Lessons from Leland

When I first became a manager, my dad told me that my job was to create an environment where people could perform.

When I began teaching, my dad told me that my job was to create an environment where people could learn.

The parallel advice was striking: As a leader and as a teacher the fundamental task is to create an environment where people can perform, learn, grow, flourish and become all that God designed them to be.

How do we create that environment?

Here are some ideas:

• Get to know the people you are leading and teaching so that you can customize your leadership style to their needs. One style does not fit all!
• Identify their strengths, their giftedness, and their passion.
• Try to match their strengths, gifts, and passions with a job that will tap into those characteristics.
• Encourage and support them.
• Look for opportunities to stretch them.
• Use delegation as a developmental tool.
• Create the right environment by providing resources and opportunities.
• Create the right environment by removing organizational obstacles that get in the way of them performing at their best.
• Buffer them from the distractions of organizational politics and non-essential tasks.

As a leader, as a teacher, as a parent: "Create an environment where people can perform, learn, and grow."

Peter's Principles - Part 4

How should we follow?

We often discuss how we should lead, but today I want to address another question: How should we follow?

I have been discussing Peter’s principles for leaders. But he also gives us some insights into how we should follow. So let’s unpack what Peter has to say in 1 Peter 5: 5-6:

“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

As I read that passage I see three things that ought to characterize me as a follower, and as a leader:

Submission: “Be subject to your elders.” The “S-word” isn’t popular in our culture. We like to be independent and autonomous; yet, God calls us to submit. I think there are two dimensions to this. The vertical dimension involves submitting to God. The horizontal dimension involves submitting to others. Paul echoes this in his letter to the Ephesians when he says “Submit to one another.”

Humility: “Clothe yourselves in humility toward one another.” Submission and humility really go hand in hand. Its all about putting the needs of others ahead of your own. Its about serving others, rather than being self-serving.

Paul says a similar thing in his letter to the Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”

Let God do the Exalting: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

Peter no doubt learned this first hand from Jesus who said, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Personally, I get annoyed at watching athletes flaunt themselves after every big play. Isn't that what they are supposed to do? Isn't that what the pros are paid to do?

As leaders, and as followers, we do not need to promote ourselves. If we’ve got the stuff, if we are being used by God, people will notice and we will be promoted. We need to ignore the me-first, self-promoting, narcissism of the world and let God do the promoting.

Do your work with excellence and leave the results – and the rewards, and the exalting to God.

Legacy Logic Part 2

Each of us has had people who have invested deeply in our lives, in much the same way that Paul and his team invested in the Thessalonians. Just as Paul and his team put their stamp on the Thessalonians, we have had people who left their mark on us.

My list includes parents, teachers, coaches, professors, mentors, and my wife. Each of these people have invested deeply in me. I have tried to thank them in every way I can: in person, in notes and letters. Yet, every effort to thank them seems inadequate.

So I have decided that the best way to thank them is to be to others what they were to me. The best way to pay those who invested in me back is to pay it forward by investing in others.

Like the Thessalonians, we need to find models who are worthy of imitation. As we imitate them, we will then become an example for others to imitate. And as they imitate us, they become examples for others to follow. By doing so, they will perpetuate the process I call Legacy Logic.

I encourage you to express your gratitude to those who have invested in you. But if you’re like me, the best way to thank them is to pay it forward by investing in others.

• Consider the significant influences in your life. Who are the leaders you have been most influenced by?

• Thank God for placing them in your life.

• How could you thank that person?

• Send them a card or a letter thanking them.

• Schedule a lunch or dinner with them to thank them personally.

• Practice Legacy Logic: Now, … Pay it forward.

Legacy Logic Part 1

As I study the leadership approach modeled by the Apostle Paul, I see that the idea of imitation was an important and recurring theme for him.

He offers himself a model of leadership for others to not just follow, but to imitate:

“Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:16)

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1)

The word translated imitators in these verses is based on the Greek word mimetai from which the English term mimics is derived.

In his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul commends them for the fact that they had become imitators of “us and the Lord.”

“You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1 Thessalonians 1: 6-7)

Essentially, these followers were mimicking the attitudes and behaviors they had observed in Paul and his leadership team.

They took their mimicking to the next level because they became examples for others to follow. In the original Greek, typos, translated as example, refers to a seal that marked wax or a stamp that minted coins. The word originally denoted a mark made by a blow. The usage evolved and the word came to refer to any image whether stamped or not. The word has ethical significance when it is used as a pattern of conduct, or as it is in this text, as an example to be followed.

Paul and his team left their mark on the Thessalonians. Paul put his “stamp” on those he led.

Then, the Thessalonians followed this pattern and were leaving their mark – their stamp - on others.

Who are you leaving your mark on?

Who bears your stamp?

Peter's Principles Part 3

Leader: What’s Your Motive?

As many of you know, I think this is THE question that leaders must answer. And we need people in our lives that we allow to ask us this question.

Let me reframe it slightly: Why do you want to be a leader?

In 1 Peter 5: 1-7, Peter gives us three benchmarks against which we need to evaluate ourselves:

• Not under compulsion, but voluntarily.

We should serve willingly, not because we feel forced or have been manipulated into accepting the position.

• Not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.

Many people seek leadership positions for the benefits and privileges that go with the position. Yet, there are tremendous responsibilities that accompany the position. Would-be leaders shouldn’t seek the position for the “gain” they may receive.

Several years ago I worked for a small, privately owned organization. The owner/president often took advantage of the organization’s resources, frequently depleting our cash for his personal needs. When I confronted him about this, he told be that was one of the benefits of owning your own company.

