Category Archives: Leadership

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10 Creative Ways to Say Thank You

I have lately found myself having to thank people a great deal. I am blessed to be blessed by so many people, and I want them to know they are appreciated. Expressing thanks is becoming a lost art. Let’s revive it.

Here are 10 ways to say “thank you”:

  1. The Old Fashioned Way: Keep a stack of Thank You Notes handy. A hand-written thank you note that comes delivered by the mail man/woman is a delight.
  2. The Generous Way: Purchase a few gift cards and stash them in your desk. When you “catch” someone doing something for you, whip one out and surprise your benefactor’s day.
  3. The Spousal Way: Too often we take our spouses for granted. A little bit of thanks goes a long, long way in a marriage. Show your thanks by cooking a special meal, taking her or him shopping, or delivering a “thank you” text message during the middle of the day.
  4. The Sneaky Way: You’ve heard of “Secret Santas” that many offices play during the holidays. How about being someone’s Secret Santa in March or May. Over the course of several days anonymously deliver small gifts to someone who deserves your thanks.
  5. The Oral Way: Don’t be afraid to actually sit someone down and say out loud just how much you appreciate what they have done, are doing, and will do for you. Wouldn’t you love to hear with your own ears what someone appreciates about you?
  6. The Pay-It-Forward Way: Tell someone that you have been inspired by their generosity toward you, and that you’d like to pay it forward. Tell them that in their honor you are going to specifically help or serve someone else. And tell them exactly how you plan to do that.
  7. The Social-Media-Shout-Out Way: Make your thanks public by tweeting or placing a status on Facebook, thanking someone for what they have done for you. Everyone loves a little fame every now and then.
  8. The Superior Way: When a service employee helps you in an extraordinary way, don’t just tell them; tell their boss.
  9. The Say-It-With-Flowers Way: Fresh flowers brighten any space. And they do an excellent job of saying “thanks.” This even works for (most) men.
  10. The Culinary Way: Take someone to lunch or dinner. Pick up the tab. Everyone loves a free meal at a nice place (and make it an independent restaurant…not a chain!).

What ways of saying “thank you” can you add to the list? I need your ideas!

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Plane Perspective

I’m writing this on an airplane while I’m trying to gain perspective on a major life decision. I’m looking out the window from 30,000 feet above the ground. There’s a great deal to see.

I see tiny cars, buildings rising out of the ground, the patterns of streets and highways, clumps of trees, and bunches of lakes. It’s beautiful and a work of art in a mystical, magical, divine kind of way.

It reminds me that there’s a great big world out there with limitless possibilities. Sometimes one has to take a step back, and take the long view to gain a bit of perspective. There are times when we look at our lives from a perspective that’s too close. We get involved in the daily grind. We lose vision. We struggle to see things that are right in front of us. We become so “involved” that we lose all perspective.

It is not only being on a plane that brings perspective, it is getting away all together. We have the opportunity to do that at least once a week. It’s what weekends (or at least “days off”) are made for. It’s what staycations are made for. It’s what vacations are made for. It’s what Sabbath is made for.

Now I see mountains down below out my oval window. They remind me that our getaways, our Sabbaths, our pauses are mountain top experiences designed to bring perspective. When we take the “long view” it brings perspective to the “short view.”

Remember to regularly take some time to take a look at the “long view.”

  • What do you want to accomplish by the end of the week?
  • With whom do you want to connect by the end of the month?
  • Where do you want to be at the end of the year?
  • What would you like your life to look like in five years?
  • What are the goals you have for your career?
  • Do you have hopes and dreams for your retirement?
  • What would you like your legacy to be?

What do you regularly do to help you gain perspective and take the long view? Please respond with a comment below.

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The Little Things

Last week I accompanied my wife to a store that is exclusively a women’s store. From beginning to end it was one of the finest customer service experiences I have ever witnessed. It was all about the little things, small details that made a big difference.

