Musings at Altitude

I’m in a lull right now, a brief respite from the intensity of business operations.  I’m still busy in a very different way, but the insanity is a bit muted and the wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night stress has departed for the moment.

So I’ve decided to focus on me as the work-in-progress that I am, and I’m going to see what I can do now to develop and work on those areas that are critical for me to improve as a leader.  After all, that may be the best way to leverage the less hectic times that come in these lulls.

Areas where I need help:

(1) Communications – things that seem perfectly clear to me as I say or write them create an awful lot of confusion when heard or read by others; I need a lesson and then practice on how to “stop-think” before spewing the profound words that I think I say today

(2) Humility – I can’t always be right, but I certainly seem to think I am most of the time; that manifests itself in emotional reactions to things others say or do that would be counter to what I so adamantly believe is right; if obedience does indeed begin with humility, that may be the most important thing I need to work on in my spiritual and professional lives

(3) Empathy – I way too frequently assume that I know exactly what others may be going through as I engage with them on issues or needed actions; as you might suspect, I’m wrong quite often; I need to learn to probe behind what’s visible and see what’s really happening inside; only then can my attitude and actions be truly empathetic to those who may be affected by anything I say or do

(4) Vision – I’ve been affectionately accused of being a visionary almost as much as I’ve been accused of not being one; with all the challenges of today, having a clear, compelling, and motivating vision is more important than ever, but creating it is a tremendous challenge

(5) Contentment – I’ve lived a nomadic professional life, moving frequently enough to create excitement with new job challenges, and never staying long enough to work through difficult, long term issues or overcome enormous business challenges; in Philippians 4:11, Paul says, “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances”;  but I never learned that and never wanted to learn that; till now that is; others need to see that contentment in leaders of today that Paul so effectively demonstrated two centuries ago

(6) Workability – None of the above will be possible if I can’t become “workable” as an individual; all of these in a sense are tied together through a belief and then an act of submission; we all did it (although I was termed a rebel at times) with our parents, with our teachers, with our coaches, and with our bosses as we were growing up; but many of us (including me) have lost this as we’ve gotten older

I can only imagine how hard it will be to improve in these areas with nearly 5 decades of ingrained attitudes and actions that need to be pushed aside so learning can occur.  It took a lot of practice to just get to this point where I do things so awkwardly today.  It all starts with admitting the need, and then submitting to others for that development to occur.  Submitting is really hard, but I’m committed to do just that.

PS.  Jeremiah 18:6 says, “”Can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord.  “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.””  We’re told very clearly that we are indeed a work in progress, and we’re the clay in the hands of a master potter, our Creator.  The Potter’s Hand keeps ringing in my ears as I think about workability.  Several years ago, I was walking with my Dad.  I asked him, “What is being a Christian in its simplest terms?”  He quickly responded, “Simply obedience.”  If we admit that we do indeed have a potter and we are the clay, and then submit to that potter so He can make something spectacular out of us, that’s obedience…that’s workability.