2006 © Chris Fourie. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.
“The internet’s nothing but a reputation economy,” said Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired magazine. “We don’t think about that, but all these metrics that we follow, whether its incoming links, or traffic, or Twitter followers, or Facebook friends, these are all reputation metrics. One way or another we are playing in the reputation game, and it’s never been more measureable.”

Anderson speaks approvingly and supportively of this. Understandably. If I were a businessman building my little empire, yes, I would leverage every tool at my disposal, including the reputation economy, to multiply my dollars.

However, as a Christian, it terrifies me. As I begin 2010 I must ask what is my motive when blogging? Tweeting? Friending? Is it all about building the Kingdom or is it playing the reputation game? Why do sermon download statistics matter to me? Why do I welcome every friend request? Why are page views relevant? Why do I look for re-tweets? With the Psalmist I must pray before every post, every tweet, every status update, every sermon upload: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

The difficulty (impossibility?) of doing anything for the Lord with a totally pure motive raises a question: How pure does your motive have to be before you do something for the Lord?” 50% pure? 90% pure? Is there a minimum percentage, below which you should do nothing?

The short interview with Chris Anderson is part of the “Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind Series” and can be watched here.

2009 © Alexey Romanov. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.

In the Harvard Business Review John Ashkenaz asks why it took a near-death experience for GM management to finally realize their ship was not just sinking but almost sunk. His answer is that GM executives were too close to the problem and couldn’t get far enough away to question their own ideas and strategies. He spotlighted Jack Welch’s (ex-CEO of GE) solution to this problem:

Jack Welch used to gather his senior executives together in January and tell them to act as though they had just been newly appointed to their jobs. What would they do differently if they were coming in to their business without preconceived notions and with a completely fresh perspective? It’s a powerful question, and one that most of us never ask ourselves.

How about Pastors and other Christian leaders doing the same thing this January. What would you do if you were starting afresh?

So here’s a thought-exercise you can do: First, take a deep breath and fire yourself. That’s right — take yourself out of your job so that you’ll get some distance from it.

Second, consider what you would do to reapply for your job [sub. ministry]. What are your qualifications? What would you say in an interview about the changes you would make and the improvements you would engineer? What unique “stamp” would you put on this new job [sub. ministry]?

Answering these questions candidly and constructively can not only help your business [sub. church] to thrive — it also can reenergize you for the coming year.

And who knows? Maybe you’ll end up re-hiring you.

When I worked in the financial services industry I had a wonderful mentor who invested hugely in my life and career. I’ve also had two great mentors in the my ministry. As I reflect on these relationships now, I have to confess that the benefit was largely one-way. They invested in me, but I gave little in return. I was especially convicted of this when I read this article on providing value for your mentor – or giving them a return on their investment. Here’s a summary of the main points, with my own “adaptations” for Christian ministry in square brackets.
 

1. Send “TOUs” or thinking of yous. Share articles of interest or relevant news stories. Keep your mentor’s projects and areas of influence on your radar so that you can weigh in periodically on thought-provoking topics.

[Is your mentor preaching a series of sermons on the Psalms? Is he writing a book on justification? Does he have an interest in counseling? Why not do some of his research for him? Set up a Diigo account and bookmark relevant articles for him.]

Most preachers know they have weaknesses. They avoid them. And they never improve. The weakness may be preaching from the Old Testament, or doctrinal sermons, or evangelistic sermons, etc. Scott Young highlights “Overcoming The Frustration Barrier” as “The Key Obstacle to Being Good at Anything.” Here is his advice which we can also apply to preaching:

1. Admit you are rubbish
2. Surround yourselves with people who’ve done it
3. Study the mastery process
4. Enjoy being awful
5. Commit to mandatory practice.

Read the whole piece here.

In this article Morton Hansen and Herminia Ibarra ask the business world “Do we celebrate the wrong CEO’s?”

If we substitute church world for business world, we might ask “Do we celebrate the wrong pastors?” Two excerpts:

If we asked you to make a list of the top 50 performing CEOs in the world, who would you name? Jeffrey Immelt? Jamie Dimon? Carols Ghosn? They’re on your list? They shouldn’t be.

What about Bart Becht? John Martin? John Lau? Not on your list? They should be. Becht, of Reckitt-Benckiser, Martin, of Gilead Sciences, and Lau, of Husky Energy have had strong performance year after year, but yet they’re not well known outside their industries. They’re among the “quiet CEOs” getting the job done, and well. Immelt (GE), Dimon (JP Morgan Chase) and Ghosn (Renault-Nissan) get lots of attention in the business press. CEOs like them are often labeled as “most admired” or highest paid. Typically, they’re charismatic leaders, but seldom are they actually measured on overall performance. This matters. After all, where do our leadership models and leadership lessons come from? We may just be learning from the most admired, but not the best-performing leaders.

The [Top 100 CEO] list is beautifully varied and surprising. And yet, we still flock to the same few big-time celebrity CEOs for our wisdom on leadership and growth. What does that say about us as a business community? Maybe we’re over-valuing things that well-known CEOs do well (getting on magazine covers, talking about their next big moves, explaining short-term results) and over-looking what less headline grabbing but better-performing CEOs do well which is focus on building value long-term. Maybe it’s time to redirect our attention and start celebrating and learning from a different crop of CEOs, starting with the ones listed here.

How many of the Church’s Top 100 pastors are on God’s Top 100 list? How many on God’s Top 100 list are known beyond their own churches?