The Motive + Start With Why | Summer Reads | Part 1 of 7

Welcome back to the Impact Leadership Podcast. In today's episode, we'll be kicking off our new series, “Summer Reads.” Chip Parker will be discussing two books: The Motive by Patrick Lencioni, as well as Start With Why by Simon Sinek. It's important to frequently evaluate why we lead, not just for clarity, but also for conviction. Let’s dive in!

Thanks for listening to the Impact Leadership podcast! We are so glad that you're here. If you're looking to connect with Chip Parker, send him a message at chip@theorchardcc.org. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. We'll catch you in the next episode!

Transcript

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Hey everybody, welcome into the Impact Leadership Podcast. My name is Chip Parker and I'm the lead pastor at the Orchard Community Church, a multi-site church in North Central Florida working to impact lostness and impact the next generation. This podcast is all about helping you as a church leader grow your leadership to grow your impact. Let's hop into this week's conversation. All right, welcome in. I am really looking forward to this conversation that we are digging into today, a conversation I'm calling Summer Reads, because what I want to do over the next few weeks is share with you some of my favorite leadership books, books that I've read over the years that have been really impactful and stuck with me after I've got done reading them. I really kind of want to just share with you why I think those books were helpful, some of the practical applications I was able to take away from them, some of the important things that maybe I didn't see coming, but have stuck with me ever since, and then lead you into some questions that can help you as well. So this isn't really a book report. This is more of a summary of why I think it's helpful for leadership. And you're gonna see these books are some in the business field, some in the church world, some in the field of personal leadership. But I really hope that they will be helpful to you and maybe inspire you to pick up a copy yourself. In this first conversation, I want to look at two books that really kind of have a shared theme, if you will. One book is by Patrick Lencioni called The Motive, and the second book is by Simon Sinek entitled Start with Why. So maybe you've heard of those books. If you run in leadership circles, you've probably heard about Start with Why, but I don't know that you've heard about Lencioni's book, The Motive. Now, what you're gonna see in this conversation is I have a couple of Lencioni books on here because I think he is one of the best leadership authors that we have today. But his book, The Motive, kind of flies under the radar. You see, The Motive is a book where he explores the internal reasons that leaders pursue leaderships. Why do we want to be leaders? Why should we be motivated to be leaders? And through his, you know, patented leadership fables, what he argues is that many leaders desire the reward of leadership while avoiding the sacrifices that leadership requires. He tells us that healthy leaders learn to embrace difficult conversations, organizational clarity, accountability, and repetition. And man, that was one of the things that I didn't see coming. That part of being a leader is being willing to repeat yourself. And the truth is, that's not always a very fun thing to do. We think if we say it once, that should be the maximum number of times that we have to say it. It's just not true. If you're gonna be a leader, you're gonna have to be willing to lean into repetition. And we lean into these things like repetition, because what we understand is that leadership is stewardship, not status. And I think that was one of the big takeaways that I took from this book is that leadership is about our stewardship, our responsibilities, not about our status, not about our privilege. I see far too many people who want to be leaders because of the status that it gives them, the privilege that they see that comes with it, the fact that they get to be the boss, they get to be in charge. If that is your motivation for being a leader, you're not gonna be a good leader, you're not gonna be a healthy leader, and you're probably not gonna be an effective leader. True, healthy, good leaders are leaders that have internal healthy motivations for their leadership. They see leadership as a responsibility, as something that they are to steward, not just a privilege they get to hold. Now, the next book is one that you may be a little more familiar with, Simon Sinek Start with Why. And that book, Start with Why, is not really about the internal motivations of a leader, but it does touch on internal motivations of our organizations. Like, why is it that we do what we do as an organization? So, Start with Why focuses on organizational purpose. And in the book, Cynic argues that people are inspired by purpose. That's why our organizational purpose and the clarity of it is so important. More than products, more than programs, more than strategies, people are inspired by purpose. And he says this great organizations continually communicate why they exist. Now, I think this is true of every organization. I