applied strategy in leadership, teams, projects & communication

For the past 15 years or more, I have primarily been viewing the Church from the inside.  That is to say, I’ve been an insider, where my primary time, energy and relational connections have been within the boundaries of the Church.

Prior to that, I worked in the business world, and although I was heavily involved in the Church, helping to run youth groups, later involved in lay leadership, etc., my primary time and energy and a good many (not all) of my relationships were outside the boundaries of the Church.

As an aside, some might argue against my depiction of the Church having “boundaries”, given some of the newer paradigms of trying to understand the relationship between the Church and the world, but if you’ve spent much time at all within a church, you just know that boundaries exist, implicit and explicit.

Lately, since having stepped outside the boundaries of the Church and investing my primary time and energy outside of that sphere, and beginning to develop more relationships outside the Church, I’ve been able to view the Church from the outside, after a decade and half of viewing it from within.  And, I have to tell you, it’s not a great sight.

You know how it is with a messy room or a dysfunctional family?  The longer you live and breathe in that space, the less you notice the mess and the dysfunction, and a new kind of “normal” sets in?

Now, I want to be careful to say that nothing I say here is intended as a slam or criticism of anyone or (more specifically) my previous church, which I still love and have much invested in.  BUT, it has been disturbing to me to walk in the world these past few months and realise just how out-of-touch, irrelevant, even perhaps boring, the Church is to those who are not inside it.  And I’m not talking about any particular denomination or movement here…  the people in the world have a rather smooshed up view of all that.  They just have this weird overlapping and confused mish mash of tradition and weirdness associated with “Church”, but they certainly don’t have any attraction or interest in it.  This much is very clear, and to be honest, as I’ve stood with them and looked back into the Church, it’s disturbing to me.  We’re certainly not the salt and light Jesus talked about…  instead we’re gloom and bland, if not actually a little unpleasant to the taste.

I don’t write this with any huge answers in mind…  perhaps that’s a later post when I have my head around this, but it’s been bothering me a lot lately…  the Church from the outside is far too different from the Church I was looking at from the inside, and although there will always be a degree of difference for a variety of good reasons, mostly I’m disturbed at how big the gap is from where I’m standing at the moment.

PS:  I should just add that (to torture Twain) the rumours of my loss of faith are highly exaggerated…  :-)

I’ve been quite amazed that considering the overwhelming success of the iPhone 4 launch on the US as the largest phone launch EVER (antenna-gate notwithstanding), and the likelihood that the iPhone 4 will also be the most successful phone launch in Australian history, there is almost a universal lack of info about specifics of getting a phone, and all this when the launch is theoretically this week.  Crazy!

Some carriers have given some basic info, but nothing too specific.  My own carrier, Vodafone, has been almost eerily silent on the matter.  Granted, they have a banner ad on their website, with a spot to register your interest.  I have done that.  To date, I have not received a SINGLE email from them, not even a confirmation that I’m registered.

I visited my local Vodafone store to get a bead on the situation, and they were quick to say they knew nothing.  I asked whether I could come in and buy an iPhone on Friday, the date that everyone (including Steve Jobs) has slated as launch date here in Australia, and they said they wouldn’t have any in stock.  Bizarre.  How could that be?!  They just didn’t know anything.  I’m amazed.

We’re not talking about some stupid Nokia phone here (one of 20 launches this year) or a new Motorola (one of a gazillion cheap nothing phones)…  we’re talking about what will no doubt be the single best selling handset in Australian history, and no-one seems to know anything about how you can actually buy one on the launch date.  Ridiculous.

In fact, I’m incredulous.  I would have thought this would be the biggest bandwagon every carrier would want to get in on and exploit to the maximum, and yet there’s just a weird silence.  It’s beyond strange.

At this point, after using the HTC Legend Android 2.1 phone for a few days now, I’m really missing my iPhone.

Largely, it’s about the apps.  There are key apps which I use all the time (particularly SimpleNote and Instapaper), which just don’t exist on the Android platform.  And, others that do just aren’t of the same quality.  For example, I have tried a bunch of Twitter apps and can’t find one that comes close in quality and functionality to the host of iPhone apps out there, which is an embarrassment of riches.  The Facebook app just seems clunky and not nearly as polished, and doesn’t have some of the functionality of the iPhone version.  This is an issue for me because I tend to only Twitter and Facebook off my phone, seldom off my Macbook Pro, and so these lame solutions really irritate after a while.

And, let’s not even go near media integration, which is woefully complicated, a total contrast to the ease of making things happen with the iPhone.

