After a full day of mentoring in the leadership crucible of Willow Creek, God used an off-handed comment over dinner to drive home my biggest leadership take-away of the day.<\/p>\n
With 100 church leaders from around the world huddled in dinner conversations following 10 hours of training, the pastor sitting next to me commented, \u201cYou know, I really needed this training. But the way the economy hit our church, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to afford to come down here this week. But I talked to a few people and I found the money.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n I found the money.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Immediately the thought struck me, \u201cThat\u2019s what leaders do.\u201d When the eyes of a leader are fixed on a goal, they\u2019ll process obstacles very differently than a non-leader. Let\u2019s break this down:<\/p>\n 1. He articulated the goal: I really needed this training.<\/em><\/strong> – Leaders are never vague about their goals and priorities.<\/p>\n 2. He defined the obstacle: I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to afford it.<\/em><\/strong> – Leaders declare reality.<\/p>\n 3. He formulated a plan: I talked to a few people. – <\/em><\/strong>Leaders thrive on strategy.<\/p>\n 4. He moved toward action: I found the money. – <\/em><\/strong>To borrow Bill Hybels\u2019 axiom, leaders have a bias toward action.<\/p>\n What obstacles are in front of you right now and how are you approaching these problems? Do you need a team to tackle a new project but no one\u2019s available? Do you need to cut through government red tape to expand a ministry? Do you need to position your organization for growth but your organization\u2019s structure is holding you back?<\/p>\n Whatever obstacles lie in your path, remember the leadership lessons I encountered tonight. Articulate your goal, define your obstacle, formulate your plan, and move toward action.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just what leaders do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a full day of mentoring in the leadership crucible of Willow Creek, God used an off-handed comment over dinner to drive home my biggest leadership take-away of the day. With 100 church leaders from around the world huddled in dinner conversations following 10 hours of training, the pastor sitting next to me commented, \u201cYou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,478,7],"tags":[982,984,40,53,69],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-featured","category-leadership","tag-action","tag-leadership","tag-mentor","tag-relationship","tag-willow-creek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}