In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek asserts:

All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world all think act and communicate in the exact same way and it’s the complete opposite of everyone else.

Almost every organization starts by telling you what they do – the feature of their product or service. Some then explain how they do it – their differentiating value proposition. Very few communicate (or even know) why they do what they do – their purpose or cause.

But the inspired leaders and organizations do just the opposite. They start with why, explain how and then communicate what.

For more on the Start With Why concept including a 18 minute TED talk Sinek presented on the topic, see my post on Christian Web Trends, The Secret to the Success of Apple, MLK and the Wright Brothers

Trolling for Transactions

When you start by telling people what you do – your products, services, features, etc. – you are appealing to people’s self-interest. You are telling people:

• Buy my product because it will improve your life.
• Purchase our service because it will benefit you.
• Volunteer with our organization because you’ll feel good about making a difference.
• Come to our church because we have good services.
• Put your child in our school because it’s in their best interest.

You are trolling for a transaction.

The relationships you have with customers/members/students/volunteers are low-quality self-serving relationships that will only last as long as they see it as being in their self-interest.

This is how most individuals and organizations operate, but there is a better way, a higher-calling.

(Wo)Man on a Mission

Inspired leaders and organizations start with why. They tell you what they believe and inspire you to join their cause. This is easy to see in a lot of non-profits.

“Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.” There’s no appealing to self-interest there. Compassion inspires you to join them in sacrificing for this cause.

But starting with why is not limited to non-profits.

• Apple believes to its core in thinking differently and challenging the status quo.
• Chick-fil-A’s official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
• Disney’s mission statement is “To make people happy.”
• OurChurch.Com’s mission is to partner with Christians and help them achieve their mission online.

People don’t buy what they do, they buy why they do it. They join these companies because they are inspired to join their cause.

How about you? Are you starting with what or starting with why? Are you trolling for transactions or inspiring people to join your mission.

As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, let us remind ourselves of some of the things he said.  But let us not stop there for though we have made much progress since Dr. King’s lifetime, his dream has not been fully realized.  Let us continue to stand up again injustice and for justice, against violence and for peace, against hate and for love.

May these 53 statements made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspire you to action.

1. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
2. Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
3. We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
4. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
5. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
6. Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.
7. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.
8. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
9. We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs ‘down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’
10. True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
11. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
12. The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.
13. Faith is taking that first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
14. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
15. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
16. The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.
17. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.
18. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
19. A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
20. All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
21. An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
22. An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
23. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
24. Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
25. Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
26. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
27. History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
28. I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
29. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
30. If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
31. If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
32. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
33. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
34. Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
35. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
36. The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
37. Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
38. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
39. Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
40. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
41. Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
42. The time is always right to do the right thing.
43. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
44. The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
45. The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.
46. The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
47. War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.
48. We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
49. We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
50. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
51. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
52. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
53. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Which is the most meaningful to you? What are you doing to continue working towards Dr. King’s dream?

This excellent video was created by the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. I love the inspiring quote by architect, Daniel Burnham, used in the video, and the videography brings the quote to life. Have a look…

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.

Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)

Thanks to InsiderPerks, where I first saw the the video & quote.

Watch this insightful video in which Tony Dungy explains what makes quarterbacks like Peyton Manning great.

Whether it’s sports, work, parenting, family or any other area of life, it never feels good to be reacting all the time. It’s stressful.  It’s frustrating.  You feel like you’re always behind.

Did you catch Tony’s solution?  How we can move from reacting to anticipating?  It takes preparation and practice.  This is true in all areas of life – work, parenting, family and everything else.  The more you learn, the more you prepare, the more you practice and the more experience you gain the more the “game slows down” and you’re able to anticipate what’s going to happen before it does.

Discussion

1. Can you think of a time in your life when you were prepared enough to anticipate what was going to happen next? What was that like?
2.  Is there an area of your life right now in which you’re living in “reaction mode?” What do you need to do – learn, practice, prepare – so you can move beyond reacting to anticipating?

Influence is a hot buzzword right now. It’s a particularly hot topic online on blogs and in social media. Organizations want to grow their online influence in an effort to get more people to buy their products or join their cause. Individuals want to grow their online influence because it provides opportunities to shape people’s opinions, not to mention the attention, job opportunities, and other perks that influencers often receive.

Because of the social media context of influence, I wrote a blog post for Christian Web Trends about what I believe is The Secret to Building Influence Online and Offline. (Think you know what it is? You may be surprised!)

