Posts from — March 2008

A couple days ago I began reading, “Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War” by Robert Coram, the biography of Col John Boyd, one of the most controversial figures in Air Force history. Boyd is most famous for his Energy-Maneuverability Theory a huge breakthrough in fighter tactics and design, the OODA Loop and several other contributions to aviation and military theory and tactics.

Much of the book displays the constant fight between the mad warrior-scientist Boyd and the toe-the-line military establishment at the time, consisting of generals with little interest in change or original thought. Boyd was constantly being cornered by the soul-crushing monster of a bureaucracy at the Pentagon, spending more time convincing the leadership to challenge long-held assumptions than actually working on his theories.

While reading about the struggle of implementing change in a large bureaucracy, the following exchange between a Colonel and a newly appointed Secretary of Defense caught my attention. Secretary Schlesinger was looking for some wisdom on leaving a legacy and Colonel Hallock, a highly respected combat hero offered the following:

You must understand that if you want to leave a legacy it is vital for you to make a quick decision about what you want that legacy to be. If you don’t make a quick decision, you will have no legacy. Because after several months you become so caught up in the business of the Pentagon, so enmeshed with the generals, so overwhelmed with the scope and enormity of the job that it will be too late. Pick a few projects and put the full weight of your office behind them. Guide the projects. Nurture them. Know from the very beginning that they will be your legacy. Force them through the bureaucracy (Coram 279).

I wonder how many Fortune 500 CEO’s could have been saved from incredible failures if they’d had their own Colonel Hallock’s to keep them on track? The fact is large, established organizations are incredibly difficult, if not impossible to significantly change.

It is the desire of most leaders to jump into their role and start a revolution on day one, throwing out the old and bringing in the new…in reality, this very rarely happens. A leader would do much better to focus on two or three key things to change and throw their whole weight and energy behind those…this is the path to truly impacting an organization.

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**Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Aaron Stern, pastor of the Mill, the college and 20-somethings ministry at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. He is also a good friend and responsible for my wife and I meeting.

A few years ago I sat in my living room with a group of friends and asked the question, “What is the definition of friendship?” The answers were diverse, fun, deep and rich with experience. There were however a few big ideas that rose to the surface.

A friendship is characterized by enjoyment, trust and selflessness. In true friendship, all the feelings are mutual and, in the end, the friend is more important than the relationship itself.

I know now that I have great friends. How do I know? My wife and I just went through a crisis.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Crisis doesn’t make the man; it only exposes him for what he already is.” I think friendships are similar. Crisis doesn’t make friendships; it only exposes what is already there.

These last two months have been the most difficult times of our lives. We lost our baby girl when we were eight months pregnant. My wife gave birth; we had a memorial service, picked a headstone and buried a piece of our soul — something no parents should ever have to do.

Through it all, we have felt the incredible strength of friendship. We have been surrounded by people we thoroughly enjoy. People we trust implicitly with our exposed, hurting souls and broken dreams. We have experienced selflessness in the prayers, the meals made, the trips to the hospital in the middle of the night, the flowers, the gifts, the cards, the visits and the phone calls. And in this journey we discovered another characteristic of friendship that I would like to add to the description formulated not long ago in my living room.

Friends are those who walk through life with you.

Not just the fun times but the really difficult ones too. One of the most amazing things we have witnessed through this season of loss has been our friends grieving with us. Not just the “I feel so sad” kind of grief but an outright, wholehearted weeping, feeling the pain and carrying the burden in our darkest hour. They walked with us through the heartache and, in some measure, experienced it themselves.

John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Of course Jesus was the perfect example of a friend. For me, though, the idea of Him laying down his life has seemed a bit one dimensional…shown only on the cross. However, I think there is more to it.

Jesus also laid down His life by coming from a perfect heaven to a broken earth. He is Immanuel, the God that came near to our lives and walks through it with us. David captures this idea so eloquently in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” He doesn’t just give us the advice necessary to navigate life or say to us, “Meet you on the other side.” He walks straight through it all with us.