But, the Android platform seems quite good in some other ways, and (to quote someone else somewhere else on the web) if the iPhone never existed, this would be a very cool platform.  But, the problem is that the iPhone does exist.  And in terms of a comparison with the iPhone, this just doesn’t cut it in terms of simple, polished excellence.  No question, there are one or two features that I like on the Android (like the notifications system and multi-tasking), but those are exceptions.

So, whereas I thought I might enjoy this change-up, I’m now starting to count the days down to when I get my iPhone back from the chop shop.  And, as for the iPhone 4…  well, that I’m salivating for…  Apple have really hit it out of the park with that device, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Android platform is nowhere in the same neighbourhood.

Some of you may be interested to know that I have started a small tech company called TECH 4 SENIORS, focused on providing technology solutions for Seniors, and one of my intentions in purchasing this Android phone was to test it out as a possible alternative device to recommend to Seniors as a smartphone option, but I couldn’t seriously recommend this to Seniors at all because it’s just not a simple phone to use.

Recently, my beloved iPhone 3G experienced what the US Airforce would probably call an “uncontrolled interface” with the ground.  Tragically, the ground was concrete.

Initially, it appeared that the phone was ok, but after several hours I noticed some gray pixel lines extending across part of the screen, and over the next few days these became worse, resulting in a gray blotch in a strategic spot on the screen.  I thought I could live with it, but then I noticed during a flight to Sydney that this made things even worse.  Must have been the pressurised cabin, but something funky was going on.  In fact, the pixel problem seemed to migrate and shift a bit every day.  It became clear that I was going to have to get it fixed, especially since I was planning on handing this unit on to one of my kids when I upgrade in a short while to the iPhone 4.

So, I figured I would use the 2-3 week turnaround on the insurance repair job to check out the Android platform, and through a great stroke of fortune, Vodafone came out with the HTC Legend, and so I was able to grab one of those (running Android 2.1) and I will be using it as my primary phone for until my iPhone returns or is replaced.

Getting started on the Android was pretty straightforward, although I have to say there are some things that are not quite as intuitive as I would have expected.  I marked that down to just getting familiar with a new platform, but there are still things I’m discovering which surprise me because they’re kind of hidden 2 or 3 layers down in the user interface.  But, given that I am largely a Google guy with my email and calendar setups, it was a fairly simple business to get that sorted, although it was a bit confusing to have a second mail option on the phone which is apparently redundant if you’re using a Google setup.  Odd.

My initial impressions?  It’s fast.  I expected that because I have been using an older iPhone 3G.  The Legend’s screen is quite a bit smaller, and although I like the form factor, I miss the slightly larger touchscreen…  it’s just easier to use and read things on a bigger screen space, especially when you have to hold the device at the same time.  I don’t like the Android keyboard…  just seems a lot slower for me to get up to speed on it, but I’m also giving that some time to settle and see whether that’s just a familiarity thing.  At this point, I’m almost avoiding doing any typing other than the basics because it’s just painful.

I’m missing some of my most used and favourite iPhone apps that are a part of my workflow…  Instapaper and Simplenote being two critical apps that I’m missing big time.  There are others.  The Android app store is fairly woeful compared to the Apple one, and the quality of some of the apps seems less impressive.  Also, battery life on this thing isn’t as impressive as I thought it would be…  in fact, it doesn’t feel too different to my Apple experience.

I do love the multitasking on the Android, and it’s been actually sort of nice to be able to play Flash stuff, even though I fundamentally agree with Apple’s decision to give it the flick on their phone platform.

Media integration sucks on the Android.  You have to do a lot more work to get your stuff happening on your phone, and that makes this a poor choice for a novice user who just wants it to all work.  This was one of my prime reasons for playing with the Android, and I couldn’t serious recommend it to someone who is starting out with a smartphone…  they would find this a very difficult platform to get going on.

So, I have another couple of weeks with this thing, and although it is an interesting and cool platform, I’m already missing my iPhone, and I can’t imagine staying with the Android as my primary phone once the iPhone 4 comes out…  there is just no comparison, I don’t think.

By two of my favourite “artists”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D0VhS8qXT0&feature=player_embedded

I went out this week to buy my first Android phone because I wanted to get up to speed on what Google is doing and to be able to speak intelligently about what is shaping up to be the main rival to the iPhone in the smartphone arena.