However, building influence is also tremendously important offline, particularly as it relates to leadership, which is one of the main topics we discuss here on Live Intentionally. So, go read the post, and then come back and discuss what it means to your leadership.

Did you guess “the secret” before reading the post? Do you sometimes get caught up in more superficial, impersonal and passive ways of trying to build influence? How can you use this “secret” to build your influence in your current leadership roles?

Every organization has positions that are mundane, difficult, or even downright discussing – picking up trash, stuffing envelopes, changing diapers in the church nursery, dealing with irate customers. If you’re a leader, it’s your responsibility to recruit people for these positions and keep them motivated and doing their job well.

That can be a challenging job. In this excellent video Patrick Dixon takes on perhaps the most unpopular job there is – cleaning toilets – and explains how to motivate someone to do it well.

The keys to motivating people to do unpopular jobs?

1. Help them see their role as critical to the mission of the organization.
2. Help them see how important what they do is to the people you serve.
3. Demonstrate that you, their leader, highly value and appreciate the work they do.
4. Provide opportunities for development and advancement.

It’s easy for those doing unpopular jobs to get tired and frustrated by their work and lose sight of the bigger picture. If you’re a leader and you want to prevent poor moral and high turnover, it’s your job to frequently remind the people on your team that they matter and what they do matters.

What unpopular jobs do you oversee? How do you motivate people to do them?

Check out this video by Taylor Mali.  Not only does he do a hilarious job of describing and demonstrating the way a lot of people speak today, but he makes a great point about the importance of speaking with authority.

I could not stop laughing! But upon further reflection, I also felt a bit convicted because I’ve let some of these patterns fall into my speech as well in an effort not to offend people and give them permission to disagree with me.

Yesterday Steve Jobs announced he’s stepping down as CEO of Apple, and Apple fanboys everywhere are crying in their lattes. Seth Godin captured what many are feeling in a blog post this morning titled A Little Empty:

I guess this is how a sports fan felt when Joe DiMaggio retired…

Sure, there was baseball after joltin Joe stopped playing. But it was never quite the same.

Thank you, Steve, for giving us all something to talk about and a way to talk about it with beauty (and fonts). We owe you more than we can say.

How is it that the CEO of the most valuable company in the world is so loved?

Nobody feels this way about the CEO of Exxon, or Walmart, or AT&T.

Microsoft’s Manipulation

Apple’s closest rival is Microsoft. While many people admire Bill Gates (particularly since he’s used his wealth to help so many people around the world), not many people admire Microsoft.

That’s because Microsoft built its empire using old-school business tactics of monopoly, leverage and manipulation. They used their near monopoly in the PC OS (operating system) market to force PC manufacturers into competition-stifling distribution agreements. They have consistently used money and power to stomp out competition until the courts intervene.

Microsoft’s modus operandi for expanding into new markets is to copy another company’s product and leverage their OS monopoly to wipe out the original as well as any new competitors. That’s how Word crushed WordPerfect. Internet Explorer crushed Netscape. That’s the same model they continue to use with MSN, Zune, and Bing.

Apple’s Innovation

In stark contrast, Apple’s philosophy is to challenge the status quo and find new ways of doing things. Apple revolutionized the way we listen to music with the iPod. They revolutionized the way we buy music with iTunes. The revolutionized mobile phones with the iPhone’s touch screen and apps. They revolutionized the computing market with the iPad.

People hate Microsoft because Microsoft copies, reduces choices and forces inferior products on us.

People love Apple because Apple innovates, expands choices, and gives us the opportunity to try revolutionary new products.

Why do we care?

In your business, non-profit, church, and even your family, you can be a Microsoft or an Apple.

You can use guilt trips, threats, and manipulation to try to get people to do what you want. Or you can encourage and inspire people to join you in your mission.  Which will you choose?

I choose to…

Encourage & inspire rather than guilt trip & require.

Yesterday I published a blog post on Christian Web Trends titled, Are You a Communications Manager or a Communications Leader?

The post was motivated by my observation that many organizations are subpar at communication because the people making the budget and personnel decisions don’t really understand what it takes to communicate effectively online and the people doing the communicating feel like they are stuck following orders using the resources, people, and time given to them from “above.”

Of course it’s not just communications people who find themselves in that situation. Everyone can. (Unless you are Supreme Leader of a sovereign monarchy)

The question is, are you going to view your job (or volunteer position) as that of a manager or a leader?

