously foul-mouthed, foul-tempered author/tv personality/former chef in a blog about leadership?

OK, let me put it out there.

I occasionally watch Bourdain’s TV show on the Travel Channel. I did read Kitchen Confidential. I have looked at a few of this other books. And yes, he is ill tempered, uses language you will never hear, or should hear in church, and his subject of both tv, magazine and books are really a little afield of our normal church leadership subjects.

But I think the man is a brilliant reporter. He has a point of view and there is no mistaking it. You know where he stands. No guessing. Straight at you. I like that.

He values street food and fine food. I like that.

The latest book is Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook is on par with Kitchen Confidential.

Hey, the guy is admittedly a former drug addict and willingly shares all his dysfunctions. He is painfully open about his past. I can appreciate the honesty. If you want to read something by a good, clean, Christian author this summer, this ain’t it.

But I found some incredible value in the book.

First, his writing style is appropriate for the time. So if you just like to read good writing, I say go for it.

Go read the Chapter called “So You Want to Be a Chef” and translate chef to pastor and cocaine and heroin addiction to codependency and approval addiction. Change seminary for culinary school and you will get the drift. Tony’s advice: Don’t go to culinary school before you start cooking somewhere to see if it really fits you. Know how hot it is in the kitchen before going in debt to the ivory tower. I know a lot of young seminary grads that should have taken this advice.

Go read “The Fear” chapter to get a sense of how restaurant operations have coped with the current recession both in positive and negative ways. Ok, yep, churches are different and operate differently. But seeing how these small businesses have morphed in the current age is instructive. Some got creative and survived, some didn’t. Some just quit.

I liked the chapter on David Chang, the hypochondriac creative genius who knows he has hit it lucky and is just not that smart. But he is very open, transparent and is loved because of it.

And finally, I think the best piece of reporting I have read in years is in the Chapter 18 “My Aim is True.” I know you may not care who butcher’s the fish at your seafood establishment, but the description of Justo Thomas and his regular day, is an incredible behind the scenes look at the way a piece of fish turns up on your plate for dinner.

Yes, you will cringe at the language and views of Tony. You will get bored at some of his personal digs at other chefs and tv folks at times if you haven’t watched the show, but it was a great read and for food lovers, a must.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

As Promised – Rick Rusaw talk

On Tuesday I interviewed Rick Rusaw, pastor at Lifebridge Church in Longmont, Colorado, along with Eric Swanson about their new book, Externally Focused Quest for THE SHOW. (http://theshow.leadnet.org)

The archive isn’t posted yet but below you will find Rick’s excellent talk from THE NINES last year. More news about this year’s NINES is below.

Eric and Rick have written several books together over the last few years including:

The Externally Focused Church

The Externally Focused Life

and their latest book, The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church FOR Your Community.

I personally think it’s the best yet in their series.

 

We are trying an experiment right now for this years “The Nines” that has grown out of control very quickly.

Todd Rhoades, our digital guru, decided to try the new twitpik technology to get input on potential speakers for this year’s big day. You can find the list right here:

http://twtpick.in/4k

About 10,000 people logged into it the first 36 hours or so with more signing on to suggest speakers every day. Go check it out.

Now, enjoy Rick’s talk from last year’s show:

It focuses on “what is the best question as we examine our churches?”

 

You can find all of last year’s presenters at http://thenines.leadnet.org.

Look for more news about this year’s Global Event on 09/09/10 in the next few weeks.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network