Thermal lunch boxes

I pulled open the door on the refrigerator at the office to put my tupperware full of rice and broccoli on the shelf, and was struck with amusement by what I found. The fridge had several insulated lunch boxes taking up shelf space. Now you tell me: if you have a container designed to keep the inside air in and the outside air out, and the inside temperature consistent in spite of the temperature of the outside air, why put a closed, thermal lunch box in the refrigerator???

There must be a ton of metaphor opportunities here. Not trusting the container to do its job. Not paying attention to how the container's being used. Unnecessarily taking up shelf space. Overcompensating for what might possibly be a small loss of some essential quality (cooling). Under-utilizing the equipment/tools/gifts that we have (using the lunch box simply as a lunch box without the cooling function).

With regard and apologies to my colleagues, it's a thermal lunchbox! What thermal lunchboxes do you have in your fridge??

Problems & conditions

The effects of the current global economic crisis are palpable. Move about for a few moments in any public venue and you'll feel the anxiety, fear and sorrow. More and more of us are facing the loss of jobs, the decline in expendable dollars, and mounting costs. For those of us who still have jobs, there's the emotional strain of knowing that we have while others do not, and even the fact that many who have jobs retain them only after laying off fellow employees that they respect. The current pain cuts in all directions.

When faced with painful challenges, it's natural to want to fix the problem, to set out to find the strategic answer to the perplexing questions. Products of the rational modern age, we are deluded by the concept that "no matter how big the problem, we can overcome it with a little good 'ole American ingenuity." To solve a problem, we pose a set of possible strategies, evaluate those strategies based on their effectiveness in solving the problem, apply the chosen solution, and expect the problem to go be overcome. If for some reason our chosen strategy doesn't work, then we either chose the wrong strategy or didn't apply it well enough. We did something "wrong" and return to our problem-solving mode expecting better results next time.

But what about those problems that we face that can't be strategically overcome? Church consultant Gil Rendle helped me with this dilemma by pointing out that we've been trained to treat every challenge as a problem to be overcome, whereas life's reality is that not everything is a problem to be overcome; sometimes we mistake conditions for problems.

Conditions are those parts of our life that we cannot change by simply identifying the right solution. Our current economic situation is a condition. For instance, within charitable organizations, it doesn't matter what strategies we apply for fundraising. The condition is that there is simply not the money available from donors. There is not a "right" strategy to overcome the declining contributions.

What is called for instead of solutions is a new set of frameworks or paradigms for life in the face of the these conditions or new realities. We don't just need more, bigger donors to sustain the church's life. We need a whole new fiscal framework for life as the church. What's required is not better fundraising techniques, but rather a fundamentally new relationship between money and ministry.

Being able to differentiate between problems and conditions is a critical skill for leaders. Knowing the difference and responding accordingly will help our organizations flourish in a world of shifting conditions and complex problems.

Blind spots

There are lots of driving habits (by other drivers, of course!) that bug me. Those that speed by me, pull in front, and then slow down. Those that haven't learned how to merge. Those that tailgate. Bright lights coming at you, and never turned down. Distracted cell phone users.

But perhaps the driving habit that I hate the most is the "blind spot driver," the one who races up behind, pulls over to pass, and then sits in my blind spot. What's up with that? It must have happened half a dozen times on my way to and from Indianapolis this past weekend. If you're going to pass, pass. If you're not, then get behind me!

Sometimes I can dismiss a bad driving move as an accident. Perhaps they didn't see me, or maybe they misjudged the speeds a little bit. Sometimes I can see that they're distracted by their phone or stereo or someone in the car. I don't like those things, but at least I understand them.

But driving in the blind spot is just rude. After all, it's them in my blind spot, not me in their blind spot. They can see me just fine, at least the front half of my car. Since I've usually seen them coming in my rearview mirror for a couple miles, they apparently have been traveling at a higher rate of speed than me. Why change now? My cruise control has not deviated. And can't they see that I'm about to run into the back of a slow moving Pinto, while they keep me blocked in?

