Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

This video powerfully illustrates and communicates leadership principles. I added the script as well. Read the script after you watch the video to really cement the principles in your mind. Thank you Sandy van der Meulen for putting it on your blog. I really given these principles are a lot thought. They are great principles regardless of what gender and age you influence includes.






Uploaded by dereksivers on Feb 11, 2010


Official transcript at http://sivers.org/ff

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If you've learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let's watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he's doing is so simple, it's almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it's not about the leader anymore - it's about them, plural. Notice he's calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.

The 2nd follower is a turning point: it's proof the first has done well. Now it's not a lone nut, and it's not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.

A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers - not the leader.

Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we've got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we've got a movement!

As more people jump in, it's no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there's no reason not to join now. They won't be ridiculed, they won't stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you'll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they'd be ridiculed for not joining.

And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let's recap what we learned:

If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.

Be public. Be easy to follow!

But the biggest lesson here - did you catch it?

Leadership is over-glorified.

Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he'll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:

It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.

There is no movement without the first follower.

We're told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.

The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

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Original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk

Hungry Girl...Hungry People

Here I go again, talking about the Cooking Channel; maybe that’s why I struggle to stay on my diet. My new favorite show is the Hungry Girl. She helps people, like me, make better choices without starving! She has a recipe for a Growing Bowl of Oatmeal, that turns ½ cup of oatmeal into a Pat sized serving that lets you leave the table feeling satisfied. Another one is her chocolate satisfying Mississippi Mud Pie recipe.

I love to eat…and I love to cook for hungry people or people that enjoy food as much as I do. We have a friend in the mountains that we have over frequently to eat with us. He built his cabin during the same time we did, so about twice a week, we just added a plate and fed him whatever we were eating. He arrived with an appetite, ready to eat and share stories. It was great, but people that aren't hungry drive me bananas. No matter what you cook, they just nibble or move their food around on their plate. Agghh!

There are pockets of powerful revival with people hungry for more of God, but have you noticed there seems to be a lack of spiritual appetite in your family or ministry circles? You know God has awesome things for them, and yet they response to church attendance or ministry opportunties seems to be lackluster. It looks like the passion for the things of God is missing. Recognizing their need should never come from a critical attitude, only a heart that wants them to experience the overcoming life of God that comes out of relationship. That hunger like the Psalmist so graphically described in Psalm 42:1 NLT “... As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” If indeed hunger is the real problem, what can we do to create a hunger in their hearts?

1.Pray ‘em hungry. Ask God to give them a desire for more of Him. It’s a prayer He wants to answer. Ask God to go the root of the problem and make them an overcomer if there is sin, rebellion or laziness there.

2. Never be critical. Critcism causes people to retreat and deny, hope causes them to move forward. Ask God to give you a faith vision of them.

3. Share what God is doing in your life. Rehearse your victories by bragging about God. There's a huge difference in giving God credit and "look what I did". It's a heart issue. Whet their appetite with descriptive pictures. Ask God for opporutnites and ideas that will impact them.

4. If you are a ministry leader make room in your service times to lead them into God's presence. Amazing things happen in God's presence. Use anointed, worship that takes people into God's presence. Model worship. Give them opportunity to respond to what God is saying to them. Response is always critical to taking the next step with God.

You just can't BEET 'em!

I love beets and it’s my daddy’s fault. While I was raised in the city, my parents were country folks. Daddy always had a large garden, and one vegetable he raised from time to time was beets. Mother always pickled them in jars with sugar and vinegar.

At supper time (that’s what we call the evening meal in the South), daddy would search through the refrigerator until he found the chilled jar of pickled ruby-red beet slices. He’d jab a fork in the jar and bring it to the table. We’d pass the bowls of food around the table to dip our plates, but the jar of beets sat beside daddy’s plate. He would lean over to me and say, “Patsy (nobody called me Patsy but daddy), want some beets.”

