“Real artists ship.” — Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

That was one of Steve Jobs’ early mantras for his team of geniuses. What did he mean? Jobs meant that it doesn’t really matter how beautiful your dreams are, how simple your lines are, or how ergonomic your next product is in your mind’s eye. Real artists ship. They produce. They deliver.

Delivering great products will be one of Steve Jobs’ enduring legacies. Did you know that Steve delivered the Apple II computer in 1977, when he was a 22 year old college dropout? Like Michael Dell and Bill Gates (two other college dropouts who began to change the world before they reached 25), Jobs seemed to me an eccentric positive deviant whose ideas were initially resisted by the establishment. Cultural inertia tends to norm everything to average: average grades, average products, average levels of initiative. Jobs inspired and delivered, redefining “normal” for millions of people. For example, I find it totally normal to have my entire music and video collection of 5,913 items in my pocket, going everywhere I go, every day. That wasn’t true ten years ago.

Here’s a thought in the same spirit: Real leaders lead. Real leaders make stuff happen. They don’t just daydream, strategize, plan, and cast vision. Real leaders deviate from the system. They reset their culture’s “norm” needle. They make deadlines and hit targets. Not perfectly, and not every time. But often enough to build legitimate expectations and set new standards among their followers. Things are different after they leave.

Nehemiah was another leader who delivered. Burdened by reports of the desolation of his hometown, Jerusalem, he inspired and motivated hundreds of ordinary citizens to refortify the city’s wall and gates. He endured attacks from external foes and dissent from within. Yet “the wall was finished… in fifty-two days” (Nehemiah 6:15).

Real artists ship. Real leaders lead.

What is stopping your dream from shipping?

I was a prodigal.

Sure, I masked my inner rebellion with excellent grades, modest athletic achievement, student leadership positions and a high degree of socialization. But the truth was still there.

I was a prodigal.

I ran from God. I ran from reality. Chasing wine, women and song helped me gain over 15 kg my first year of college and cut my grade point average nearly in half.

Some of my friends reached out to me. They helped me see that I was leaving a wake of strained and broken relationships behind me. They didn’t judge me (well, some did). A few close friends demonstrated that they cared more for me than for my approval. They spoke hard truth with radical grace into my situation.

I was a prodigal. These friends were the arms of a loving father, reaching out and waiting for me to return. To forgive. To invite me to more.

Thanks, friends. It is in your honor that I pray for prodigals on this annual Prayer for Prodigals day, June 2. You can pray for them too. If you want more information, or have interest in journeying with others who are wrestling with a prodigal, visit here.

After all, we’re all prodigals in need of radical grace, aren’t we?

Read Jesus’ version of the story here.

People thought Gutenberg’s press was a fad, until unschooled laymen learned to read.

People thought the internet was a fad, until it became an integral part of everyday life.

If you think social networking is a fad that will soon pass, you may want to take a look at the numbers in “The History of Social Networking” (courtesy of www.onlineschools.org).

Via: Online Schools

Here’s an amazing video of a 12-year old that will blow you away.

How did Jordan get this good? He did two things: he identified his natural talent and gifting (with help from his dad), then he spent two hours a day honing his skills. This is a great example of how mentoring and self-leadership work together to produce excellence.

Each of us has at least one talent (if not many more) which has been given to us by God. Yet our culture of comparison often causes us to envy someone else’s gift rather than developing our own. We serve others best when we relax in our own gifting and do what we love. To this end, the apostle Paul encouraged his young protege Timothy to develop his gift, urging him “not to neglect the gift you have” and “to fan into flame the gift of God.” (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6)

What are you naturally gifted to do? How are you honing that gift? Who is mentoring you in this effort?

Today is Halloween, also known as Reformation Day. On this day in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany, forever cementing his reputation as a rebel/prophet/professor with a cause. Here’s a great post that captures the history of Reformation Day.

Today also happens to be my spiritual birthday. It’s great to wake up early on October 31st each year, kneel in thanks and praise to the one true God, and remember trading in my citizenship from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. My life was radically changed on this day. And it keeps on changing. Have a great day!

Recently I listened to a wonderful 10 minute HBR interview with 85-year old leadership guru Warren Bennis. Opening question: What are two or three of the characteristics of really great leaders?

