Articles by Rubel Shelly at Heartlight

Why Leaders Don't Make Excuses

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Excuses come in all forms. Here are a couple that were (allegedly) offered to teachers by parents on behalf of their children:

"Please excuse Fay for missing last Tuesday. She had very loose vowels."

"Please forgive Sam's absence. He was sick, and I had to get him shot."

And here are some you might want to try if a patrolman pulls you over:

"Officer, I know I was speeding. But I was trying to get to a gas station before I ran out of gas."

"Please don't give me a ticket. My wife ran off with a state trooper, and I didn't stop when I saw your blue light for fear he was bringing her back."

Excuse-making seems to be an art form for some people. It is the rare and exceptional person who steps up at a critical juncture to accept responsibility when something has gone wrong.

Remember the Garden of Eden? Adam blamed Eve, who promptly put the blame on the serpent. Pity the poor serpent, for there was nobody left to blame.

One of the things about leaders is that they take responsibility for what happens on their watch. They are less concerned to point fingers than to make constructive changes in what is happening. They want things to be better, and change for the better doesn't happen when somebody is more concerned to fix the blame than to improve the situation.

The legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant coached the University of Alabama's football team to winning season after winning season -- including some national championships. He once explained his theory of how to build a successful team.

"I'm just a plowhand from Arkansas," said Coach Bryant, "but I have learned how to hold a team together -- how to lift some men up, how to calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat together, a team. There's just three things I'd ever say; 'If anything goes bad, I did it; if anything goes semi-good, then we did it; and if anything goes real good, then you did it.' That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you."

That's also part of the essence of all leadership. Whether it's in athletics, on the job, or at home, leaders are quick to give credit to others and to shoulder responsibility for problems. Jesus is the perfect example of that sort of leadership. He took the sin problem of the entire world on his shoulders. It wasn't fair, but it was the only way that would work for others' benefit.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45 TNIV).

Anyone good at making excuses will seldom excel at anything else.

Rubel Shelly preached for the Woodmont Hills Churchin Nashville for thirty years. He is the author of more than 20 books. He has accepted the position of President of Rochester College. For more details, click here or here to email.

Website: RubelShelly.com

Helpfulness

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Some things just aren't teachable. While you can teach math and music, for example, you can't teach aptitude for either. I seem to have some of the former and none of the latter. In the case of music, I'm not tone deaf. But, I don't have the natural skill of a classmate of mine in college who would amaze us with his imitation of Jerry Lee Lewis. He never had taken a piano lesson. It was all by ear.

Something that is teachable, even to animals, is helpfulness. Dogs can be taught not only to fetch sticks and newspapers but to guide blind persons through busy intersections. If dogs can be taught to be helpful, it stands to reason that humans could pick up the skill as well.

It's called "customer service" in business contexts. In its simplest form, it is what most of our mothers tried to teach us. That we have to have formal courses to teach us to pay attention to the obvious and to lend a helping hand is a bit sad.

My wife and I went into a nearby Home Depot several weeks back to pick up one of those home-repair items we seem to need all too frequently. We knew we needed a thingamabob to fix our broken thingamajig but weren't quite sure which part of the cavernous store to search first. We were hoping against hope to find a kindly clerk with an orange apron who could be persuaded to help us. Not every trip we've made there has merited particularly high scores on the helpfulness scale. So we really needed help and were a bit apprehensive about getting it.

Whoa! Two people near the entrance greeted us, welcomed us to the store, and sent us to the department we needed. Another busy fellow in his orange apron spoke to us as we passed him and the customer he was helping. Then, when a store associate asked if we needed help finding something, he walked us to the right area, gave us a couple of choices, and explained the difference.

As we left the store, we commented on the changed atmosphere from our recent visits there. We agreed that we liked it. And the toilet works now.

Two or three weeks later, I ran across a report that Home Depot had put all 300,000 of its employees through a mandatory course in helping customers earlier this year. Cashiers with an empty line were taught to find a customer waiting in another line. Workers collecting carts in the parking lot were taught to leave cart-collecting to help customers hauling bulky purchases to their vehicles. Being helpful seems to have become part of everyone's job description.

The Bible is filled with statements about God as a "very present help in time of trouble" or the "helper of his people." Perhaps part of our being created in his image and likeness is that we should learn to help one another.

It's more than a business issue. It is critical to being authentically human.

The LORD is with me; he is my helper (Psalm 118:7 TNIV).

Website: RubelShelly.com

Worth Doing Poorly?

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly! Many of us miss some of life's best things while saying, "I don't know how to do that. If I were to try, I'd only make a fool of myself."

A fellow I know well tried to water ski -- once. He tried to get up on the skis three or four times that day. Every time he tried, he wound up tumbling into the water. The three guys on the lake with him all coached. They also laughed at his frustration. "One last time!" he yelled. Then, when he was yanked into the lake again, he swam over to the boat. He was edgy for the remainder of the day. And he has never tried to water ski again in the 40 or more years since.

