7 Ways to Stop a Movement

I found this great thought on Twitter that I had to share with you: "7 things stop a movement: big buildings, big programs, big personalities, big control, big money, big meetings, big policies." (via @floydmcclung) Isn't it amazing that the very things which are most likely to kill new ideas and movements are the very definition of success for many of us? Is that true for you? As you think about your innovation and the movement that you are seeking to start around your idea, consider how you are defining success. If you are dreaming about someday sitting in a corner office of a big building presiding over big meetings, you have not made the shift to a leaner and more networked dynamic that define innovations today. You may be wildly successful with your idea and always work out of your home. So don't buy into those old ideas of success and kill your innovation in the process. Be willing to redefine how your innovation might grow and develop into a movement.

Rethinking Publishing

I have been focusing much of my innovative energies on new solutions for publishing. Recently I shared a white paper on Cause-Oriented Publishing. Just today I did a guest blog post for Somersault Group (a new publishing services company). Take a moment to read about what it looks like when Publishing turns into Leadership. And thanks to The Somersault Team for letting me be a part of their conversation!

Take 24 hours . . . create a movement

In Seth Godin's latest TED Talk, he challenges us about the way that leadership happens. Seth shares three phases of how leadership has manifested itself. First it came through factories and industrial efficiency. Then it came through television and mass media. Now he says that leadership is exhibited through ideas. And the groups that form around ideas are called Tribes (the name of his new book).

"That what we do for a living now, all of us, I think, is find something worth changing, and then assemble tribes that assemble tribes that spread the idea and spread the idea. And it becomes something far bigger than ourselves. It becomes a movement. So when Al Gore set out to change the world again, he didn't do it by himself. And he didn't do it by buying a lot of ads. He did it by creating a movement. Thousands of people around the country who could give his presentation for him. Because he can't be in 100 or 200 or 500 cities in each night." Seth Godin

This talk highlights a significant change from industrial power to media savvy and finally to the harnessing of information. It is so important for any missional innovator to understand this trending. This trending looks overwhelming but it is very good news for nonprofits. Why is that?

It is simple. In our nonprofit reality, we don't have huge factories that push out our services. We also don't have the money to take advantage of the mass media the way that the large companies do. But we do have ideas. We have ideas that can be honed, harnessed and delivered to those who will be passionate about them. We are probably more suited to create powerful ideas that move people's hearts than anyone else.

So this latest movement of leadership into the hands of those who formulate and present ideas gives us all some exciting opportunities. This means that you don't have to have the infrastructure to produce product or the money to fund advertising to make a difference.

So listen to Seth's talk above, and begin thinking more about your big idea. How will you lead out? How will you present your idea to the world and use it to change the world for the better? How will your innovation bring glory to the Kingdom? That's our task as mission innovators.

Are you being eaten alive by criticism?

Every innovator will be criticized. No matter how nice you are, how loving, how considerate, how calculating or how sympathetic. The simple reason is that change and new ideas bring criticism. There are people who do not want change, or maybe it would be better to say that they are truly afraid of it. Out of that resistance and fear will come criticism.

I am listening to a book called "Tribe" by Seth Godin. It is an excellent resource on innovation and I will highlight it next weekend. One of the things he says in the book is that the fear of criticism keeps us from stepping out and doing the innovative things that are necessary to move our causes forward.

In my life, I will admit that I am very afraid of criticism. It is like termites eating away at me from the inside where no one else can see it. Many times I have ideas that I just don't feel I can share because of the criticism that might come my way. I don't think I am alone. I think that my fears are pretty normal.

Moreover, I think that under similar fears are hiding hundreds - maybe thousands - of good ideas. We are being eaten alive by criticism or the fear of it. Our organizations are languishing because we will not share our breakthrough ideas. Our causes are stagnant because we will not put forth the new thinking. Our relationships suffer because we will not share the ideas that might bring insight and new horizons.

So what should we fearful yet creative people do? Should we throw off all inhibition and share everything? Should we clamp up and wait for people to ask us for our ideas?

I think this particular challenge calls for a few things:

1. Love: We need to bring our ideas out in love and kindness for those who might struggle with them. We need to realize that there can be many reasons for criticism that we do not understand or appreciate.
2. Courage: If God is calling us to innovate in a certain way, we need to be brave enough to bring our idea out even if we know we will be criticized.
3. Dependence: We need to know that the success of our idea rests completely in God's capable hands - not our energetic efforts. We need to give our idea to God and allow Him to bring it out.

So if you are afraid of sharing your idea today, take courage. One of the things that I daily try to remind myself is that my identity as a person is not in what others think of me. My identity is in Christ and His love and care for me.

Now that we have talked about that, are there any ideas that you feel God is asking you to share? Share them with this community and ask for prayer as you pursue them.