A Love Like I Never Imagined

First of all, I just want to acknowledge the fact that I don’t write that often anymore. I don’t blog—although I have a million things I’d like to say—I don’t use the bulletin/notes on Myspace/Facebook like I once did, and even my Twitter usage has dropped-off pretty dramatically.

Two of my goals over the past three years have been to write a book about manhood and to build and grow a blog about leadership with focus on the worlds of business and sports. Those frankly, just aren’t as much of a priority right now, nor is it practically feasible.

So, I don’t write or blog all that often (read: ever), but I’m applying to three top-15 business schools, entering into Raytheon’s very selective Six Sigma Expert program, and we’re pursuing custody of Taylor & Brooke in Colorado…all while intentionally and lovingly leading/teaching/loving Emma, Laura & Caroline while Jill and I do a lot of great, deep intimate work on the foundation of our marriage and friendship.

So, writing, isn’t on the backburner…it’s back in the freezer. My voice and time is just needed in so many other places right now!

All that being said, I just have to pour out about my adoration, amazement and insanely intimate love for my bride, Jill Still.

Sometime last year, after reading some of Sacred Marriage with Jill (a gift from Bruce and Amy Bechold), I wrote a blog about how God designed marriage for our holiness, not our happiness. Of course, in God’s grace, it’s through that deep abiding pursuit of His will for our lives, that we lovingly experience true, deep & pure joy, as we find ourselves in rhythm with how He’s designed us.

I feel so humbled, so incredibly blessed to be able to say, the year-and-a-half that I’ve spent with my soul mate have been an embodiment of this love and grace. In a word, it has been amazing!

Right now, I wake up every morning to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I spend each and every day talking through life with the best friend that I’ve ever had. I spend each night with the most amazing wife, friend and mother, going through the trials, the challenges, the laughs, the journeys, the joys, the movies, the messes, the bills, the adventures, the confusions, the silliness, the setbacks, the lessons, the teachings and the goofiness of life.

God put the idea of ‘servant leadership’ on my heart long before I became a true believer, and before I really had to live out the idea of loving, humble, leadership. I was a newly commissioned 2^nd Lieutenant in the Air Force when I first realized that I could “lead from where I was at”, and the best way to do so was in service to my leadership—even though as an officer I might have legally outranked 85% of the military, it was incumbent upon me to humbly serve “where I was at”. I now believe this is one the character foundations that God’s been growing in me for 10 years now, to best prepare me for this marriage and the challenge of being a daddy/step-dad/father-figure to five girls (and someday maybe more?!).

I know with everything in me, that all leadership, direction, vision, tone, and responsibility for this family rest on my shoulders. I also know with everything in me, that I cannot handle marriage, work, family and household without the amazing compliment, balance and partnership of Jill. I know I’m the leader and I know God’s set a clear direction & vision on my heart for our family. I also know that if I allow my natural inclination and disposition to take-over and direct (as I would with men) overcome my appointment& responsibility to lovingly walk alongside my wife as we lead these girls, in empowerment, teaching, talking, then I am failing Jill, and each of the five girls.

And it doesn’t always play out like that. Jill, Emma, Laura and Caroline (as well as Taylor & Brooke when they’ve been with us) are the most accurate barometers of my leadership. I know when I’m wrong, when I’m off. I can feel the impact of my sin when I fall short of that ideal…and it’s this gauge that God has lovingly used for what I call my “sanctification on steroids”.

Whew…let me tell you, there’s no emotional status check like living with three-to-five girls ages 7-11, and one beautiful, deeply complex, fragile and stunning beauty of a wife. Again, I know when I’m not living out the ideal of servant leadership in my marriage and home.

But what’s brought Jill and I to this place where we’re living in a marriage that neither of us ever dreamed possible is not necessarily an ideal, a vision or a mission in our life…no, it’s the practical good ole hard, diligent work that we’ve put into the marriage. “Grinding”, by the grace of God!

The first golf analogy for our marriage is the need to “grind”. Tiger Woods talks about it all the time. Those days, or those rounds where he doesn’t have his “A-game”, or his putter is failing him a bit, or he just can’t seem to hit fairways…what does he do? Does Tiger wrap his 5 iron around a tree and quit? No. He grinds. He goes out there and literally approaches every single shot with the perspective and effort to make that shot excellent. He grinds…often he grinds his way up the leader board and into victory, or at least into position to make a great move on the day that he does have his A-game.

