by Clarence E. Stowers | Jun 23, 2016 | Empowerment, Decisions, Encouragement, Leadership, Self-Leadership, Success, Vision
We’re all living and working in an increasingly fast-paced and ever-changing world.
Succeeding and excelling in today’s world requires you to consider certain traits to be effective. In order to thrive in a fast-changing world, effective leaders make and implement decisions, possess agility, and include others in decision-making. Regardless of their respective industry, effective leaders make decisions and implement strategies to implement their decision.
Making and Implementing Decisions
The critical task of leadership is making decisions. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know the outcome of the decisions we make. Effective Leaders must decide where they’re going and how to get there.
Deciding where to go could be considered the vision. Having the plan to get there is the strategy. Once a leader decides where they’re going and how to get there the next critical task of leadership is implementation.
Ask yourself: What decision am I making and what’s my strategy to implement it?
[shareable]Deciding where to go could be considered the vision. Having the plan to get there is the strategy.[/shareable]
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by Clarence E. Stowers | Jun 8, 2016 | Empowerment, Decisions, Encouragement, Goals, Leadership, Motivation, Self-Leadership, Success
Starting something new is much easier than transitioning something established.
Currently, I serve as lead pastor of the Mars Hill Baptist Church of Chicago. I succeeded my father, the late Rev. Dr. Clarence E. Stowers, Sr. who served for thirty-six years. The church I inherited was a traditional African American Baptist Church rich with tradition.
After five years of praying, meeting, teaching, leading, and building supportive teams, we transitioned to a contemporary church. During the process, I almost quit, but decided to pivot and stick it out. It was the best decision of my life. In life, you’ll eventually come to a crossroad. When it happens, you must decide if you’ll stick with it, quit, or pivot. How do you know which choice is best? I chose to pivot.
In life, you’ll eventually come to a crossroad. When it happens, you must decide if you’ll stick with it, quit, or pivot. How do you know which choice is best? I chose to pivot.
So What Does it Mean to Pivot
I love sports, and when I hear the word pivot, immediately basketball comes to mind. When basketball players stop dribbling the ball, they must decide which foot is their pivot foot. Upon deciding, they can’t switch feet. Pivoting is the term used to define both the act of keeping one foot in place while moving the other and the actual foot which remains on the ground.
Keeping one foot in place is necessary when a player stops dribbling the ball but wishes to reposition himself for a pass or shot. A player may rotate and move around as long as one foot remains in place, on the floor. The foot chosen is known as the “pivot”, or “pivot foot”, and if it comes off the ground, or otherwise shifts position away from its original spot on the floor, a travelling violation will be called.
[shareable]Starting something new is much easier than transitioning something established.[/shareable]
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by Clarence E. Stowers | Jun 6, 2016 | Decisions, Empowerment, Encouragement, Goals, Motivation, Self-Leadership
Every so often something or someone comes along and changes your life forever. It happened to me.
I’m learning that all successful people live by this principle: Edit as you go. Remember, life is about seizing opportunities and moments. And if you never make changes, you’re always living in that would-have-could-have-should-have world.
[shareable]Remember, life is about seizing opportunities and moments.[/shareable]
by Clarence E. Stowers | May 31, 2016 | Decisions, Empowerment, Goals, Leadership, Motivation, Relationships, Self-Leadership, Servant Leadership
“The best leaders understand the difference between a tension you manage versus a tension you resolve,” according to Andy Stanley.
Leadership isn’t easy. Every decision you make earns the favor of some and the disfavor of others. Some are happy and others are not. Most leaders end up avoiding tense situations and allow them to grow into full blown conflicts.
Your ability to discern the difference between tensions you manage verses tensions you resolve “may determine the level of success a leader can sustain,” according to Ron Edmondson. Do yourself a favor and check out Ron Edmondson’s post, “7 everyday tensions of every leader must manage.”
- Displaying confidence without being arrogant.
- Making bold decisions while building collaboration.
- Showing strength while displaying compassion.
- Controlling energy towards a vision but allowing individuals to chart their path.
- Celebrating victory while not resting on current success.
- Learning from other leaders but being who you were uniquely wired to be.
- Spending time with people versus completing tasks.
As a leader, what tension do you face, and how do you manage or resolve it?
by Clarence E. Stowers | Feb 12, 2016 | Decisions, Empowerment, Encouragement, Self-Leadership, Success
This is a Periscope replay of the #MotivationalMoment.
Sometimes life’s consuming, taking up all of your time, thoughts and energy. Do you want more success in life? Do you think you’ll have to work harder to get it?
In this special edition, you’ll discover why sometimes moving ahead requires you to step back…sometimes way back. If you are interested, I broadcast three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) on Periscope. I mainly share tips on living and empowered life. And I always take some off-topic questions. You’ll need to download the free Periscope app if you want to watch live. Thanks!
[youtube id=”P6PpCPheBPU”]
by Clarence E. Stowers | Jan 4, 2016 | Christian, Christianity, Decisions, Empowerment, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Questions, Self-Leadership, Spiritual Growth
At Mars Hill, “we become all things to all people that we may win some to Christ.”
Therefore, we decided a long time ago to use technology as another tool to help people find their way back to God. Before you write me off as a heretic, Christianity was, in a very real sense, the first technologically driven religion. You can read more about it HERE.
Welcome to Live Streaming
With Facebook’s newest feature Facebook Live, you can start a Live broadcast that’s posted to the News Feed, watch comments overlaid in real-time on their stream, and then make the recording permanently available for viewing. I’m using Facebook Live to review the previous Sunday message and live stream a video devotional. I’m calling it Rewind.
Rewind
REWIND is a live stream (Facebook Live and Periscope) designed for us to look back to Sunday’s message and allow God’s Spirit to prompt us in areas that need to change in our lives (before we shelve the thoughts in the archives of our mind).
There are three sections to it:
- Recall: a quick blurb about the big idea of the previous Sunday message along with links to the audio/video/transcription of the message (in case you missed it or want to go back to it),
- Reflect: some key questions to digest as a group, family, or individual, and
- Respond: action steps that might be helpful to pursue a healthy change in our daily lives.
I’m inviting you to find a quite place and subscribe to my Facebook Profile or follow me on Periscope.