I’d shake my head side-ways. He’d pierce several of the sweet ruby slices and pile them on his place. He always bragged about how good they tasted. “If you would try them you would like them,” he would always say. I tried them and I didn’t like them. But daddy ate them with such enjoyment, and he never stopped encouraging me to try them; so because I loved my daddy, I would try the beets again.

If you’ve ever tried beets, you know they have a very earthy taste. I liked the sweet and sour taste that pickling produced, but I couldn’t get past that earthiness. But, daddy kept encouraging, and I continued to taste until I finally developed a taste for them. Now, I keep some in my pantry all the time; partly because they remind me of daddy, and partly because I love them.

That’s what we do as ministry leaders, we expose our class or people to different things, new things, new places, new ideas, and new books...and most importantly to God experiences, God ideas and deeper places in God. Actually, we would expect people to already know, personally, the value of experiencing God, but sometimes they don't seem to get it,so our job as ministry leaders is to use our influence to take them into the presence of God. Recognize the power of your influence in your circle to help them experience and live in God’s presence. Your circle is your children if you are a parent. Grandchildren if you are a grandparent. Your people if you are a ministry leader. Use your influence to cause people to want to experience God at a new level.

How did my dad influence my personal desire to eat beets?
1. He made room on his plate for the beets.
2. He modeled enjoying them personally.
3. He encouraged me to taste.
4. From sincere love that comes out of relationship, he continued to encourage me.

Those same principles must be employed for ministry leaders that want to take people into the presence of God. Amazing things happen in the presence of God. I have seen people of all ages have the time of their lives, praying and seeking God. But, too often people fail to realize how good His presence really is until we help them experience it themselves.

The four points as adapted for ministry leaders are:
1. Love God’s presence personally.
2. Model your love for worship and His presence.
3. Encourage them to take little steps toward God.
4. Continue to encourage them to experience His presence, in a variety of ways. If you are a ministry leader, engage them using short praise breaks, music and illustrations.

The Recipe

While I confess my “almost addiction” to the cooking channel, I almost never watch Giada. My motto is “Never trust a skinny cook.” Although, my very favorite show is Sandra Lee and she takes skinny to a new level. But I like her because she takes good recipes and helps you make them easier and quicker. I’m all for saving time and I love, love her tablescapes. I was into tablescapes before I knew what they were.

But I watched Giada recently, her robust aunt was cooking with her, so I figured it was a good day to watch her show, while I recovered for a few minutes from running with the grandkids. Her aunt told a really sad story, behind the dish she was cooking. Here’s the story as I heard it.
Giada’s grandmother was Italian. Wednesday night became rice night and she tried to create unique dishes that her family would enjoy. In that effort she sautéed rice in butter, (I’m already liking this dish!) until almost brown, added chicken broth, then made a creamy sauce with succulent shrimp and combined the rice and sauce. HEAVEN! It was a hit, everyone loved it, so it became a regular item on the family “must have list.”

The girls grew up and started families of their own, but their mother refused to share the recipe. Even as she grew older and older, she kept the recipe a secret. One day the family received a call that their mother was dying, so everyone gathered in her house. This daughter that was cooking on Giada’s show wanted to do something, so she pulled rice out of the cupboard, butter out of the refrigerator and began to try to replicate her mother’s specialty without the recipe. It was trial and error, but over the years, she has come close to matching her mom’s special touch.
For days I’ve been thinking, why wouldn’t she share the recipe? Why wouldn’t she want to pass the power to reproduce that wonderful dish so future generations could enjoy it? Why? I can guess, but only she knows why she clutched it until she took it to the grave with her.

Maybe you think, it’s no big deal, maybe its not, but it was to that daughter. It was a way for her to keep the memory alive. But will you consider with me for just a moment the impact on your children and future generations when we fail to share our faith, when we fail to share the recipe for peace, joy and abundant provision. Yes, those recipes connect them with the past, with you and your faith, but they also, connect them with an eternal God that will not fail them. Sharing your faith impacts and encourages their faith. Sharing your victories, catapults them to persist to summit their own victories.

