Clarity Solves the Visionary's Dilemma

The problem with most visionaries is that they see a world that doesn't exist.

It's not so much of a problem until they try to explain their vision to the rest of us mere mortals. They can imagine products or services not yet invented. They can envision a way of living different to the way we live now.

Yet they can't always get it out in a way that anyone can understand.

Simon Sinek, author of the book "Start With Why," has a great post here on the visionary's dilemma.

Here's a quote that pretty much sums it up:

A vision, no matter how brilliant, will only ever see the light of day if others, those less visionary, are able to also see the potential. It is a person's ability to paint a picture of something that doesn't exist in words so clear that others can clearly picture it themselves without any confusion or uncertainty that matters most. It is at that point that an idea can inspire people to act. To share the idea and to help bring it to reality.

His formula for explaining the vision in words everyone can understand is pure gold:

1. Words that require thinking should be avoided, words like "convergence," for example. When someone says that in a sentence, I have to furl my brow and really pay attention.
2. Explain why it matters, not what you're doing. Who cares if you're "developing applications for mobile devices...blah blah blah," why should I care?
3. And most importantly, always, always speak as if you're describing an image. A picture. A scene.

And finally: And, after all, it is why you have your vision, not how you intend to create it, that inspires.

Leaders in ChurchWorld ought to be visionaries - and many are. Just make sure you are able to speak to that vision, and communicate it to others with clarity.

What if Pixar Came to Your Church?

Pixar Animation Studio's track record: 9 for 9.

That's nine films since the studio's launch in 1995, every one of them a smashing success. What's their secret? Their unusual creative process. Unlike the typical studio who gathers all the necessary personnel to produce a film and then releases them after it is finished, Pixar's staff of writers, directors, animators, and technicians move from project to project.

The result: a team of moviemakers who know and trust one another in ways unimaginable on most sets.

The May issue of Wired magazine has a great article on how Pixar does it, using "Toy Story 3" as the example. You can read the whole article here, but take a look at their step-by-step process in a nutshell:

Inspiration

• Day 1 - coming up with a great story. The creative team leaves the campus for an off site retreat, and knocks out a quick storyline - which they promptly discard.
• Day 3 - working from a series of plot points, screenwriter Michael Arndt begins drafting the script. Director Lee Unkrich and the story artists start sketching storyboards. The storyboards allow the filmmakers to begin imagining the look and feel of each scene.

Presentation

• Day 36 - character design begins. Working in digital images, sketches, and clay figures, each character comes to life in a process called simulation - a constant negotiation between the artistic and technical teams.
• Day 123 - the storyboards are turned into a story reel that can be projected, much like an elaborate flip book. This allows the team to watch along with an audience and determine what works and what doesn't.

Characterization

• Day 380 - actors come into the studio to record all the lines - dozens of times. The actors are also being filmed, so the animators can watch the actor's expressions and use them as reference points when they animate the characters' faces.
• Day 400 - shaders began to add color and texture to characers' bodies and other surfaces that appear in the film. Complex algorithms are used to simulate the effect of light and shadow on different toy surfaces like plastic, cloth, or wood.

Animation

• Day 533 - the pictures are moving, defined by up to 1,000 points of possible movement that animators can manipulate like strings on a puppet. Each day the team starts by reviewing the previous day's work, ripping it apart to make each scene more expressive.
• Day 806 - technical challenges pile up. The studio's design which places essential facilities in the center allows the team to have unplanned creative conversations while on the way for a cup of coffee or walking to the bathroom.
• Day 898 - the animators hit high gear, working late into the night in customized and personalized offices.
• Day 907 - rendering, the process of using computer algorithms to generate a final frame, is well under way. The average frame (a move has 24 frames per second) takes about seven hours to render, though complex frames can take nearly 39 hours of computer time. The Pixar building has two massive render farms, each of which contains hundreds of servers running 24 hours a day.

Resolution

• Day 1,070 - the movie is mostly done. the team has completed 25 of the film's sequences and is finishing the most complicated scene of the move. It has take 27 technical artists four months to perfect that single scene.
• Day 1,084 - Only weeks away from release, the audio mixers at Skywalker Sound combine dialog, music, and sound effects. Every nuance is adjusted and readjusted. Director Unkrich: "We don't ever finish a film - I could keep on making it better. We're just forced to release it."

And you thought getting a sermon ready for Sunday was difficult!


The process depicted above can be highly constructive for you and your team. Granted, you don't have either the budget or the time to produce a film like Toy Story 3, but you can take the principle above and apply them in your context, resources, and time frame.

So, how about it? What Pixar creative magic can you put to use this week?

Got a Few Minutes to Spare?

When you have a few spare minutes, do you turn on the television or turn to your computer?

Studies show that the time Americans once spent watching television has been redirected toward activities that are less about consuming and more about engaging - from Facebook and other forms of social networking to powerful forms of political action. And these efforts aren't fueled by external rewards but by intrinsic motivation - the joy of doing something for its own sake.

