Superman (Henry Cavill) and Me. The new Superman film, “Man of Steel” used our church community, The Orchard, as their Base Camp. Star-studded cast, crew members, trailers, props, costume, make-up rooms, and more were all housed for several days on the campus of The Orchard (www.theorchardcommunity.com).

Below is a picture of the “Man of Steel” signing my youngest son’s, Clark, t-shirt.

Read more at Scott Hodge’s blog, here.

Did I mention it was my birthday?  It was one of the most memorable birthday’s to-date, and certainly a surreal experience.

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him. – Leo Tolstoy

The statement that I’d like to highlight within the quote above is, “the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already.”  I’m certain that one doesn’t have to venture too far to remember a time when you have been firmly persuaded about something. Maybe that which you were firmly persuaded in impacted your ability to listen to someone else’s point of view.   The type of firm persuasion that Tolstoy suggests can limit us from receiving feedback and seeking input.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found myself caught up in a vortex of short-sidedness, where I gave into a moment of inflexibility, over-confidence, and was blinded by my own paradigm.

Recently an article was written about Chicago Bulls player, Derrick Rose, who just received the NBA’s MVP award.  The article highlighted encouraging words of congratulations, including one by NBA legend Michael Jordan.

One particular comment to note in the article was made by a teammate of Derrick Rose.  The remark speaks volumes about Rose’s leadership.  As you read this comment below, consider your own leadership.

Rose’s teammate said:

“He’s humble, he’s coachable. It doesn’t matter if the 12th man on the team says something to him, he’s going to look you in the eye and listen to you and nod his head and try to do it better…that’s just the kind of guy he is. And that is so rare. That is so rare. He’s got great people around him, coaching him, and helping him out.”

In our own leadership journey, I’d suggest that we could learn something from Rose.  We may never receive the fame and fortune of Rose, but we do have something in common with him, and that is a choice.  A choice to be teachable…to remain in the space of being coachable regardless of past or present successes.

A reflective question to ask about your leadership is, “Am I teachable?”

John Maxwell, leadership expert and author, suggests asking ourselves these questions to determine our “teachability”:

1. Am I open to other people’s ideas?
2. Do I listen more than I talk?
3. Am I open to changing my opinion based on new information?
4. Do I readily admit when I am wrong?
5. Do I observe before acting on a situation?
6. Do I ask questions?
7. Am I willing to ask a question that will expose my ignorance?
8. Am I open to doing things in a way I haven’t done before?
9. Am I willing to ask for directions?
10. Do I act defensive when criticized, or do I listen openly for truth?

Leadership Challenge
Reflect on the 10 questions above to determine how you can be intentional about remaining teachable.

Might I submit to you a dilemma, maybe even one of the greatest enemies in our day.  The enemy: Losing one’s astonishment and amazement.  Losing the WONDER.

Robert Capon once noted that “we are in a war between dullness and astonishment.”

I was reminded this weekend of the importance of keeping wonder in your life.  Watching my kids mesmerized at the world around them, captivated by the sweetness of each moment.  Drinking in each moment with gusto and life, the same moments that many of us would consider mundane and boring.

A.W. Tozer suggests that, “Culture is putting out the light in men and women’s souls.”

Maybe our challenge this week is to re-introduce ourselves to the tenacious curiosity we once had as a child.  You know…the age where you were enamored by the insistent “WHY?”

Let’s be honest, invoking the once alive notion of “curiosity” may seem odd, even uncomfortable.

Curiosity requires courage.

Imagine what the cadence of your week would look like if you embraced it with astonishment and amazement.

I know what I’m going to be doing…

I’m going to tear a page out of my toddler’s book, and look through their eyes of WONDER!

Check out some quick-hit insight from his book, The Dip, on “Seven Reasons You might Fail to Become the Best in the World.”

1. You run out of time (and quit).
2. You run out of money (and quit).
3. You get scared (and quit).
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit).
5. You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
6. You focus on short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

How are you going to realign your life, if need be, in order to focus on being the BEST IN THE WORLD?  What would that look like for you?  What are some “simple” steps you can make to ensure you are aligning your life to quit the “right” things in your life, and not buckle under the pressure?