True friends walk through life with you. All of it. The ups. The downs. The highs. The lows. The best parts. The worst parts. The happy days. The sad days. All of it.

We are supposed to have friendships like that. We were designed to experience community like this. It encourages the weary soul, provides supporting strength, beats off the storms of loneliness, rallies when you feel out of steam, energizes the heart and keeps you leaning toward Jesus. We need it.

So do we have to wait for a crisis to find out if we have crisis-worthy friendships? No, we can make an honest evaluation today. Do we have friendships or merely acquaintances? Would our friends jump on an airplane at a moment’s notice, wherever they might be in the world, to come be at our side?

Wisdom says that to have a friend is to be a friend, so find out where your friends are and what they are facing and walk with them through it. Be to them the friend you hope to have when your tough time comes.

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It doesn’t seem right, does it? Celebration should be the one thing in our life that doesn’t require discipline. Discipline is reserved for the hard things like eating healthy, practicing the piano, or sitting through the preliminary rounds of American Idol.

But, in the midst of our busy lives, celebration is often overlooked, forgotten and put off until later, “when things settle down.” Celebration, the very thing we need to stay joyful and balanced, becomes the one thing we never make time for. Our lack of celebration is killing us.

The busier we become and the more responsibilities we take on, the more important it is for us to be intentional about taking the time to celebrate.

This thought occurred to me today as I was reading Mark Buchanan’s book, “Your God is Too Safe.” He describes celebration as the way we bring a small part of heaven down to earth.

“Celebration is the practice of lifting our eyes from our preoccupation with all the work we have to do and the trouble we’re in and the money we owe and the reputation we strive to keep…It’s training ourselves, in the midst of and in spite of all that might be amiss, to see heaven…It’s the discipline of setting joy before us so that we might throw off everything that hinders and run the race marked out for us–that we might endure and not lose heart and not grow weary.”

Celebration is the quickest way to slow down and enjoy your life. A welcome reprieve in the midst of stress and busyness. It seems like an obvious thing, but when is the last time you stopped everything in your life and celebrated?

It’s interesting that in the midst of the Old Testament, often thought of by people as the tales of an angry, taskmaster God only interested in smiting, we find a God that continually demands His people to celebrate.

“‘Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread…Celebrate the Feast of the Harvest…Celebrate the Feast of Weeks…Celebrate the Passover…Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles…Celebrate.’”

(”Your God is Too Safe,” pg. 242)

God knew that celebration was a key part of healthy and balanced living and made it a mandatory part of life. I think He was onto something back then that we need to be applying to our lives today.

The most bitter people in the world are often the most ungrateful. Celebration focuses our attention on the things in our life we have to be thankful for…it’s one giant dose of gratefulness.

The act of celebrating acts as a scrub brush on our heart, keeping it clean and free from the buildup of life.

Before you begin making excuses to yourself about why you rarely celebrate, realize that celebration comes in many forms and sizes. It doesn’t mean you have to throw a dinner party for 100 people.

The key to practicing the discipline of celebration lies in constantly coming up with excuses to celebrate.

Did your daughter get an “A” on her math test? Take the family out for dinner. Did your friend just get the promotion he desperately wanted? Make them a cake and have them over for dessert. Did your wife have a hard week? Have a “You Made It Through a Hard Week” weekend getaway. You get the idea.

The point is that celebration is a mindset, a heartset. A discipline that requires effort and intentionality, but one that leads the way to your best life.

Over at one of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness, my friend Brett was kind enough to publish a guest post of mine entitled, “So You Want to Become A Man” Please check it out if you get the chance and leave a comment or two or a Digg/Stumble.

Here’s an excerpt:

I wonder if in reality the whole process is somewhat counterintuitive, consisting more of dying to self and wrestling with humility, than inflating our ego and becoming the type-A Johnny we often see hailed in culture as “the Man.”

