Mike Walker Creative

I recently finally sat down with a book I had been wanting to read for a long time called “It’s Your Ship” by former commander of the USS Benfold of the US Navy, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. The book chronicles the leadership techniques he used to connect with the crew of his ship, which at the time he took it over ranked lowest in the Navy, and turn it in to one of the highest rated ships.

As I was reading last night I was struck by the introduction:

“A recent gallup study found that when people leave their companies, 65% of them are actually leaving their managers.”

I also came across this…top 5 reasons a person leaves a company:
#1 - Not being treated with respect or dignity
#2 - Being prevented from making an impact on the company
#3 - Not being listened to
#4 - Not being rewarded with more responsibility
#5 - Monetary reasons

These are great reminders for those of us who are leading teams (especially young teams). While most leaders and managers may not have the ability to hand out large raises or stock options (especially in todays ecomony)items 1-4 can be addressed easily. Get creative about your work environnment. If you are a micromanager…take a step back and see what your team can bring to the table. They will tell you what is important to them, and where you can…give it to them. It’s a funny thing, the more control you give them the more they will likely see you as their leader.

I have been fortunate to be able to do some work with the Dallas Cowboys franchise.

When Bill Parcells came in to take over the coaching he had a phrase he used to pound in to the players heads, “don’t eat the cheese”. When things started going well and the press would start giving out accolades he would remind his stars especially…”don’t eat the cheese. Your cheeks will get fat from eating the cheese”.

What he was trying to tell his guys was this, be careful about reading and believing your own press. You’re never quite as good as they say and never quite as bad.

Eating the cheese can be incredibly destructive to any organization. I have seen it first hand in several organizations. Some of the strongest teams with the most momentum have been undone because they started believing their press. They got distracted by the success and quit doing the things that got them there. The guy or girl who outworked everyone else suddenly became the one crying for another assistant so they could spend less time doing what made them successful in the first place….their cheeks got fat from the cheese.

Just because something worked for several years doesn’t mean it will keep working…which means YOU have to keep working to stay current and keep yourself and your company on the leading edge.

Don’t eat the cheese.

I read a book about a year ago called The Long Tail. The author studied trends in both the music and film industries and it got me thinking about both.

Having a background in the music industry I can speak in to it from a more educated standpoint. As I listened to and thought about some of the great songs and artists in history one common thread I noticed is that of artistry. They were all leaders and change agents in their own right. Names like Nirvana, Metallica, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Michael Jackson, while yes older names, all changed the landscape of music and the status quo. Even in Christian music names like DC Talk, Amy Grant, and even now Hillsong have created something new and different, and the industry was changed because of them.

My question is, where are todays artists? The people who are coming in with fresh new ideas and are going to change the face of music.

As of late I have been on a search for something new and exciting in Christian music especially. Unfortunately Christian music, like the church, tends to be about 10+ years behind. I live in Dallas, home of KLTY which at one point set the standard for new upcoming Christian music. At the time they were led by a friend of mine named Jon Rivers who is a man who is a true artist himself that happens to be a radio personality, and because of Jon the industry was changed. After Jon left KLTY has gone through a phase of a lot of advertising and a whole lot of nothing interesting. Bring back the artists…

Artists change things and refuse to accept the status quo. They don’t do it for huge profit margins or record sales numbers. They do it because it’s inside them and they have to get it out.

Hillsong radically changed the face and sound of todays praise and worship market. We should celebrate what they have done. The problem is that in celebrating them too many other organizations have copied them and not put out their own artistry and voice.

I believe there is a huge disconnect in the understanding of the worlds of talent and of artistry in the church world. I have worked side by side with people who are great artists and people who are great talents…and you need both.

Talented people have an extraordinary gift in a given area. For some it’s singing, for some it’s an instrument, for some it might be technical such as lighting or audio. They have a talent for their craft. They do it and do it well.

Artists are those, however, with something to say…something to add to the conversation….something that changes our ways of thinking. Artists almost always have some extraordinary talent, but talented people do not always have artistry. I think too many people in Christian music and the church don’t understand this and it’s a big reason why music and the arts have gotten watered down in recent years.

One of the first artists I worked with when I broke in to the touring market was one of THE FIRST Christian artists (actually one of the first artists period) to use interactive video inside a concert tour. He changed the market. Now almost all artists look to take out interactive video with their shows. He was a game changer.

