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THE ONE THING EVERY STRONG LEADER DOES OFTEN
Kris Vallotton
July 16, 2017
In order to be a world-class leader, you have to be okay with taking risks, and taking them often. Not only that, but you have to be humble enough to fail without letting your worst days define you. If you’re okay with being just an average leader, then no need to keep reading. If you want to make a difference, though, I want to encourage you this week with this thought: what would your life look like if you weren’t afraid of breaking out of the “norm,” and rather had the courage to take risks?
PART OF BETHEL’S SPECIAL SAUCE
Have you ever wondered what makes Bethel Church special? I think there are many different reasons so we couldn’t put it into a simple sentence, and it’s humbling to think about the way that God blesses us so extravagantly here. We have a conference every year called Kingdom Culture, which is a response to many people asking us how to cultivate a culture that brings heaven to earth. One thing we talk about at that conference is what we call an R&D culture, or a Research and Development culture.
An R&D culture is likened to that of the departments at Apple or Google where engineers get to try new things, come up with crazy ideas that may seem impossible, and take all the risks they want. This kind of department is important because it’s gives birth to ingenuity and creativity that would never be possible if we were so concerned with safety boxes.
LEADERS RISK, AND RISK OFTEN
I believe that incorporating a sense of R&D in your church, your business or your family culture can help take you to new heights. Check out this week’s Monday Motivation, which I took from one of my Facebook Live videos, to hear more about the importance of risk taking:
In a nutshell:
• There’s a difference between managers and leaders. Leaders are by nature risk-takers who are visionaries. Managers have a high value for safety and security, so by nature they create safe environments that promote predictability
• If we’re going to raise up world changers, we need both a manufacturing culture and a R&D culture. Manufacturing culture breeds impeccable character. R&D culture breeds risk takers.
• Great leaders are forerunners who are willing to make mistakes. They know how to fail successfully.
• We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes.
• Failure isn’t final.
TAKEAWAY FOR THE WEEK
If you’re looking for that “special sauce” for your own community then maybe what you’re missing is a heaped spoonful of risk. So this week I encourage you to take some time and challenge yourself to dream bigger, without any boxes, and see what kinds of calculated risks you could take to push you into a greater adventure. I bless your spirit with courage, and break off any fear of making a mistake that could be getting in the way of your destiny. I bless you with supernatural bravery, and the ability to think outside of the box. I bless you with wisdom to balance out your courage and even accelerate it into greater impacts! How are you planning to take more risks in life? How about in this week? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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