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 came across this nugget from the great Phil Cooke regarding mobile phone broadcasting. If you are a content producer/provider this is the wave of the future. Imagine being able to send your content direct to peoples cel phones….

This is a great tool that will need the right strategy. This combined with the power of Ministry Give are incredible tools to reach directly to people. The broadcast networks gave us “potential households” this gives you direct access to people and the ability to track them as donors or viewers. Cool stuff….

President Elect Barack Obama is planning on introducing an economic stimulus plan this week. I, along with the rest of the country, am very anxious and excited to see what he brings to the table.

Keep in mind, this is the guy who raised an unprecedented amount of campaign capital. Not only did his campaign set records, it eclipsed anything people have imagined. Here’s the really crazy thing…he did it during the middle of an economic recession. They had the right tools with the right strategy.

In a time where churches are seeing on average of 15-25% reduction in giving it’s time to start looking at a new way of doing things.

Monday morning I met with Yuri Star of Church Media Group about a new product they have called Ministry Give. Ministry Give uses the same technology that the Obama campaign used to raise record amounts of capital…..AND…it’s not expensive at all. It allows your donors to give online, at a kiosk, or via their cel phone. It’s a very cutting edge solution for fund raising.

Check out Ministry Give and put together a strategy that will help your organization. If you have questions please feel free to drop me an email.

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.