The Sixth Sense

Hmmm

Whilst I was away last week and not blogging, for some reason the number of subscribed readers to this blog increased. And, now that I’m back blogging, they’re dropping again!

Are you trying to tell me to shut up?!

Thanks.

Hancock (lessons in character)

We went to see the Will Smith movie ‘Hancock’ last night. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a great movie, but was definitely entertaining.

It was interesting from a character perspective. We did a series called ‘Heroes’ last year at Mosaic and one of the things we covered then was that we all have super-hero potential. The problem however is often not a lack of talent in our lives which stops us becoming great, but a lack of character.

Seeing the transformation of Hancock’s character and the resulting change in how he used his super-powers was fun to watch and something relevant for us all in different ways.

So yeah, not a must-see movie. But if you have a free evening, then it’s worth watching.

Anyone else seen it?

I’m back

Well after a fun and relaxing week in Orlando, Florida, we are back. It was so good to be away having a proper break. Whilst we’ve done quite a bit of traveling this year, very little has been of the holiday variety.

I enjoyed having time to devour books without feeling like I should be doing something else! One book I picked up over the the States was ‘Screw it, Let’s do it‘ by Richard Branson. I read it on the flight home and loved it. I love his entrepreneurial, non risk-averse approach to life and business.

I found myself being stirred up to not settle for where I am, to keep stretching forward, and to not give up on ideas or hold back because something appears not to be possible or hasn’t been attempted before.

I thought it was funny that that Richard Branson is known as Dr Yes within Virgin circles! I love that.

I also really enjoyed Erwin McManus’s new book called ‘Wide Awake’. I particularly enjoyed the second half of the book and, specifically, a great chapter on focus. It was great because I resonated with Erwin as someone who, like me, struggles with the whole focus thing!

Ok, that’s it for now. I’ll catch up more during the week.

In Orlando

I can’t believe how quickly this week is flying by. We’re having a great time over here in Orlando though. It’s nice to be here having a proper break and not for conferences or training like our recent visits have been.

I’ve been enjoying the books I brought with me. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham was a nice light read. I read it in a day and a half. Good to Great by Jim Collins is a lot meatier but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve read so far. I picked up Wide Awake by Erwin McManus over here too and I’ve really liked what I’ve read of that so far.

Oh, has anyone else seen Wall-E? We saw it the other night. I LOVED it!!

Ok, that’s it for now. I’ll be back to regular blogging from next week.

(If you want to check out the pictures we’ve been taking, a selection of them are available here: http://gallery.me.com/sam.radford#100143)

Holiday reading

Well, it’s taken a whilst to finalise, but I have decided on the books which will join me on our holiday to Orlando.

I’m taking three books with me.

As has been my custom for some time with me, the first book on my summer holiday reading pile is the new(ish) John Grisham book Playing for Pizza. I’ve always enjoyed getting engrossed in John Grisham novels and I’m looking forward to this as always.

Second on my reading pile is a book I’ve been meaning to read for at least two years now. I’ve been endlessly hoping that the price would come down a lot, or that a paperback copy would be released. Neither seems to have happened, so I have taken the plunge. The book is called Good to Great and it’s by Jim Collins.

And finally, the last book I’ve decided to take with me was a random find whilst browsing through Waterstones book store on Tuesday evening. I love book stores. Especially when I have no agenda. I can just see what’s out there and am happy to be influenced to purchase whatever takes my fancy. The book which grabbed me this time is called Tribal Leadership and is by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright.

I’ll share any thoughts and insights when I get back.

What are you reading this summer?

Humble and Ferocious

It is probably fair to say that I spent far too long in front of the television yesterday. Yes, I got totally caught up in the Federer vs. Nadal Wimbledon tennis final. I don’t think I missed a single point!

It felt like a real privilege actually. It was the best game of tennis I have ever seen. And it seems like I’m not the only one. Pretty much everyone is hailing it as the greatest game of tennis that has ever been played.