Setting goals is one of the most common practices of the personal development crowd, an easy way to give your life some focus and direction. The exercise is also something I advocate strongly and implement in my own life. However, if one is not careful goals can actually become more destructive than helpful.

When goals become the ends rather than the means they can create a lifestyle of checking boxes rather than skilled living.

Living simply to reach goals is similar to a hamster spinning in a wheel, lots of movement, but no real progress. Without an overall purpose for your goals the practice of constantly striving can create anxiety, restlessness and eventually become more of a burden rather than a help.

These thoughts came to light in a recent discussion with my friend Glenn. After setting my personal goals for 2008 I have spent the past few months attempting to reach them, some with great success and others, not so much. Throughout the process I have had to remind myself of the ultimate purpose for setting my goals in the first place: a life lived to the hilt in worship of God and leadership of my family.

Knowing the ultimate purpose of you goals helps not only in progressing forward, but also in prioritizing your life.

The quickest way to identify your top priorities is to identify the areas in your life in which you are irreplaceable.

As a husband I am irreplaceable. No one else can be a husband to my wife, but me. As a father, I am also irreplaceable. No one can lead, care for and be a father to my child like I can. Finally, in my worship to God, I am irreplaceable. Others can serve Him, many better than I can, but no one can replace my individual worship to God. In every other area of my life someone can replace me.

At my job, there are 1,000 other pilots that can replace me as the pilot. At my church there are plenty of other people who can replace me as a small group leader. Even my blog, while extraordinary and unique I know, haha, could easily be written by someone far better than me. On that note, if you ever want to write a guest post, please let me know.

When you make goals in various areas of your life there are bound to be times where they conflict with one another. If you don’t have a good grasp on your priorities you goals can actually lead you away from where you want to go.

This morning my wife and I took our 2 month-old daughter with us to the gym. Since I was planning on running on the treadmill I took our daughter and parked her stroller next to me. At around minute 18 she began to frown…I knew I was in trouble. Soon she began to whimper and whine. I had planned on running for 30 minutes. I shut down the treadmill and took care of my daughter who was beginning to cry. While running a marathon this year is a goal of mine, being a good father is another goal and takes priority.

Knowing which goals will take priority will determine whether your goals are ultimately helping you or hurting you in the pursuit of your best life.

The bottom line: Goals are an incredibly effective way of helping move your life in the right direction, but just as important as setting goals is deciding what the right direction actually is and which goals have priority over others as you walk out this journey. Keep setting goals, just make sure they’re serving you and not the other way around.

**Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Catharina F. de Wet, Ph.D and author of One View of Giftedland, a blog focusing on talented and gifted education.

Google the word “creativity” and you will get almost 84 million hits. The first few has to do with defining creativity and it ranges from the cerebral Wikipedia definition: “Creativity (or “creativeness”) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts” to a simple definition by Henry Miller: “ The occurrence of a composition which is both new and valuable.”

Because of research we know a significant amount about the creative process and creative people. We know they are energetic, curious, flexible, independent, adventurous, perceptive, open-minded, and imaginative. Words like imagination, ingenuity, innovation, intuition, invention, and discovery are often used as synonyms for creativity. We are aware of two more traits of creative people: They are attracted to complexity, and they have a tolerance for ambiguity.

Generally speaking, when we talk about a creative person, we have in mind two kinds of people. The first is the kind of highly creative person in one particular domain that we can also label “talented.” Here we think of the Picassos, the Bachs, the Nureyevs, or if you are of a different aesthetic persuasion, the Warhols, the Kamens, and the Katherine Dunhams.

These are the people who have an innate exceptional talent that is developed to the highest degree through the application of time, effort, training, and dedication, and a handful achieve recognition and eminence. There are comparatively few of these artists and consequently their contributions to the world are highly valued.