Don’t die with the recipe clutched inside your heart and mind. Don’t die without impacting your realm of influence. It’s no big deal if they cook it better or they get the credit for the dish or the accomplishment. They’ll have bigger victories and they’ll do greater things for God than you, but they’ll do it using your tried and true recipe.

Pentecost Celebration

I am so thankful for Pentecost. I am so thankful that we are not alone, but that Holy Spirit came to fill us and enable us to do ministry. Still His ability is only available as we partner with Him and access His ability.

I am also thankful that I was able to celebrate Pentecost with dear friends this weekend. Sue Combs whipped up one of her amazing meals for us. She made fresh mashed potatoes (did you know mashed potatoes can be cooked without a box…go figure), fresh green beans (honestly now, fresh green beans…AMAZING!), real southern fried chicken like only a true southern belle can make, sweet tea that is only found south of the Mason Dixie line and a forget you need to lose 20 lbs carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. If for one minute I could have frozen the scene, so no one was looking, I would have licked my plate. SOOO GOOD! Not only does she cook good, she prays good too!

But Wayne and I did more than eat; I could talk about that at length, but I will refrain because my stomach is growling and complaining. Father set an amazing table for us too. His presence was so real at Peggy and Randy Williams church on Friday night and then again at every service the entire weekend. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can tell you, I preached myself hungry!

I want more of God. I want more of His ability, not so I can be a reservoir to contain it, but so I can be a conduit for it to flow through. His love and power, like water in the desert, changes things, and our neighborhoods and cities need the change that only Jesus can bring!

Two Olive Trees

In my book Pentecost Lost, I use 7 pictures to help believers know Holy Spirt better. One of the 7 pictures is oil. Oil is almost always a picture of Holy Spirit. Our need for Holy Spirit anointing far exceeds our need for crude oil products such as gas to fuel our cars. I am so thankful there is no Holy Spirit oil shortage. The supply is adequate to the demand, but often our demand is not adequate for the job. We must access the supply.

We see this principle of uninterrupted connection illustrated as Zechariah and Zerubbabel tried to complete their difficult assignment. Zechariah had the daunting task of mobilizing the emancipated Jews to rebuild the altar and the temple of the Lord. The rubble and ruin that remained from the city’s destruction was demoralizing. It seemed that the Jews were being distracted and hindered on every front, until finally all construction came to a total stop. They had a vision to rebuild, but they could only sit, with rubble all around them, and wait. They must have felt powerless and terribly discouraged. In Zechariah 4, God gave Zechariah a vision of a golden candlestick flanked on both sides by an olive tree.

The angel asked him, “Do you know what I’m showing you?”

“No.” Zechariah answered.

Then he said to me, "This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel's way; it will flatten out before him! Then Zerubbabel will set the final stone of the Temple in place, and the people will shout: 'May God bless it! May God bless it!' (Zechariah 4:6-7)

He wanted to assure Zerubbabel that he would do more than simply lay a foundation; he would complete construction. God wanted Zerubbabel to recognize the job required more strength or power than he could muster. Zerubbabel saw the task, but what he needed to see was his source--God’s Spirit, who would enable him to finish the task.


Zechariah asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees?” A major responsibility for a priest was to fuel the lamp in the Holy place with pure, fresh oil, so it would burn continuously. But the lamp Zechariah saw was not tended by a priest. The oil was funneled directly from two living olive trees into the golden lamp. Zechariah saw an illustration of miraculous supply to help him visualize God as his source.

The vision, while both inspiring and encouraging to Zerubbabel and Zechariah, was also a prophetic picture for the modern church. Let’s look at the picture again. The prophetic picture represented by the golden candlestick is the Church. The lamp stand was gold because it is God’s Church, not a building, but a holy habitation for His Spirit. The church was symbolized as a candlestick because it should be a light in a dark world. John Wesley said, “All which is an emblem of the church, made of pure gold; to be a light in the world; to shine as lamps that continually burn, maintained with pure oil, distilled from the olive - trees, not pressed out by man, but continually, abundantly, and freely flowing from God.”

