One of the things I enjoy about living in Colorado is the changing of seasons.  Don't get me wrong: having an average daily temperature of 70.5 degrees (as we did in San Diego) is not all that bad.  But I enjoy the turning of leaves, a crisp morning, and a fireplace at a night.  I'm not necessarily a big fan of shoveling snow - nor do I expect it to grow on me. Just as the world around us goes through seasons, we experience seasons in life.  It might generational seasons, such as youth, adolosence, middle age, etc.  It might life-stages such as marriage, parenting, or retirement. Spiritually-speaking, seasons may come in the form of dry bouts where we pray but nothing seems to happen.  Or it could be a season of growth, a time of seeing God work in ways we never imagined. Leadership has its seasons, too. Any…

Another excerpt from the review of "The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs" at Leading Blog. Say No to 1,000 Things. Simplify. Think differently about design. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, according to Jobs. From the designs of the iPod to the iPhone, from the packaging of Apple’s products to the functionality of the Apple website, innovation means eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. Jobs: "I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do." I've met many pastors who struggle to say no.  No to meetings, no to appointments, no to people.  By not saying no, they overstretch and over-commit.  Eventually they might even burnout. The same is true in our approach to ministry, be it evangelism, education, or worship.  We sometimes say yes to too many things.  We try to fit everything into a calendar, or shoe-horn multiple elements into a…

Another excerpt from the review of  "The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs" at Leading Blog. Do What You Love. Think differently about your career. Jobs advises, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. ...My goal wasn't to die the richest man in the cemetery. It was to go to bed at night saying, we've done something wonderful." You can tell when a person loves what they do.  And you can tell when they don't. If you're going to spend 40-60 hours a week at a job, it should be about more than just earning a paycheck.

Another insight from the review of "The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs" over at Leading Blog. Sell Dreams, Not Products. Think differently about your customers. To Jobs, people who by Apple products are not “consumers.” They are people with dreams, hopes, and ambitions. Jobs builds products to help them fulfill their dreams. "Some people think you've got to be crazy to buy a Mac. But in that craziness, we see genius" says Jobs. How do you see your customers?  Or your worship attenders?  Or even your classroom students? By tapping into the dreams, hopes, and ambitions of our volunteers, we are providing them with an environment to thrive.  This requires alignment: matching their hopes and dreams to the mission or purpose of the service or ministry. Selling products can get old after a while, even when they are faith-based "products."  Selling dreams is a different matter.