As Pastor Neil heads into retirement in June,
Kenny and Pastor Neil will examine his journey that brought him to the present and his gems of optimism for the road ahead.
Questions of the week:
-What is a "built in forgetter?"
-What are consistent strategies you used to solve problems?
-What is the advice you'd give to upcoming leaders from the experience you've had?
-How do you differentiate a person from being a leader and a person that just wants to be part of the action?
-When does a leader get to take it easy?
-What would you want to see as a leader of a political movement?
Gems of the week:
- "A 'built in forgetter' is a critical survival mechanism. If we carried the burden of all our troubles & sorrows all the time, it would break us, so we've been given this miraculous gift of getting up every morning anew."
-"[Strategies to solve problems are] go with a goal or formulate a goal if there isn't one,
simplify the situation, listen to everybody before making any decision..."
-"[The advice I'd give upcoming leaders are]
1st - set aside grandiosity, the best leaders are servants;
2nd - you have to have some kind of goal or vision, you have to know where you want to end up;
3rd - do it because you know HOW to do it; be honest with yourself;
4th - be prepared to have a target on your back;
5th - get training;
6th - practice.
-"...part of it involves knowing how to cut your losses,; not trying to be a leader for everything;
be the leader with the people who are sympatico with you."
-"I learned it's ok to let people mess up, because its not about being a perfectionist. If there is a way to say beforehand - 'hey do you feel supported & if you don't can you vocalize that and communicate what's on your mind, and how we can provide better support.'
That has been effective..."
-"I learned why people accept the leadership of others, most people don't want to be leaders. They just don't want to expend the energy, be that vulnerable, put themselves out that much, don't want to be responsible when things go wrong. Even some that say they do, they just want to get close the action but that's not the same thing."
-"The leader is the only person in the room who is actually willing to take responsibility when things go wrong. Period. That's it. You will find that such persons are few and far between
and most people are no where to be found. When things go left, the leader is the one who not only accepts responsibility but has the ideas, the courage, the willingness to step up front and deal with the problem and make a good outcome. The person who can do that again and again and again...that's somebody who is leading."
-"Practice spending time alone where there is no body around to make demands on you
because people will once they realize once they can. Once they realize that you are effective as a leader, they will make more and more demands. They just know you can do it. It's really that simple."
-"To know that in my life I had to lead and feeling at times I had no one to talk to, or no one could relate, or whatever story I told myself or whatever reality was there...now with therapy
at least I can tell myself, I know that I have someone that provides an outlet where I can just let go."
-"[For a leader in a political movement] I'd want to see someone that has real ideas that are achievable; the ability to express those ideas clearly and forcefully; express themselves in a way that is appealing to a lot of people; I'd be convinced that this person is doing this because he/she is called to do it, they feel compelled or called to lead."
-"[We tend to think about] how we can have these projections SHOULD happen, when things COULD'VE happen in the past or future. Sometimes things happen at the time they're supposed to happen. It's that sense of divine timing."
