All posts in Recognition
Misconceptions of Networking
When it comes to the brand that “networking” has, it can often leave more of a bad taste in people’s mouth than a good one. All it takes is one bad or awkward experience with someone who’s “trying” to network. Here are just a few of the misconceptions I’ve seen in Networking.
Misconception # 1.) To be a Networker, you must be an extrovert.
Being an extrovert HELPS, but it’s definitely not a must have. In fact, the person that does networking the best that I know is actually an introvert, Justin Lathrop. To be a good networker, you just need to be genuine. How outgoing or not outgoing you are has very little to do with it. If you want to get better at networking, just NOTICE people and really listen to what they’re saying. You’d be surprised how many people have told me that the people they love to be around are the people that “really value” them.
Misconception #2.) Networking is simply for personal gain, for people who are trying to get ahead in their career.
For some people, this is true. But for you, it doesn’t have to be. I use these words at least 5 times a week, “Let’s connect soon.” My number one goal in connecting with people is to help them on anything I can. I heard someone say when I was in high school, “Want to change the world? Ask every single person you see for the rest of your life one question: Is there anything I can do for you?” Good networking is about bringing value to relationships, not taking it.
Misconception #3.) I have enough friends and know enough people, I don’t need to ‘network’.
False. You have no idea who could be missing out from the value you could bring to a new found friendship. I often times will simply connect one person to another person I think can help them. Ultimately, you’re answering this question: “God, how can I manage my relationships to further your kingdom?” At the end of the day, it’s not about you.
Networking can be a really great thing if you allow it to be.
Work Culture Lessons from Google, Twitter, & Facebook
When you take a look at this infographic, you put yourself in two different pairs of shoes. The first pair is from an employee’s pair and you’d think, “Man, I wanna work for Google!” The second pair is from an Executive Leader’s pair and you think, “Man, we’d never be able to afford ALL that.”
Regardless if you’re at the top or bottom of your organization, ask yourself this question: “Do people LIKE working with me, or our my co-workers working with me because it’s simply their job?”
You can make working with you enjoyable. Around the corner from all the places I work is a car wash that cost 75 cents. Asking a co-worker to bring in 5 of their favorite shirts for you to take to the dry cleaners would cost you 10 bucks! Depending on your position in the organization, you hold the power and budget to cater in lunch for your department once a month, but you never do simply because you don’t think about it. Maybe you’re organization can afford a pool table, but you would never put that into a budget. Why not?
Don’t let your work environment become mundane. There are creative things you can do to keep things interesting every now and then with or without the budgets of multi-billion dollar companies. 
Horrible Bosses
I’ve got 5 jobs. For real. I have a total of 3 bosses. I’m the boss at the other 2. It keeps things interesting I guess. My current bosses bend over backwards to make my life and schedule conducive for their organization, but that’s not to say they’re perfect or that I’ve never had a Horrible Boss.
If you’re making any sort of personal work progress, there has to be some form of tension, correction, or discipline between your boss and you. I’ve had a lot of these meetings. 
Now if we’re honest, which is the purpose of this blog, we’d all say we’ve been extremely frustrated with a boss or two in our career. Or perhaps there wasn’t obvious tension, but you simply disagreed with the theology of that pastor or leader. Or maybe you don’t like the way that person handles leadership and you’ve seen things like that handled a lot better. There are countless situations that can set us off internally where our job is just a job that helps us pay bills and we spend days “putting up” with people.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23 NIV)
This shifted my thinking when I actually apply it. I thought about changing my boss’ name in my phone and email contacts to “the Lord” to see how I would respond to the things they ask me to do. Because honestly, I may do a good job and get things done, but I know I don’t do it as if God Himself ask me to do it. And I should.
This doesn’t change anything externally necessary, but it does change my attitude when things get tense. Horrible Boss or not, there’s a big man upstairs that I’d do anything for. And that anything entails working for for a human.
Sound Man vs Worship Leader
Ok, folks, here’s the deal: the relationship in the church world that has the most tension is between the sound guy and the worship leader. And there’s usually a ton of pews in between them when they’re working with each other. To speak to this topic, I thought I would ask my good friend, Jesse Keller, to be a guest on today’s blog. Jesse is the Next Generation Worship Pastor at the Oaks Fellowship. On top of that, he’s also the Sound Engineer for the Oaks. He has a very unique blend of both worlds and probably understands this tension better than anyone. Here’s our short conversation on the topic. Oh, and by the way, he’s Australian.
