19 January 2010

Lying in bed at the Wyndham Garden in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  I woke up at 3.30 am and don't leave until 8.10 am!  Doh! Today, I will go from BOS to MSP and then to DTW, then I have 24 hours off.  I still have 5 more days of reserve after today, so I'm pretty sure I'll fly again before the end of the month.

Off to training on 5 February for the 757/767.  I've been doing LOTS of studying in preparation; hopefully that will help out when I start school.

I was reading Thom Rainer's blog yesterday on Seven Reasons that Leaders Fail.  Rainer is the president of Lifeway Christian Resources.  It's a pretty good read if you are in leadership or contemplating ever being in leadership.  I am on a leadership team at my church so I suppose that qualifies as being in leadership, even though there is not a single person responsible; it is a team that is responsible.

At any rate, I think the thing that struck me most is that one of the reasons leaders fail is that they are paralyzed by fear.  Here is how Rainer puts it: On the other extreme, some leaders have almost no confidence. They are unwilling to make decisions because they don’t want to be wrong. They are more likely to move decision making to multiple levels of committees and groups so they don’t have to be responsible for the decision.

I wouldn't say that this is my chief leadership weakness, although it is something that I should probably be aware of.  It is oftentimes easier to put off crucial and painful decisions or meetings because we don't want to go through them, or yes, we are afraid to be wrong.  I agree with Rainer, this is poor leadership.  A leader has to decide and then live with the consequences of that decision, not delegate it to a committee to escape responsibility (which he wouldn't ultimately escape anyway).

What IS my chief leadership weakness?  Probably either a. Not putting enough effort into it; or b. not being organized.  I am terrible at administration.