How is this like marriage? Well, simply, most of life is a grind. If you don’t believe that, perhaps it’s time to put down the bong and stop playing “world of warcraft”. Because life is a grind. Marriage is a grind. Everything in the world, from relationships, to work, to families, to temptation of every sort, and especially finances make marriage exceedingly difficult. (I would say even more so, if you’re newly married with a blended family, custody pursuit and both recovering from past painful marriages!) As I tell the girls all the time, “Life is hard. Every year in school and in life will be harder than the last. When you accept this, you will see it ceases to be as hard because we’re prepared for it to grow more difficult.”

Yes, Jill and I have been grinding big-time—and it’s produced incredible joy! Another golf analogy that I love to use; If Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in the world (which he is—he’s the greatest of all time), and has the most acute awareness of every aspect of his golf game, but still works with a swing coach, what should that tell us about our own lives, and our need for expert counsel? I’m such a huge believer that everyone should routinely see a counselor. I don’t care what the machismo, self-reliant, prideful stigma in our culture says, counseling and therapy is an amazing resource!

Jill and I have been seeing a Christian, pastoral counselor every week. I started going on my own, then Jill and I started going together. Later, we broke apart and started seeing the same guy, but at different times. We’ve come back together for couple counseling when we’ve needed to, but for the most part, we’ve worked with this amazing, Godly man in parallel. We then spend Weds and Thurs evenings talking through whatever revelations were made, or whatever tools we’ve learned, or whatever insight we’ve gained. Grinding. The time has been so amazing to just enjoy a couple glasses of wine, decompress and spend some uninterrupted, intimate connection time. It’s seriously deep foundation building moments that are forging lifelong intimacy, and bringing us to know each other’s hearts in ways we’ve never been known. This is the intimate upside to ‘grinding’…this is when putting in hard work, helps make life less difficult.

Secondly, Jill and I have been going through Recovery Step-Study at The Village for 13 weeks now. It’s basically “discipleship on steroids” (as Matt Chandler calls it), unpacking every area of your life, your heart, your past, and rebuilding from the pain, resentments, fears and sins of life, and Biblically applying a Gospel-infused version of the classic 12-step recovery program. Another tool that has been unbelievably powerful and healing for Jill and I, as well as incredibly revealing to us regarding the “why” behind things that we feel or think. There’s seriously no reason anyone should not go through this type of study. Some rounds we all need to grind.

In addition to becoming covenant members at The Village, Jill and I have also studied a ton of sermons and the related Bible teachings over this time as well. This is the intellectual part of the grind. Listen to teachers—people that know more—and let God speak to our lives through it. Grinding through podcasting & reading!

Lastly, from the moment I knew I was going to marry Jill (our first 5 hour phone conversation sometime in Oct of 07), I really felt like I was missing a piece of the counsel I needed in my life. I have the most incredible group of brothers (IRON!) that I’ve gone through life with over the past three, five, ten and fifteen years. Guys like my core, small group in LA (IRON!). Guys from LA, and from my fraternity and from the military that I call my “male soul mates” (IRON!). God’s also keeps bringing some really awesome friends into our lives here in Dallas as well. In addition to always having the loving, loyal counsel of my dear mom, dad and little brother Adam, I also have a few men that I count as my mentors. But they’re not geographically in my life, and far too busy for me to really be under their counsel at a deep level. I needed to go through marriage with other godly, older married men. Veterans of the faith, of raising kids, of finding the professional/life balance, and of walking through the seasons of married life. And Jill wanted the same for me, and for herself. God finally brought those folks into our life through a home-group at church that is just filled with the most amazing men and women, who have the most amazing marriages! There are a few elder-candidates for our church in the group, and we have the most junior marriage by at least 15 or 20 years! We are so, so thankful! What a blessing!

