Why?
ENDURING LEADERSHIP
There’s a box of books waiting on me. Yes, the book I’ve written, Leadership Endurance, has finally been printed. It’s a bit surreal. This whole journey started when I heard my friend, Tim Miles say, “If you want to write a book, simply write two to three pages a day. In six months to a year, you’ll have a book.”
Something clicked. I thought, “I can do that.” So each day, I’d write.
Why write the book? Do I think I know it all and this is the ultimate leadership book? Heck to the no, but there is a unique perspective I can bring to the table. Having been instrumental in the turnaround of PAR, my obsession with Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, FDR, Grant, and roman emperors gives me access to stories of leaders from the past. Those stories can help teach lessons for today. Beyond that, there’s my real, but frail, love of Jesus.
If you know me at all, you know I struggle with my faith. I’ve been to seminary. I’ve even pastored two churches. Neither of them would win awards for church growth. I wasn’t a very good leader of those congregations. I was young, arrogant, full of myself, and overconfident in my abilities.
Jesus broke me. It was only then that I truly began to understand what leadership truly was. As a result, here we are. There’s a box of books waiting on me to open and autograph. I still can’t believe it.
Writing the book was fun. Editing the book was awful. It was like someone was ripping a piece of my heart out and throwing it away. God used that to remind me that not everything I write, touch, or speak turns to gold.
I’ve also been reminded of the importance of a team. There’s no way I could have done all this myself.
Editing.
Recording.
The video shoots.
Scheduling speaking engagements.
Lining up interviews.
Pitching the book to bookstores.
Handling payment options for the book.
Photo shoots.
I can only do so much. A team can do more and go further. As a leader, we need to be reminded of that. We’re responsible for the mission, vision and engaging the team so pursue the why and how.
Finally, I’ve been reminded of the fear of failure.
Vulnerability alert!
I can’t tell you the number of hours of sleep I’ve lost worrying about this book. It won’t be a New York Times best seller, but I don’t want it to fail…failure scares me. Yet, I press on.
The team needs to see me daring greatly. By doing so, it inspires them to take chances.
So why did I write the book? I did it to impact a few lives and to help make some leaders better. It also allows my pain to have purpose as I share lessons from it.
This is my invitation for you to join me in this journey.
You can order the book right now by clicking the link.
Read the book.
Practice the lessons it shares.
Do so…and you’ll be on the path to leadership endurance.
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