Are you going to ask your boss, “What do you want me to do?” Or are you going to ask her, “This is what I think we should do. Can we move forward?”

Are you going to simply accept the budget, staff, tools, time, and authority you’ve been given and try to make the most of it? Or do you see bigger possibilities, and are you willing to try to convince those around you that there’s a better way?

Nobody knows both the inefficiencies and the opportunities your position holds better than you.  To just play the cards you’ve been dealt will only frustrate you and is not in the best interest of your organization either.

If your boss (or board) really wants to succeed, he doesn’t want you to simply follow orders either. He wants you to solve problems, be innovative, and recognize new opportunities. He want you to lead.

Let me leave you with this excerpt by leadership expert Warren Bennis

• The manager administers and the leader innovates.
• The manager maintains, the leader develops.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader is always questioning and challenging.
• The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager has a short range view; the leader has a long range perspective.
• The manager asks ‘how’ and ‘when’; the leader asks ‘what’ and ‘why’.
• The manager imitates; the leader originates.
• The manager is a copy, the leader is an original.

I had the opportunity to spend this past Thursday and Friday at the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit.  The Summit featured some of the world’s top leaders sharing their leadership wisdom.  Here are 77 awesome quotes from those leaders.

Bill Hybels (session notes)

1. When the leader stops learning, the leader should stop leading. @BillHybels

2. We live in a world that’s crying out for better leadership. @BillHybels

3. If you don’t deal with challenging people in your organization, you discourage and demotivate your best people. @BillHybels

4. Nothing rocks forever. @BillHybels

5. Churches ought to be in the people transformation business. @BillHybels

6. Don’t get caught up in a pattern of creating excuses instead of bold solutions to solve the problems. @BillHybels

7. For those approaching the finish line, why go out with a whimper? Go through the finish line in a full sprint. @BillHybels

Len Schlesinger (session notes)

8. Nobody can tell me you can ride one business model for your entire career. Must reinvent yourself 3-5 times in your career. @lschlesinger

9. We need mechanisms that deal with economics, sustainability, and social values simultaneously not sequentially. @lschlesinger

10. “We are all entrepreneurs, only too few of us get to practice it.” -Muhammad Yunus @lschlesinger

11. If you can’t predict the future, create it. @lschlesinger

12. You can’t think your way into an unknowable future, you must act. @lschlesinger

13. Successful entrepreneurs start with things they care about. @lschlesinger

14. Stop worrying about what you want to do and worry about what you want to do next. @lschlesinger

15. Instead of calling it failure just call it an exercise in learning something nobody else knows. @lschlesinger

Cory Booker (session notes)

16. You have a choice, are you going to grow fat and happy on your ancestors’ struggles or will you use all of your blessings to move forward? @CoryBooker

17. Everyone is born an original but most die as copies. -Abraham Lincoln @CoryBooker

18. The world you see outside of you will always be a reflection of what you have inside of you. @CoryBooker

19. The only way to make change in this world is to start with ones self. If it is to be, it’s up to me. @CoryBooker

20. Before you tell me what you teach and preach. Show me how you live and give. @CoryBooker

21. In any given set of circumstances – in every moment – you have a choice to accept circumstances as they are or to change them. @CoryBooker

22. Do somethin’! @CoryBooker

Brenda Salter McNeil (session notes)

23. Catalytic events are never nice, easy, or comfortable. @RevDocBrenda

24. Our mission is to lead the church forward into the globalness of what the church is called to be. @RevDocBrenda

25. Are you ready to break through your sound barrier? @RevDocBrenda

Seth Godin (session notes)

26. We’re seeing the death of the industrial age. It’s being replaced by a new age. An age of tribes… -Seth Godin

27. We have a need to be in sync. We get in sync in tribes and tribes need leaders. -Seth Godin

28. There’s something after the job… the artist. -Seth Godin

29. There is no map for being an artist. -Seth Godin

30. We don’t need you to memorize facts – we can look them up. We need you to solve interesting problems. -Seth Godin

31. Don’t wait to get picked. Pick yourself. -Seth Godin

32. It’s impossible 2 do art and always succeed. If failure is not an option, success is not an option. -Seth Godin

33. Make art. Give gifts. Lead. Make a difference. -Seth Godin

Steven Furtick (session notes)

