Leadership

The Core: Learning Leadership Where You Are

Tim Morris 6 Comments

Leadership is a big part of being Deliberate as a Man. While so many are not stepping up as men there are those around us that are taking the initiative and making sure the job gets done, making sure their families are taken care of and making sure that the next generation knows how to be men.

We all can make a massive difference but if you are not sure where to start or feel as if you are at stuck and can not get moving again this book will help you get started again or for the first time. Some reading this may be thinking that others do a good job leading I will not worry about it, they will often ask, “Why should I learn to lead?”

This question as to why someone would want to study leadership is a deep one but I believe it really boils down to this simple fact:

At some point in each of our lives, we WILL be called upon to lead, whether we’re ready or not.

The CORE is designed to help you be ready for that moment, whether you intend on leading or not.

Meeting you where you are

Some leadership guides are so intense that it’s almost impossible for a wannabe-leader to know where to start. Tim and Josh take the guesswork out of that by meeting you where you are, and showing you the tools and lessons that have worked for them.

As husbands, fathers, educators, church & organizational leaders as well as a combined 14 years experience in military leadership, Tim and Josh have run the gauntlet of leadership development (and continue to still learn and develop themselves) so that you don’t have to.

It’s said that “a fool learns from his (or her) own mistakes, but the wise man learns from the mistakes of others”. Let Tim and Josh show you their own mistakes, so you don’t have to make them yourself.

You can Download it HERE!!

Earning Success

Tim Morris 3 Comments

From time to time I look through all my old journals and notes hoping to find some lost jewel of a thought that I had forgotten about. Many times these are quotes from books or speakers that I have had the privilege to learn from. I try to always write down some of my key notes that I think would be valuable to me in the future because I know that I tend to do just what I mentioned, go back and look through them.

Well, this past week I did just that and in one of my journals I found a half sheet of paper folded a few times between the pages. Written on it was a great quote I would like to share with you – I am compelled to mention that I have no idea who said it or where it came from so I am unable to give proper credit but I will at least say that it was not from my own pen. Here it is…

Success looks easy to those who were not around when it was being earned.

The reason that this is such a compelling statement for me is that in the present circumstances I find myself in a place where I am doing the hard work. I feel as if I am “earning” it. The fact is that it is not easy. The hard work is continuous. I am always thinking and wondering “How can I better do this or that?”

While I am always thinking through success I have to pause those thoughts for things that I need to do at the moment. The things I am referring to are not bad things or even hard things. For instance I went on a walk a few yeas back with my brother-in-law (he was 3 at the time). We walked for a while, then sat by a pond skipping and throwing stones just to watch them make a splash. It was awesome! The time I spend with him I enjoy, but I want to make sure that I am there in that moment with him physically and mentally. I want to invest in his life any chance that I can. I want to invest intentionally in his life. I want to see him succeed. Plus, it is great practice for me as my own kids continues to grow.

Here is my question: When I am in the midst of the “earning” success, how do I clear my mind from what seems to consume it, the opportunities for success and focus on the opportunities right in front of me?

This can be hard when your mental energy is all but exhausted. While I was deliberating this today I was thinking about my life and what I have learned so far. I came to a conclusion that I think was quite refreshing. While this conversation is still ongoing I thought it valuable to share with you.

Conclusion

I enjoy working hard toward being successful and I try to always pursue excellence, but I have come to value the times when I am not working. The times when my family is sitting around the living room for an hour watching the little ones laugh. I have learned to appreciate the extra half hour at the table after dinner with a cup of coffee just letting the conversation go. Those relationships are worth more than “success”. So here are a few things that I have put together that I would like to pass on to you as this discussion has played out for me.