So, what does this all result in feeling like? This year has been nothing short of feeling like our souls have been given a glimpse of Heaven! I feel a love for Jill that is bigger and more rock-solid than all of the granite of the Rocky Mountains. I have my breath taken away every single day by Jill’s beauty, and the beautiful grace that she extends to me. Everything Jill does for me, and says to me gives me the freedom and encouragement to be the man that God designed me to be. In spite of all of the love and grace that God pours into my life through my amazing wife, every day I fall short, and every day I’m selfishly absorbed…and when I repent and ask forgiveness, Jill just loves me more. I am constantly poured into and encouraged by a wife that loves me beyond words, and beyond her own explanation. And this woman is my best friend, my confidant; she is the sexiest, most beautiful and funniest girl I have ever known! It is truly a remarkable place to be emotionally, as we have given each other the gifts of trust and trustworthiness, the gifts of hope and encouragement, and the gift of repentance and forgiveness. It’s so, so solid!

We disagree, we pray/work through it and grow. We get hurt, we pray/work through it and grow. We (and by we, I mean “I”) get grumpy, irritable and tired, we (I) pray/work through it and we grow. We have stress about bills, lawyers, the future, we pray, pray, pray and work through it and grow. We relapse into old fears, hurts or places of resentment, we pray/work through it and grow. We have constant challenges and teaching opportunities with the girls, we teach, pray through it and grow. This is what grinding looks like in our lives, and it is paying incredibly beautiful rewards to Jill and I through this season of our marriage!

Thank you Jill! I love you with all of me.

My 2009 Goals

Whether we've known each for 18 years, or 18 days, you can probably see that I try to live my life pretty transparently. I do this for a multitude of reasons; I feel it's essential as a Christian to live/walk in light. I love technology, and web/mobile technologies create conversation, foster and build relationships and serve as a living record of a life lived. I feel it keeps me honest & accountable. Clearly, there are many marriage & family things that aren't shared--both victories and challenges--but for the most part, my life is pretty easy to know through technology. That is not to say that I am easy to "know" just because I use Twitter and Facebook...just ask Jill. I can be pretty complex.

Anyways, thought I would share with you all--for mutual accountability, encouragement & inspiration--my goals for 2009. I feel this is a holistic approach to life that is attainable, and reflects my real foundation...but would love everyone's thoughts.

JARED L. STILL VERSUS MMIX

I want 2009 to be one of the most transformative years of my life.

Strike that, I want 2009 to be the single-most transformative year of my life.

Ok, so 2008 may have beaten me into a bit into submission, but it was amazing. It was also the first year of my adult life that I had no new debt, so that's awesome.

This narrative will serve as the canvas upon which I write out the goals and objectives for the year.

FAITH

- Read the New Testament
- Find a home group by end of January
- Join the Church after baptism
- Teach the girls every week from Kids Village Material
- Complete Recovery Step-study

FAMILY

- Two 'honeymoons' with Jill: CO for retreat with other marrieds.
- Get-away wknd every quarter
- 30 straight days
- Family movie night every week
- Florida game in Baton Rouge or LSU at Washington in Seattle or both
- Date night every week (even if it's a 'home' date night)
- Outdoor nights as a family 3 nights/week
- Read two marriage books together
- Attend a marriage conference wknd
- Go to Michigan as a family
- Call brothers, cousins, Mom & Dad weekly
- Call Aunt/Uncles, Grandparents, in-laws monthly

FITNESS

- Get to 190lb body-weight ASAP and maintain. (Goal: 1 March)
- Cardio 5 days/week
- Train or lift 3 days/week
- Run 10k race in March
- Run 1/2 marathon by 21 May
- Set weekly fitness schedule and maintain every week
- Fast & diet religiously. (be intentional about the fast, praying, praying, praying)
- Get back to 20+ pull-ups, and to 150 push-ups
- Half marathon in 1:40
- Diet: disciplined & fast weekdays. Free on Sat, Sun eat lighter, if not great.

FINANCES

- Tithe. Period.
- No new debt
- Move fully to Crown system; use envelopes.
- Reach $1,000 savings
- No missed/late bills
- Paydown monthly according to schedule.
- Repay Taylor & Brooke's savings

PROFESSIONAL

- Get hired into BD position by end of March.
- Finish SMU, Texas and Cornell-Queens MBA applications by 15 February
- Start MBA program in August
- Finish thejaredstill.com by end of February
- Start notaweso.me in January; update to manageable by end of February
- Post to SoldierWish.com blog 4x per week
- Update/merge SoldierWish blog by 15 January
- Hit all Raytheon process, gate, ICMS and CAST goals
- Miss zero suspenses for anything promised to customer/boss
- Find mentor, find mentoree.