  1. Though it was a store for women, the area right in front was a sitting area for men, complete with Sports Illustrated magazines. I was even offered a bottle of water. They know that if men who accompany their women are well-cared-for they will be patient while the shopping takes place. Longer time in the store more often than not means more purchases.
  2. One clerk was assigned specifically to my wife the entire time she was in the store. She helped with fitting, selection, and personal service. It was truly one-on-one customer care.
  3. When she was finished shopping, my wife made a significant purchase. The clerk who checked her out threw in an extra item for free. And it wasn’t just something cheap. It was something that was relatively expensive.
  4. Specific instructions were given on how to care for her purchases once she got them home. And there was the promise to provide help at anytime if it was ever needed. It was just a phone call away.
  5. Two days after we visited the store my wife received from the clerk who had worked with her a hand written thank you note in the mail. When was the last time you got a handwritten thank you fro a clerk in a store?

This was “unmarketing” at its finest. It was all about the customer and her needs. The little things involved in the visit to the store added up to make it a truly “wow” experience.

How often do we miss this in the church, or in our non-profits? We get so wrapped up in ourselves and what we want, that we forget to make it a “wow” experience for those who are visiting, potential members, or future clients.

Little things do add up. Little things like:

  • How does the bathroom look?
  • Is the art and decor out of date?
  • Can logos and letterhead be given a splash of color and “cool.”
  • Is a guest made to stand alone, or is there a plan in place to welcome guests and clients and make them feel special?
  • Today’s “church shopper” (for lack of a better term) is much more sophisticated. What can you do to make the whole experience more “professional” while always giving glory to God and being about the business of serving people?

What little things would you add to this list?

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A Lesson in Getting Un-Stuck

I learned a lesson today from a good friend. He was running into some roadblocks in his business and just wanted to sit down and talk it through. He was stuck and wanted to get un-stuck.

So he asked me to come and think through some possibilities with him. I was happy to do so. I’m no businessman, but I love any opportunity to brain storm and think creatively.

So that’s what we did. He laid out some of his road blocks. He recounted some of the boundaries within which he must work. He expressed a willingness to take some chances.

Then came the fun part. He asked me honest questions. I gave him honest answers. The brain storm began. And the ideas started to flow.

When he left my friend had a few ideas that might help re-energize his business. I give him all the credit. I was just along to help him advance some ideas.

Here’s the lesson I learned (…a lesson I’ve learned before but need to learn again and again…): Two heads are better than one. A problem is easier solved when ideas flow from one brain to another, and then back again.

Are you stuck? Need a creative idea? Looking for a way to move forward?

Connect with a friend, partner, or colleague. Be honest. Be open. Let the ideas become concrete objectives. Then go give it a shot.

How have you utilized the brain power of other people to induce creative ideas and get “un-stuck”?

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Engaging a Robust Community on Facebook

Our congregation, Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, recently hired PurePR to help us with our communication, evangelism, branding, and social media strategy. The experience was so beneficial, so rewarding, and so worthwhile, that we are still reaping the benefits.

One of the things that we did as a result of PurePR’s recommendation was to create a Social Media Ministry team. They are charged with taking over our church’s Facebook page and Twitter account. The group has enjoyed their task so much that they can’t wait to meet with one another and plan more strategy. They are doing a fantastic job engaging Mt. Calvary’s community…and beyond. Our statistics of engagement have dramatically increased since we have been intentional about our social media engagement.

PurePR’s suggestions were meant specifically for Mt. Calvary and our ministry, but by adapting them just a bit, I know they would be helpful to you and your ministry, non-profit, or small business, too. Try the following suggestions and I guarantee that your will see much greater engagement both virtually and in “reality.”

Weekly:

  1. Share one original article pertaining to your unique mission and/or focus.
  2. Share one idea or activity for your constituency.
  3. Ask two “frivolous” questions (not necessarily pertaining to your ministry or business) to engage interest.
  4. Ask for prayer requests or other input.
  5. Highlight one aspect of your non-profit, ministry, or business using photos, video, or personal testimony. 

