I love to challenge ideas; even my own. I have to be careful how I challenge them, but I think the best ideas have undergone serious critical thinking prior to introduction.
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While I do not know Dave Baldwin personally, I have grown to have tremendous respect for him as a leader. Whenever Dave comments on one of my posts, his response is thoughtful and helpful. He is apparently the type leader I would want on my team or one whose team I would want to serve. You can follow Dave on Twitter HERE.
Patricia Zell is a frequent commenter on my blog. I especially appreciate those who take the time not only to read the posts I write, but participate in the discussion of them. Patricia and I have commented back and forth before about her role as a teacher. She made comments, such as, “I’m not necessarily a leader, but as a teacher…â€, to which I always reply something such as, “That sounds like a leader to me.†If we believe that leadership is about influence, then teachers are some of the most influential leaders we have. They certainly impact our society in a powerful way. In my life, some of my biggest influencers have been teachers. You can follow Patricia on Twitter HERE.
In response to David being a man after God’s own heart, I’ve heard people say, “Yea, that that was said before the Bathsheba incident.†I’ve heard people write off his witness after that period of failure in David’s life. It is true that David failed…he failed big time, but I don’t believe that David’s heart really ever changed. I think he died with the same passion with which he lived. I think he had a heart that desired to please and honor God even after the Bathsheba incident.
That’s how we planted a church. We looked for people who were influencers within a circle of friends to find a core of people to start our church and we invested in them and released them to lead in the church. We continue to invest in influencer type people that come to our church to lead our ministry. I have personally looked for influencer type people to add to our staff.
I’m curious what you do with anonymous criticism. I don’t really have a policy and I feel I must establish one. I realize that growth in any organization and just being in a position of leadership welcomes critics. The debate I’ve always heard, however, is what to do with anonymous criticism. I don’t appreciate critics who want sign their name, but since it’s part of leadership, here’s how I currently react:
I love creativity. When we started Grace Community Church, we surrounded ourselves with highly creative minds and allowed them to dream big dreams. One thing I realized early in the life of the church, however, is that creative people are more difficult to lead.
James Castellano is leader number two today in my interview series with readers of this blog. James can be found on Twitter HERE. James writes a great blog HERE.
Here are 10 questions with leader James Castellano:
Mature leaders don’t abuse power just because they have it…
A couple of weeks ago I invited my readers to share their own answers to the leadership questions I had been asking other leaders. I have some great leaders reading my blog…some of whom I have never met. This has been a great experiment. I’m learning from some leaders who weren’t on my radar previously.