(RePost)

1. Get baptized by the craziest guy in town.
2. Say and do things that are guaranteed to make religious people want to kill you. Repeat again, and again, and again, and again, and again - don't stop unless forced.
3. Do amazing things for people and ask them to not tell anyone.
4. Hang out with the most despised, marginalized, looked down upon, and shunned people you can find.
5. When possible, forgive and restore people, even if they betrayed you.
6. Live in a way that provokes gossip.
7. Win the most grace competition.
8. Keep the party going.
9. Serve people (note: nose plugs may be required).
10. If you're sad cry.
11. Empower people to do the extraordinary.
12. Act like a rock star in a hotel temple.
13. Radically simplify theology.
14. Break human-made religious laws. Repeat consistently.
15. Prioritize the most important over the important.
16. Let women with "questionable" backgrounds pay your bills.

Tribal Leadership

This is a good book. I recommend it to anyone with a job or a career. The book covers 5 levels of corporate culture along with suggestions on how you can help move your organization up a level or two. The funny thing is once you read this book you will see people in your organization at different levels. In addition, you will see that those people who are more influential in an organization will have a greater impact on the corporate culture than others within the organization.
(I use the term corporate not to mean a business per se; I mean a group of people with a common goal.)

• Level 1: The mood is ‘life sucks’ and the atmosphere is that of despairing hostility.
• Level 2: The mood is ‘my life sucks’ and the atmosphere is that of an apathetic victim.
• Level 3: The mood is ‘I am great and you are not’ and the atmosphere is that of a lone warrior.
• Level 4: The mood is ‘We are great and they are not’ and the atmosphere is of tribal (corporate) pride.
• Level 5: The mood is ‘Life is great’ and the atmosphere is about having a higher noble purpose.

The book gives examples of people and organizations at each of the levels. I can see in my career that I have worked for places at almost all of the levels except level 5. I also noticed that in my own life, on a personal level, I have progressed through many of these levels. Personally, I feel like I am between 4 and 5 but often find that my actions may at times dip down to level 3. I wish they made an app that could track my current level in real time. Wouldn’t that be nifty? It would change how we react and push us toward level 5.

I think one area the book should have touched on is non-profits. I can see that these pinciples are applicable for Churches, Veterans Organizations, and even government entities. The concepts of the book should be easy to extrapolate to non-profit organizations, but would have been nice to have the book cover them. I would be interested more in examples of those types of organizations and how they apply these ideas. I volunteer much of my time to Veterans’ organizations and, I have to admit, I see Veterans’ service organizations at all different levels.

This book will also make you rethink how you look for a new place of employment. Instead of looking at the money aspect (not that it is not important) you would look for employment at an organization that is at or beyond your level. For example, I would not want to work for a level 1 or 2 organization. Been there done that. I would be ok at a level 3 but I would really like to be with an organization that has a level 5 corporate culture. I say I would be ok with a level 3 only because the job market is competitive and I have living expenses to consider. The level 5 is, of course, where we would all want to be, even if we don’t know it. Everyone wants their work to have meaning and purpose. We all want our lives to have meaning and purpose. This is where we find true happiness.

In order to achieve high levels, the book talks about values and cultivating values for your corporate culture. In fact, they even discuss hiring people not only for their skills but also for their values. How many HR people evaluate a candidate’s values when they are screening applicants? One example given in the book is the team takes the candidate out for lunch and they all talk to the candidate to see if they will be a good ‘fit’.

What is interesting for me is this book has me reevaluating how I think one should look for employment and how an organization should look for candidates. It even challenges me to implement these ideas in the context of non-profits. Over all this book is good for anyone.

Take a look at Zappos Values as an example: http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values

The audio version of the book is available free and they have setup a companion website with additional information and supporting materials. www.triballeadership.net

This picture is from the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA.

Integrity

You are playing a ball game and you touch the ball before it is called out-of-bounds by the referee. The referee did not see you touch the ball and called the ball out-of-bounds against the other team. What do you do?

The Marine Corps Leadership Traits defines integrity as:

“Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.”

The Knights Code of Honor defines integrity as:

"A Knight must be a man of his word with his actions seen and unseen governed by an inner code of honesty."

People often define integrity as always telling the truth. I think that is part of the definition. I define integrity as constancy of character. Your character is the sum total of all your values and actions. Honesty is one aspect of your character. When you consistently follow those values and your acts match those values all the time, you have integrity. To tell the truth some of the time is not integrity.

When you have integrity, people can rely upon you. They know that you will live up to your values even when no one is watching. Do you want to have friends that always tell you the truth or do you want them to tell you the truth some times? Would you rely on fiends who tell you the truth all the time, or are there for you all the time? Or would you rather rely on friends who flake on you all the time?

When I think of integrity, I think of steel. When we rate steel, we rate it based upon how well the steel maintains its’ form under stress. In other words, the steel does not bend because of the weight or stress on it. It maintains its shape and stays straight. When you build a bridge, you want it made of steel that does not bend under pressure. You would not want to cross a bridge that did not have integrity; you would not trust it to keep you safe.

