Leadership Summit Day Two

I'm so tired! It was another good day at the summit. There were some very good guests who have such an incredible drive. One that I really liked is the CEO of Best Buy who just seems like such a nice guy - he really believes in his employees!

I realised watching these different leaders that it is the ones who are focused on the process rather than only the end result that I really relate to. Hybels I think is a very end result person, and I have worked for these kind of people and I find them insensitive to the needs of the employees. That's not to say that I think the process is the most import thing - but I think that it is really important and a good result with a lousy process for the staff doesn't make me happy. The bottom line is often all that some of these leaders gets excited about - I get excited about the journey getting to the bottom line. I noticed the leaders that I really admired the most were the ones who loved the people they were serving - they believed in the people that they led. I don't know how we do church without that.

The CEO of Best Buy said he spends the majority of his time dealing with the complexities of people - that sounds very familiar. I had a boss that tried to outrun the staff. She basically told me that she would rush past the doorway to the Department so they wouldn't see her. She couldn't take the whining and complaining. I also noticed that she tended to promise things to staff that were impossible to deliver. So I ran the people - she gave me the target to meet. How I met it she didn't care - and she thought that I spent too much time being fair. She once told me - I don't want to know anything about the people and their private lives. I was supposed to be a Supervisor but in reality I was a manager. In some ways I hated that job - it was tough on my ego, people aren't very appreciative no matter how much you do for them. It was also a 24 hour a day job - there was no backup, I was always on call. It didn't matter that people didn't call often - it was knowing that I was always "on". I was having dinner with a friend and a staff member managed to have me tracked down to the restaurant.

I was a young supervisor who had a real hellion of a boss as a mentor. I did well but I now know how much better I would be at that role today with my Christian walk, the Holy Spirit and maturity to guide me. Pastoring is very close to supervising in skill breadth, frustration levels (you deal with complicated people all day) and multiple bosses with shifting focus. But the pressure is higher. But then again the top boss is very supportive!