Twice a Month:

  1. Feature one testimonial told via a note or video that tells a story about your ministry, business, or non-profit.

Monthly:

  1. Post an engaging discussion that speaks to the deeper mission of your ministry, business, or non-profit.
  2. Post a video blog from the leader of the organization talking about how things are going and recasting the mission/vision.
  3. Post useful articles and tips on 20 other Facebook pages related to your ministry, business, or non-profit.
  4. Spend 30 minutes “listening” to conversations on other Facebook pages and observing behavior (good/bad) in social spaces.
  5. Seek and “fan” five new pages per month.
What would you add to these lists?
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Tim Sanders Teaches How to Be Rich with Confidence

Tim Sanders wrote Love is the Killer App and Today We Are Rich. He was one of Mark Cuban’s first employees and Broadcast.com. Tim was also Chief Solutions Officer and Leadership Coach at Yahoo during their hey day.

Tim Sanders deals in the commodity of confidence. It flows from him like water spewing out of Chicago’s Grant Park fountain. I know. I saw him and heard him speak at this year’s re:create conference in Franklin, Tennessee.

Creativity is fed by confidence. Sanders recommends investing a couple of hours a day into building confidence. It starts with the proper mind set: get to instead of hope to. A woman with cancer demonstrated this by the attitude she took each day: “Today I get to…..beat cancer, get a chance to live, have another opportunity, be with those beautiful nurses who care for me…”

Sanders gave us a taste of his “principles of confidence.” They apply not only to creativity, but to most other areas of life:

Feed Your Mind Good Stuff. Put yourself on a “mind diet.” Don’t listen to or watch negative news or voices. Feed your mind good stuff. Just like breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the first 45 minutes of each day is “breakfast for the brain” time. Get up every day and eat slow food for the mind: Read books. Contemplate them, take notes. Use this reading time to crowd gossip, jealousy, and negativity off the plate for the day.

Move the Conversation Forward. As you deal with people, focus conversations on solutions, not problems. Ask the questions: What have we got? What are our assets? Don’t fix blame. Make a list of assets! If someone wants to be the devil’s advocate realize that he or she is over-subscribed. The devil’s advocate doesn’t need you! The devil’s advocate is threatened in some way, shape, or form! Allowing the devil’s advocate to play that game is giving “permission to bully.” Instead of playing the devil’s advocate yourself, ask a question instead of criticizing. Answer questions with a sense of positivity. (And recognize that many of the things that bug you are you; often your problem is that you didn’t have the idea.) Beware of “The Sky Is Falling” Chicken Little’s in your organization. Stamp out that attitude. Challenge people: “Where are you coming from?” And don’t hire people who criticize their last boss. They will inevitably end up criticizing you.

Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle. Gratitude is not a feeling, it’s a muscle. Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Fill up and infuse a sense of gratitude in your life. The word “gratitude” means “gracious attitude.” As a way of exercising it, give thanks today to two people who helped you in your work yesterday. Be thankful for people in your life who are helping you achieve your dreams. People help you either because they love you, or they are on board with the mission. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Champion the champions in your life. Be the opposite of the haters. Be appreciative for the people who contribute to your success. Then turn it around and help them.

Give to Be Rich. Find opportunities to be generous. Giving is a wonder drug. No ailment can withstand its healing power. When you help the helpless you believe in humanity even more. Be part of the solution instead of the problem. Good will is the original viral marketing. Respond to tragedy with generosity.

Prepare Your Self. Preparation will change everything. “The readers of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” Anything done well takes time. In fact, it takes 4 hours to get 1 our of creative work done. Rehearse writing before you write. Rehearse being creative. Do the prep and then give yourself time to let the idea incubate. When you’re in doubt, relive a successful experience. Your self-image defines how high you can fly. Store success at your front door. We store too much doubt, negative energy, problems at the front door. Remember the victory, the success. Relive it!

Be confident today. Be generous and thankful. Feed your mind, prepare, and move conversations forward.

Here’s a suggestion for today: think of a person who is helping you achieve your dreams. Get on your phone right now and send them a text telling them why you are thankful for that person in your life. Do it. Now.

