Top Ten Mistakes Good Leaders Tend to Make

Muc Su Thach shared with me a handout he picked up from his recent summit in Atlanta. These things MIGHT BE applicable to all of us.

1. Success without Successors This is the #1 leadership shortfalls for people... Think team and start planning your departure the day you begin.

2. Lone-Ranger Leadership (a lack of letting go) This is the #2 leadership shortfall for people... You are not superman (or superwoman), so stop trying to fly by yourself. Network, connect, and get others involved!

3. Visionless Leadership (no direction) Why is your group doing what it's doing... [Your] ministry have limited resources and you have limited time, make the most of it!

4. Trying to Do Too Much Focus on process-oriented, momentum building issues ONLY... then, run hard after the best ideas and implement them well.

5. Communication Chaos The larger and more spread out the group, the more attention must be given to communication... communication should be a passionate obsession for effective leaders.

6. No Room for Up-and-Comers Many people ignore, or are even afraid of up-and-comers... DON'T BE! If they're big horses, invite them to join you in plowing.

7. Passionless Duty Effective people must be leaders who lead, not managers who maintain... this is leadership, not duty.

8. Winging It Winging might be accepted on your home turf because of relationships and trust, but you will never have the same level of relationships or trust at the [upper] level... winging it just won't fly.

9. Misinterpreting the Corporate Culture [Upper] structures can be even more "corporate" than many churches... be a "politically savvy" leader; learn to respect your [upper] corporate culture and make changes from within.

10. Worrying about who's NOT Involved (instead of focusing on who IS involved) Design events to serve well the churches already involved (including YOUR church), then invite others to join you... if you build it (and build it well), they will come.

So what do you think? The reason I wrote that, "these things MIGHT BE applicable to all of us" because we should "evaluate all things, then hold on to what is good" - what if these are just conventional management wisdom and not Biblical? I will be doing some more thinking on these items in the next few days and post them here, feel free to do some thinking of your own too so we can sharpen one another...