Live Blog From Catalyst ’14 – 49 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Clay Scoggins

As a member of the Catalyst Blog Team and INJOY Stewardship Solutions, I will be bringing you live updates from the much anticipated Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA.  The theme for this year’s conference is Change Is Coming.

Catalyst always begins by conducting a series of Labs on Wednesday for church leaders.  The afternoon’s first breakout session was conducted by Clay Scroggins, Lead Pastor of Browns Bridge Church.  The following are 49 Leadership Quotes and Lessons from this session How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge.

Also, before reading, make sure you check out the announcement from INJOY Stewardship Solutions shown below about a FREE webinar I will be conducting on October 16th for churches needing to raise capital in 2015.  Now onto Clay’s comments:

1. There is a myth in leadership that says, “Until I am in charge, I cannot lead. When I am in charge, the I will lead.” Too often we mistake our organizational positions with our leadership abilities. However, if leadership is influence, all of us have influence. A hallmark of our organization is pushing leadership to the lowest level possible, because we are convinced everyone is a leader who can and should lead…even when not in charge!
2. The church should be the best led organization in the world.
3. If you want to learn how to lead, start with what Michael Jackson said – the man in the mirror.
4. No one can lead better than I am leading myself.
5. Show me someone who is led well and I’ll show you someone who is leading themselves well.
6. When I wait to be led, I reduce my leadership and you lose your opportunity to influence.
7. Leading myself requires modeling followership.
8. We want to be behind the leader but we also want to be beside the leader.
9. Leadership myself requires monitoring my heart and my behaviors.
10. Ask the question, “What’s it like to be on the other side of me.”
11. Ask this question of your boss, “If you were me what would you do different?”
12. If you lead yourself well, you will become the easiest person in your organization to lead.
13. It’s easier to steer a horse than to get a horse to run.
14. If you lead yourself well, you will become the most desired to be led.
15. If you lead yourself well, you will become the quickest to lead next.
16. “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” – Thomas Watson, former Chairman and CEO of IBM
17. Positivity is infectious.
18. Positivity is a choice.
19. The greatest benefit I bring my team are not my talents, gifts, experience or education. It is my attitude.
20. Positivity is a fight for “we” over “me”.
21. When I am not a part of the decision-making process my default is to advocate leadership.
22. “In order to buy in, you have to let your team weigh in.” – Dave Ramsey
23. Are you going to help this decision soar or are you going to sabotage this decision?
24. Any idea will work if everyone gets behind the idea.
25. More important than making the right decision is owning the decision and making it right.
26. Did it fail because it was a bad idea or did it fail because you didn’t get behind it.
27. Are you wind in someone’s sail or are you wind against someone’s sail? Someone today is feeling you.
29. Thinking critically is a skill. And if you can couple critical thinking with positivity you have synergy.
30. We want every leader at every level thinking critically, thinking about how we can make it better.
31. Critical thinking requires a switch from employee to owner.
32. By being fully present in relationships and environments, critical thinkers have a high with-it factor.
33. Thinking critically is a skill. Being critical is a snare. Some people are not thinking critical. They’re just critical.
34. A snare is not something you do to someone else. A snare is something you fall into.
35. If you have thoughts on how to make someone else better, do you have secret thoughts that you hope to make them better or do you have secret thoughts that you hope they lose.
36. The clipboard is for giving a grade.
37. Jesus did not grade people’s feet. He washed people’s feet.
38. The towel is for lending a hand.
39. Reject passivity.
40. When you’re not in charge, it’s very easy to become passive.
41. At every level in our organization, there is information, experience, and perspective that affects our direction.
42. The lie is that when I’m in the leader’s seat. Instead, influence needs to be cultivated wherever you are.
43. If you have to tell people you’re the Governor of the state of Georgia, something has gone wrong.
44. If you see leaders who have to use positional authority, it’s probably a sign that have cultivated influence.
45. When you have position, you will use the influence you learned how to cultivate when you didn’t have the position.
46. “When there is something to blame, there is nothing to work on.” – Tim Cooper
47. When I am only waiting for someone to hand me something, I have the potential to become someone who will not be handed anything.
48. Leaders get busy and pick up things to do. Reject passivity.
49. Learn to reject passivity while under authority and you will become a leader worthy of authority.

Please join me on October 16th at 2:00 PM EST for a FREE webinar I will be conducting for INJOY Stewardship Solutions entitled How To Raise More Money In 2015 Than You Ever Thought Possible.  It will be a fun hour of equipping and training.  Click HERE or on the image to left to register today.