Author Archives

Billy Long

I am a Christian, a Husband and a Father, in that order. Leadership is important to me, because I see too many outside influences acting on the lives of my children, and I need support to make sure I am the most dominant influence. I appreciate your feedback and enjoy reading your input. Thanks in advance for being part of this endeavor.

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On the Team Tuesday – Team Ethos

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OtT #2In this series of articles, I am calling “On the Team” Tuesdays, I hope to explore our families, our churches and our friendships as “Teams”, and how that applies to us as the leaders within those teams. I will be applying some military strategy and doctrine to help illustrate my points, so if that offends you, I apologize upfront.

Let’s start with our team ethos:

  • I will always place the team and the mission first.
  • I will never accept defeat, I will never quit.
  • I will never leave a teammate, or a fallen comrade behind.

I think there are team and leadership lessons right here in this three line statement.

Who the team is; is pretty obvious, but what is the mission?

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I feel the need to lead, but Im not sure I have earned it.

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leadership-horizon-23For those of you who don’t know, I have started a new job in the last 6 months or so. It has been a great opportunity for my family and for me. Although it has been a struggle for me at times because it is a completely new industry.

I feel as though my boss has asked me to do more than just sales. I think he is looking for a fresh set of eyes and ideas from someone who is new to the company but not new to business. So as I undergo the task of not only learning our services and how we deliver them to our customers, I am also learning our internal process of work flows.

I am finding that there are a few people in key positions that struggle with maintaining the correct work flow. This doesn’t hamper our ability to deliver our services to our customers but it does make for inconsistent record keeping and accounting.

So when I discover an error, I get a lot of “it’s not my job” and “he or she did this or that”. I feel a lot like the quote in the picture above. I have been entrusted with much, so much is expected.

Why doesn’t anyone else feel the same way?

At what point is it acceptable for me to

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How does a father judge himself?

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How Does A Father Judge HimselfAs a father and recently a new grandfather, I have begun some “score keeping” so to speak. As we celebrated my youngest daughters 9th birthday and look toward my wife and my 12th anniversary, I wonder if my family thinks I am successful. I don’t mean financially or in my career, I mean as a father or as a leader in my home.

Based on my military background I am probably harder on myself than anyone else could ever be. I mean really down deep “In those places we don’t talk about at parties…” do my children really think I am good a being a dad? I bet I could influence those answers by the tasks I asked them to accomplish right before I asked them.

I am sure my boss would object, but only slightly, when I say “being a father is the most important job in my life”. So how am I doing? Is it based on the stuff we have for my kids to play with? Is it based on the last vacation? Is it based on the newest electronic device we have? Is it based on how much fun we have? I think my kids view of me being a success, would be different then my view of being a success.

Do you think your kids would score your success on their report cards? Do you think your kids would score your success on their attendance at church? Is it selfish of me to be concerned about the grade my children would give me?

I find solace in a statement a friend told me once on the golf course, he is a teacher and I have remembered it for years. He said about teaching and his concern about his students, “You have to get comfortable with the fact you are planting a flower you may never see bloom”. I guess that with our children we are planting a garden, that will require a lifetime of cultivation, and we will measure our success on the crop that will be our children as adults.

Photo credit: DVIDSHUB / Foter.com / CC BY

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Seeking Leadership

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Hiker StuffI have seen lots of good things written about leadership, both here and in other forums, but, I had a thought today. I thought about maybe what drives me the most

How do we find the people who are seeking leaders to lead them?

Do those people exist? Isn’t that the real reason that we strive to be leaders? Does a leader actually have to have followers to be a leader? Or is leadership like integrity? Do you know the old saying, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking”?

I wonder if seeking leadership is like

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Leadership and Ambition

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julius-casar_l“When the gods wish to take vengeance on a man for his crimes they usually grant him considerable success and a period of impunity, so that when his fortune is reversed he will feel it all the more bitterly.”

Julius Caesar

Ambition is among the strongest and most creative forces in the arsenal of human psychology and frequently the reason that things get done. It also is one of the most dangerous – that drive to grab the biggest slice of the pie before anyone else and sometimes even the entire pie. Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) had plenty of ambition. Early in his career he happened upon a bust of Alexander the Great. Comparing himself to the great king, Caesar lamented that he was the same age as Alexander had been when he died but that by age thirty-two Alexander had conquered a world and so far he had done practically nothing. Vowing that would change, Caesar entered the Roman political arena and the rest is history.

Is ambition required for leadership?

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Is Leadership Static or Dynamic?

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Static vs DynamicI have been asked recently if my approach to selling or leading a sales team has changed due to my recent change in jobs and the new “products” that I am representing. As I thought about the question, I tried to apply it to LeadershipVoices and the following paragraphs are what my feeble mind has produced.

Based on what my collegiate creative writing professor claimed, a static person or character in a story or piece of literature is someone who never changes.  They stay the same. As I consider and compare that to leadership, I wonder if that is a good trait for a leader to have.

When I think of static, I think of

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Leaders, Who needs ’em?

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three-stooges-pointing

Why do I need a leader? They just get in the way, I don’t need anyone telling me what to do, or leading me. I am the master of my own universe; I decide what I do, when I do and how I do it. If I want someone else’s opinion I will ask for it.

I spent 18 years trying to get away from my parents leadership, now I got cops, politicians, God and a boss setting rules, who needs another one. I follow my own rules, I follow my own path, I don’t need you.

I’ve read stories about great leaders like General Custer who LEAD his troops to a slaughter, and I have read in the Bible where it says in Luke chapter 22, verse 26: “…Let the greatest among you become the youngest and the leader as the one who serves, “ and didn’t Lot let his wife get turned into a pillar of salt? As I look around the world, it is full of

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Why would someone want to be a leader?