MISC. ORGANIZATION

- Contacts; phone, email, calendar, work, home, all synced and updated. (75% done)
- Calendar; capture all birthdays and important dates. Cards & flowers on major days
- Attention to detail. Sync financial obligations & expenses with calendar. (90% done)

Connectivity in war

My buddy Oliver Grant (Maj, USA Reserve), whom I was deployed with in Iraq in 2004, sent me the article below this morning. It really brought home a lot of ways in which in my own deployment experience, the connectivity of email and cell phones made Iraq, circa 2004, so unique for me.

I was a Contracting Officer, supporting the CPA, the 1ID, Abu Ghraib for a time, and the DOE as they extracted nuclear waste from Iraq's Tuwaitha nuclear site, south of Baghdad...along with running a multitude of translator and security contracts in the Green Zone (static, Amb Bremmer's PSD, etc). Needless to say, in that operating environment, communication was an absolutely critical and indespnsible tool of the job. I had a cell-phone with a 703 number, based on a network set-up right after the occupation started by MCI, for US and military use. So we all literally called each other on DC area code phones, and likewise, any call from the States was standard long distance rates, regular cell minutes. We had (almost) constant email connectivity and web access (at least while I was in the Green Zone)...and we spent the better part of every day--from 0800 to midnight or later--in and out of the office in the Palace. Certainly this was not every soldier or airman's experience, but I was a contracting officer, managing big dollars, big projects with big customers...and always needed to be connected. My family could always reach me, including my little bro sending drunken text messages telling me about his night out on 4th Street in Tucson. This connectivity was a huge morale booster, but it also served to push feelings of desparation and helplessness in the times when my family would call or email with bad news, or tough times.

So while we were literally at the seat of power, and the epicenter of the global news cycle, and working with, arguing with, relaxing with and cavorting with the staffers, the movers & shakers and the entire 30-something idealists brigade that was behind the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution and the establishment of their democratic law...we could feel both overly connected, lonely, distant and central all at the same time. While the constant connectivity to the homefront was absolutely unique to war in all of human history, it was my experience, that just like so many of our brothers-in-arms before us, the real connectivity that was forged was lifelong bond, loyalty and brotherhood with those whom we served with.

This story below still makes for a really interesting read:

Jared Still

Christian Science Monitor
December 12, 2008
Pg. 4

A Letter From Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan

In Between The Fighting, Soldiers Also Battle Boredom

Technology offers troops in Afghanistan a respite, but some wonder if the tether is too short.

In decades past, going to war meant being out of touch with loved ones for months, even years. Today, soldiers can remain in almost constant contact with those at home.

It's the preferred method of distraction for many troops serving long deployments here in Afghanistan – sometimes to their detriment.

Each American base, big or small, has some version of the Morale Welfare Room, in which troops can surf the Web and check e-mail free of charge, make cheap phone calls back home, and pick up one of the pamphlets with titles such as "How to avoid arguments."

"Do NOT let him take the red car!" a furious sergeant – who seems to have given the pamphlets a pass – insists into the receiver to his wife in Texas. Yelling would get him thrown out of the room, so he grits his teeth and tries again. Their teenage son wants to pick up his girlfriend at the airport, and Dad, nearly 8,000 miles distant, is having none of it.

A few booths away, a staff sergeant chats with his wife, who waves into the video camera installed in their Florida home. "It's a lifeline for us," notes Sgt. T.J. Wadington.

But such constant communication, warns Capt. George Tyger, a chaplain at Kalagush Forward Operating Base, in Nuristan, can be complicated. "A lot of these guys are experiencing anger, loneliness, and even depression, but are young and can't express themselves well," he says. "Talking every day can be tough." Moreover, he points out, micromanaging life at home from such a distance "is not usually helpful to the spouse at home, and also diverts the attention of the soldiers, which is often dangerous."

Patrick Dean, an Air Force psychiatrist based in Jalalabad, agrees. "It's a double-edged sword: If you have distance, you can put your mind totally in the game and focus. But on other hand, being in touch with loved ones is a way to get support and validation."

Whether trying to stave off boredom, calm their nerves, or find distraction from the pinings for – or problems at – home, troops in Afghanistan are also finding plenty of other ways to entertain themselves during their long deployments.