  • If people matter the most, be willing to let everything else evaporate when spending time with them. Focus on them. Your sincerity will mean more to them then any calculated response you could muster.
  • If you reach success and while standing there on the peak of the highest of mountains you stand there alone, was it worth it? What good is a grand view if you have no one to share it with? Have you ever witnessed an amazing act, view or event? Whenever you try to explain or share it with someone else, it is just never the same. Take the time to walk with others. There will be times when you will have to wait for them like a man waiting for his wife but if you see it as him waiting for her to walk down the aisle as opposed to outside a dressing room at the mall, your attitude and your expectations will be drastically different. People are worth the wait, if only to share each others joys and sorrows.
  • Take your time. The road will be hard but if you focus so hard on getting to the end of the road you miss the opportunity to sit in the shade with your brother-in-law and throw stones in the pond on the side of the road. Those moments are joys to us both. Those are moments I want more of. I understand that you do not want to take this too far and get lazy but balance yourself.

This life is not one meant to be lived alone. The relationships that I have I cherish. My relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior. My Wife. My Kids (My “Minions” as I like to call them). My Family. and My Friends. Each of those relationships takes work and effort, they take me owning my part of responsibility for the relationship, and each relationship carries so much joy in my life. I would not want to reach the summit of what we call success alone. To stand there at that moment without my hand in theirs and the smile on all of our faces would ruin the moment. Their presence and blessing would only compound it.

So what did I walk away with?

Success and relationships are engaged. This leans to an interesting new question – What is success? We will have to look at that another time.

Results Worth Measuring

Tim Morris 2 Comments

 

What do you measure? (source: aussiegall)

Before you get to excited about results, remember that they can come in a myriad of ways, some desirable and some, well, not so much. Some results will last and some seem to fade as quickly as you received them and others feel like grasping after the wind.

 

The question I wrestle with is, what results do I really want?

I believe the results worth measuring are the people you build into. Measure if you are helping them succeed. measure if they are leading others successfully. When you evaluate them, you are evaluating yourself.

The hardest part of this is to be honest with what you see in those that you have led in the present as well as the past. How many of those men and women are still leading strong? How many are still growing? How many are still pursuing the opportunity to learn from you or others that might be ahead of them?

I consider my people as my biggest asset, largest investment and best way to tell if I am leading in the right direction. When I take the time to evaluate the results of my leadership I look at the attitude, proficiency, character and leadership skills in those under me. If they are growing and pushing themselves the rest takes care of itself.

The main focus of leadership is people and without them you are only taking a walk, so measure results worth measuring.

What do you look for when you evaluate your people?

How do you help your people develop?

Mentoring Young and Why it Matters

Tim Morris 1 Comment

 

Benjamin Franklin – I always smile when one of these is in my hand. 🙂

Over the past few weeks I have been reading some of Ben Franklin’s autobiography, bits at a time. This week I read a section that I just really wanted to share with you. Included in his autobiography, Franklin has a letter sent to him in 1783 by Mr. Benjamin Vaughan. In this letter Franklin is encouraged to complete his autobiography, which was only started at this point, so that it could benefit others. In it he includes this section on the importance of self-education and the example for youths. Check it out – it is quite good. Read it twice if you need to.

 

Enter Benjamin Vaughan.

School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery that the thing is in many a man’s private power, will be invaluable! Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only and influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we take out party as to profession, pursuits and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given;  in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects. … your biography will not merely teach self-education, but the education of a wise man.

For the Road.

I thought this was powerful. Here are a few thoughts and then I will leave you. Feel free to interact with them in the comments. I would love to hear your thoughts.

  • Education is a man’s private power. It is also his responsibility. Teach those you mentor to learn, to ask the right questions and to discover and they will surpass all else that you could offer.
  • Influence on character is more powerful the earlier it takes place. If you can interact with those you mentor earlier it will make a difference. If you know you are going to mentor them when they reach a certain point, start earlier. Even if a little energy is given it will be to their advantage.
  • Private and public character is determined at a young age. The issue of why the habits we form at an early age matter is clearly seen here. What you see in them as an adolescent is not easily redirected.

What are your thoughts? Let me know.