In addition, tell a story in the comments below of a person who has been your champion.

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Everyone Loves to Be Cheered Like a Hockey Player

The first time I watched this I felt chills running down my spine. My eyes welled up just a little bit. I had to watch it a couple more times.

I posted it to my Twitter account and my Facebook page with the question: Why does this give me the chills? I had to think about that. What was it about two rec league hockey teams being cheered like they were playing for an olympic gold medal?

Did you see the looks on their faces? Go back and look at the guy sitting on the ice toward the end of the video. He sits there in disbelief. Is he almost in tears?

Why is this ad so effective? It is a Budweiser beer commercial, you know.

It’s because everyone likes to be (needs to be?) cheered. We all need a little affirmation. We appreciate it when people pat us on the back for a job well done. We are vicariously experiencing that feeling as we watch this video. We are the hockey players. We know how they must feel.

And we all dream that one day we will be cheered like we are olympic gold medal winners. 

You can fulfill a dream (big or small) today by:

  • cheering someone on
  • patting a back
  • writing a note
  • expressing appreciation
  • delivering a surprise
  • placing a phone call
  • sharing an affirming text message
  • making a big deal
  • speaking a compliment

I can remember just a few times in my life feeling like the hockey players in that video: A couple of times when I was on tour with Joy, Inc. (a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away); receiving applause and compliments when I was a graduation speaker; seeing the audience on their feet during the curtain call of The Sound of Music when I played Captain von Trapp.

I’d love to share that feeling with others. How about you?

Share in the comment section below a story of a time that you felt like the hockey players in this video. Then pass that feeling along today to someone who really needs it.

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How to Generate Ideas in Five Simple (But Not Easy) Steps

Thanks to Jon Acuff’s InstaGram feed, I learned about a little book called, A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young. Acuff indicated that every time he needs an idea he goes through the process outlined in this book. I had to order it immediately.

The book only cost about $7, and it’s a mere 48 pages long. It came in the mail yesterday and I immediately sat down and read the whole thing. You see, as a pastor, I have to come up with new ideas on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Every week I crave ideas that will help me present the Word of God in new and interesting ways. It’s not easy to do that week after week. I also need ideas for ways to promote and publicize, for teaching techniques, for illustrations, and for outreach efforts.

One thing in the book affirmed something I told my son, Ben, just last week. He is a songwriter, and is constantly on the hunt for ideas to be included in his songs. Not often, but on occasion, he has complained about certain “core” classes that he has to take in his college curriculum. I have told him in the past that even “core” classes are a way of generating ideas.

Right now he’s taking an art class. He loves it. He especially loved visiting an art museum last week. While he was there I texted him: “Remember. This is a great way of generating ideas for songs.”

Here’s where this is affirmed in the book A Technique for Producing Ideas: The first step in generating ideas is gathering raw materials. That means that information comes from every facet of life. A creative person is interested in how things work, where they come from, how people react, where Cambodia is, or what it’s like to fly on a plane. Recently, Ben and his friends have been watching documentaries of all kinds, especially ones about North Korea of all things. He has been fascinated, and even got me interested in the subject.

Here’s what Young says about gathering raw materials:

Every really good creative person in advertising whom I have ever known has always had two noticeable characteristics: First, there was no subject under the sun in which he could not easily get interested — from, say, Egyptian burial customs to modern art. Every facet of life had fascination for him. Second, he was an extensive browser in all sorts of fields of information.

The internet has given us the greatest tool ever to be able to explore almost anything we want. At the touch of a key we can learn, grow, and become wiser.

You’ll have to read the book for yourself to understand completely how these techniques work, but here is Young’s five step process:

  1. Gather raw materials.
  2. Work over the raw materials in your mind.
  3. Let it all incubate (Let something beside the conscious mind do the work of synthesis).
  4. The actual birth of the idea.
  5. Final shaping and development of the idea to practical usefulness.