I challenged him on this by saying that while there are certainly benefits, what about the responsibilities? I reminded him that we had 23 employees who were counting on him to do the right thing.

Unfortunately, he failed to heed my warning. The company went bankrupt and many families suffered the consequences.

• Not as lording it over others, but proving to be an example.

I suspect Peter learned this lesson directly from Jesus discussion of servant leadership in Mark 10: 42-45:

"Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. "But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

“Lording it over” is an interesting phrase. It refers to an intense domineering over people. My experience with people like this has led me to believe that this is often a sign of some deep-rooted insecurity.

In contrast, we must think of ourselves as servants, not sovereigns.

We should be leaders who provide an example that is worthy of imitation.

So, why do you want to lead?

Peter's Principles Part 2

Over the last several years I have noticed an interesting phenomena associated with leadership.

I call it the arrogance of affiliation.

It seems that when people are in a leader’s inner circle there is a sense of pride – even arrogance - that emerges. These people become very puffed up about their proximity to the leader and this proximity causes them to see themselves as somehow special and set apart.

These people become enamored with their position. They become arrogant and stand-offish, losing touch with the "common folk" they have been called to lead.

So it’s refreshing to see someone like Peter call for a more humble approach to leadership.

If anybody could have been boastful and puffed-up about their affiliation with a leader, Peter could have been. After all, he was a member of Jesus’ inner circle. He was up close and personal with Jesus for three years. Based on this, he could have boastfully asserted his authority.

Yet, instead, he identified himself as a “fellow” elder. He saw himself on the same level with the others and encouraged them to be among those they led.

Peter provides the remedy for the arrogance of affiliation in verses 5-6: “ … all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."

Let the self-exaltation be replaced with humility.

Let the arrogance of affiliation be replaced with an attitude of humble service to others.

Peter's Principles Part 1

It may surprise some of you to see me identifying leadership principles from an apostle not named Paul. But, the same inspiration was behind both men.

This is the first of several posts I will be making based on 1 Peter 5: 1-7. I encourage y'all to read and meditate on that passage. I will be unpacking this passage over the next several posts.

"Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock."

A couple of summers ago we had an opportunity to visit Scotland with some of our friends, Tom and Donna. I'll put a plug in for their fantastic place that is 6 miles from St. Andrews. It is called Craigsanquhar House, and if you ever have a chance to go, it is a great place to stay.


One of the most interesting experiences we had on the trip came one day when we were returning to the manor house on a winding, one lane road. We turned a corner and almost ran into the small truck parked in the middle of the road. A few yards behind the truck, the road way was filled with sheep. Hundreds of sheep. They were moving the sheep from one pasture to another. Two people were running ahead of the herd closing gates so the sheep wouldn’t stray into the wrong area.

We sat there waiting for about twenty minutes waiting for the process to be completed. As we did so, we were totally surrounded by sheep. Every we looked, in every direction, there were sheep! We were 20-30 deep in sheep in all directions.

We were among the sheep! Up close and personal with hundreds of sheep.

So when Peter says that we are to shepherd the flock among us, this is the image I have.

We need to be among those we lead – up close, personal.

One other observation from this experience: There were millions of flies!

That comes with the territory of sheep. And it comes with the territory of leadership, too!

Leading people isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s smelly and there a lot of flies, yet we are called to be among those we lead, - flaws, flies, and all!

As a leader, we need to realize: Sheep happens!

Date Week TRUMPED!

Just when I think I have done a great thing with the Valentine Tree and Date Week. I get trumped!

And to make it worse, I was trumped by my own son!

On Saturday night, Justin asked Shannon to marry him. And she said YES!

We were actually in on the surprise. We lined the halls of our house with purple rose peddles and lit candles to light the path to the dining room. Justin’s sister made a sign asking the question, there was a bouquet of purple flowers, (Shannon’s favorite color is purple) and the engagement ring was on a pedestal.

While we were at church on Saturday night, Justin came by the house to “pick up some mail.”

We are so excited! I have never seen Justin smiling so brightly. In fact, he even said his cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. We’re all smiling too!

I always wanted four daughters. It took a while, but I am getting my wish.

Date Week

Over the last several years Laura and I have started a tradition of sorts. We like to get away during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. The intensity and chaos of multiple Christmases is behind us and the decorations have been taken down and stored.

Yes – you read that correctly! The decorations have been up since a week or two before Thanksgiving, and they usually come down the day after Christmas.

This is actually part of the get away strategy. Laura enjoys the get away much more if she is not dreading the process of taking down the decorations when she comes home.

This year, as we were taking down the decorations, I noticed we had several gold hearts on the tree. I suggested that we take those and put them on the little Christmas tree we have in our bedroom and leave it up for a while as a Valentine Tree. In spite of the fact that our children gagged at the idea, we did it anyway!

In previous years we have gone to NYC, Fredricksburg, and the Hyatt Lost Pines resort during our get away week.

This year we stayed home. But, we turned it into a date week.

We went to three movies together The Blind Side, Its Complicated and Up in the Air.

By the way, as a former left tackle myself, and a charter member of the elite "Former Left Tackles Association," I highly recommend The Blind Side.

For New Year’s Eve, we did something random: We went to Priceline.com and said we wanted a 5 star hotel and that we were willing to pay $ 49. We got a great room at the Marriott near the Texas Motor Speedway. We also ate at Vidalia’s Southern Cuisine – outstanding shrimp and cheddar grits!

It was a great start to the new year.

I am always encouraging couples to be diligent in maintaining a date night routine. We set the bar for everyone by having a date week!