One of the things I love about Federer and Nadal is that they are both amazing tennis champions. They are both in a class of their own. No one else can get near them. And yet, they are two of the must humble, genuine guys around as well. Neither of them has a trace of arrogance.

I was reading how after Nadal thrashed Federer in the French Open, he deliberately waited to go into the locker room to give space to Federer who he knew would really be feeling down. And, just this morning, Nadal got onto a plane to Stuttgart to apologise in person for having to pull out of their tournament this week due to a knee injury. Not only that, after winning the Queen’s tennis tournament a few weeks ago he flew home via an Easy Jet flight - Europe’s low cost, budget airline.

Nadal in particular seems to combine real ferocity on the tennis court that is fueled by absolute humility. So many sports stars are undermined by arrogance. And arrogance is such an ugly quality. I love it that both Federer and Nadal show us that you don’t need to be a horrible, arrogant person to make it to the top. In fact, I would argue that their humility is perhaps the reason they are so consistently at the top of world tennis year after year.

It may not be a quality that is massively valued, but I’m convinced that one of the keys to lasting success - individually or as an organisation - is humility.

What do you think?

Photo’s from Lille

I’ve been really slow in getting this online, but you can see our pictures from our May bank holiday weekend in Lille if you follow this link.

Freedom Writers

After much persuasion from my friend Byrney who’s staying with us at the moment, I finally watched the movie Freedom Writers last night. I loved it! Really powerful and moving story. And made all the more so because it is based on actual events that happened.

To be honest, I love these sort of films. It reminded me of films like Coach Carter and Remember the Titans.

Anyone else seen this??

Staying people AND performance focussed

It doesn’t matter what type of organisation it is, finding the balance between being people focussed and performance focussed is a challenge. And obviously the two are completely linked. 

If people are not valued and engaged then the performance of the organisation is going to suffer. And yet, if we become so people focussed that we stop challenging, setting goals, and raising standards, then the performance will also drop.

Of course, if the entire focus is on endlessly improving the performance, then we are going to end up losing people and leaving them behind. Then we are left without the very people who are essential to the performance of the organisation.

So the question we need to grapple with is: how do we keep a healthy balance between focussing on people and focussing on performance?

To propose an answer, here is a paragraph from an article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject. After studying lots of different CEO’s handing the balance between people and performance, the ones who did it best did so my combining four strategies:

“First, they earned the trust of their organizations through their openness to the unvarnished truth. Second, they were deeply engaged with their people, and their exchanges were direct and personal; employees in the companies we studied had a particularly close connection with the CEO and were seldom surprised to meet him or her. Third, having earned legitimacy and trust, these CEOs were able to mobilize their people around a focused agenda. Finally, while they were all strong individuals, these senior leaders realized that they could succeed only as part of a committed leadership team, and they devoted considerable efforts to building their firm’s collective leadership capabilities.” (Emphasis mine)

What do you think?

Working for Mosaic

As of this month, I am now employed one day per week by Mosaic. This is another exciting step for me in the midst of a whole host of exciting changes.

Today I thought I’d share some of the things I’m going to be focussing on as I embark on this new phase. So, here pretty much is my job description:

• Identify and train team leaders for the various teams Mosaic is looking to establish.
• Create training resources to aid the development of team leaders and team members.
• Develop resources and materials for the Underground (the Christ-following community that is part of Mosaic).
• Identify and connect with other people and groups around the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world who are looking to move in a similar direction to Mosaic. Provide support, training, and leadership where appropriate.
• Establish more tangible goals and plans for supporting the work of other organisations (e.g. Oasis in South Africa, Open Kingdom in Cameroon, Help Unlimited in Uganda), and catalyse more people to serve with them and establish a fundraising base to support this work.
• Oversee the establishment of a registered charity and provide leadership and oversight to all itʼs functions.

I’m excited to have this dedicated time to serving within and through Mosaic. Looking forward to the progress that comes as a result too!