Orrin Woodward And Life!

One of the best moments of this weekend's leadership conference is the dawning of the mental fitness challenge. LIFE founders have developed an assessment of where you are mentally and how you process your thoughts. Then they have developed a systematic method of improvement, designed to assist you in reevaluating outside input to receive a more desirable outcome. You can then retake the assessment test to see how you have improved in the all the areas evaluated. It's a self help course that in 90 days will guide you to becoming better in all of the eight F's. Faith, Fitness, Finance, Friends, Fun, Freedom, Following, and Family, and seriously, who could use improvement in one or more of those areas? Watch this short video to gain a better grasp of what the 90 day Mental Fitness Challenge is all about! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvZXoarOqjA&feature=youtube_gdata_player God Bless! Capt. Bill

And Away We Go!

"Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."- Romans 12:2 What a great quote from the Bible! It fits in perfectly with the pilgrimage tens of thousands are going to make this weekend to improve our leadership skills, our community growth, and our personal improvement at the Ohio State Campus in Columbus, Ohio. We who are involved with the LIFE opportunity, will come together to learn and renew our minds so we can effectively set the shinning example for others. Little compares with the power of association. The energy that will be emitted from a massive group of like minded individuals is beyond comparison and I urge you to experience this destiny changing event just once. As that is all one ever needs to realize the importance of association within the community. It's a transfusion of empowerment drawing from each individual and returning the same boosted by the synergy of the masses. Simply stated, it's powerful stuff! How do you describe an event with more emotion than a funeral or a wedding, more excitement than an overtime Super Bowl game, and more energy than a live Who concert? Travel safely my fellow ticket holders for this major event. Lives will be changed, destinies will be redirected, and legacies will be determined this weekend. If your not going to this event, and not part of this existence improving opportunity, please reread the first sentence of this post and ask yourself.....why not? God Bless! Capt. Bill

Community Verses Networking!

Leadership is all about community building. Now let's think about that for just a second because many people confuse networking and leading a community. Networking is the art of creating a roadmap of individuals you have a connection with. They don't necessarily follow you, they connect with you because you have mutual interests. Like a person who has rental properties has a network of gardeners, plumbers, electricians, etc. There is no leadership present in that network other than they all look to the rental owner for work and to get paid. As you can see this relationship has limitations, and quite frankly is fragile. This my friends is one of the downfalls of "network marketing." Now on the other hand is the strength of a community. A community differs in you share a life together focused on the same vision or goal. You create a momentum that invites others, creating a ripple affect that influences growth. A network only grows on the value to the individual, a community grows on the momentum of a shared vision that benefits all involved in one way or another. Example: A community is best represented by a church. The patrons of that church are spiritually bound seeking heaven. It benefits the group and the individual. A network is less likely to benefit the group and more likely to be beneficial to individuals. Like a realtor that sells a home uses his or her network to connect clients for services like painting, window treatments, or decorating services. No group benefit, no spirituality. Both have their place, but a community of leaders is based on a solid foundation and less likely to erode. It's reinforced with shared dreams and visions. The stronger the goals, the more momentum and loyalty in the community. Community trumps networks! God Bless! Capt. Bill

More On Leadership!

Building a community of people who follow you on your leadership journey, is a process that oft times eludes the best intentioned leadership apprentice. The initial key to creating a following is a simple process, you have to connect with people. Without an atmosphere of introduction, there is no one to follow you! It's vital to put yourself out there. People are a necessary part of the equation.

Once a gathering of individuals is accomplished, the leader is able to contribute, adding value to the people he or she has connected with. Adding value is imperative to creating a following. If you have nothing to offer the people you connect with, why would they follow you? This is where the value of reading and listening to audio recordings of people further along in the leadership journey comes in handy. That learning process is what keeps you a step ahead of the community your trying to build and lead.

Then we enter the third step in the process. This is the part where the people you've added value to celebrate their victories! This is the best tool in your leadership arsenal. Nothing attracts others to your community like the word of mouth advertising coming from someone you helped achieve a victory in their life. This alone will catapult you into a whole new realm of leadership, and it all surrounds you digging into information and using it to add value to others.

Remember, connect, contribute, celebrate! No connection, no contribution, no celebration....


God Bless!
Capt. Bill

More On Leadership!

One of the critical elements involved in building leaders is the importance of transferring a vision. If you cannot relay the foresight of where your taking people, they are not going to blindly follow! Even the lemmings or the sheep follow for a reason, but people need a specifically defined goal. It's important that you allow them to see the need of the void your seeking to fill. It looks something like this

Need + Vision = Inspiration

Once they see the need is worthy, and you transfer the vision accurately describing the how and why, you immediately supply them the inspiration necessary to move forward and complete the task. These are all critical to the equation, otherwise you end up with this....

Need - Vision = Desperation

If the people you seek to lead sense desperation they are going to seek leadership elsewhere. For example, if you have a need such as staffing a charitable event, and you present it as we need volunteers with a tone of desperation, it comes across as disorganization.

If you transfer the feeling of how fulfilling it'll be to participate in this worthy cause, you'll garner a larger and more enthusiastic support group. The difference is subtle, but the results are significant. This is the mind set of a competent leader. Learn to pass on your vision and your cooperation level will increase tenfold.....

God Bless!
Capt. Bill

More On Leadership!

One of the critical keys to leadership is the ability to attract a following. After all, if no one is drawn to follow you, by definition you cannot lead. Interestingly there are people who confuse attracting a crowd with developing a following. If your going to do something foolish, you'll likely draw a crowd. When you set an example, you will draw a following! The difference is the key, and that's reflected in the following dialog....

Jesus; "Welcome to heaven!"
You: "Man this is incredibly awesome!"
Jesus: "My good man, I told you it would be. How many people did you bring with you?"
You: "Well there are all those people who followed my leadership."
Jesus: "Outstanding! But what about the others?"
You: "I invited them, but they chose not to follow."
Jesus: "I invited you to join me in heaven...."
You: (Silence)
Jesus: "...but for that to happen, I had to go to you."
You: (Yet more silence)

You see it's not enough to not enough to be an attractive example to follow, you have to expose yourself to others. They cannot follow what they don't know of! This is why we have to go out of our way to connect with people. Once that connection is made, your example can contribute to their life. We do this by being servant leaders and adding value to others. Once that value is realized, we can celebrate the victory, and the community following your leadership example will increase. The laws of attraction cannot work without something to attract. This is a solid key to leadership, mastering the building of a community. Expose yourself to others......

God Bless!
Capt. Bill

Leadership Principles!

Leadership isn't something people are born with, it's a developed trait. One of the classic examples of leadership development was done by none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Apprentice selection; Jesus picked the people He wanted. His selection for apprenticeship was a relational process, and I think we would all agree those He chose weren't exactly what most would define as leadership material.

Apprentice expectation; Jesus designated them apostles! Apostle means "sent one." He was clear from the beginning that his expectation of these leaders in training was to go out on a mission.

Apprentice preparation; Jesus' disciples were with Him. They were mentored and given examples of life on life relationships. They were trained to saved the world by following in the footsteps of the example Jesus gave them.

Apprentice graduation; Jesus concluded their apprenticeship by sending them out to preach and have authority over demons. The apostles apprenticeship ended when they could do what Jesus did.

So a quick review. He sought his apprentices, defined their mission, had them learn His ways, and sent them out to do the task. Define, Learn, Do!

God Bless!
Capt. Bill