STRATEGY CENTRAL

I don’t know if you know about Guy Kawasaki or not, but you really should.  He’s written some of my favorite books (The Art of the Start and Selling the Dream).  He’s also got a great blog, no matter what area of interest you have.  One thing I love about Guy is that he’s great at making the connection between marketing and the idea of evangelism.  In everything I do here at Strategy Central there is the tension of being relevant to all comers.  I am convinced that so much of what’s out there in the business genre is so applicable to all of us.  Guy gets it and has been an evangelist for the idea for years.  If you’re unfamiliar with his work, check out his post on Evangelism, Eternal Life and Operating Systems.

What are you listening to on your iPod?  You know…there’s a whole world out there that’s available and most of it is FREE.  How about a 45 minute talk by Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of Search.  Or how about Bob Sutton, co-author of Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense?  One of the things I’ve found essential in my own development is a broad reading menu.  Not just one field.  A variety.  Same thing is now available audibly.  At the Educators Corner you can choose podcasts from quite a variety of world class thinkers.

Or check out iinnovate where you can catch a great interview with David Kelley, the founder of IDEO.

This is some really interesting stuff.  Will it apply directly to your business?  Maybe not.  But if you’re really listening you can’t help pick up that one new idea that will help you take the next step.

Thanks to Bob Sutton for the links to two great resources. 

One of the five books I listed in my Required Reading post was  The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample.  If you haven’t picked this one up, you’re definitely missing out on a very helpful read.  Some books have a nugget or two.  Others force you to decide what not to underline.  This is the latter.

One of the key ideas in The Contrarian’s Guide is what Sample refers to as thinking gray.  What he’s talking about is the ability to delay forming "an opinion about an important matter until you’ve heard all the relevant facts and arguments, or until circumstances force you to form an opinion without recourse to all the facts."  Of course, the notion of gray is a reference to that place between black and white.  He’s not suggesting that we stay there (In this sense, gray isn’t the new black!).  He’s only suggesting the we stay there "until we’ve heard all the relevant facts and arguments."

Why is this important?  Easy.  Most of us are what he refers to as "binary and instant" in our thinking.  Things really seem black or white and they seem that way immediately in our mind.  But the truth is that binary thinking makes effective leadership much more difficult.  Sample identifies at least three dangers of binary thinking.  See if these make sense to you:

• Making lasting decisions too soon, based solely on the facts and opinions that arrive first, and closing the mind to facts that emerge later.
• Flip-flopping when the second set of facts forces you to reverse a decision.
• Taking the opinions of a group of other people, even when you’re not quite sure, just because a group must be right.

Any of those ring true for you?

At the same time, in leadership everything isn’t gray.  There are lots of decisions that really are binary.  Black and white.  But on the weightiest of issues, learning to think gray will enable us to move to a better position strategically.  So how to learn?  Sample says that we need to begin to practice the art of thinking gray on everyday, black and white seeming decisions.  How?  By delaying forming "an opinion about an important matter until we’ve heard all the relevant facts and arguments, or until circumstances force us to form an opinion without recourse to all the facts."  Could we do that?  Yes we can.  Why not try it tomorrow.  Pick out something to test it on and let me know what happens.  I’ll report in too.  It’ll be fun.  Imagine the possibilities.

Another important tactic in learning the art of thinking gray is to develop the skill of artful listening.  You can find out more about this in an earlier post.  Mostly, I want to encourage you to grow in this area of leadership.  It really is at the heart of what makes a great leader.

UPDATE: For a look at the 2007 Fastest Growing Churches list click here.

A Church Growth Today study is out over at Outreach Magazine.  It’s an interesting list of the 100 fastest growing churches in the U.S.  I think it’s interesting for a number of reasons.

First, according the research, 52 of the 100 are new this year.  While the report doesn’t indicate whether this is membership or attendance growth, for 52 newbies to crack the top 100 is an indication of several possibilities (a newer church gaining momentum, a new pastor or ministry, a new building, etc.).

The second thing that’s interesting (at least to me) are the churches that aren’t on the list.  The list is ranked by numerical growth, not percentage, and yet North Point, Gateway and Bay Area Fellowship aren’t included.  It makes me wonder if you can be too busy growing to return the postcard to Church Growth Today!

Third, I’m guessing most of these are approximates since there are a lot of 1,000s and other round numbers.  One odd exception is Saddleback with 1,149. 

Last, I’m wondering if the churches that did return the postcard had any idea what the other responders were reporting.  For instance is they reported 1,401 instead of 1,400…Makes me want to ask "what did you know and when did you know it!"

Thanks to Monday Morning Insight for the heads up to the list!

Yesterday I posted a link to a great video from TED.  Don’t worry, I’d never heard about it either.  But this is quite a gathering.  An annual gathering.  If you haven’t checked yesterday’s post and watched the Sir Ken Robinson video, you really need to.  Very, very good.

The cool thing about TED is that it is quite a collection of speakers.  Really great.  You know it’s a gathering when you’ve got Al Gore and Rick Warren on the same program.  Now here’s the thing.  First watch the Robinson video.  Then, you have got to check out Rick Warren at TED.  And while you’re watching it, just know that the attenders at TED paid a lot to hear this amazing collection of speakers.  How much?  In 2007 they’ll pay $4400.  Think about it.  And watch the video.  Cool.

The Church Report has released their 50 Most Influential Churches report for 2006.  Most interesting development?  LifeChurch.tv into the top 10 with Community Chrisitan Church and Seacoast moving into the top 15.  Multi-site is clearly gaining influence.  Want to learn more?  You may want to pick up a copy of The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations.  You can read my review here.  Or check out the Multi-Site Revolution site.

The 2005 list is no longer available, but you can still get a link to the 2006 list right here.