Axiom

While traveling in the Ukraine, I was able to read Bill Hybel's Axiom which, as the subtitle suggests, is filled with leadership proverbs. This is a collection of 76 pieces of advice grouped into four categories. What follows below is a few highlights in each of the four sections

Vision and strategy

• Language matters - The best leaders wrestle with words until they are able to communicate their big ideasx in a way that captures the imagination, catalyzes action, and lifts spirits. They coin creeds and fashion slogans and create rallying cries, all because they understand taht language matters.
  
• Make the big ask - Leadership is about asking. After casting bold visions, leaders ask people to help make them become reality.
  
• Vision leaks - You or I could deliver a mind-blowing, God-honoring, pulse-quickening vision that leaves everyone revved up to go change the world, but by Tuesday many people have forgotten they were even in church the previous weekend.
  
• Six-by-six execution - Focus on six challenges/tasks that you want to accomplish in the next six weeks.
  

Teamwork and communication

• The Three C-s - What are the criteria for hiring staff: character, competence and chemistry - in that order.
  
• Never say someone's "no" for them - In other words, don't presume people don't want to be a part of your team or support your vision. Ask them anyway, make them say yes/no.
  
• Pay attention to greetings and goodbyes - Make it a habit to do a personal, enthusiastic, genuine, warm, highly relation, look-you-in-the-eye greeting to every single person sitting around the table before I even think about starting the meeting.
  
• Disagree without drawing blood - Effective leaders do not fear passion. They welcome it. But from time to time passionate discussions digress into personal attacks, and real people get really hurt. In my view, leaders must head that off before it happens.
  

Activity and assessment

• Is it sustainable? - At some point along the way, leaders must ask themselves how many hills they realitically can ask their congregations to climb in a given time frame.
  
• Develop a mole system - My direct reports need to know that I have other sources than the ones sitting right in front of me week in and week out.
  
• Facts are your friends - Some pastors whose churches are dying don't want to know the objective racts of their situation because they are genuinely afraid the raw information will be more than their hearts could bear.
  
• Are we still having fun? - In leadership terms, we carry a responsibility to lead in such a way that those we lead are as freed up as possible to do their jobs from a place of life and peace.
  

Personal integrity

• Obi-Wan Kenobi isn't for hire - Don't look for one person to be the cure all mentor. Instead glean from many individuals, including many whom you may never meet personally or only for a limited amount of time.
  
• Always take the high road - Bless what you can bless. Thank everyone you can thank. Cheer on what is appropriate to cheer on. And be done with it. Don't leave by drawing blood.
  
• Read all you can - Leaders have a responsibility before God to constantly get better, and one of the most reliable ways to do so is to read.
  
• Lead something - The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. Lead in your church, in your community, in various contexts. What you learn in one context may come in handy in other contexts.
  
• Finish well