Bagram, about 15 miles north of Kabul, sets the standard. Some 12,000 troops and 8,000 civilian contractors are stationed at the base, which resembles a fortified small town – complete with a Pizza Hut, a Dairy Queen, and a beauty salon. There are university extension classes, churches, mosques, and even traffic jams.

Jalalabad, a large Air Force base in the east, has three gyms and shops selling everything from contacts solution to flat-screen TVs. The base also hosts a weekly bazaar, where preapproved Afghan merchants sell fake Rolex watches and pirated DVDs of the latest Hollywood flicks. Friday night "Jalalabad Idol" singing competitions are the rage.

At the smaller bases closer to the front lines, entertainment is a more homespun affair. In Nuristan Province's Kalagush Forward Operating Base, for example, troops train for marathons by running around the helicopter landing pad (70 laps equals about a quarter of a race).

Saturdays feature "campfire night," where officers sit around a red flashlight and tell dirty jokes.

"It is important to keep your mind active," stresses Captain Tyger, who spends a good part of his days here hammering away on a climbing wall he is building.

"Time drags for me here. In Iraq, I was shot at 24/7 and time flew," says Sgt. Isaac Hibdon, a gunner on his first deployment here. "It's not that I want to be killed. Obviously. But the boredom is tough."

-- Danna Harman

I heart towers that bad guys hate

We love technology at SoldierWish and the Wishy company.

We hate bad guys at SoldierWish and the Wishy company.

So naturally, we're big fans of technologies that help our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines put hot lead on bad dudes. We love when the lead-to-air ratio in a bad guy's home tips the survivability scale in the good guys favor.

Raytheon has been providing our Army with what is essentially 'listening posts' in theater for the last couple years. Infared sensors, video, and other 'sensor' and surveilance capabilities placed on top of the tower provide static, pervasive and constant eyes & ears for our operators forward in theater.

Raytheon delivers tower number 300 to the US Army.

In the interest of full disclosure, each of my pay-checks are signed & deposited by the Raytheon Company.

Iraq May Request and Need US Troops for 10 yrs

Once President Bush leaves office, will we have a less polarizing national discourse about the future of Iraq? Will we have a discussion about whether an occupying force, turned requested guest can stabilize a post-war region economically and politically as has been successfully modeled in Germany, Japan, Korea and Kosovo? Is that a politically viable role for the US military in Iraq? Given the resulting power-vacuum that a US withdrawal would present, is there any other choice?

We at SoldierWish are not afraid to ask tougher questions that directly impact the service and engagements of our military. Frankly speaking, "With a new administration, what will the course in Iraq be?"

Certainly the complex reality of the international diplomacy and the stabilizing weight of the American Global presence will dramatically soften Mr. Obama's "we must leave now" campaign season promises and declarations.

As one who has blogged repeatedly about my love for the Iraqi people, and the honor in serving in establishing their infant democracy, I personally welcome the stabilizing, and hopeful story that an Iraqi official acknowledges that a US presence could be needed for at least 10 years.

I know this sentiment flies in the face of current popular and accepted political discourse in the US, but I feel a stable, increasingly democratized Middle East, should be at the top of any administration's foreign policy. And the surest way to guarantee that is with the requested presence of the United States military, along side our Iraqi counterparts in training and patrolling. Just as the Japan and Germany model proved to be.

Jared Still

Military Leadership Principlies for a time of crisis (Part One)

Military Leadership Principlies for a time of crisis (Part One: Introduction, The Chain of Command & Leading Where You're At)

I consider the title of this post to somewhat redundant. After all, the training of military officers in almost exclusively focused on creating leaders, and building the leadership acumen of its men and women precisely for times of crisis. Military training is intense in peace-time, so that its more innate in war-time.

As Brad Feld put it here, "By now you've 3,127 blog posts either talking about the coming current downturn credit crisis recession coming reconfiguration of all things as we've known them." You've most likely also seen the Sequoia Capital Presentation on "what now". There is certainly no lack of opinion and information available right now. Much of it more contemporary and accessible than at any other crisis point in history. Literally, some folks are dusting off their 2001 tech bubble playbooks & recycling them for 2008 use. Many businesses, non-profits and Churches would be well served to read some of the post-mortem reflections from that era. Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Jason Calacanis, Marc Andreesen and Mark Cuban, come immediately to mind as entrepreneurs and VCs that not only lived through the tech depression of the turn of the century, but have captured a wide, diverse and invaluable collection of lessons, strategies, tactics and reflections of those companies that both succeeded and failed in that time period.