Think about Superman for a minute.  Was he Superman because he could leap tall buildings and run faster than a local motive?  Or was he Superman because somehow he did not submit himself to the most basic and meaningless purposes of life?

Is it possible that Superman remains a hero, not because he had superpowers, but because of what his heart reflected?

I’m reminded of another man.  A man who laid aside his deity.  A man with whom didn’t disguise who God was by becoming a servant, but ultimately revealed who God was by serving others.

For a moment…

what if we were to remove the scaffolding (stuff that props us up) that some define success as…our education, our job, our net worth, our good looks, our accomplishments, even our resume.  Let’s suppose our being a hero doesn’t hang in the balance, between ego and self-righteousness.  Instead, our status of hero stands steadfast within the context of a heart to serve others.

Then again, the hero thing isn’t meant for everyone.

How would your world look with a new pair of eyes?  How about a new way of seeing?  How would your leadership look with a new set of lenses?

Rosamund Stone Zander, who wrote the book, The Art of Possibility, conveys a powerful story, to help further illustrate my point:

“A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business.  One sends back a telegram saying, ‘SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES.’

The other writes back triumphantly, ‘GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. THEY HAVE NO SHOES.’

To the marketing expert who sees no shoes, all the evidence points to hopelessness.  To his colleague, the same conditions point to abundance and possibility.”

What’s interesting is that both individuals are in the same environment, circumstances, time and place, and yet they have a different pair of “lenses” in which they see the situation.

Here are some questions to consider regarding your “lenses”:

How do you view yourself?

Do you have confidence in yourself?  A critical component of how you view yourself is what information you are exposing yourself too.  I heard a statistic that says that we are the “average of the 5 people we are around the most.”  What we “feed” ourselves and what we are being “fed” (consciously and unconsciously) has huge impacts in how we view ourselves, and affects our leadership.

Do you find yourself being negative on a regular basis?  Is criticalness a norm for you?   Is your confidence level subpar?  Your intake and who/what you expose yourself to has huge implications.

We’re constantly storing up things in our inner life: good, bad, true, false, noble or humiliating. What crosses the threshold of your mind repeatedly occupies it; then it is expressed in what you do, what you say, in your character and your life.

Consider what you put into your body alone, which of course has become a multi-billion dollar industry.  They tell us the secret for deiting is found in Balance bars, Clif bars, Organic Health Bars or Portillo’s chocolate cake.  (Ok…it’s a Chicago thing…Portillo’s chocolate cake hasn’t become an “official” diet-type product, but I’m fairly certain I will endorse it when it is public.)

When we have kids, we are very careful about what goes into our children—especially the first child!

For instance, the pacifier falls out of the mouth of your first child, so Mom picks it up and puts it in a pot of boiling water to sterilize it, pulls it out with tongs, and waves it around to air-dry before inserting the pacifier back into the child’s mouth.  When the pacifier falls out of the second child’s mouth, mom runs it under some cold tap water and gives it back. The third kid drops the pacifier. The mom picks it up, blows off the dirt … and sticks it back in the kid’s mouth. Not a big deal.

Again, what we take in—what we are exposing ourselves to—can directly impact how we view our lives, our leadership, and ourselves.  Be mindful of what information we feed ourselves.  It will have expressed impact on how we lead.

How do you view you others?

I heard a well-respected friend and leader say recently to a group of leaders, “Why is it that we can easily articulate what we are against, but it takes us longer to depict what we are for?”  Do your teams, coworkers, boss, and others know that you are “for” them?  How are you viewing those around you?

What would it look like if you put on new lenses?  Would you inspire, encourage and appreciate those around you?  Would you see the best in people and look to develop their strengths, because you care about their growth, or will you choose to concentrate with a critical eye?  I’m reminded of something Richard Branson said, “You shouldn’t be looking for people slipping up, you should be looking for all the good things people do and praising those.”  It requires a different kind of lens.

