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March 30 - March 30, 2019
nothing is more important than the relationship you have with the person you’re challenging.
Loving someone and leading them are a package deal. You can’t have one without the other.
The more convinced you are that God has appointed the authorities over you, the more responsible you will be with how you challenge them.
One of the greatest difficulties in challenging up is learning to challenge the process without appearing to challenge the person.
I’ve noticed that too often, when things aren’t going well for someone, our instinct is to look for more weakness in that person to justify the judgment we have made in our minds.
“Hey, this rarely happens, but I’m sure it will. When I disagree with something I see, what’s the best way to bring that up with you?”
Champion publicly. Challenge privately.
Choosing to champion your boss publicly is always a win. It builds a strong bridge, which can then handle the weight of challenging up.
The more challenging the conversation, the more private it should be.
Your emotional posture is determined by the thoughts and feelings you allow yourself to have toward yourself and your boss.
negative emotions, feelings, and thoughts will naturally leak out in what you say.
“Find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it.”
When we don’t have all of the information, we can’t fully understand why the other person is feeling what they’re feeling.
“Humans are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason.”
There is always information you’re lacking that can help you understand the situation more clearly. And if I repeat that to myself over and over again, it will radically change my posture as I approach a situation.
When our emotions rise, our ability to think rationally declines.
“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”
the relationship you have with your boss
your nonphysical, emotional posture,
The most powerful reason to challenge the status quo is to make it better.
Dr. Howard Hendricks saying, “If there is a mist in the pulpit, there’s fog in the pews.”
Make sure the reason for the change and the benefits of the change are clear to you and that you’re able to make this clear to others.
The clearer your why, the more they’ll buy.
Hold tight to why, but be loose with what.
It also helped that we worked hard to make it less personal and to give a compelling answer to the questions of why and how.
The way you lead into a conversation can often trump the content of the conversation.
The bottom line is that you do some homework and learn the approach that best fits your boss.
Curious questions cause humility.
If you choose to start the challenging conversation with questions, it will teach you something.
My perspective was toward an idealistic dream, but I didn’t have a clear plan for how to get there.
Leadership starts right now, wherever you are.
It’s easy to daydream about looking down on others, but it’s more challenging when you seriously contemplate others looking up to you.
“I confused having a position with real leadership. Having children doesn’t make you a good parent; it means you had sex. That’s all.”1
The same reputation you have without power stays with you when you do have power and authority.
Start asking yourself what type of leader you want to be tomorrow. And start becoming that type of leader today.
The people at the top may never interact with the people at the bottom, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have influence there. In fact, the relationship between the person at the very top and the person at the very bottom of an organization tells you a lot about someone’s leadership ability.
Good leaders are viewed favorably by those closest to them in the company. Great leaders are viewed favorably by everyone in the company.
He focused on talking to everyone and treating even the most marginalized within society with respect.
We must lead with the total totem pole in mind, regardless of our own position on the pole.
lead with the person at the bottom in mind.
You can tell the character of a leader not by how they are treated by their equals, but by how they are viewed by those under them.
Suddenly gaining authority will not have the power to reverse or improve your reputation.
A Gallup study showed that fifty percent of people who leave their jobs do so because of their bosses.2 Fifty
As a leader, it is your responsibility to create an environment where people enjoy their work and find meaning in it.
If people enjoy working with you, it is much more likely they will potentially enjoy working for you.
as you’re leading now, so you will lead then.
