It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
The dog house I envisioned building and the dog house that I was standing in front of were very different. The dog house I built with my own 2 hands worked, but it wasn't pretty. It was painted blue like our house and the roofing looked pretty good, but if you looked closely at it there were some problems: The floor was sloped, there were some spaces in the corners that weren't there for ventilation, however that's how I spun it. It just wasn't very good.
I'm not that kind of builder. I haven't built my own home or done a lot of carpentry. I've played with it and really enjoy it, but that's not the kind of builder I am.
I am a builder though. I build people and I build organizations.
Today I want to tell you WHY I BUILD:
I remember the class like it was yesterday. It was 1993 and I was enrolled in a graduate program that focused on organizational design and development. The class I was taking was teaching me the value of building healthy leaders and healthy organizations at a time that people weren't talking about this a lot. A light came on inside of me, and as I learned more and more that year about organizational development, I began to understand that healthy organizations don't just happen, they have to be built. I also learned that to have a healthy organization, you have to have healthy leaders. It's all connected.
I became a builder that year and began putting together the ideas, the concepts and the values of an organization I would build someday.
That opportunity came a couple of years later as we embarked on a journey to build a new organization in Ecuador, and we spent 14 years building and leading Youth World with an incredible group of people. We then embarked on a journey with another group and built Extreme Response, then I launched another organization, Leader Mundial that focused on leadership development.
I'm a builder.
I like to dream about what CAN BE, and then gather some people around me to go after that dream.
I don't build for the sake of building. It's not about having my own thing or my own creation. If someone else is addressing the need and it's being taken care of, I'm good with that, but if there's a need that isn't being met, then I want to focus on that.
Let me tell you why building is important to me:
• When I build, I'm embracing the challenge and obstacles of success. I like the risk. I like the unknown. I like being told "you can't do this". The challenge often motivates me
• When I build, I'm focused on addressing a specific need or opportunity. I put my energy towards that, I build a team that focuses on that and we work hard to accomplish it. The focus is invigorating!
• When I build, I feel alive. Navigating through the opportunities, finding people to share my vision and my load, making mistakes, re-focusing, moving forward... all of these things bring me life!
• When I build, I learn more about myself, my gifts and strengths, and I understand more about how God has wired me. We are all made uniquely in His image. He made me like this, and when I'm in that space, "I feel His Pleasure".
Eric Liddell is know for saying, "When I run, I feel His pleasure" (Chariots of Fire)
I get that!
• When I build, I love seeing others grow, develop and find their own place. The collaboration, the energy, the partnership and the teamwork.. it's all thrilling!
I know a number of other builders like me. While we're really good at creating, sometimes we're not so great at managing or maintaining. We need the strengths of others to come around us to form a healthy organization, we value a team.
1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that we are ONE BODY but we're all individual members of that body.
Each of us have unique strengths and gifts to bring to our lives and our work.
I've shared with you one of mine today in talking about Why I Build.
What do you bring to the organization or company you're a part of? When causes you to "come alive"?
Once you figure that out for you, it's a game changer.
For me, I'm going to keep building.
"Your body has many parts - limbs, organs, cells - but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body." 1 Corinthians 12:12 MSG
"Building a cohesive leadership team is the first critical step that an organization must take if it is to have the best chance at success." Patrick Lencioni
"Whatever good things we build end up building us." Jim Rohn
If you'd like help learning more about who you are and what you bring to the table, contact me.
A LifePlan will help you figure this out!