But, why did the vision include two olive trees? What was God saying with this clue? Even the prophet, to whom the vision was given, asked for clarification. John Wesley’s commentary for Zechariah 4:14 states “The two anointed ones - Christ and Holy Spirit. The Son was to be sent by the Father, and so was the Holy Ghost.” This is really, really important. The Church needs two trees to burn brightly in the end time. We desperately need Jesus, the living Word, and the living Holy Spirit.

But, the mystery in this picture continues to unfold. When olive oil is produced, the olives are removed from the trees. Did you notice that the oil in this picture did not come from lifeless fruit, but a living tree? What is the significance of oil from an olive tree, instead of oil from an olive? The significance is life. Our faith is not rooted in a dead hero, but a living, risen Savior. Our relationship is not built on a distant memory, but a personal indwelling. He is alive with a viable voice-speaking and a watchful eye-guiding. As a tender shepherd, He is both nourishing and protecting. It is comparable to the difference between viewing a photograph of a garden and taking a stroll through that fragrant garden, listening to the birds and exploring exotic waterfalls with the love of your life. Far too many believers have never experienced anything beyond the photograph they glimpse in Scripture. " (Copied from Pentecost Lost Copyright 2011 Patricia Holland.)

Spring Walk

What an invigorating walk! It was a little cooler today than Wednesday. Hallelujah! I enjoyed the bunnies, the white daisies and the purple thistle, but my favorite plant this time of year is the yucca. Maybe you’ve eaten them at an authentic Mexican restaurant-yum! Or maybe you love seeing them as much as I do.

They grow all over the US, so you’ve probably passed them along the roadside or in the woods. The yucca plant is an evergreen which grows in poor, sandy soil. You probably haven’t really noticed them, except this time of the year. The plant grows close to the ground; a plain, ordinary looking plant. Its rigid sword-like leaves grow like tall rosettes from the center of the plant. Un-noticed and squatted close to the ground, the plant drinks nourishment, produces food and patiently grows until June arrives. The warm sunshine announces the time to bloom. Then a tall stalk will shoot up from the center of the plant. At the top of the stalk, a cluster of beautiful white bell shaped flowers bloom. That’s when this unassuming plant is impossible to miss. They are in bloom right now and they are glorious!

Every time I see a yucca plant, I am reminded of 1 Peter 5:6 “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you.”(NLT) Humble yourself. That’s what a yucca plant does, but when it’s time comes, it is so beautiful. Thank you, God. You have given me a powerful visual, a reminder that I must stay in a humble place.

The picture in 1 Peter 5:6 is even more glorious than the yucca blooms. Look where our assigned place of humility is located. It’s not off in some bleak desert, forgotten and forsaken. That assigned place of humility is not a place of fear and destitution; it is under the mighty power of God. That assigned place of humility is not under a black cloud, but under the cloud of provision like that the children of Israel lived under as they traveled to their promised land.
The spirit of our culture is pride. The center of pride is always I, whether it wears the mask of false pride or the blatant banner of self-exaltation. Humility is a place that God goes to pass out grace, encouragement and promotion. (1 Peter 5:5)

Now that I've climbed down off my soapbox, I’m sipping my iced coffee (like I could actually sip any kind of coffee) on the back porch enjoying my honey and the mountains. Wayne doesn’t indulge, so I have the entire container to myself. I use 1 cup of leftover coffee, (which doesn’t happen often at my house) 1 cup of water, 1/3 cup of powder milk, 2 cap fulls of sugar free Raspberry syrup, 2 packets of Nevella and enough ice to fill the blender container to about ¾ full. Blend to completely smooth. It is SO good and it doesn’t wipe out all the calories I just burned walking. The froth on this drink is amazing! I love icy froth! Yum yum!