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Why be a leaderIt’s a question I find myself asking every now and then. Being a leader always comes with it added responsibility in some form or another. It brings added responsibility because everyone already has things they are responsible for in their life. Whether it is their rent or mortgage, grocery bills, school homework, parenthood responsibilities, job responsibilities, you name it. We all have them in some mix. But when a person is a leader, added responsibilities come along with it. With that comes added pressures, added stress, more hours most likely needed in order to get things done. So why would someone want to be a leader?

Is it a need to be important? Is it a need to be needed? Is it a need to be loved or desired? Is it a need to make a difference?  Is it a need to have a reason for one’s own existence in the world?

Looking back in my life, I’ve seen myself placed in various roles of leadership. Most of those times I didn’t want to be in the leadership role but I knew that if I didn’t do something then something I believed needed to be done would not be done. I think that’s probably one of the strongest reasons a person takes on a leadership role. A person’s own beliefs and convictions cause them to see the importance of acting on them when they believe the time to do so is at hand.

I don’t need to tell anyone who has held a leadership position of any kind about those added pressures.  And that those pressures can get to those who find themselves with the leadership role from time to time. After all, we are all only human. We all have our weaknesses. But not all of us allow those weaknesses to be an excuse for not leading. When the pressure of leadership causes a person to lose control of their emotions, and get angry or upset, it can derail whatever the person is attempting to do. When this topic came to me, I checked out Kevin’s favorite book, Donald Phillip’s “Lincoln on Leadership”, in it I found this:

“The plain fact of the matter is that, for any person to successfully lead others, he or she must deal with the reality and be ready to accept the fact that leadership at times can bring out the worst in us. And understanding, as well as coming to grips with the darker side of your personality, is key to dealing with real-life situations.”

I think as human beings that are meant to interact with others, leaders must accomplish the puzzling task of managing their darker side. The book said whenever Lincoln found himself getting angry or upset at someone, he would write that person a very scolding letter outlining the nerve the other person had in doing whatever it was that upset him. He would lay out everything that was on his mind about that person at the moment within the letter. When he finished the letter, he proceeded to place it in an envelope for mailing. After he sealed the letter, he wrote on the back “Not sent”. He felt better for having released his negative feelings, but probably realized that chewing a person out would not serve any real purpose.

While doing some surfing on the internet, looking for content about this subject, I stumbled on this and it felt like it was pertinent, “Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership” written by Kent M. Keith back in 1968 (The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council) for high school student leaders.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

The world is full of violence, injustice, starvation, disease, and environmental destruction.

Have faith anyway.

 

Do you know of anyone who you would consider to be a good or even great leader? Why do you believe they are?

If you see yourself wanting to be a leader, what has been your desire for leadership?

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Is leading a spiritual duty?

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DSC_0304A definition of duty:

An act or a course of action that is required of one by position, social custom, law, or religion:
a. Moral obligation: acting out of duty.
b. The compulsion felt to meet such obligation.

I ask this because I feel as though as Christians, if we are called, we have the duty to answer that call. So I ask you this; If we have the ability to lead, are we morally bound to do so? Men, fathers, I don’t necessarily mean at home. Managers, I don’t necessarily mean at work. I am talking about spiritually and physically in our social or secular groups.

Maybe a better question is; Do leaders have to want to lead? Leadership, real true leadership, is hard. It is time consuming. Why would anyone want to do it? I firmly believe that true leaders are made not born. So why or at what point did these leaders make the decision to act like leaders? In other words, when did Gen. Patton, Abraham Lincoln or Tom Brady have some sort of an epiphany?

Once in a while I will spend time outside in my garage allowing my girls to play outside. And I have noticed that my youngest has become the leader of her peer group. She doesn’t realize it, but her friends always want to do what she is doing and they follow her around like the Pied Piper. Is this when we discover that people will follow us? Is this where the beginnings of leadership qualities take hold in our psyche?

I think that discovery of leadership talents within you may be the hardest part of leadership. Accepting your role as a leader is comparable to accepting God’s Grace. Receiving it, is the most difficult. I feel as though personally deciding you are a leader may be a little conceited. If that is the case then how do we discover any real leaders?

Finding my “calling” is a constant struggle for me. I have trouble listening for God to offer me clues or watching for his opportunities to be called. Additionally, I heard someone say once that a Christian should be prepared to “Preach, pray or die at a moment’s notice”. Should a Leader be prepared to incite, supervise or relinquish their leadership at a moment’s notice?

Lastly, I think it is our duty to develop new and additional leaders. The way my old CO told his NCOs to do this was to observe your team and discover who your new leaders will be. Then communicate with them about expectations, encourage them to lead, and empower them with responsibility. And they will become the leaders that you thought they could become.

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Something more important happened today

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Praying_HandsI will enter my post tomorrow or Sunday during the football game, but I felt as though my time was better spent praying for the families in Connecticut that were affected by the horrible act committed there today. So I ask my fellow leaders, followers, friends and contributors to this website, instead of just reading this – please pray for leaders in that community to do the right things and have the right words for the friends and families affected.

 

“Lord please be in Connecticut tonight with the families that are experiencing more pain than I can possibly imagine.  Please try to bring them comfort and peace, knowing that their loved ones are not suffering but enjoying the everlasting fun, freedom and sunshine that playing in your company brings.  Lord please bring the right people into their lives to help them with their grief and sorrow.  This holiday season we are enjoying with our friends and family now will always have a terrible memory tied to it for them.  I pray your Son’s birthday can bring them some peace.”