The second kind of creative person is one who lives life creatively in a general sense, interested in new things, thinking in new ways, not constrained by social or intellectual limits. Creativity should not be associated too strongly with the possession of extraordinary and distinguished talent. Creativity is a lifestyle , a way of living, a way of perceiving the world.

Here are ten things you can do to develop your creativity:

1 - Deliberately remove barriers of tradition and habit that block creativity. These blocks to creativity have to do with habit, learned rules, traditions, and cultural norms. We learn ways of thinking and doing from an early age. We learn what is acceptable and what is outside of acceptable behavior. Societies that prize conformity inhibit individuality. Highly creative people are often seen as rebels and mavericks because they question traditions and rules. I do not advocate throwing all rules and traditions overboard. It is possible to remove barriers and blocks to creativity in a moral and ethical way by questioning the way things have always been done within the boundaries of your moral and ethical limits.

2 - Examine and remove perceptual blocks. We get used to observing things in a particular way based on our interests, needs, biases, values, and past learning. People with strong perceptual sets are prone to quick decisions and conclusions, rather than looking for alternatives. To be more creative, take a minute and examine alternatives. De Bono’s Lateral Thinking is a technique for breaking free of our perceptual blocks, as is Synectics.

3 - Recognize and remove emotional blocks. Emotional blocks to creativity are feelings such as anger, fear, anxiety, hate, and even love. Sometimes people experience these temporarily through home or work circumstances, or problems with peers, parents, partners, and children. Chronic sources of insecurity are things like fear of rejection, fear of being different, fear of failure, fear of ridicule or criticism, fear of people like supervisors or those with authority over us, timidity, or poor self-concepts.

The right attitude for developing a creative lifestyle is a willingness to take risks, a willingness to fail, a willingness to be different, a willingness to stand out, a willingness to question, a willingness to laugh at one self.

4 - Recognize and overcome limited resources. Sometimes a lack of finances, information, people, and time inhibit our ability to be innovative. This is an excellent opportunity to think creatively. How else can you make this idea work? What other people are available who might help? What can I substitute for the expensive resources I think I need?

5 - Practice divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the generation of multiple answers to a problem. Think of many and various alternatives. Brainstorming is a great example of this technique. The secret to brainstorming is not to evaluate ideas as they are generated, but to name or write down as many things as you can regardless of their possible utility or value. The first things we think of are the usual, the known, the mundane. The longer you continue with this process, the more likely you are to come up with new ideas. Another technique is to break objects and ideas down into its component parts to analyze those parts and the relationships between them.

6 - Practice convergent thinking. Convergent thinking is deliberately putting diverse and disparate ideas, concepts, and objects together to create a new object, idea or concept, or to find the best solution to a problem. De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is an excellent example of a convergent thinking technique.

7 - Pursue new experiences. Putting yourself in the way of new ideas and new experiences will help you open your mind. The more you develop a curious mindset and an openness to new experiences, ideas, places, people, and objects, in other words living creatively, the more likely you are to produce creatively.

8 - Make time to think. No one is creative under pressure. Pressure, whether time pressure or emotional pressure, inhibits creativity. Positive emotions are conducive to creativity. Take time to think, to relax, to be happy. Maslow’s self-actualized person (see here) is the epitome of a fully creative person. Many religions link spirituality and creativity through meditation. For Christians, this includes prayer time. The Holy Spirit is a creator and allowing the Holy Spirit to suggest new ideas and actions to you is a natural outcome of a vibrant relationship with God. Sarah Stockton has some very good suggestions here.

9 - Collaborate. Shared thinking provides opportunity for many of the above thinking techniques: brainstorming is easier with more than one person; divergent thinking of multiple people produces more diverse ideas; multiple perspectives focused on one problem create better convergent thinking. Collaboration requires an unselfish attitude and can create positive emotions. Choose your collaborators well and enjoy the sharing process.

10 - Make time to study. Creativity requires knowledge. Both divergent and convergent thinking requires thinking content. People who know nothing have little with which to be creative. Some of the best creative producers are those who can use knowledge from one domain in another.