I don't like blind spot colleagues or leaders either, those folks that kind of hover where you can't really see them, don't really know what they're up to, can't really figure out why they're lingering around where they are. Blind spot leaders prevent others from moving forward at the rate they need to travel and block the ability of those around them to respond most efficiently to the obstacles which arise in front of them. The hovering nature of blind spot leaders limits in many ways, but does almost nothing to help others keep moving along on their journey.

God grant me enough awareness to stay out of the blind spots of my fellow journeyers.

Distracting Shell

I usually avoid Shell gas stations, but this morning I needed to refill a rental car and it was the station on the way. I don't think I'll stop again any time soon. It has nothing to do with the gasoline, although there are some issues with their practices. No, it's simply because I found my experience there to add a level of chaos to my life that I really didn't need.

Shell is one of those stations with the television screens over the pumps. As I started pumping, I was thinking about a number of things related to my day, and then this screen lit up and the speakers started blaring out commentary. I don't even know what was on the screen, only that I was totally annoyed by this intrusion into my thoughts.

What are the limits to external stimuli in our culture? Apparently none. The amount of distraction in our world is astounding. Radios, TVs, cell phones (and their users), traffic, conversation, billboards, signs, mail; you know what I'm talking about.

I've started turning the radio off in my car. It's one of the few places where I can get a few minutes of relative peace and quiet. And I can't wait to get back in the car after pumping gas, for the last time, at Shell!

Questions & suggestions

What's the difference between a question, a suggestion, and a criticism? I think it's often the attitude of the person on the receiving end of the words. To one person a set of words is heard as a simple question. The same words to someone else might simply be received as a suggestion. Another person only hears criticism.

For organizations to function at their best, leaders must have the capacity to hear questions as questions, suggestions as suggestions, and criticisms as both questions and suggestions.

What happens when leaders don't have this capacity? Lots of unhealthy things. The organization's shared anxiety increases. The ability of the organization to learn is undermined. Employees lose confidence in their leaders, and leaders lose confidence in their employees. Crippling competition displaces creative collaboration.

In order to have the requisite attitudes, leaders must have the ability to distinguish between what they can control and what they can't. In the end the only area of ultimate control is self control. Leaders must hold the belief that the way they act and react has an impact on the situation. And this belief has to translate into responsibility.

If we are to lead we'd do well to audit ourselves for how we react to questions and suggestions. If we find ourselves threatened, we need to ask why. We also need to audit how often we hear criticism. We can lessen the amount of criticism we hear by hearing instead the questions and suggestions that will increase the capacity of life together.

What are the questions, suggestions, and criticisms that you're listening to these days?

One of them

Today's quote of the day in the N.Y. Times is the report of a young woman who, when asked what she did for a living, told a third party acquaintance she worked in the banking industry, and the reply was, "Oh, you're one of them."

It reminds me of the reaction I sometimes get when I tell church people that I work for the national staff. After I accepted my current position with the denomination I was in a group of pastors and church leaders that I'd been working with for over a year. They were thanking me for my work with them and sharing comments about the process that we'd been through together.

The funny thing was that it sounded more like a post mortem than congratulations. It was almost like, "Oh, you're one of them now. It was great knowing you, but now you've gone over to the other side." I found myself protesting, "But it's still me. I've not changed. The things I know and love and am passionate about and committed to are no different than the last time we were together." In fact, I was acting on those very things, wanting to offer them to the wider church!

How often do we dismiss people with gifts, talents, personality, and passion because we identify them as "One of them?" We categorize people all the time, before we even have a chance to know them. And we categorize them after we get to know them.

Eric H. F. Law, diversity training specialist who founded the Kaleidoscope Institute, has a great video on YouTube about perception and how we stereotype others. You can watch it here.

I think about Jesus and how he approached the other. I don't know of anywhere in Scripture where he dismissed the other by saying, "Oh, you're one of them." If he would have done that he wouldn't have eaten at the home of Zaccheus, or conversed with the Samaritan woman, or given the Pharisees the time of day.

It will be a different kind of world when we can overcome our penchant to say, "Oh, s/he's one of them." It will be a better world.