jasonhirsch.org

Sitting in Cesar’s Plaza in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Not quite Caesars Palace in Vegas, but it is what it is:)

This week will wrap up a series of leadership conferences Scott Larsen and myself have been doing across the country. This trip to Bolivia has been particularly strategic, because we officially launched www.equipbolivia.org.  Apart from Equip Atlanta, there is currently no other country that has launched an official Equip Leadership organization. We will model, teach, train, and equip other countries around the world to launch there own leadership orgs. The stakes are getting high, and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through equipped leaders.

Achieving your potential as a leader comes from making progress. I believe your progress is only one God idea away, but you must take time to think. Let me give you questions I have written to ask government officials, pastors, business leaders, as we have had Q & A panels at all of our conferences. I love the insight these leaders give us. Questions so often are catalytic, and will get your thinking juices flowing.

Note: I would love to hear how you answer these questions, and I would also like to know your leadership insight on them?

1. Are you a possibility thinker, or do you tend to think more negatively? Undoubtedly leaders will face negative people. How have you handled negative people in your circles of influence?

2. Have you ever been a part of a negative thinking team? What were the results of that team?

3. Does being a Christian in your area of influence play a large role in how you have lead over the years? How so?

4. Are you a reflective thinker? How imperative is it, that leaders take time to do reflective thinking? When was the last time you stopped to reflect about your past, current, and future leadership?

5. Are you surrounded by people that think differently than you? Is it important to have leaders around you, that think differently than you? Have you created environments where people feel they are safe, and can express their different ideas to you?

6. As you advance as a leader and in your influence, leaders many times forget how they arrived there. How do you keep yourself from not forgetting servant leadership as your influence grows?

7. How do you keep learning as a regular part of your life? Give examples. Are there any current authors you are reading that you would recommend to us?

8. Have you had anyone mentor you? Who? What impact has it made on your life? Are you currently mentoring anyone?

9. What is the bottom line for your life? Do you know why you are doing what you are doing in your life?

10. Have you ever had to lead teams to bottom line thinking? What is your personal process? Do you find it challenging or easy to lead people to a clear, focused, bottom line mission?

The above questions alone, should give you a great platform to personally teach others, or possibly learn from trusted leaders who could answer the above questions for you. Commit a couple of the questions to memory and when you get a chance to dialogue with someone you would really like to learn from, ask them a few. You will be surprised what you learn. Lead on!!!

Applied thinking is arguably one of the greatest untapped weapons in a leaders arsenal. You can think without leading, but to lead effectively you must become a good thinker. Notice I said become. Good thinking can be learned. I don’t think it should ever stop until you lose your mind:)

Good thinking creates the foundation for good results. It increases your potential. It also creates more good thinking if you make it a habit. You get the value…right?

Last night I spoke on Big-Picture thinking, Focused thinking, Creative thinking, Realistic thinking, and Strategic thinking. On top of speaking, I’ve begun to implement panels (people of influence brought on stage, asked questions by me, to ultimately have the crowd glean from the insights of good leaders that are impacting culture around them.) I have found this to be a very effective model of learning, not only for me, but for those listening.

I covered a lot of terrain with the questions I asked, but I believe they are noteworthy for you to answer, or possibly ask people that you may be looking for insight from. Use the questions that most apply to you.

1. Where you raised to think positively? How has it affected you to this day? Do you tend to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker?

2. In certain environments have you had to change your thinking over the years? What impact has the changed thinking made?

3. Do you have a certain thinking place? How often do you use that place?

4. Do you tend to be a Big-Picture thinker, or someone who tends to get bogged down in details? Do you have any personal fail to see the big picture examples? Was the impact positive or negative?

5. What is a dream God has placed on your heart? Do you feel capable of accomplishing it? How long have you been focusing on this dream?

6. Part of my focused thinking process over the years has been calling influential people I trust. Do you have a circle of trusted people you could call or meet with, to help bring focus to your life?

7.  In your profession, how critical is creative thinking? Do you find creative thinkers hard to find? Does age matter when it comes to creative thinkers around the table of leadership? How have you been praised, or how have you praised creative thinkers over the years?

8.  Do you tend to be more of a fact person or a dreamer? Have you ever had a dream that someone shot down? How did you handle that?

9.  Agree or disagree: Realistic thinkers must have a teachable attitude? Give an example.

10. Does your calendar include specific blocks of time for strategic thinking? Why or why not?

11. What are you currently doing that is not strategic for you? Assess how many hours you are working in your areas of weakness, rather than in your areas of strength.

12. What are your personal strengths? Compare those strengths to where you are investing your time. What changes do you think need to be made in order to become more strategic with your life?

A word of caution to Christian leaders: Isaiah reminds all of us of the utmost importance of seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we lead.  We must make sure our plans fit God’s revealed will for us, our churches, or places of business. Always ask if your plans are relevant to the needs of your mission, values, vision, and ultimately your long-range objectives. Seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance as a leader is one of the wisest things your could ever do as a leader.

I spent most of the day in preparation for Equip conferences that will kick off tomorrow night. I tend to work better under pressure. How about you? In fact, I find that I get very focused when I’m under the gun. I’m learning to focus much further out from my deadlines, but for now here’s what I can tell you.

When you Focus, you have a lot more potential for seeing or obtaining your goals. Example: A magnifying glass can take something very small and so enlarge it, that you can tell what your reading or looking at. That is the same way it is with focusing. It tends to magnify something that might not have been so important to you before, but now that your really focusing intently on it, you can see its importance. Note: To much magnifying could fry you to:)  Key = Balance.

I have found that we do need to learn to concentrate our thinking for prolonged periods of time in order to successfully conquer difficult challenges. I have seen many people achieve what they long thought impossible when they learned how to focus their thinking on areas of life that really matter.

Ok…..focus with me for just a minute.  What matters to you? How do you determine what matters to you? If you will truly focus on these next statements I’m about to make, I believe they may be life altering for you.

1. Identify your priorities in life. Focus on that for little bit!!!! I would not exceed more than 10, because that could be a little bit overwhelming, and you would probably lose your focus anyway:)

2. Discover your strengths.  What are you good at? Who do people you really trust, say your good at? Play to those strengths. Chances are, God placed you on this earth to utilize those strengths through you. Just sayin!!!

3. Develop your dream. This will take some time to focus and write down, short term goals, intermediate goals, and your long term dream goals. Key, all the goals should drive you toward your dream/s.

Last questions. Do you believe God has priorities for you? If so, don’t you think it would be worth taking a few hours, if not days, weeks, or months, to Focus your thinking, and find out what they are? You will never regret it.  Don’t waste your life!!!