To help you study the topic of creativity, here are some suggestions:

Jack Ricchiuto’s book Collaborative Creativity: Unleashing the Power of Shared Thinking

Ken Robinson’s book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative

Bill Breen’s article in Fast Company: 6 Myths of Creativity

Watch Ken Robinson’s 20 minute video on Creativity in Education

Watch David Macaulay’s 21 minute video on the creation of his book Rome Antics

In fact, give yourself some inspiration and watch all the videos at TED Talks

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Here at Schaefer’s Blog it is always my goal to share with you lessons I’ve learned in living life well. Staying physically fit is a key part of living your best life, something most people know, but not everyone lives out. In my own life, the days I skip out on the gym or running are the times I feel the worst, both physically and mentally.

Going to a military academy made it so that physical fitness was not just a nice idea, but a survival skill. Much of my freshman year was spent with my face on the ground in the push-up position, or “front-leaning rest” as we liked to call it. The quality of my day was directly proportional to how many times I found myself in this position. As much as I hated it, the push-up helped mold me and keep me in incredible shape. In the process, it also found its way into my heart as an exercise that while not flashy, gets results.

You can imagine my surprise then, when I recently saw a New York Times article entitled, “An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up,” describing the classic exercise and it’s relationship with complete fitness (Thanks Ben). In an age of 5-minute abs, high-tech gadgets and best-selling fitness books, it’s nice to see such a simple exercise taking back the spotlight. From the article:

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.

“You are just using your own body and your body’s weight,” said Steven G. Estes, a physical education professor and dean of the college of professional studies at Missouri Western State University. “If you’re going to demonstrate any kind of physical strength and power, that’s the easiest, simplest, fastest way to do it.”

In celebration of the reemergence of the push-up I present quickly the why and how of this classic body sculptor.

Why You Should Be Doing Push-Ups

1) Strength and Endurance - Push-ups build strength not just in your chest and arms, but in your back, abs and legs as well. For anyone trying to improve their bench press, push-ups are a sure way to help get more plates on the bar. Aside from strength, by increasing the number of push-ups you do each few weeks you increase your endurance as well, both muscular and cardiovascular.

2) Age Fighter - Parker-Pope in the NY Times article explains, “Natural aging causes nerves to die off and muscles to weaken. People lose as much as 30 percent of their strength between 20 and 70.” I once had a middle school teacher that did 100 push-ups a day and had for the past 40 years. Age-wise he was over the hill, but his body made all of us macho-teenage guys hang our heads in shame. Push-ups had acted as an age fighter in his life.

3) Durability - If you do any physical activity at all the chances of you falling or running into something is quite high. Push-ups build up the strength of your arms and wrists making it less likely you’ll break something if that moment comes. More from the article, “’What so many people really need to do is develop enough strength so they can break a fall safely without hitting their head on the ground,’” Dr. Ashton-Miller said. “’If you can’t do a single push-up, it’s going to be difficult to resist that kind of loading on your wrists in a fall.’”

4) Do It Anywhere - Push-ups are awesome because they can be done anywhere and require no equipment or gym. For people who travel a lot and find themselves in airports and hotels frequently, push-ups can be the exercise that help them stay fit despite their circumstances.

How-to Do a Push-Up (Properly)

1) Lie Face down on the floor with your legs together. Put your palms on the ground just more than shoulder width apart.

2) Look out ahead of you, not down. Keeping your head up and looking ahead is harder, but a better body position.

3) While pushing yourself up keep your back as straight as possible. Imagine a board running down your back from your head to your toes. Don’t stick your butt in the air and don’t go the opposite direction looking like a seal with your back arched. Keeping your back straight is key in working out your whole body.

4) As you reach the top, take a breath and then start down. Lower yourself until your arms are bent at a 90 degree angle, but don’t let yourself rest on the floor. Lots of people let their chest touch the floor, but this is a weak way of doing push-ups and your cheating yourself if you do this.