1. Great leaders build great teams. “You can’t win this contest without a lot of help. It ain’t just one man.”

2. Great leaders have good judgment. Great leaders have the ability to select people who have the capacity to get things done AND play well with others in the sandbox.

I am impressed with Warren’s insights into the crucible of war and the crucible of age, sacrifice, generosity, respect and what he calls “leadership grace.”

Warren’s final question was: “If you want to be a great leader, you need to….”

How would you finish that sentence?

I had the wonderful privilege of spending my week near Antalya, Turkey with 170 associates from 37 countries at the MinistryNet09 Conference. Very cool. We immersed ourselves in collaborative workgroups focused on one thing: effectively leveraging the web and social networks to glorify God and help fulfill the Great Commission.

Yesterday an optional outing took us to Perga where Paul and Barnabas “preached the Word” on their first missionary journey as they were returning to Antioch (Acts 14:25). A theater, a sports stadium and the expansive agora market remain visible in the old city center, the long-silent hub of her citizens’ ancient social networks.

As we wandered among the broken columns and fallen stones, I wondered aloud with my friends David and Mark about the lasting value of stuff. Hans joined us for cappuccinos and a robust discussion of church-planting theory and practice as we watched the sun drop into the Mediterranean Sea.

Leadership Lesson: Build Men, not Monuments.

Timothy Geithner, Obama’s – and America’s – new Treasury Secretary, failed to pay more than $34,000 in taxes, which were dubbed “innocent mistakes or technicalities.”

Tom Daschle, nominee for Health and Human Services, just cleared up his “stupid mistake” by paying over $100,000 in back taxes and interest due from 2005 -2007.

God, grant us mercy. Someone once said that people get the leaders they deserve. I say you get what you tolerate. Elected officials who have made these types of “mistakes” in personal management do not bolster my confidence in their ability to oversee $800 billion in financial bailout allocations or new health care plans.

Rewarding public officials with higher office in spite of their obvious disdain for tax law only accelerates our nation’s credibility crisis.

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…not a lover of money… He must manage his own household well….

Question for aspiring leaders: Where might I be vulnerable to large or small acts of blatant hypocrisy?

From whom did you first hear the terms Win-Build-Send? A pastor? Bible study leader? CCC staff member? Dr. Bill Bright?

I knew these roots ran deep, but I didn’t know how deep until I came across this story….

At the end of his first year in college, John had tired of religious nuts trying to convert him. He transferred to Cornell, an Ivy League school he felt would give him freedom from such people. When he arrived to settle in, who greeted John and helped him with his bags? A group of Christian men.

These guys kept inviting him to their Christian meetings. Finally John relented, just to get them off his back. He snuck in the side door of the meeting room, just in time to hear the speaker, a British sports hero, cry out: “Young man, are you seeking great things for yourself?!” John stood paralyzed, wondering if it was the speaker – or perhaps God – who was speaking to him. “Do not seek them! Seek first the Kingdom of God!”

After a sleepless night, the next morning John tracked down the speaker. He learned that J.E.K. Studd, along with his brother C.T., were famous athletes who were walking away from sports contracts and a family fortune in order to serve as missionaries to China. John was pierced to the heart when he understood the reason for the Studds‘ commitment was due to Christ’s sacrifice. He repented and began to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

Though Nobel-prize winner John Mott never became a foreign missionary himself, over the next 60 years he would travel round the world multiple times mobilizing student-led movements on behalf of the YMCA and Student Volunteer Movement. One amazing journey lasted from July 1895 to April 1897, covered 60,000 miles and resulted in a fascinating book entitled Strategic Points in the World’s Conquest.

I have in my hands right now an 1897 edition of Mott’s travelogue, where he writes:

“The object of the [World's Student Christian] Federation is most inspiring. It is nothing less than the uniting of the Christian forces of all universities and colleges in the great work of winning the students of the world for Christ, of building them up in Him, and of sending them out into the world to work for Him.”

Yep, you heard it here first.

Did you know?
The Student Volunteer Movement recruited over 100,000 students to the task of world evangelization between its founding in 1886 and World War II.