34. I’m just dumb enough to believe God can do anything. @stevenfurtick

35. I don’t want to just survive the world, I want to change the world. @stevenfurtick

36. I can’t expect God’s blessing on my work unless I do it God’s way. @stevenfurtick

37. If all you have is good ideas, you’re just a day dreamer. @stevenfurtick

38. If the vision for your life isn’t overwhelming to you, it’s probably insulting to God. @stevenfurtick

39. One of the reasons we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with other people’s highlight reel. @stevenfurtick

Mama Maggie Gobran (session notes)

40. We don’t choose where to be born. But we do choose either to be sinners or saints… to be nobody or be heroes. -Mama Maggie Gobran

41. To be elegant comes from the inside, to love. To love is to give, to give until it hurts. -Mama Maggie Gobran

42. The silence is the secret, the first step, to finding treasure. -Mama Maggie Gobran

Bill Hybels (session notes)

43. It’s easy to get addicted to the narcotic of success and growth. @BillHybels

44. God is looking for some strong-shouldered leaders who say, ‘If there’s a tough assignment any where in the world, I’m available.” @BillHybels

45. I don’t know a single leader who ever regretted taking a tough assignment from God. @BillHybels

Michelle Rhee (session notes)

46. I would much rather deal with anger than apathy. @m_rhee

47. If you turn your head to the people who are yelling the loudest, you’ll be turning your back to the children, because they don’t vote. @m_rhee

48. Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. @m_rhee

Dr. Henry Cloud (session notes)

49. Are you going to allow “that guy” to stop this vision? @DrHenryCloud

50. When a wise person hears the truth, he/she adjusts himself to match the truth. @DrHenryCloud

51. When a fool sees the light, he tries to adjust the light. @DrHenryCloud

52. It’s hard for an optimistic person to believe that there really are bad people. @DrHenryCloud

John Dickson (session notes)

53. We are really scared of crocodiles in Australia… and man hugs. @DailyDickson

54. Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status and use your influence for the good of others. @DailyDickson

55. What we don’t know far exceeds what we do know, so humility is common sense. @DailyDickson

56. Humility is beautiful. We are more attracted to the great who are humble than the great who want everyone to know about it. @DailyDickson

57. Science is based on humility. 1 can’t just observe the world & make a declaration. A theory has to be tested & peer tested. @DailyDickson

58. The most believable person in the world is the person who you know has your best interest at heart. @DailyDickson

59. You don’t need the keys to the kingdom to impact the kingdom. (Don’t need political or structural authority) @DailyDickson

Patrick Lencioni (session notes)

60. Vulnerability runs counter to the dominant value in our culture – to avoid suffering at any cost. It’s counter-cultural. @patricklencioni

61. People are desperate for the kind truth. @patricklencioni

62. There’s a technical term for people who don’t like to tell people the kind truth… wuss. @patricklencioni

63. My job is not to look smart but to help you do better. @patricklencioni

64. The best leaders are the ones who are open about their shortcomings. @patricklencioni

65. When we acknowledge our humanity it’s attractive, people want to be around us. @patricklencioni

66. Leaders, show your people that you’re willing to do whatever it is you’re asking them to do. @patricklencioni

67. We don’t come out of the womb wanting to be vulnerable. It involves pain, sacrifice. @patricklencioni

68. We are called to be humble and vulnerable by the most humble and vulnerable Leader of all. @patricklencioni

Erwin McManus (session notes)

69. Don’t do evangelism. Live Christ. @ErwinMcManus

70. We are God’s instruments to create the future. @ErwinMcManus

71. Evil men don’t wait 4 permission 2 create the future. But good people sit idly by waiting 4 God 2 create a better world. @ErwinMcManus

72. The future is whatever we want it to be. @ErwinMcManus

73. We need to become the cultivators of human potential. @ErwinMcManus

74. I believe there has never been an ordinary child born on this planet ever. @ErwinMcManus

75. Whoever tells the best stories changes the culture. @ErwinMcManus

76. Sometimes the truth is lost in a bad story and the false is perpetuated through a good story. @ErwinMcManus

77. It’s not that hard to lead people to Jesus when you tell them a story which they are in. @ErwinMcManus

And one bonus quote…

Jesus has come and he has made all things new. @ErwinMcManus

Thanks to Adam Jeske, whose Top 37 Quotes post inspired me to borrow his idea, super-size it, and link it up.

Which were your favorite quotes from the Global Leadership Summit?