Ryan: Why do you think there is so much tension?
Jesse: In my experience the tension comes from the lack of understanding by one or both sides. Both sides have specific priorities that generally don’t completely line up with each other. The sound guy, usually the tech-savy geek type (its okay for me to say that cause I am one), often wants to make the band sound awesome in the house and try the newest technique he/she read in Mix Magazine. Whereas the worship leader simply wants things to work well enough to get through a rehearsal.
Ryan: Give us both sides of the equation. Let’s say worship teams and sound guys became like NBA players and its owners and there was a worship lockout. For the worship band, what’s maybe 2 things a sound guy could do to manage that tension. And for the sound engineers, what’s a thing or 2 they could do better to manage that tension?
Jesse: I would say it’s a bit harder for the sound guy to change their way of thinking especially if he/she is not a musician. But if the sound guy can try to understand the musician’s basic needs, that will be a huge step. Basic needs are having their instrument turned on, and being able to hear themselves and the rest of the band. Also, the sound guy needs to TAKE CHARGE of the sound check. Telling the musicians when and when not to play their instruments. A passive sound guy is the worst of all. So to put it simply; think like a musician, and take charge.
For the worship team. If you’re going to be playing music in a church you need to take time to learn what audio equipment you need to make your instrument work. Not that you need to go out and buy the stuff, but for example an acoustic guitar player NEEDS to know how a direct box and a 1/4 inch cable works. Knowing simple things about your own audio needs will speed up the sound check process and save the sound guy the frustration of running up to the stage to do something simple.
Second, be aware of everything that the sound guy is doing. Don’t be yelling for them to give you more of your vocal in your monitor when you know he is working on checking the drums.
The “onstage” and “behind the board” worlds can be miles apart, but they don’t have to be if both sides take time to understand each others roles.
The best worship leaders are the ones who think like a sound guy and the best sound guys are the ones who think like a worship leader.
I think Jesse gives us a great perspective on managing this tension and his tips can be applied with any work relationship that has this sort of tension. I challenge you to walk slowly through your organization and simply ask questions, and gain a better understanding of what exactly they do. As long as your ignorant to what they do, you’ll run the risk of disrespecting them altogether.
Follow Jesse on Twitter! @musojessekeller
Nose Bleeds
In my mind, there’s only one thing that makes you a leader or not: followers. Whether or not you’re a good leader or not has relative criteria to your followers. But I’ve noticed a common denominator every leader deals with. Every leader has followers… who believe the leader… should lead differently. There’s some obvious dynamics that create this tension. One of those being that in the most highly effective organizations, the #1 leader has hired… leaders. So now we have a bunch of awesome organizations with a leader who leads other leaders, and those leaders are told to lead raise up more leaders, and so on.
Exposing myself to a truckload of leadership resources between reading, podcasting, and conference hopping, I’ve got a front row seat to an influx of statistics and information on spectacular leadership. Every time I hear the statement, “A great leader… will ______________”, it’s like I put that through a filter of Senior Leaders. If I’m honest, I begin to ask myself the question, “Does my Senior Leader do this well?”, and from there I make judgement calls and statements to myself about how I’d do it better. (HA)
The issue I deal with here is that I can sit front row at the church, but when it comes to seeing my Senior Leader’s personal life, I’m in the nose bleeds. I’ve got cheap seats to what He or She is going through on a daily basis. I simply make judgements based off what I see from, what in reality is, a great distance. I’ve spent a lot of time with my Senior Leader lately, and the more we talk, the more I realize how wrong I am. Have you ever heard someone you personally know well talked about in a negative or positive way by someone who barely knew them at all, and they had an absolute misconstrued view of that person altogether? I think we all have. But the question now becomes: How do we know that we’re not the person with the misconstrued view?
Whether it’s a senior leader, or just another peer leader, most of us only have cheap seats to what makes them who they are. And whether we like it or not, God, on purpose, has that leader in your life for this season for a reason. If you don’t trust your leadership, at least trust your God.