One note: Probably the hardest part of the whole process is doing the sometimes tedious work of gathering “raw materials” and information. Everyone wants great ideas, but they don’t want to spend the time learning and growing. But that’s the fertile soil from which ideas take root, and sprout, and grow.

Start gathering raw materials right now. You never know how those materials will give birth to an idea later on.

What’s one thing new you have learned today? Please share it in the comment section below. I’d love to use your responses for my own gathering of raw material. Thanks!

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Learning From Loss (Even Losses That Aren’t My Own)

It’s an empty feeling. The Green Bay Packers were 15-1 in 2011’s regular season. They were pretty close to prohibitive favorites to be Super Bowl repeat winners.

But it was not to be.

Those of you who are not sports fans may find it difficult to empathize or understand. But sports are an incredible reflection of life. I have always said that they are the ultimate reality TV:

  • You can’t predict it
  • It happens in real time
  • There is actual (not feigned) emotion
  • Games have a real impact on economy, media, and people’s lives

Subsequently, I probably put way too much stock and emotion into games in which “my teams” are playing. So after this evening’s Packers loss to the Giants I’m feeling sad, down, and empty. I’d like to tell you it will go away, but I still resent the Denver Broncos for defeating the Green Bay Packers in the 1998 Super Bowl. And, yes, I still resent the St. Louis Cardinals for defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1982 World Series (thus, it was torture for me that the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers once again on their way to winning the 2011 World Series).

As much as I don’t like the outcome of today’s Packers/Giants game, it adds variety, interest, and spice to life.

So I have to cope with the loss. It teaches me that I have to cope with real life disappointments. Life is not perfect. It will not always go as I have planned. It will not always include wins and triumphs. Life has ups and downs.

But just like the Green Bay Packers now have to push forward, set new goals, and look to next year, so I must often do the same. When life’s losses come along in my life it is not the end. There is still tomorrow. There is still next month and next year.

As long as I am given life and breath I know that I have purpose to carry on and fulfill my calling. I have been endowed with gifts, talents, and abilities to do the things set before me…and sometimes even more than I think I can do.

A loss is a learning experience. I have to remember that. It teaches me to avoid things that have caused my failures and losses. It teaches me the things that have brought about failure.

I may not ever actually get over a loss, but it can give me motivation, incentive, and inspiration to improve, progress, and develop. I feel empty because of today’s Packers loss. I can only imagine how the players feel (sometimes I think they don’t care as much as fans do…but that’s another story). But hard as it may be, I will try to move on and be stronger.

How do failures and losses give you motivation and incentive to improve and get better?

 

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Have You Changed Your Hat Today?

Since I am follically challenged, and winter has returned, I went out shopping for hats. I just can’t seem to find hats that I like. I have a hat with a brim that goes with nice clothes and a dress coat. I have plenty of baseball caps, but they don’t cover my ears in the blustery weather. I needed a hat to go along with my North Face jacket that I wear all the time.

I finally found a knit cap that matches my jacket and is warm for my head and ears. Though I strongly dislike wearing hats, I have found the winter is much more comfortable when I wear them. So I have a small variety that can match an occasion, a type of weather, or make a fashion statement (as unfashionable as I am).

It reminds me of the many hats I wear throughout the course of a day. I am a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, a husband, a pastor, a friend, a citizen, an employee, a boss, and a child of God…amongst many other things. Throughout the course of a day I change those hats frequently.

I had this discussion with my Confirmation class. We talked about vocation. God has given us stations in life where we are called to serve, help, guide, and love others. These are our hats.

Our hats may change by the hour, or even by the minute. But we are always wearing one kind of hat or another. In fact, the metaphor of a hat is a reminder that we always live under the grace of God. We are servants to and for others in His kingdom. We serve, because He first served us…to the point of death on a cross.

Follically challenged or not, we all wear hats that identify us as servants of certain other people in our lives. Be aware of your hats today. Change them willingly. Be reminded that your vocations are a gift of God. He gives you a change of hats to provide variety and joy in life as you help, serve, guide, and love others.

Hats are a gift.

What hats do you wear and how does changing them provide joy in your life?