Perfectionists settle for nothing short of a first-rate performance from themselves. When they come across something that has to be learned through trial and error, they become intolerant of their limitations. They pile up points in the things they can do with ease and skill, while ignoring -- and maybe even putting down -- the things they do poorly.

People with this bent of personality can get depressed, for nobody is capable of premier performance in everything. They get so tense they sometimes botch even the things they are good at doing. They can't relax. They remove risks from life by narrowing their interests. They get in safe, comfortable, and boring ruts.

It's liberating for some people to find out they can make mistakes and still survive! If your new dessert flops, the world won't end. If you make a mistake at work, you won't die. If you can't master calculus or statistics, you can still be a good person. If someone hears you sing off-key, you won't become an outcast.

Thank God for mistakes. They let you learn. They mean you are still pushing out your horizons. They give you a chance to grow. They let the rest of us know you are still one of us.

If you were perfect, your life would be terribly dull. Nothing to learn. No more challenges. No relationships with peers. The rest of us would probably be too intimidated to talk to you, play tennis with you, or work alongside you. And you certainly wouldn't need for anyone of our inferior status to care about you.

So don't be paralyzed by your fears. Whatever it is that you want to do and do well likely will be learned through a process that involves some miscues and false starts. But, if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing poorly at first.

Give it a shot. Take piano lessons. Write a short story. Learn to use a computer. Paint your bedroom. Water ski. Care about someone.

At the cross, God showed us how creative he can be with what looked to all the world to be failure. Why not give him a chance with you?

Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:20-25 TNIV).

Website: RubelShelly.com

Just Part of the Job

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

A resourceful doctor in rural Australia saved a boy's life with a handyman's power drill a couple of weeks ago. Hailed as a hero when the story broke globally, he reacted modestly. "It was not a personal achievement," he said. "It is just a part of the job, and I had a very good team of people helping me."

Dr. Rob Carson diagnosed a 12-year-old boy brought to a small hospital's emergency room with a soon-to-be-fatal brain bleed. Nicholas Rossi had been riding his bike and took a fall. His mother, a nurse, realized the bump on his head could be serious and insisted on taking him to the hospital. By the time they arrived, Nicholas was already slipping in and out of consciousness.

Dr. Carson made the correct call on what was happening and knew he had a very short time to take decisive action. He made two decisions. First, he sent to the maintenance room for a drill, for the rural hospital didn't have sophisticated neurosurgical tools. Second, he called a neurosurgeon in Melbourne to ask help with his dilemma. With an ordinary household drill in hand, he followed the specialist's guidance through a procedure that worked flawlessly.

"General practitioners in country towns do procedures all the time," said Dr. Carson. But a father's reaction to that modest take on what happened was very different. "He saved our son's life!" declared Michael Rossi.

Nicholas was released from the Melbourne hospital to which he was later transferred on May 19. The date is significant because it was his 13th birthday.

Some of us would do well to follow the good doctor's example and learn to be a bit more clever, gutsy, and inventive in our lives. Are you a sales person who sits for long periods waiting to see clients? Keep a Bible or some other good book with you to read instead of old magazines. Are you a commuter? Rent a book on tape as an alternative to radio trivia. Can't afford a week at the beach with your family? Explore interesting places within an hour from home.

Has the tough economy challenged your company's customary client base? Has illness altered the way your family functions? Has the community around your church changed radically over the past few years? Every challenge is a disguised opportunity for creative adaptation and productive learning.

Gideon used clay jars and trumpets to rout an army. Samson used the jawbone from a donkey's carcass to defeat his enemies. Jesus used a little boy's sack lunch of bread and dried fish to feed thousands. In these biblical episodes, people took what was at hand and put it into God's hands -- with amazing outcomes.

Creativity often comes not from seeing the light but from feeling the heat. Maybe it will be that way with the challenge you are facing today. Your task is not to guarantee outcomes with certainty but to address problems with courage.

Website: RubelShelly.com

People over Machines

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of ... (Philippians 1:3-5 TNIV).

I need to make a confession: I despise those horrible automated voice mail systems everybody seems to have. I prefer to deal with people over voice recorders and presume that anybody trying to reach the people where I work feel the same way. Where I work, though, we have one too.

Have you ever journeyed into the call processing nightmare? What a silly question! Of course you have. "If you are calling about x, press 1; if you are calling about y, press 2; and on and on and on." Some systems are easier and quicker to negotiate than others. But, I still prefer people. And I typically try to bypass the numbered options by hitting "0" in hopes of being connected to a "customer-service representative" rather than wade through the tree of options in order to leave a message.

There was once a time -- believe it or not -- when companies actually had warm-blooded people on their payrolls whose job it was to help customers. Now it's more likely that customer service is a department staffed by recorders rather than a person who will invest time listening and responding to your needs.