It was an interesting experience, and one that made me immediately realise that Apple has nothing to fear for quite some time when it comes to Android.  Let me give you a few reasons why I believe this is the case…

When you go out to buy and iPhone for the first time, it’s not a super complicated matter.  About your biggest consideration is how much storage you want on the device.  At the moment, you also have the choice between the older 3G model and the 3GS model, but that’s not going to be largely a decision made on cost, given that a lot of suppliers are flogging off the older models for free on a plan (at least here in Australia).  But, there is essentially a single form factor, 2 hardware versions in terms of speed, and a couple of choices to be made about storage.  All of the devices are running the same OS version, with minor differences in software.

And, this has been huge for me…  I know that my phone will get all OS upgrades as they come along, and it’s almost like getting a new phone every 6 months or so.  This has been a unique experience for me in all my phone-owning experiments.

So, what’s the problem with Android?  Well, let’s just say I left the store knowing empty-handed and knowing that I needed to do a whole bunch of research before making a purchase.

Why?

1.  There are a range of hardware suppliers, varying form-factor and quality.  And it became apparent that the differences, especially with a touchscreen device, can be huge.  So, suddenly, I was confronted with not just a single option (which in my view is the best touchscreen device ever), but lots of possibilities… and some of them way better than others, and few of them as good as the iPhone experience (in my view).

2.  I quickly discovered that Android version was an issue.  Different devices I took a look at offered various versions of Android, most of them old (1.4 or 1.5)…  which is seriously different to 2.1 or the new 2.2 (which does look cool).  No problem…  I’ll just upgrade the OS…   hmmm…  well, actually, no, I was told, that may not be such a simple thing.  That, apparently, depends very much on the various suppliers and whether they will offer upgrades to various models.  This is a huge issue for me.  I love that my iPhone will definitely get an upgrade (although obviously this is becoming an issue for 3G owners going into iPhone OS 4).  The guy called HTC to ask them about the Magic for me, but no, they couldn’t confirm whether this would be able to be upgraded to 2.1, never mind 2.2.  OK then…  so now I have to put that into the consideration equation…  will the hardware I choose be able to stay current?!  More research before I could confidently purchase.

Now, I know some out there are going to rave about free choice and isn’t it wonderful that you have so many choices and options, etc., but I personally was confused and walked away without buying anything (yet), and I feel that anyone who did just buy something without really knowing what they were doing is likely to be quite unhappy within 6 months when their hardware was obviously not high quality, their software was not upgradeable, and they are locked into a 24 month contract.

This is a huge contrast with the iPhone experience, and is a natural consequence of the open/closed mindsets of Google versus Apple.  I actually love both companies and what they offer, but I can’t see Android enjoying long-term success if such a huge range continues to exist in the quality of the user purchase and product experience, which is largely defined not by Google, but by the handset makers.

And, I’m a guy who actually knows something about this stuff…  imagine the novice who has nothing to go by other than the ignorance of most sales people in the Vodafone/Optus/Telstra?!

I was in a business meeting the other day where a particular participant kept focusing on building a business so he could sell it.  He kept on repeating this idea, and it seemed for him a very strong motivator, this focus on the end point of his efforts, and it really got me thinking about this perspective a bit more deeply.

I know he is probably influenced quite heavily by classic business texts like “The E-Myth” by Gerber, where this view of the end-point of a business is strongly reiterated constantly as being one of the prime motivators for creating solid systems and structure, etc., but I’m not convinced it’s a healthy way to view the business of business.  In fact, I’m not even sure Gerber really buys into it when you read between the lines of his later texts more thoroughly.

Here’s what I think… it seems to me that anyone who builds a business with the explicit intention of selling it has profoundly misunderstood the true benefit of building a business.

And, I don’t think this applies just to building businesses.  It applies to a great many endeavours, where the means are often far more important than the intended ends, and indeed they often shape the ends and give them meaning in our lives in the broadest sense.  It’s a bit like someone being completely focused on their retirement, all the while forgetting that there’s a lot of life to be lived before that point, much of which might well change our experience and expectations of retirement when we finally get there.

There’s something about our busy age where the ends have become so important, and we have lost the importance of the journey and the way it shapes our appreciation of our destination.  Sometimes, we arrive somewhere and realise this is not the true destination, and that’s just fine…  part of our destination is surely growing and developing as a person, discovering more about ourselves and our world as we pass through it, and yet we seem in such a hurry to get somewhere.

So, perhaps the purpose of anything isn’t so much about its end-point as its mid-points…

So, I get this phone call today from a research group doing a little survey on a person I have recently done some business with…  would I mind answering a few questions about the person in question?