think it is more true of churches. As churches, we have to be clear on why we exist for the glory of God, for the good of our neighbor, to reach those who don't know Jesus. It is so important that we talk about these. Why do we exist? And I think when you take start with why, together with the motive, it gives you a good sense of purpose in leadership. What is your personal purpose? What is your organizational purpose? And then how do those things fit together? Maybe we could put it like this in just one question. Why do we do what we do? Why do we do what we do? Now that we is both a personal we, like why do we, you, I, as leaders do what we do, and why do we as organizations, businesses, churches do what we do? If you don't know how to answer that question, leadership is going to be tough. Let me just share with you, just again, a couple of principles I took from these books that I think will be helpful to you. Number one, we've already said it, leadership is a responsibility before it's a privilege. Leadership is a responsibility before it's a privilege. If you see leadership as a privilege, you are already heading in the wrong direction. Another one, and maybe this is a little bit of a different takeaway from these books, this really kind of came more from start with why, is that people will follow conviction more quickly than they follow competence. Now, here's why I think that is important. It's important because if we do not have conviction as leaders, if we don't have an internal motive, if we don't have organizational purpose, it's gonna be hard to get people to follow us. But I also think this idea that people follow conviction more quickly than competence is verifiably true because of how many people follow idiots. I mean, I hate to say it that bluntly, but there are people who are not very competent, does not mean that they don't have followers. Another leadership principle here is that purpose is what sustains leaders through leadership adversity. If you don't have an internal purpose, if you don't have an organizational purpose, it is going to be hard for you to keep going when the going gets tough. So purpose sustains leaders through adversity. Another principle I took from these books, clarity must be repeated. Clarity must be repeated. Clarity must be repeated. And I get it, it is so aggravating to say the same things over and over and over, especially if you are like me and you're always looking for what's next, what's new. But effective leadership means that we are willing to repeat, we are willing to be clear. And then maybe finally, a good leadership principle is healthy motives produce healthy culture. If you don't have healthy motives as a leader, you're not gonna have a healthy culture. You don't have healthy motives as an organization, you're not gonna have a healthy culture. Healthy motives produce healthy cultures. So I think those are some principles I've taken from this book. Maybe it's kind of whet your appetite to get into the motive, to get into start with why. If you've never read them before, I definitely think it's worth your time. But let me leave you with a couple of applications that even if you don't read the book, that probably are gonna be helpful to you in your leadership. Application number one, I think you need to regularly evaluate why you lead. When is the last time you've done that? When have you asked yourself about your why? When is the last time that you've clarified your organizational why? We need to regularly evaluate why we lead. Secondly, I would say you need to work to create simple language that communicates your why. Create simple language that communicates your why. Now, I enjoy this. I enjoy wordsmithing. I enjoy thinking of ways to say truths that are sticky and relevant and clear. And I would encourage you, even if that's not your thing, to spend some time on it. Create that simple language that does a good job of communicating your why. And then finally, application, build systems that reinforce alignment. Alignment around your personal motivations and leadership and around your organizational why. Build these systems that support it because, as we've said in our conversations before, that your systems are either aligning to your mission or they're taking away from your mission. So, why do we do what we do? I hope that's been helpful to you. Check out those books by Patrick Lincioni, The Motive, and Simon Sinek Start with Why. And I'm excited to share some more books with you next week. One last thing before we end this conversation is just let me say if you are a leader, specifically in the local church context or even outside of it, I would love to be able to connect with you if I can help. If you would like, I'm gonna have my email in the show notes. Reach out to me. We can set up a time to connect because here's what I know leadership is bigger than any one of us. If we are truly gonna have an impact in our communities, we need to lean on each other and we need to learn from each other. So I would be more than happy to do what I can to connect with you and help you lead right where you are. So reach out, let us know how we can connect. But until then, we'll see you right back here next week on the Impact Leadership Podcast.