It even happens at church. Did you hear the one about the fellow who walked into First Suburban Church wearing an expensive suit and a baseball cap? After he sat down, an usher walked up discretely, introduced himself, and said, "Pardon me, but we don't wear hats in the sanctuary." The well-dressed man nodded -- and left the cap in place. A few minutes later, a deacon repeated the process -- with the same outcome. Then, just before the service began, the pastor came, smiled, and shook his hand. "Sir, we are pleased to have you with us," he said. "But we respectfully ask that you remove your cap during worship."

"Of course!" he replied and took it off. "It's just that I have attended this church for three-and-a-half years and haven't met a soul. Today, I wore a dirty baseball cap and met the head usher, a deacon, and now the pastor." I hope that story is pure fiction. My fear is that it is not.

If you value human contact and personal service, take note of and appreciate it when you receive it. Don't treat someone who serves you well with indifference or arrogance. Thank the person. Tell the manager. If appropriate, tip. Service is an attitude, not a department. Everyone in an organization, family, company, or church is responsible for treating others with respect.

People sense their value when we affirm them with personal attention.

Website: RubelShelly.com

Your Half Full Glass

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It dawned on me last Wednesday that I finally understand a string of words that were spoken before I was born but which I have heard all my life. They are the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt from his first inaugural address. He gave the speech on March 4, 1933. It is the one with the famous line that goes "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

In the context of FDR's famous speech, here is what he said:

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Without the experience of the past few months, I'm not sure I could have grasped what Roosevelt was articulating to an earlier generation. I've cut way back on listening to or reading "the news" -- in the conviction that most of what I have been hearing or reading is negative worldview rather than straightforward fact, negative interpretation rather than simply news.

You and I have been living a "culture of fear" -- in politics, business, finance, education, water-cooler conversation, you name it. We have forgotten the obvious and emphasized the negative. So fear has been allowed to keep us awake, cloud our decisions, and poison our relationships.

A fellow once told me his favorite verse in the Bible was this: "And it came to pass ..." That's the obvious fact we seem to have forgotten. Bad times don't last. Nothing down here lasts for long. And that's true of the economic chaos of the past year and a half.

It is time for our own "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance" to give way to realism tempered with optimism. It is time for you to be bold in planning for the future. It is time to push back the darkness of despair with the light of hope.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12 NLT).

That half-empty glass of yours is half-full.

Website: RubelShelly.com

Simon's Mistaken Judgement

rshelly@rc.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

TV personality Simon Cowell and the Old Testament prophet Samuel may or may not be related. But they have something in common. And before you think I am being too unkind about their similar blunders, I will quickly confess my own tendency to commit the same error of judgment.

Perhaps you remember Samuel's reaction to the various sons of Jesse who were brought before him. Yahweh had told him Israel's next king would be in the number, and Samuel thought he spotted him in Eliab -- a man with commanding presence. But the Lord restrained Samuel from anointing him.

Samuel had gone through the lot of them without a signal that a royal person was in view. Ah, but there was one more. And when a young David was standing before him, he may have thought his trip had been wasted. Then the Lord signaled to Samuel that David was the one to anoint as the nation's next leader. Not Eliab, but David. Not the tall, commanding man; but the young, ruddy lad. Remember God's words to Samuel:

Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7 TNIV).

Simon Cowell is not only a judge on "American Idol," but also for a sister English program called "Britain's Got Talent." He was unimpressed with a frumpy and unattractive 47-year-old Scottish woman who walked onstage. Her hair was gray, thin, and un-styled. She is overweight. It turns out that she was the last of nine children, had been deemed "slow" by her teachers, and had spent the bulk of her adult life taking care of aged and sick parents.

Susan Boyle explained that her dream was to be a professional singer. A studio audience alternately groaned or giggled at her naïve aspiration. Everybody appeared ready to let her embarrass herself and leave the stage -- so someone with real talent might emerge from the wings. Then she must have made people who know music groan when she said she was going to sing a famous piece from Les Miserables. Oh, you just knew it was going to be a disaster!

Then came the moment. This unremarkable and nondescript woman who has never been married -- who says she has never even been kissed! -- opened her mouth to sing. And did she ever. Within the first few bars of "I Dreamed a Dream," people who had laughed were either speechless or on their feet to cheer! Simon Cowell was wide-eyed and enthralled. Her performance is almost certain to guarantee the career and success that have been her unlikely dream for all these years. Karaoke behind her now, may she be a phenomenal success!

And may the rest of us be reminded again not to judge books by their covers, not to be so dismissive of the dreams of our children, or so prone to capitulate to the incredulity or jeers of others toward our own aspirations.

If you are one of those who hasn't seen the video, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. Watch. Listen. Feel the lump in your throat and the goose bumps on your arms.

The next time you are tempted to judge by sight, let this be your warning.

Website: RubelShelly.com