When was the last time you heard a song that revolutionized your life in Christian music or church? When was the last time the churches or Christian tours led the way in technology? There are a few out there….Northpoint in Atlanta, Willow Creek in Chicago, Life Church in Oklahoma, Hillsong in Australia….but by in large where are the trend setters? The people who are tired of the status quo? Sure we have heard some good performers, but who is changing the game? Who is challenging us? Have we really become a society of cheap knock offs whose highest aspiration is to be just like Hillsong? Hillsong is incredible and should be celebrated. What do you bring to the conversation?

I could go on about this for a long time, but I will wrap with asking the question….where are the artists and leaders who are going to lead us in to the next 20 years? There’s lots of talent….where are the artists?

Having worked with churches and non-profits I have dealt with a lot of volunteer situations. One thing that always concerned me was burning people out. Most volunteers I worked with had full time jobs as well as families, then on top of that many organizations will ask for a commitment of 15-20 hours a week additional as a volunteer.

My concern was always burnout. As a leader in a volunteer driven organization it’s imperative that you not only recruit volunteers, but you should also be responsible to manage them. This includes having a feel for how they are doing. A close friend of mine has volunteered at a church for some time and loved the work. The church kept using this person over and over without ever keeping tabs on how she was doing. Being young she hasn’t learned how to balance things yet so consequently she ended up on vocal rest which has affected her school life, personal life, and professional life. If we are going to take on the responsibility to recruit and use volunteers we have to be responsible enough to look out for them when they may or may not look out for themselves.

I am probably going to date myself a little, but I grew up during the age of arena rock shows. Every act aspired to perform in arenas. The size of those shows eventually grew in to stadium shows and as you can imagine every act aspired to have a stadium show.

In the late 90’s the industry went through it all again. In the early 2000’s everyone pulled out and pulled out quickly. Acts that were playing to scores of people inside stadiums went straight in to theaters and clubs basically overnight.

What happened was a series of things. Itunes changed the buying habits of listeners and the record industry didn’t (and still doesn’t) know how to respond. Creativity started lacking in the shows. It became cookie cutter. One of the biggest things that happened was the fact that the bubble burst. The costs of keeping a show in a stadium made them far less profitable. There was a ton of money coming in, but what it took to keep it going wasn’t worth it.

A show that might profit $150,000-200,000 in an arena after expenses might profit $275,000-325,000 in a stadium. More money right? Not exactly…it takes 2-3 times the man power, expense, and effort to put on a stadium show than it does an arena show. So while on paper it looks more profitable it’s really not sustainable. You have to maintain a larger staff, more hotels, more meals, extra production, more security, etc…so more is not exactly more.

The church world always has been and still is about 15 years behind. One thing I think we are seeing is that more is not always more. Churches are building larger and larger buildings and adding more and more staff. My question is, are they more effective? Some would say yes and some no.

I think churches should in fact grow. There are scores of lost people in the world who need to hear the message, but are churches growing smart and are they growing healthy? I have seen up close examples of some that have and some that haven’t.

We celebrate explosive growth, but that same speed of growth can also be the speed of your undoing.

Business has countless examples of both as well. In the early 2000’s we saw a boom in mortgages and refinancing. Today we are reaping what was sowed. The mortgage industry handed out bad loan after bad loan (a lot of good ones too) and they had more business. I am curious if they had it to do over again if they would have been so anxious to write every loan or if they would have been a bit more strategic and taken the time to write better paper?

Again, the church has much to learn from this. Otherwise we will see in the church world more of what’s happening in corporate america. Just doing good business is not going to exempt the church from feeling the pressures of the economy, but it sure will help it cope effectively.

Smart growth is smart growth…as is smart reductions.

A good friend of mine nearly lost his company 2 years ago. They were doing more business than they ever dreamed and had more money flowing in to the company than ever before. The problem they had was sustaining what they had grown to. More was not exactly more. It wasn’t until they went through the organization and did some timely pruning that they were actually able to grow in a healthy manner.

Starbucks realized that this year. They had added more stores to hopefully increase their profit shares. The problem was that it wasn’t smart growth. More stores didnt exactly equal more profits. They had to cut back in order to see more profitability.

As you are growing it’s important to ask the question…can we do this? It’s equally important to ask…should we do this? Growing an organization to a certain size isn’t the hard part….sustaining it is. It’s funny how growth can actually cost you your organization if you aren’t careful.

So I ask again…is more always more?

I just arrived back in country from Brazil. As I walked in to look over items on my desk I saw the cover of a magazine article with a stage design…that drove me crazy. It was way too busy, had nothing to do with the messaging of the organization, was lit poorly, etc…

The old saying of “just do something” is not always the correct response. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

I am ALL in favor of pressing forward and doing things that create momentum, but at least show there is progress happening. If you are still at the same level today that you were 2 years ago there is a problem.