Well, the person in question was very helpful to me and I felt they went the extra mile in helping me out, so, no, I don’t mind answering a few questions about them…  especially if some good feedback would help them out.  No problems.

But then, this thing took a turn for the ridiculous when they asked me questions and I gave a good answer and then they started repeating everything I had just said SLOWLY as they typed in the responses.  After a couple of minutes, it was painful hearing them slowly garble my eloquent (!) responses into their typed efforts, not-so-behind-the-scenes.  Crazy bad!

I just don’t get it…  surely a business based around phone interviews would simply record the interview and then transcribe the responses afterwards?  That seems simple, elegant, and far more user-friendly, especially if you’re going to form the interview around open-ended questions which don’t simply require a yes/no or number answer.

Sometimes, you just shake your head in amazement…

FROM THE PASTOR

Last week, while in Melbourne for a few days, I enjoyed a taxi ride from the airport to the conference centre where I was staying, and met the most fascinating cab driver I’ve chatted to in quite a while.

It didn’t take long for me to engage him in conversation, and I quickly discovered that this lovely older man of Lebanese background, with his wonderful Lebanese/Aussie accent, had a great many opinions on many topics. We had a wide ranging discussion on all sorts of things from the demise of local garages and corner delis, the GST, the taxi industry in Melbourne, his family, and a bunch of other topics. It was a 45 minute ride and we got through a lot of stuff! One thing that was quite interesting, and also quite funny, was that he somehow managed to attribute pretty much every disaster in his life to John Howard… in fact, after a couple of problems that led back to John Howard, I began to think ahead as we covered new topics to try and anticipate how John Howard was responsible for them too! And, sure enough, John was indeed responsible for them too… sometimes obviously so, and sometimes through some creative connections.

It was an entertaining trip, but it did provide two highlights for me that I reflected on quite a bit later on…

Firstly, it was amazing to me that this guy looked at the world through a certain lens which game him a certain perspective of life, in which sadly John Howard was responsible for almost everything bad. It was kind of funny, but also sad. Funny to me, because standing from the outside I could see how absurd this was, but not so funny to him. And I wondered whether I do this too, in my own way. We all have a lens through which we view life, and I guess those lenses aren’t always good or helpful. What a powerful thing to be able to view life from a variety of perspectives and to gain a broader sense of reality! I prayed right then and there that God would keep me from being close-minded and one-eyed.

But the second highlight was very sad for me… this taxi driver, in the midst of another tirade against the terrible John Howard, paused and told me that he was sad because his life was not the life he had wanted to live and it was too late now… he was resigned, he told me, to the fact that his life would never be much. It was over. He was a poor taxi driver in Melbourne, doing the best he could with what John Howard had left him. In that moment, in a taxi cab hurtling down a Melbourne freeway, I was very sad for this man and his loss of hope and future. And I was so thankful that I don’t feel this way, and that my sense of my life’s journey is much richer and deeper than feeling at the mercy of every swirl and storm of fate.

If there is one thing I am very convinced of, it’s that our God is the God of new beginnings and fresh starts, and it is NEVER too late to begin again, and in God there is always a future and hope of better things.

When I was a kid, I remember playing a game on the beach that involved building a wall of sand to keep the rising tide on my little piece of beach at bay. At the tide slow rose and began to erode my sand barricade, I would jump from spot to spot reinforcing, pushing more sand into the gap, just in time for the next slosh of water to eat away at my line in the sand.

I often think about that memory when I think about leadership, whether it be on the line in a combat situation, or running a non-profit organisation, or the captain of a sports team, CEO of a multinational, a general in the war room, whatever… so often, one of the key functions of leadership is all about holding a line. In a number of ways we define certain kinds of boundaries through our leadership, sometimes in the form of progress made in certain areas, or conquering chaos and dysfunction in others, and then a good deal of our efforts become about holding the line, keeping the hill, repelling the enemies (direct and indirect) who desire to take back what we have gained. The attacks may be subtle and sneaky, and sometimes they may be full frontal assaults, but you spend a lot of energy motivating and cajoling your people to stand firm and hold the line.

It’s exhausting, and sometimes even feels futile. Sometimes, it’s very exciting as we progress forward rapidly and take new ground. But always, at the end of the day, there comes a line that must be held again, and in many respects, it seems to me that great leadership is defined by how well we are able to hold the line.

Perhaps, to put it another way, if you’re in a leadership role but there don’t seem to be any lines to be held with urgency, any progress to be guarded at all costs, any new territory to keep, then whatever you are doing, you’re not leading.