To further illustrate this notion of seeing others around you differently, I was recently reading an article that relayed the story of Captain Mike Abrashoff:

“Captain Mike Abrashoff knows the importance of saying viewing your teammates with the right “lenses.” In his first book, It’s Your Ship, he related how he sent letters to the parents of his crew members on the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold. He put himself in those parents’ shoes, he imagined how happy they would be to hear form the commanding officer that their sons and daughters were doing well.  And he figured that those parents would, in turn, call their children to tell them how proud they were of them.

“Abrashoff debated whether to send a letter to the parents of one young man who wasn’t really star material.  Weighing the sailor’s progress, he decided to go ahead.  A couple of weeks later, the sailor appeared at his door, tears streaming down his face.  It seems the kid’s father had always considered him a failure and told him so.  After reading the captain’s letter, he called to congratulate his son and tell him how proud he was of him.  ‘Captain, I can’t thank you enough,’ said the young man.  For the first time his life, he felt loved and encouraged by his father.

“As Abrashoff says, ‘ Leadership is the art of practicing simple things – commonsense gestures that ensure high morale and vastly increase the odds of winning.’ In other words, small changes can have big consequences.”

Seeing through new lenses requires you to focus on what’s going well, seeing people’s inherent value, and helping others recognize their potential.  The alternative is to see through a cracked pair of lenses and be less effective.

Imagine putting on a new set of lenses this week.  Imagine what you are being invited into when you realize, as you peer through new lenses, that your leadership matters.

Personal Leadership Challenge:

1.  Make a mental note this week, even write it down, of what you find yourself feeding on (both positive and negative information).  Do you find yourself taking a negative bent with conversations? Do you approach situations (even problems) with a constructive and growth mind-set?  If not, what you will you do differently?

2.  What 1 or 2 new habits could you start this week that would help feed into your growth and development?

Appreciative Inquiry is a brilliantly simple tool used in: management and coaching.

Simply put, Appreciative Inquiry looks to leverage those things which are GOING WELL.

This tool helps to:

• Leverage strengths of team members
• Explore through self-discovery what is working
• Capitalize on the hidden-potential of an organization
• Identify the assets of a team
• Build on the values of the organization

There are many opportunities in which Appreciative Inquiry can be the gatekeeper toward a more successful tomorrow.

How will you use Appreciative Inquiry to bring out the BEST in you, your team(s), and the organization?

Carpe Diem.

Do you know anyone who stands on the balcony of your life, and criticizes you?

We all know individuals, who, if a position existed within a company for professional criticizers, they would be top-performers year-after-year.  Sometimes they excuse their knack for criticism to a “wiring” issue or some other euphemism.

Let’s be honest, none of us are immune to criticism. Criticism can hurt deeply and unfortunately, there isn’t a “no-criticism” pill you can take.

I think each of us can have “less than holy” thoughts towards the people who criticize.  The more personal the criticism and the deeper the dig, the worst we feel toward them. Crazy thing what fantasies play in the caverns of our mind when someone’s criticism hurts us.  We have this almost instinctive response of retaliation.

If we are honest with ourselves, getting “even” and/or not wishing the criticizer well is futile.  It takes up worthless mind-space to entertain thoughts of retaliation.

A politician, in responding to an opponent’s accusation of being a liar, responded brilliantly.  He made a retorting comment that was quite simple, insightful, and I believe can be of help to all of us.  He said, “A wise person once told me, ‘don’t wrestle with pigs.  You both get filthy … but the pigs like it.’”

Seth Godin, author, uber-blogger and speaker, says that critics are like trolls.  He says, “Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down.” He goes on to point out that:

1.    Trolls will always be trolling.
2.    Critics rarely create.
3.    They live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls.
4.    Professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.

He even goes on to say, “‘Can’t please everyone,’ isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.”

Criticism will come and go.

You can be remarkable.

You are REMARKABLE.