I’m Hitting A Wall
Maybe it’s that you’ve been married for a bit now. Perhaps it’s a job that’s been weighing you down. It could be that it’s people that are simply draining you. Or you might be flat out running on fumes on your journey with Jesus. But regardless of what it is, we’d admit to ourselves that we’re simply hitting a wall. There’s 24 hours in a day, yet some days it feels like we’re awake the entire 24 hours. Our “Sabbath” day becomes the day we get to catch up on all the things we didn’t do during our busy week.
I think an expert could write a blog on different types of walls that you hit and address them by relationships, careers, and Jesus stuff. I’m no guru on any of those areas, but if you’re exhausted from managing all your relationships, and the job’s got you down, and you feel a busy signal from Heaven every time you try to talk to Jesus… I can merely suggest two things.
1.) Tell somebody. In despair, we always feel alone. We’re not.
2.) Find somebody. I guarantee you there’s at least one person in your life who is exhausted. Buy them coffee. Get them a gift card. Find something that gives them energy besides a Red Bull, and make sure they get it from you.
P.s. Jesus ain’t busy. Why would the guy who counts the number of hairs on your head not want to talk? A guy who loves you that much could only be a person who died for you, and could only be a person that’s waiting for you at the wall.
Pointing The Finger
Whether you are near or far from your deepest aspiration, you have one. Maybe you want to be a great writer, an awesome singer, a sharp entrepreneur, a phenomenal artist, or a jaw-dropping speaker. But whatever it is, regardless of where we’ve landed on our journey with it, there is an eager desire inside of us to be good at our trade. But isn’t sometimes hard for us to vocalize what we’re good at? It’s almost as if we’re stuck at aspiration. It’s like we simply want to be good, but who are the said judges of what’s legit and what’s not?!
If I’m honest, I think we’re all waiting. Before we find it okay to feel legit about what we aspire to do, we’re waiting for someone else to point us out. You’re not at a place where you feel comfortable broadcasting yourself to the world as an author. But you want to. You don’t feel ready to share your business idea quite yet. You need a seasoned businessman to tell you it’s a good idea before you launch. We’re waiting for someone else to point us out. The good news is this: you should!
John 1.26 I baptize withwater,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie… 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
I heard @bishopjakes speak on this passage where he highlighted this scripture. He made one statement I’ll never forget: “If Jesus needed someone to point Him out, what makes you think that you so talented that you don’t need nobody?! Touch 3 people and say… Somebody gettin ready to point you out!” =) I love that in v. 26, Jesus was just a person among the crowd. At this point, John was the man! He was the established speaker with disciples getting all the gigs and attention. And so here’s the deal; someone could be getting ready to point you out, but honestly, they easily could NOT point you out.
But in the mean time, while you wait on God knows what, I have a mere suggestion: YOU point someone else out! Somebody is in your crowd right now that is unnoticed. JESUS CHRIST WAS! Business people, what other business can you help promote? Authors, who’s somebody that you may not think is an equal writer to yourself? Point them out anyway. We’ve all been given a sphere of influence. So use that influence and point the finger! You may feel like you’ve been doing this and you’re wondering when your time will be. Who knows? And who cares?! Don’t grow weary. Contrary to what the devil will make you believe, Jesus knows FULL well what He’s doing with your life. Here’s two questions you can walk away with to help:
1.) Who’s in my crowd today that I can point out? [Even if they already get pointed out all the time. Don't fall into the trap of being a hater.]
2.) Today, how can I point to Jesus more?
Now touch 3 people and say, “Point the Finger.”
Men In Black
As you can see from header on this page, I am black. And I’m proud of that. I can honestly say that in 24 years of living, I’ve never experienced racism from anybody. But I have felt a racial tension being black and being surrounded by mostly white people. My brothers and I have had things said to us like, “Well, you’re a white person in a black body.” In other words, we’re simply men in black. It’s like being professional, owning a business, speaking clearly, wearing clothes that fit, listening to John Mayer, working from Starbucks and using the rims that came with the car means you can’t possibly be black. But this tension has nothing to do with the color of my skin.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered for one statement, “I have a dream.” And I believe our God is screaming back, “Me too!” Connect King’s dream to God’s, and I think we won’t have to categorize each other into social classes and denominations. I’m not moved by speeches, I’m moved by Jesus. To be continued…