Accept the Blame, Give Away the Praise

September 11, 2010 in Current Events with 2 Comments


Photo by hobvias sudoneighm

During President Obama’s press conference yesterday, there seemed to be a recurring theme. It wasn’t the main point he was trying to make, I think, but I picked up on it nonetheless. Whenever he talked about an issue where he perceived there is a problem he said something along the lines of “the minority in the Senate is being stubborn,” which basically meant I heard him say “it’s not my fault, blame the Republicans.”

Whether or not it’s true that the Republicans in the Senate are just being stubborn and trying to drag things down is not what I’m most interested in. I’m not a huge fan of politics in general, but I am a fan of leadership and learning leadership lessons. And since the President is the most visible leader in our country, and possibly the world, I think we can learn significant leadership lessons from him.

What I saw him doing yesterday was blaming others for the country’s problems. I don’t think that’s good leadership. Again, it might be true that it’s someone else’s fault, but when you’re the leader and you blame someone else it comes across as immature to me.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins discussed this concept in what he calls the window and the mirror. According to his groups study, great leaders look in the mirror when there is a problem. They are the first to say “I was wrong” or “I could do a better job.” The reason for this is that ultimately the whole organization rises and falls on leadership on one level or another.

On the other hand, if there is praise to be given a leader should look out the window to the people in his organization. When people praise great leaders respond by saying things like “I’ve got a great team” or something similar. This shouldn’t be done with false humility, but it’s an honest assessment of the situation. Without a great team a great leader won’t accomplish much.

It was a good reminder to me that it’s easy to slip into the opposite attitude. When things aren’t going well we point the finger to blame someone else. We’ve been doing this as humans for a long time. But when things are going well our egos tend to puff up and we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

So, accept the blame but give the praise away. It’s the best way to lead others.

7 Links to Learn More About Me and My Blog [#7Links]

September 10, 2010 in Personal with 0 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m trying to decide what direction I want to take my blog and I got some good feedback. Part of the process I’m going through is looking where I’ve been before, in terms of blogging, to give me a feel about what I’ve done well and enjoyed doing the most.

I’ve been blogging for five and a half years now, so I’ve done quite a few posts. I realize that some people I know are somewhat regular readers here, others jump in when I post something they’re interested in, and then there are the random visitors who find my blog on Google. Whoever you are, this post will hopefully help you get a better feel for what this blog has been all about. I was prompted to write it by the 7 Link Challenge over at ProBlogger.

  1. My first post: Backing Up DVDs
    What’s weird to me about piracy laws is that it’s perfectly legal to have a digital archive of movies you legitimately own, but it’s not legal to break the encryption on DVDs. You’d have to do it in real time using some sort of digital to analog converter, which would be a pain. That means that I was encouraging illegal activity on my blog. Great start, don’t you think?
  2. The post I enjoyed writing the most: Four Ways to Be More Consistent in Your Bible Reading
    There were a lot of things I really liked about writing this post, but I was especially happy with the end result. I could have also put is under most helpful post link, but I really enjoyed writing it a lot.
  3. The post which had a great discussion: Is God a Republican or Democrat
    I wrote this on the day of the the 2008 Presidential election and it got quite a few people to comment on it. I don’t blog much about politics, but I think this was one of my best posts and since it got so much discussion you might agree.
  4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written: The Death of the Weekly Program/Bulletin/Newsletter
    Tim Schraeder wrote this post on his blog and it created a lot of buzz. Best quote from the post: “know the primary way your audience receives information and communicate to them that way.” It’s a move they’ve stuck with and made improvements to in the two years since they made the switch.
  5. My most helpful post: Motivation: Finding the desire to workout when I really don’t want to do it
    This was a reflection of how I stayed motivated to workout during the months after my first daughter was born. I think it was really helpful for most anyone who’s looking for tips on staying motivated in exercise.
  6. The post with a title that I am proud of: The Biggest Flaw in John Hollinger’s ESPN NBA Power Rankings
    I’ve never been a fan of Hollinger’s Power Rankings, probably because I am a Mavericks homer. But this post’s title sums up what I think is most wrong with the system and then I decided to elaborate for a few hundred words or so.
  7. The post that I wish more people had read: Delighting in God (OR a theology of worship taught by a seven month old)
    Having kids has definitely given me more perspective on life and what it means to have God as our Father. This post was a reflection on how all people should be more engaged in worship.

So, those are my 7 links. How about you? If you have a blog (that’s more than just a couple days old) why don’t you do this on your blog? Or are there some posts that I’ve done here that you think would fit better than what I listed above? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image by jessica r

I Think I Found My New Preaching Style

September 10, 2010 in Humor with 4 Comments

I’m throwing out everything I learned in Bible College & Seminary and I’m going to start preaching like this dude.

Kind of reminds me an SNL skit.

[Thanks to @TimSchraeder for the link]

Thinking About My Blog’s Direction

September 9, 2010 in Personal with 10 Comments

I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about the direction of my blog recently. I’ve kind of drifted around in what I’m writing about between tech, sports, church, religion, and my personal life. I don’t really feel like doing that anymore. I’d like to focus more on one or two topics, but I haven’t landed on what that would be yet.

So, I’d like to hear from you. If you’re a reader of my blog, the few of you out there, what do you think I should do? Let me know in the comments.

Image by Milind Alvares.

PolyTune: A Guitar Tuner That Will Make Your Brain Explode With its Awesomeness (Favorite iPhone Apps)

September 6, 2010 in Tech with 3 Comments

This is my third post in my Favorite iPhone Apps series.

I recently had the unfortunate displeasure of having my Larrivee Acoustic Guitar stolen out of my office at church. It’s never fun having something stolen from you, but the church has insurance so I was able to replace it with a new guitar. So it all worked out.

One of the things inside the case was my guitar tuner, so I had to replace it too. I had planned on just buying the same brand of tuner, but thankfully the clerk at Guitar Center suggested I check out the TC Electronic PolyTune stage tuner. I’ll never be the same. It was the most incredible tuner I had ever seen . . . until I realized they had an iPhone app that did the same thing at 1/10 the price.

I had no idea what a Poly-Chromatic tuner was (I can barely grasp the concept of what chromatic means), but the best description I can think of is it’s a tuner that will make your brain explode with its awesomeness. I can not even possibly explain how mind-blowing it is to me that a phone I carry around in my pocket can do this. Instead of trying to explain the technicalities of it, all you need to know is how to use it. It’s Simple. Strum all six strings at the same time and the tuner will show you which strings are out of tune. Seriously. That’s it. I never even dreamed that this was possible, but now I can do it with my phone.

Maybe the best way to understand it is through a video. Check out the little demonstration I put together below.

I’ll label this app as a MUST-HAVE for all guitar playing iPhone owners. It’s a little more expensive than most iPhone apps at $9.99, but it was a bargain compared to the stage tuner version of it than I bought (then returned when I found out about the app), or most any other tuner you’ll find out there.

Pick up your copy from the App Store.
PolyTune

Got any other guitar apps you like? Share them in the comments!

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