Name

“You want to go 
Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came; 
You want to be where you can see, 
Our troubles are all the same; 
You want to be where everybody knows your name.”

Do you recognise these lyrics? Are you singing the theme song in your head?

They come from the classic theme song for the popular 90’s sitcom Cheers.

I heard the song the other day and I haven’t stopped thinking about those lyrics, I think they are extremely powerful and contain a powerful leadership gem.

There is power in someone’s name, and even more power in knowing someone’s name. One of my primary influencers and friends, Rory Dyer, has the incredible ability to remember the names of people he meets. He has influence over thousands of people, meets new people all the time but I have witnessed time and again how he remembers not only people’s names, but also their story. I have also heard over and over how this has made an impact on those people whose names he has remembered. They feel valued and appreciated, and for many it has been the reason they are part of his church.

People wanna go where their names are known. A name represents a person’s identity, their heritage and their uniqueness – it is no wonder people wanna go where these attributes of themselves are embraced, appreciated, valued and even celebrated.

The creators of Cheers really chose a perfect song for their show – it summed up what the bar was all about. A place where people could come, where they would be free to be themselves and would be welcomed by the people there.

Imagine if we created the same environment for those we lead. Imagine if those we lead always felt that we were glad they came, that they weren’t alone in the challenges that they were facing. Imagine they felt they were appreciated, valued, an integral part of the team. Imagine they didn’t have to go to a bar to feel this way.

I believe the most effective leaders are those who see the value in those they lead. Instead of manipulating people, they treat them as assets and strive to build and develop them.

They lead with clarity, distinctiveness and direction, all the while making others feel safe and valued.

If we can strive to lead like this, I believe we will create an environment like that of Cheers… Where everyone knows your name.
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.

Powerfully Unique

I was doing a workshop last week, and met a lady who through the exercise we were doing discovered that she had a very strong gift of helping others reach their potential.

What a great gift to have! Many leaders strive to be effective in this area, and would be thrilled to learn they have this skill.

Interestingly, she did not feel this way! She sat back in her chair, crossed her arms and shook her head. She did not believe it. In her mind there is no way she could have this skill. When I challenged her on this she told me she knew someone who was extremely gifted in this area, and she was nothing like them!

How often do we do this as leaders? God has placed unique gifting and talents inside of us to make a difference in peoples' lives, but so often we doubt and discard them because we compare with others.

This reminded me of the story of David. The Bible tells us that David was a man after God's own heart.

He was a shepherd boy.

But, he was also a giant killer!

We know the story. David hears about Goliath and wants to kill him for coming against the army of the Living God. We read in 1 Samuel 17 v 33-40:

33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."

34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
"I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

David knew who God was and who God had made him to be... Powerfully unique! There was the temptation for David to conform to how other warriors had fought powerful enemies, to try copy their tactics and use their weapons. But he responded differently, he was true to himself and used what God had put in his hand.

What has God put in your hands as a leader that is powerfully unique? Are you trusting in who God has made you to be, or are you comparing to others?

Are you disqualifying yourself because of a comparison you are making with another persons giftings?

The word tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are powerfully unique. Imagine if we had to believe in and celebrate that uniqueness and lead others out of who God has made us to be?

May you gain great excitement and courage as you look at what you have in your hands and know that you can accomplish great things.

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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.

Picture Life As An Appletree

One of my favorite questions is ‘Are you living for one and a half days of the week?’

So are you?!

At the tender age of 18 I wrote a metaphor for life called ‘life as an appletree!’ It has pretty much turned into a way of life for me (www.appletreelive.com), and I guess has challenged me to make sure that the answer to that question is never ‘yes...unfortunately I am.’

The trunk is life. We move up the trunk through school, careers, family, assets and retirement, until we reach the top. We know there’s more than just the ‘ordinary’, and yet we cling to our comfort zone… our thick, safe, trunks.

Then there are apples. Apples represent the realities that we wish to create for ourselves; opportunities we know are for us. However, given that they lie at the ends of thin branches, we choose not to step out into a world of risk and fear to pick them. We stay on the trunk.

No-one wants to get to the end of their lives to find themselves sitting on top of their apple tree, looking down at piles of rotten apples lying on the ground, never picked.

Over the past 10 years I have realised that society seems obsessed with the trunk yet wants to step on to the branch. We are so focussed on ‘whats next’ - when are you getting married? when are you having kids? when are you having another? So it continues! The result is we are so focussed on the trunk that we miss apples. OR maybe we want to miss them... because they scare us. As much as humanity wants to be ‘happier’ they seemingly find it very difficult to break out of habitual patterns they find themselves in from too much time on the trunk.

Picking apples is scary business ... stepping out into new realities, trying new things, doing something that scares us, broadening our minds. Those that live for more than and a half days of the week seem to have something in common - they have taken risks, they are pushing through fear and they are challenging their comfort zones. It seems to be a rush!

How many times do we hear the eulogy message?? Someone wishes they had done more, lived more?

So heres the deal. Today I challenge you to step out onto that thing branch, to pick apples and to begin a journey that will change your reality. I challenge you to find an apple, no matter how small RIGHT NOW. I challenge you to look at what comfort zones you have found yourself in and look at ways to break out of them.

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com