“The one who lives with integrity will be helped, but the one who distorts right and wrong will suddenly fall.” Proverbs 28:18

"Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You." Psalm 25:21

How well do you keep true to your values when you are under stress, especially the stress of peer pressure? Do you say no when others are smoking pot or doing drugs? What if it is your friends and they are pressuring you? Can you maintain your values when your friends are pressing you to compromise? Do you do what is right no matter the cost?

Some people fold like blankets under pressure. You know, I have never tried building a bridge out of blankets. I really don’t think it would work well. I think I will stay with tried and true steel.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

One of the best quotes I have heard about integrity comes from the Garth Brooks song titled ‘The Change’.

“I hear them saying, you'll never change things and no matter what you do it remains the same thing. But it is not the world I am changing. I do this so this world will know that it will not change me.”

Some videos on integrity that I found on YouTube:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-CHyWDky1Y
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMYYOXTuUeQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioht4sSgibY

Your Emotions Can't Tell Time

The other day I was browsing Facebook when I noticed a suggested friend who was someone I went to school with long ago. The problem was this 'suggested friend' was a schoolmate who was a total jerk to me. I noticed very quickly I remembered what he said and did to me and I found myself upset and angry as if he had just done it or said it to me.

This is the problem with emotions. In order to trigger them, you just need to remember or think about something that made you feel that way once before. Then, bam! The emotions are back just like that. Even if, intellectually, you forgave the person or you now realize it was minor or long enough ago to not matter anymore.

After a few seconds, I realized that kids are mean and that what he said and did was mean, but it was over 20 years ago. Does it matter to me now? Not at all. However, emotions don't understand time they just react to what you are thinking.

You will find another example of this with actors. Good actors will draw on thoughts to create the emotions they need for the scene they are in. If they need anger, they will focus their thoughts on something that angers them and if they need to show love, they focus on thoughts of love.

I wonder if this means we can control our emotions based upon controlling our thoughts?

Here is a related quote:

“Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.” - Charles R. Swindoll

"It is to be lamented however that great characters are seldom without blot." - George Washington

Parenting is such a hard job. I have to admit that being a parent sounds like a good idea until the weight of the responsibility kicks in. I was thinking the other day about how the apple does not fall far from the tree and that reminded me of far too many examples in my life. I could not help but pray that God would protect my children from my mistakes and shortcomings. I want the best for them and often feel I don't do enough. Of course, some parents do too much and that ends up bad for the children too.

The Marines have always been recognized at producing good leaders. Below are some of the things that Marines not only must know, but they must demonstrate if they want to be a leader of Marines. All of these can be applied to any leadership position, whether it be as a Fire Team Leader, Platoon Sergeant, a Battalion Commander, a Fortune-500 CEO, or parent.

• Know yourself and seek self-improvement.
• Be technically and tactically proficient.
• Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates.
• Make sound and timely decisions.
• Set the example.
• Know your Marines and look out for their welfare.
• Keep your Marines informed.
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.
• Ensure assigned tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.
• Train your Marines as a team.
• Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities.

• Dependability - The certainty of proper performance of duty.
• Bearing - Creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearance and personal conduct at all times.
• Courage - The mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a man to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.
• Decisiveness - Ability to make decisions promptly and to announce them in clear, forceful manner.
• Endurance - The mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress and hardship.
• Enthusiasm - The display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of duty.
• Initiative - Taking action in the absence of orders.
• Integrity - Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.
• Judgment - The ability to weigh facts and possible solutions on which to base sound decisions.
• Justice - Giving reward and punishment according to merits of the case in question. The ability to administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.
• Knowledge - Understanding of a science or an art. The range of one's information, including professional knowledge and an understanding of your Marines.
• Tact - The ability to deal with others without creating offense.
• Unselfishness - Avoidance of providing for one's own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.
• Loyalty - The quality of faithfulness to country, the Corps, the unit, to one's seniors, subordinates and peers.

• Begin the planning - if you want to succeed at something you must plan
• Arrange for reconnaissance - decide what things need to be researched to make your plan work
• Make the reconnaissance - do the research
• Complete the planning - make final modifications to your plan taking the information you gathered in the previous step into account
• Issue Orders - delegate tasks and authority as needed (see SMEAC below)
• Supervise - make sure that orders are understood and followed

• Situation - describe what the current situation is
• Mission - describe what the current mission is
• Execution - describe how the mission will be carried out
• Administration and Logistics - describe how administrative duties and logistical support will be handled
• Command and Signals - describe who the persons in authority are and any special signals that need to be recognized

• Autocratic (Authoritarian)
• Democratic (Persuasion)
• Combination of both

 

One of the leadership traits that is all to often overlooked is customer service. I think it is a personal value as well, not limited just to leadership. Everyone respects and wants customer service when they are the customer. They will even complain if they service is not up to their standards, in fact you could be terminated or not retained in a job position for not having good customer service skills.

"Increase your sensitivity to issues of pride. Start to be aware of the things you do as a leader in your business or in your home anytime you are more concerned about promoting yourself than others." - The Servant Leader by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges

"Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam" (He relinquished everything to serve the Republic.)