5) Repeat until you can no longer push yourself up. Going to failure is extremely uncomfortable, but nothing else will give you a more accurate indication of where you are physically.

For pictures on these positions look here.

**Bonus Tip for those who made it this far: If you ever find yourself in a push-up contest the secret to outlasting the opponent is constantly switching the width of your hand placement. Start out normal, then try moving your hands out wider, away from your body, then back close when you get tired. By doing this you are using different muscle groups, the wider you go the more you use your back, the narrower you go, the more chest and triceps. Your opponent will most likely keep his hands in the same place, using the exact some muscles and will burn out much faster.

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This week has been a bit crazy for me with most of my sim rides being late at night (9-12ish) meaning I’m getting an idea of what it’s like for people that work the late shift. In the midst of this I’ve also attempted to implement a new policy of limiting my time spent on the computer. What this means is that I’ve had to focus my time on good writing and good information. Here’s the quality stuff I’ve read in the past couple weeks.

1,000 True Fans - Kevin Kelly — The Technium

Secret Service - Glenn Packiam’s Blog: Like a Butterfly…

Lessons In Manliness: Benjamin Franklin’s Pursuit of the Virtuous Life - Art of Manliness

Friends at work, divine of disaster? @ Awake at the Wheel

7 Universities and Websites Offering Free Business Entrepreneurship Courses Online

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business - Wired Mag

the counterargument - The Myth of Free - Sam Davidson also by Sam - A Culture of Once

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25? - Christian Science Monitor

Everything I Know About Blogging - I Will Change Your Life

Reading is one of the best ways to learn, develop and change. However, the immense benefits of reading are only as great as one’s ability to remember and process the information. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a great book and not being able to recall any of the major points a year or even a month later. It makes the whole process seem like a huge waste.

My family are all avid readers and they instilled that passion in me. I try to read at least 2 books a month, but often more. Over the past few years I’ve made a much greater effort to be more intentional about my reading, making sure to get the most out of the process. Here is some of the best advice I’ve come across when it comes to remembering what you read:

1) Read With the Goal of Teaching Someone Else - My friend Glenn has one of the most brilliant minds I know. He can read a book and process the information, quickly adapting new ideas into his life and teaching others along the way. The secret to Glenn’s ability started during his childhood. Every weekend his family would go to the local library to read. During dinner they would teach the other members of the family what they learned that day. This ritual formed a wonderful habit in Glenn of reading comprehensively in order to teach someone else. He had to constantly think, “How will I be able to explain the main ideas of this book to others.” In doing so he delved deep into the book and the information stuck with him.

2) Read the Last Chapter First - This one is more geared towards non-fiction as I can already hear people screaming, “But it’ll ruin the ending!” At the end of most books is a summary chapter that gives the main ideas and how they all tie together. By reading this first you are then able to catch these ideas and themes more easily as you go through the book. It also allows you to read like the author would read his own book, with a full understanding of where everything is going.

3) Take Notes - Lots of people utilize this technique in school, but let it go when they toss their caps at graduation. Taking notes allows a reader to right down key points, themes and memorable quotes. In doing so the information is then processed twice, once when read and once when written. This gives the reader a much greater chance of remembering. My friend Beau uses a pencil to mark and highlight in the book as he reads and then transfers this information into Google Docs. He has a great summary of his method here.

4) Read When You’re Awake - Most people read right before they go to bed. After a long day, they’re usually tired and hardly in the best state to process and retain information. By reading at other times throughout the day chances are their minds would work much better. If you are a night person maybe it is the best time for you to read. The important thing is to know your body and know what times of day are best for thinking and concentrating. Try to schedule your reading during these times and you will give yourself a much better chance of remembering what you read.

