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Book Review: It's Okay to be the Boss

Let me say that It's Okay to be the Boss was a great read! This book had so many great insights into managing and leading. It blew up a lot of the myths about managing and really got me thinking about how I manage and how I can improve and set our staff up for success. I saw so many of the mistakes I have made as a manager and a lot of the mistakes that people made in managing me in the past :)

Here's a few quotes that stood out:

"If you are the boss, it is your responsibility to make sure everything goes well."

"Almost everyone performs better with more guidance, direction, and support from a more experienced person."

"Maintain an ongoing dialogue: 'Here's what I need from you. What do you need from me?'"

"Stop coaching employees when problems develop; coach employees when they are doing great or just doing OK."

"The only way to cope with the incredible diversity among your employees is to figure out what works with each person and then customize your management style accordingly."

"The first and most important element of in creating real accountability is spelling out expectations up front in clear terms."

"If you are the boss, your #1 responsibility is to make absolutely sure that every person you manage understands exactly what he is expected to do and exactly how he is expected to do it."

"Low performers don't like to be managed closely."

"One high-performing employee is worth more to the business than 3 or 4 mediocre employees."

This book is very well written, easy to read, and very informative. I highly recommend it to anyone who manages people.

Only Bostonians Pray Like this...

My sister sent me this today...

A REDSOX PRAYER

Our Father, who art at Fenway...
Baseball be thy game.
They Kingdom come,
Playoffs need to be won,
On Earth, then on to the Cask 'n' Flagon.

Give us this day, a perfect Papi,
And forgive us our losses,
As we forgive those,
Like Bill Buckner.

And lead us not, into desperation,
But deliver us from any losses.

For thine is the Power,
And the Glory,
To beat the Indians,
Forever and ever....the Yankees suck

A-men

Have The Red Sox Lost Their Mojo?

I don't want to talk about the ALCS.

I keep saying to myself, "This isn't happening... this isn't happening! Remember 2004... remember 2004..."

I'm about ready to break into a full blown depression. The Red Sox had the best record in baseball and they falling apart to a team that they crushed in the regular season.

Anyway, I don't want to talk about it!

Sunday Thoughts...

- Church was great today! Talked about what greatness in the kingdom is (service).
- 31 people indicated they wanted to begin serving!
- We have over 50% of our people involved serving already, so this is exciting!
- I went to the preview of the IKEA store in Sunrise. Pretty impressive.
- Watching Heroes Season 1...totally addicted :)
- When we started our elevate series in September, I was praying for every person to take 1 significant spiritual step. I'm looking forward to sharing the results because it's looking very good!
- I don't want to talk about the Red Sox game. I slept horribly on Saturday night.
- Had a great time this week in Tampa hanging out with some Pastors and learning.
- These guys watched a video of a recent CF service. To say I was nervous is an understatement :)
- This book has been a very good read for me.
- My daughter's 2 top teeth are coming in! Pray for us :)

Book Review: The Magic of Thinking Big

The Magic of Thinking Big was an interesting read. Part of it was very “The power of positive thinking-ish”, but other parts were very insightful into human behavior. I couldn’t help but think of people I know who are negative when I read the book. Mostly because the author describes these people to a “T”. I really believe if people were more positive and believed that God did want to work in their lives that He would. There’s a few too many Eeyore’s in the church there days and not enough Tiggers. (I'm not talking about being extroverted, just positive and happy to be alive)

Here’s a couple of quotes that stood out:

“Persons who reach the top rungs ...get there by following conscientiously and continually a plan for self-development and growth.”

“Top level leaders in all walks of like spend much more time asking for advice than giving it.”

“Ideas are the fruit of your thinking, but they’ve got to be harnessed and put to work to be of value.”

“Salvage something from every setback”

“Nothing happens. No forward steps are taken until a goal is established.”

“Leaders use solitude to put the pieces of a problem together, to work out solutions, to plan, and in one phrase, to do their super-thinking.”

Book Review: Selling the Invisible

I really enjoyed You, Inc., so I decided to pick up Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. While I didn’t like the book as much as You, Inc., there were some great nuggets in the book that were very helpful.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Ignore your industries benchmarks and copy Disney’s.” (That’s funny and true)

“Don’t just think better. Think different.” (What worked in the past won’t necessarily work in the future)

“Everyone in your company is responsible for marketing your company.’ (Every person in our church is a representative of CF)

“Go where others aren’t.” (Are church planters listening?)

“...good ideas often sounded ludicrous at first.” (I remember when I pitched the idea for meeting in a movie theatre. People thought I was crazy)

“People do not simply form impressions. They get anchored to them.” (No comment necessary)

“To broaden your appeal, narrow your position.”

“Saying many things usually communicates nothing.” (Say one thing really well)

“People don’t listen to cliches.” (That’s probably because cliches usually aren’t true)

“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.” (I’m going to use this line regularly)

It’s a good book if you’re interested in marketing and understanding how people think and why. I recommend the book. It was a fun read.

How do I know I have an 8 month old?

Because when I quiet my mind, this is what I hear...

"We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship
Zooming through the sky... Little Einsteins
Climb aboard, get ready to explore There's so much to find, Little Einsteins. We're going on a mission, start the countdown 5, 4, 3,2,1 Everyone to rocket, rev it up now RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship
Zooming through the sky, Little Einsteins
Climb aboard, get ready to explore There's so much to find, Little Einsteins
Come On - Let's Go - Little Einsteins We need you, Little Einsteins"

Sunday Thoughts

- Today was great! 16 people gave their lives to Jesus!
- Met a lot of new people on Sunday.
- People are taking next steps in their faith. Nothing excites me more.
- Looking forward to my time in Tampa this week with some Pastors. It's always a great time of growth for me.
- I bought Heroes season 1. OMG, it's amazing! Carey and I watched episodes until we both passed out.
- I was at Target and bought 2 pens with Dwight Shrute's face on them. That's just quality merchandise.
- I dropped the Dolphins for my Fantasy team. I picked up the Lions. No help there.
- 1/2 of my fantasy team was hurt. Lame!
- The Red Sox absolutely crushed the Angels! Schilling was dominant.
- My guess is the Indians will win in 4. The Yankees don't look so good.
- What happened to the Cubs? My friends from Chi-town refuse to even talk about it.
- On that note: what happened to the Phillies? They didn't even show up to play.
- Mark is blogging again. Check him out.
- I'm still bummed over missing Catalyst this year.
- I think there's an iPhone in my future. This is purely prophetic, but it may happen :)

Hanging with My Tribe

My day started pretty early as I drove up to Merritt Island to be with a group of Calvary Chapel Pastors. I hadn't been up there in a while, but made a point to be part of today's meeting and spend some time with guys in my tribe.

It was great seeing some guys I hadn't seen in a long time. Of course, the highlight was showing off pictures of Mia :)

Absolute Domination!

Josh Beckett threw a 4-hitter tonight as the Red Sox beat the Angels 4-0!

He just overpowered them tonight! The Angels hitters looked lost tonight. The Red Sox hitters didn't. John Lackey wasn't fooling anyone. Good times!