Leadership Lab 1 – “The Teachable Leader”

John Maxwell has a quote that I have always tried to live by and used to shape my leadership, “Leaders are learners.” Since one of my passions is leadership and developing younger leaders, I thought I would do a series of posts dedicated to developing the practice of being a Teachable Leader.

So, here is one way that I am growing right now as a leader: BLOGS. I’ll list the leadership blogs that I frequent, give you my thoughts on them, and tell how I incorporate them into my life.

• The Potential Blog – www.potential-blog.blogspot.com – This is written by several of the guys from Flamingo Road Church in Miami. GREAT STUFF. Plus, they have a podcast that is great as well.
• Shawn Lovejoy – www.shawnlovejoy.com – Shawn’s the pastor at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, GA. I’ve spent some time around him and I believe he’s one of the best leaders at the local church level. Great PRACTICAL stuff.
• Chris Hodges / SHIFT – www.shift.churchofthehighlands.com – Chris is another one that I’ve had the fortune to be around. I love to read his real time thoughts on leading one of the fastest growing churches in the US. The thing the I have learned from Chris is how to use SYSTEMS in your church. Bottom Line: If you don’t create & use systems, then a system will create itself…and it will use you!
• Craig Groeschel / LifeChurch.tv – www.swerve.lifechurch.tv – This is a must read.

Now, blogs are good…but they can be epic time-wasters too. It’s not sharpening your leadership if all you do is sit around and read what other people are doing. You’ve got to do something too.

Here’s how I put it into action:

1. I use a BlogLines account so that I have all of them on the same page and can view them quickly.
2. I read them twice a week…Monday AM & Thursday AM.
3. I search for any practical thing that is working for them and try to figure out how to apply it to my leadership.
4. If I want more info on something, I comment and start a dialogue.
5. I journal what I’ve found. I put what I’ve learned in bullet-point format.
6. I list out HOW I’m going to accomplish this or HOW it shapes what I’m already doing. I go do something with what I’ve learned.

If I could, I would add to John Maxwell’s earlier statement that “Leaders are learners”. I would say that “Leaders are learners AND leaders get things done”. They know how to learn & they know how to act and get something DONE! So, go get something done.