5) Discuss What You’re Reading - Some of the books we remember most vividly are those that we read in our high school English class. Why? It is the practice of nearly every teacher to have lively class discussions and debates over each section of a book. In discussing the book we were able to process the information as a group, bouncing ideas off each other and hearing different perspectives. All of these made us use the information in various ways cementing it in our minds and helping us remember. Most of us are no longer in high school, but the options are endless. Join a book club, or if you have a good group of friends, start one. Discuss the book online in book forums or in a social networking group like Facebook. The important thing is to talk about what you’re reading.

6) Read the Cliff Notes First - We’re not in high school anymore, so it’s not cheating. Especially for some of the classics, reading the cliff notes before starting the book can provide all kids of insight into characters, themes, symbolism and author background. By reading these things beforehand you are helping ensure that you won’t miss them as you read the book. Another benefit of reading summaries is the mental debate you will have each time you reach a controversial section as you ask yourself whether you agree with the conventional interpretations.

7) Find Your Reading Environment - Sometimes more important than how you are reading is where you are reading. Is the television on? Are the kids crawling all over you? Do you do your best reading on the airplane? Some things can’t be helped, but finding a good reading environment goes a long way. I had never thought much about where I read until reading a great post Ben Casnocha wrote on optimizing activity for location a couple months ago. He explained, “…when thinking about what you’re going to do, think about where you’re going to be, and how that place will affect your productivity at completing the activity.” Find your reading environment and enjoy remembering what you read.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”— Jack Welch

The term “organic” is thrown around quite regularly these days, mainly in regard to food, but driving to dinner last night my wife and I discussed the term in relation to leadership. While organizations spend billions of dollars each year trying to hire the best leaders, there will always be some that fail and other that succeed. What separates the two types of leaders is their ability to become organic to their employees or subordinates. But what does organic mean in terms of leadership?

Organic Leadership - natural, motivating, compelling, effortless, inspiring hard work, creativity and innovation, fun

Non-Organic Leadership - unnatural, forced, coercive, minimal effort from subordinates, conformity, mechanical

An organic leader is one who we naturally want to follow, not because we’ll get fired if we don’t (though we may), but because something inside of us believes that they are adding value to our lives, businesses, and organizations.

Yet, while it may “feel” effortless, organic leadership is quite intentional. Organic leaders completely blow their non-organic counterparts away when it comes to one area: their ability to motivate and inspire people by meeting their higher needs.

A quick history. In 1943, Abraham Maslow published a landmark study on human motivation in relation to a hierarchy of needs. His study was unique because his subjects were successful, creative people, not the usual sick and disturbed crowd. He found that humans have needs which can be placed in two groups, basic and meta(growth), the higher depending on the fulfillment of the lower.

photo credit: savethedave

Basic or Deficiency Needs -

Physiological - food, water, sleep, sex, breathing

Safety - free from danger, security both physically and financially, clothing and shelter

Love/Belonging - social relationships, friendships, family, intimacy, need to be accepted

Esteem - respect from others, self-esteem, recognition, feeling valued and adequate

Meta or Growth Needs -

Cognitive - learn, explore, make sense of the universe, discover new things

Aesthetic - beautiful imagery, order, perspective

Self-Actualization - understanding yourself, knowing who you are and where you are going, realizing your full potential

Non-organic leaders meet only the first four basic needs, sometimes even less. Organic leaders meet these lower needs, but also have the ability to meet people’s higher needs: cognitive, aesthetic and self-actualization.

Think of the leaders that have inspired you. Chances are they excited you on a cognitive level by helping increase your knowledge and understanding. On an aesthetic level they were able to inspire you through imagery and unique perspective. And in all of this they allowed you to reach your full potential.

“Most innovative,” “Inspiring,” “Purpose-driven,” these are the words reserved for organic leaders, not for leaders who simply provided a safe work environment and steady paycheck, but for those who make it all seem so natural, those who understand the hierarchy of needs.

What have leaders done to inspire you? Do you agree with Maslow’s hierarchy? Why or why not? Let the discussion begin!