In the words of Bill Hybel “move me, scare me, change me, but don’t leave me the way you found me”. Don’t rest of what you have done, and more important…if you (or your staff) have become your own biggest fans….it’s time for change.

Have a plan. Make it look like you thought about things and that what you are putting in front of people is intentional and not accidental….or do nothing at all.

I have always searched out people who inspire me and can challenge me to think. I love to read books and blogs. Some of the people and books I enjoy reading are:
Jim Collins
Chris Anderson
Wooden on Leadership
Beyond Basketball - Coach K’s keywords for success
Pour Your Heart Into It
Seth Godin
Terry Storch

This is a very condensed list, but some books and people I have been reading recently. As I listed above, I have gotten to really enjoy reading the books and blog by Seth Godin. Today he had a great blog that I thought I would share.

Having come from a touring background as well as working with most names in Christian music as well as some big names in secular music (I am about to add a couple more to the list - more on that to come), I have worked with people in music who get it and some who don’t. I think the blog sums up several of those who don’t. Good stuff…check it out!

We have all heard the latest buzz in marketing…branding. It’s not your tag line. It’s not your logo. Simply put your brand is your promise. As an organization you are making promises to your customers every day. Most of the time organizations are unaware of this. The tricky part is that your brand is not what YOU say it is…it’s what THEY say it is. If enough people believe a certain thing about an organization then it likely becomes part of your brand. Many companies try to control their brand, but to have the most success you should seek to influence your brand. Make sure that the things you are going to promise as an organization are going to be delivered. Another way to think of it is this, brand management is less about marketing and more about relationship management. Imagine telling an individual how important your relationship with them is, but then you never call and you never spend any time together. What the other person would feel is that it’s not really important to them. In essence the promise is broken. What Starbucks, they tell us every day that their brand essence is all about a great coffee experience. If they spent the next year investing in sandwiches and cold drinks or got rid of all the things that we have all come to know as a great coffee experience, the music, the atmosphere, the baristas who know our name, etc…..what would we begin believing about Starbucks? Sure they are open to new ideas and products, but at the end of the day they are ALL about a great coffee experience. As an organization what are you all about? Are you keeping your promise?

Matt Card, of Clark Pro Media, is a good friend of mine from Atlanta. He is also one of the more brilliant business strategists I know. He told me once that organizations will succeed by being strategic or being accidental. In times of of recession you find out real quick who is strategic and who is accidental.

One thing that stands out about strategic organizations is that they usually have a strong sense of who they are and what is important to them. Knowing who you are and what’s important is huge…it’s a great filter to run things through when things are tough.

Starbucks is ALL about a great coffee experience. If you have been keeping up with them in recent months you know that they are being very purposeful in their decision making about what to add and what to take away. Some of the things they are taking away such as some of their menu items might be good things and communicate a good coffee experience, but not quite a great coffee experience.

Another couple friends of mine work for a creative agency. They were telling me about a client who has paid for a certain amount of hours of work, but because the client doesn’t have a true sense of who they are they are spending the agency’s time and their own money having the agency chase different objectives every couple of weeks. At the end of the day they have the funds to allow this, but what happens when things get tighter for them. A true sense of mission, purpose, and intentionality will go a long way to helping make best use of resources.

Know who you are, why things are important to you, and be intentional about implementing the right things to separate you from the good and put you in line with the great otherwise you are waiting for an accident to happen…which could be good or bad, but why chance it?

Through out my career while working for other companies, ever time I would walk in for my first week on the job I would be issued my laptop (usually a Dell) which was loaded up with outlook, word, excel, etc… I am unaware of the costs these days, but I know at the time one company was spending on average of $200 per computer for licenses. I believe we had somewhere around 250 computers. You can see how that adds up.

In todays IT environment there are more options. While there are some things that are “must haves” there are also some ways to get creative. Each situation is a bit different so you will have to evaluate the needs of your organization. For example, instead of using Microsoft Outlook maybe look at using Gmail for everyone in your company. It works….and it’s free. Google also offers calendars that can be shared and are free. Do you currently have large server space dedicated to email and calendars? Since Google is web based there is no longer a need for email servers for your company. 

Can you re-think what your tech needs are on a daily basis? I know most companies are pretty anti MAC…sometimes with good reason, but sometimes not. I know IT guys who spend most of their day running around to fix PC problems. I know very few IT guys who have MACs deployed that spend much time having to fix them. If there are areas where MAC’s can be deployed take a look at it. You might find your IT folks have less to do which would allow you to move them or rethink that department.

There are a ton of options in this area. In todays economy it’s good to rethink some things. It could end up saving you a lot of money and time.