In my opinion, we are not headed for a V-shaped recovery, but a long, protracted global recession, with some of the former emerging markets flirting with depression. The US, Japan and European markets have to a wide extent (finally) unwound, and the liabilities, frozen credit markets and retraction in consumer spending has finally broken the damn in this long-emerging, unsustainable debt-driven, derivative 'growth' of the post-Sep 11th recovery. I feel as more global central banks, currencies and markets continue to unpack their messes, we will be in for a more painful version of the "muddle through economy", as John Mauldin has long said we're in. (Subscribe to John's email newsletter if you want the absolute most timely, useful and powerful macro-poli-economic analysis).

So what does this mean to you as the executive pastor of your Church? What does it mean to you as the first-time or serial entrepreneur? What does it mean to you the development director at a non-profit? When I left the military, I interviewed at Cushmann-Wakefield and KPMG in Chicago, in November of 2004. I asked the Cush-Wake VP frankly, "How do you all get through the winter here?". He just answered bluntly, "we bundle-up, batten-down, keep our heads low, eyes up and work our butts off until it gets warm." Folks, we're in for a long economic winter in the United States and globally, it's time to batten down, keep your head low, eyes up and work your butt off until its warm.

As a decorated Air Force Captain that managed $350M+ in contracts in Iraq, I want to look at this economic time and make a plea for leadership to be the central driving force behind what I see as an unprecedented opportunity. That's right; opportunity. Now is a tremendous time to build value in your company or organization, focus on your people, mission and strategy. Hone your execution, focus all hearts and minds on mission and instill the vision and framework for game-changing execution. Over this series of blogs, I want to look at the military leadership or strategic principles that are essential for you to adopt in these crazy times. Through each of these posts, we'll explore the framework or principle, then look at the practical leadership essence required.

First, there must be a crystal-clear chain-of-command. To me, this is the most critical framework in the organization. Whether a partnership LLC, a Church staff, or a 5 man start-up company, every employee must know exactly how the chain of command is laid out, and exactly who is accountable for what, at every level in the organization. As an aside, if velocity and funding led you to grow too fast, or get too big, your org chart (chain of command) will make this crystal clear. Have dotted-line assignments to multiple reports, for special project guy? Have directors with no direct reports, or too many? Do you have over-lapping functional teams with blurred lines of responsibility? Now is the time you must fix this. Your execution of company mission, to say nothing of your capital and burn-rates can't afford not to get this right. Every employee must know who ultimately makes the tough call. They must know who sets the vision and empowers their respective functional leaders. Here is a look at how a typical ROTC unit chain of command would look. Don't allow a vacuum of leadership create an impression that your team is going into 'dog eat dog mode'.

In the military, you will have your operations, support, logistics and medical groups. It's crystalline. There are no blurred lines and responsibilities. And ideally, every tactical manual, role and responsibility and even the acquisition direction flows down from strategic DoD planning, and rolls-up from tactical "on the ground" AAR's (after action reports). The crystal-clear chain of command facilitates and enables this strategic flow-down and tactical flow-up. As a leader at any level in the organization* (will follow-up in next paragraph), you must work to vertically and horizontally align your people to best execute the mission of the organization. In times of crisis, leadership can be de-centralized, but must be crystallized. This sets everybody up for success, and with the associated alignment of your talent, it clearly places performance and execution responsibilities on your best people, products and teams.

Secondly, you must lead from where you're at! This has been the most resonent phrase to me from the moment I was commissioned into the Air Force. "Lead from where you're at" Col Zamzow (now Major General Zamzow) said to a group of us 'snot-nosed 2nd Lietenuants'. As a 2nd Lieteunant, there is very little that you're comfortable with, and even less that you know. The military has just made you in rank, senior to 85% of the force (all officers outrank all enlisted members), yet, you know next to nothing about the profession, or craft above what you've been taught academically, or learnded in your basic courses. Perhaps many of you find yourselves there right now. Perhaps you're a seasoned professional, but are now in a leadership role for the first time. The idea that we could lead then & now, as 2nd Lieteuants, while we were mostly just trying to stay low and out of site...was completely foreign to me. All of you can right now too. It really resonated with me when Col Zamzow said it. I mean, I came into the Air Force as an Officer to lead, right? But I thought only the Company Commanders, Squadron Commanders, Platoon Commanders were actual leaders? Nope. We all have the obligation and duty to lead from where we are!

