Clarity Trumps Integrity
One of my favorite days of the year is the first Friday of May. For nearly 15 years this has been the date for one of my favorite leadership training events, Leadercast. Each year I come away inspired with a notebook full of new insights to help me grow and successfully overcome the challenges that leaders face.
Make sure you take part in this event! Join leaders from all around the globe May 4, 2018. You will learn at the feet of leaders who are known around the world for their accomplishments and leadership abilities.
Be a part of an extraordinary event that will make you an even better leader. Leadercast Live is the largest, one-day leadership event on the planet, with more than 100,000 current visionaries and future world-changers attending each year.
This year, attendees will gather at more than 700 locations in 20 countries to be inspired to develop their leadership skills and master the fine art of achieving great things.
This one-of-a-kind event will be broadcast live from Atlanta and simulcast into communities across the globe. For me details and to register check out their site: Leadercast
In the coming days I will share some of my favorite notes from past events. Here is a sample from Andy Stanley’s 2016 talk.
Andy Stanley
Leadership Author & Communicator
Communicator, author, and pastor, ANDY STANLEY founded Atlanta-based North Point Ministries in 1995. Today, NPM is comprised of six churches in the Atlanta area and a network 30 churches around the globe, collectively serving nearly 70,000 people weekly.
The author of 20-plus books, including Ask It, How to Be Rich, Deep & Wide, Visioneering, and Next Generation Leader, Andy Stanley holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from Georgia State University and a Masters degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is considered one of the most influential living pastors in America.
In the digital world, his success reaches well beyond local Atlanta-area walls. Nearly three million of Stanley’s messages, leadership videos, and podcasts are accessed from North Point’s website monthly.
In 2012, Your Move with Andy Stanley premiered on NBC after Saturday Night Live, giving him an even wider audience with which to share his culturally relevant, practical insight for life and leadership. Currently, over 5 million episodes are consumed each month through television and podcast, underscoring Stanley’s impact not only as a communicator but also as an influencer of culture.
Clarity Trumps Integrity: How To Make Your Vision Stick
When surveyed about “What do we want in leaders?” The #1 answer is always integrity or some variation of that theme. (Integrity, honesty, trust, do what they say, we can trust our future with them) The problem with these survey results is that is not who we actually follow. Even though we value integrity, we follow clarity.
“We value integrity, we follow clarity.”
The reason we follow clarity over integrity is because clarity is magnetic. Clarity wins the day every single time.
- Clarity trumps integrity.
- Clarity trumps humility.
- Clarity is magnetic.
- Clarity always wins.
- Clarity will result in people forgiving you for your mistakes.
- Clarity enables you to cast a compelling vision that people will embrace and follow.
Clarity is the single thing every leader needs if they are going to move forward because clarity results in influence, which is the essence of leadership.
Andy used an illustration comparing Presidential Election Campaign slogans and the effectiveness of each candidate. The more clarity in the slogan the better the results.
- 2008 Obama= “Change We Can Believe In”
- 2008 Hillary= “Solutions For America”
- 2016 Cruz=4th slogan- “Reigniting The Promise of America”
- 2016 Trump=”Make America Great Again”
Who rates the lowest in trust this year? Clinton & Trump, but they have the highest degree of clarity in their message and are leading the pack. Elections are not honesty contest. We instead vote for the candidate who is the clearest about what we hold dearest.
“Clarity covers over a multitude of sins”
Vision:
- Vision must be crystal clear!
- Vision is not about how!
- Vision is not a mental picture of how we will accomplish something great!
- Trump is a master of focusing on the what not the how!
- You can how a great idea right out of your company!
“Vision is a mental picture of a preferred future.”
- Developing vision is important because the clearer the vision is, the easier it is to choose the opportunities that come our way.
- Vision is about “what” not “how.”
- A compelling “what” statement gathers the momentum you need to gather the “how.”
- Clarity results in influence which is the essence of leadership.
- Clarity taps emotion.
- As a leader you are responsible for making your vision stick!
4 Keys to Making Your Vision Stick
#1 State It Simply-Memorable is portable.
“It is better to have a vision that is incomplete & memorable than to have one that is complete and forgettable”
- Your business is a solution to a problem!
- What would go undone if your division, team, organization or dept. would disappear?
- If we are a solution, what is the problem? (if you focus on this you will find on what you need to focus your team on)
- His Vision was to: “Create a church that un-churched people love to attend.”
- Ask yourself as a leader, “When your people come to work what to they come to work to do?”
- E-bay-a global online marketplace where practically
- One-make poverty history
- ALS-A world w/o ALS
- Habitat For Humanity-A world where everyone has a decent place to live
- Non-profits are better at providing a clear vision because they have better sense of connecting clarity with prosperity. If they don’t they will disappear.
- Clarity of vision is no less important in market place just less apparent most of the time.
“Vision engages the heart”
#2 Cast It Convincingly
- State the Problem + Offer the Solution + Explain Why = Vision
- Present your vision as the solution to a problem that must be addressed now.
#3 Repeat It Regularly
- Vision leaks, it doesn’t stick.
- You must repeat it often in order for it to stick.
- Keep It Simple
- The Vision Must be Conversational!
- Why are people coming to work for you? He designs one sentence job descriptions for his team members so they are cystal clear on what is imporant for them to do.
#4 Celebrate it systematically
- What’s rewarded is repeated!
- When you catch somebody doing it right you must systematically celebrate it and reward it.
“Celebrating the wins does more to clarify the vision than anything else!”
This is a really big deal and if you figure it out you can make a really big difference!
Other books by Andy Stanley:
Grab Your Free
Leadership Reading Guide
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