Authors Daniel Pink and Clay Shirky were recently interviewed in Wired magazine about the revolution in how we use our free time. The full interview is here, but some key points include:

• Free time used to be something to be used up rather than used. With increased suburbanization and long commutes, there was less face-to-face interaction. Most people spent the bulk of their free time watching television.
• Post-TV media - blogs, wikis, and Twitter - is now being tapped for other, often more valuable uses.
• Television is a solitary activity that crowded out other forms of social connection. The very nature of new technologies fosters social connections.
• Our intrinsic motivation - doing something that is interesting, engaging, the right thing to do, or something that contributes to the world - is a powerful motivator.
• The possibilities of organizations tapping into this "free" time - what Shirky calls "cognitive surplus" - is staggering.

What about your "free" time? How do you use it? Is there a place in your organization for connecting this cognitive surplus for the good of others?

A Few Thoughts to Start Your Day...

The Revolution Continues...

• Seth Godin's Monday evening post: I saw a two-year old kid (in diapers, in a stroller), using an iPod Touch today. Not just looking at it, but browsing menus and interacting. This is a revolution, guys.

"Deeper" Christians?

• My pastor, Steven Furtick, on the fallacy of "deeper" Christians: The point of the study of the Bible is not to learn things you’ve never heard of before but to begin living in a way nobody has seen before. And this can only be the result of active engagement with God’s Word, not merely increased depth in God’s Word.
  
   

Bad Situations are Great Opportunities to Earn Word of Mouth

• Brilliant - simply brilliant: When a Southwest Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale to Denver had to be diverted to Pueblo because of bad weather, passengers were forced to wait two hours on the ground until the Denver airport could reopen.
  
  Passengers were tired, frustrated, and stuck.
  
  And that’s when the Southwest pilot announced he was ordering pizza for everyone. About 30 minutes later, row by row, the pilot personally handed out slices to the stranded travelers.

Shower Time

• Simon Sinek says a couple of more minutes in the shower will help you be creative: When we take showers or go for a drive (or paint or run or wherever you allow your mind to wander), it continues trying to solve the issues we face in our lives at the time. It accesses all our past experiences to help us see things our conscious brains can not.

Now you know; now it's time to act differently...

Managing By Wandering Around...

...It's All Around You!

In 1982 a book called "In Search of Excellence", by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman came out. Even though it was a business book, it made quite a hit in my seminary classes as well. (Way back when, even before it became the standard practice it is today, Ralph Hardee had us reading B books!)

One of the most important lessons of that book then, and still important today, is the idea of MBWA, or Managing by Wandering Around.

With MBWA, "what you see is what you get."

Tom Peters, in his latest book "The Little BIG Things," recently added these thoughts about MBWA:

• Get out of your office!
• Unplug your laptop!
• Put your iPhone/Blackberry in the drawer!
• Chat up anybody whose path you cross...especially if they are not among your normal chatees.
• Go strolling in parts of the organization (or your neighborhood) where you normally don't stroll.
• Slow down.
• Stop.
• Chat.

Put "wandering" on your permanent formal agenda. It may sound counterintuitive, but "aimless wandering" requires strict discipline. We all fall into ruts, even in our wanderings. Same route. Same people. Same time of day. Etc. Etc. Etc. Somehow you've got to introduce spontaneity.

Make a pledge to "just wander" at least a half-hour each day. You'll be amazed at what happens when you come back to the pile of work on your desk or the files open on your screen.

Practice MBWA today!

All in a Day's Work...

I love my job - I just need more hours in the day:

• Email correspondence, snail-mail letters, phone calls, texts, and Tweets: Communication is the lifeblood of what I do. My 100% Communication Rule - I assume total responsibility to make sure my words and calls are received and understood by the recipient. If not, keep at it until they are.
• Consultations: Relationships are #1. When I get the chance to talk with a church leader - pastor, staff, or dedicated volunteer - I'm all ears first and foremost. If I can't listen to, and then respond to the person across the table, then I've failed.
• Research: Information drives our society. The communication and consultations mentioned above are preceded, and then followed up, by research. It may come in a digital form, or from a printed page, or from a person to person interaction, but information about the matter at hand is vital to a continued relationship. My goal? I want to know as much as possible about your organization so that I can serve you well.
• Face 2 Face: All relationships have a beginning and this is often the best place to start. I'm not going to waste your time - I just want to introduce myself, tell you about my passion, and ask you to call me when you need something - all in about 30 seconds.
• Professional networking: I may not know the answer to your question, but more than likely I know someone who does. If not, I will in short order.
• Meetings: Make the world go round - at least my world! In ChurchWorld, nothing gets done without meetings, or so it seems. If I called the meeting, it's going to be concise and productive. If someone else called it and I have a part, I'm going to come prepared. If it's a meeting that I am just attending, I'm going to make sure it's as beneficial as possible to all concerned.
• Presentations: It's all about emotion and communicating your point of view to others. If all you want to do is create a file of facts and figures, cancel the meeting and send a report.
• Questions: The simpler the better. Simple questions should be profound so that answering them requires us to make stark, honest, and sometimes painful self-assessments. When you ask the tough questions of what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what you must do to improve an organization's performance, you have had a good day.

That's what a good day is all about...

Creating Leaders

I'm in Greenville SC for the latest stop on NCPG's "Great Adventure Road Show." Glad to be partnering with NCPG for the third stop!

What's your greatest resource at your organization?

Facility?

Finances?

Your goodwill in the community?

How about the people on your team?

I suggest that the people in your organization are THE most important resource you have.

So what are you doing to create more leaders at your place?
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