When you frame your profession and professional development around the question "how can I lead from where I'm at?", your team, your ministry, your company will be revolutionized in productivity and effectiveness. Truly. Revolutionized. What if every developer on your team not just saught to execute technically, but served their directors with humility, worked to eliminate anything that didn't align with strategic vision...while mentoring a junior employee? What if the children's ministry volunteer lived & taught the church's core values and mission, while humbly serving the senior pastor, and offered his or her occupational gifts in accounting, to help a non-profit balance their books? What if you, in your analyst role, served your director by offering to take notes at his staff meetings, or the senior leadership team meetings? The model is servant leadership. Each one of us can lead "where we're at". It works likes this; once you've shed your old inward-looking self, and made the commitment to lead, exactly where you are right now, you will ask your old self, "what was I always bitching about? What were the organizational short-comings or problems that I felt hindered me or our team?" Then, in the model of servant leadership, you will look to solve those problems. How can I change the procurement process? How can we field engineering changing in a more spiral acquisition model? How can we stream-line our customer service experience? What would have to happen for our R&D team to be more free? All of us can ask these questions, and undertake solving them, no matter where we're at. If you find yourself ever trying to define your responsibility more narrowly, you're not leading from where you're at. Instead, retrain yourself to tackle the more intimidating undertakings. Negotiate with the customer that your boss avoids, attend the meeting or conf. call your boss can't make. Serve that person. Whether you have two direct reports, or you're the CEO reporting to the Board and the shareholders, we all have someone we can serve up and down the chain of command. This characteristic will do nothing short of completely set the model for your peers and make a dramatic impact on your team. The willingness to acknowledge and undertake the challenges of your team, with an indifference to receiving the credit for the task, will deeply align your own personal achievement with that of the team. To truly revolutionize your career and exponentially grow the impact that you, your team, your division, your social service, your ministry can have at these, or any times, start to lead from where you're at!

Attack on "community organizers" or the qualification?

Are McCain/Palin attacks & quips about Obama Presidential qualification in having been a "community organizer" or attacks on "community organizers"?

I was reading Fred Wilson's blog post titled, "Community Organization is a Conservative Notion" and led me to reply as follows:

"Fred,

I've always enjoyed your blog and have rarely expected to agree with you on political matters. This is partially one of those times. There are some points about conservatism that I fully agree with, and appreciate the link to the CATO piece.

Respectfully however, I think you're missing the entire purpose and weight of the attack on "community organizer", and thus are misguided into following the racial red-herring of big Govt red-herring down the wrong path.

The attacks are not on community organizers and their role in our countries service. In fact, it was this Pres that pushed the ideology and policy of the faith-based community taking larger roles in communities as a way to decentralize social service. It's not the organizers or the organizations that are attacked, it's running on being a "community organizer" as a large part of Obama's qualification for being President of the United States!

It is the Obama campaign that made the C/O role a central theme in his campaigning, until the GOP teed off on it at the convention. Personally, I think it's laughable. I think those that keep rushing to Obama's defense over the C/O role put their love of the man ahead of the basic "what's he done" litmus test. In so doing, fail to understand what is being attacked.

Fred, I was a community organizer for a non-profit once. I was the Anti-Human Trafficking coordinator for the Salvation Army's Anti-H/T program. It's difficult, inner-city grunt-work fighting the horrible injustices that befall the forgotten in our cities. It's righteous work. It's noble work. It takes a special kind to dedicate their lives to the work. But is sure as hell does not prepare one to lead the same task-force on a national level, let alone be President of the United States! This is the point of lines like the mayoral responsibility line. And Giuliani’s attacks. It’s not attacking the organization, the service, and especially the role of the groups in a smaller, less centralized conservatism, it’s an attack on whether it prepares you for the biggest job in the world!

Fred, it was hard work and I have all the respect in the world for those that do it, but it surely doesn’t qualify me to be President of the United States. The fact that I was an Air Force officer, served in Iraq, led hundreds of men, and executed hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary responsibility, or that I was a start-up founder, failing and flailing all make me more qualified to be President than does my time as a community organizer. And over & over, that was the point I heard hammered home. And that point that I totally agree with."