I had the pleasure of contributing to the SUNDAYMAG this month. If you work at a church this free resource is priceless. Make sure you check it out. This month Jonathan asked that I talk about design a little bit:

Design is so much more than what happens in Photoshop or Illustrator. The beauty of design can reach deeper than any After Effects project, any really good edit, or any interesting live experience. Design is about emotional experience and communication. It’s about the feeling you get when something is right.

Good design communicates the tone of what we’re sharing and how people interact with these thoughts. Good design starts with a feeling, a plot, and an emotion. Great design, however, changes how we interact; it’s the difference between good and great experiences in our lives.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

PHoto Props

Nashville is littered with cool coffee shops. Everyone has a favorite for a different reason. One place has amazing Iced Cubans. Another place is a hipster magnet, yet another has the best vibe and seating. This one roasts its own beans, while the other place has a live stage and music. The one common thread at each of these shops is the clientele that is mostly made up of dreamers, musicians, authors, or just well wishing creative types. But why? Why coffee shops? A recent study by the Journal of Consumer Research identified that people are more creative with ambient sounds, similar to those found in coffee shops (about 70DB). Highly creative people tested as being better thinkers and having better ideas in these environments because they’re forced to focus just enough to not be distracted by the sounds. While this may be the scientific reason, I think there are some others:

A fresh canvas every day. Don’t underestimate the inspiration of a new space.
We understand the importance of community. Voices and opinions make us better creatively.
We don’t feel like we are at work because we are out of our normal routines.
The trip to the coffee shop alone exposes us to new images, ideas, sounds, and inspiration. The trip often times can be the best part.
There are less distractions from well wishing co-workers walking in to “get a second with you.”
There’s not the temptation to clean your desk, chat with a co-worker, etc.
Our focus is on our current project.
We have shifted from familiar patterns to a new pattern. This ignites our focus and creativity.

So where is your favorite place to work? Why do you like working there?

Photo Props

At times, we all need a little boost – a jolt to our creativity.

The truth is there isn’t a “wall” that we hit. We simply run out of ideas and inspiration.

Too often during our creative process we forget to hit the pause button. This is especially true of creative people who work in the church. Sunday always feels a day away.

So here’s a quick exercise developed by the good folks over at “the world’s greatest museum of art and design” – the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Turn off all distractions. You will need 30 minutes to complete this exercise without interruption.

Find an image or object that inspires you.

For 5-10 minutes, just study the image.

Walk away and reflect on the image. During this time you can write words, draw pictures, etc, but it all should be based on the object or image you ‘ve just studied.

Rejoin the group (2 or more) and share what you saw and then what it made you feel.

How we engage our thoughts the rest of the day will be shifted. The silence and focus will change our our brain processes. And, by the end, we will feel like our creativity has been re-engaged and we’re back to being the amazing artists for which God created us to be!

Are you in?

Photo Props

Have you ever experienced that awkward moment where you read a post, blog, or tweet and think “man, I would like to share that with my friend, my boss, my co-worker…but it might come across as I think they aren’t doing a good job in these things?” Let’s remove that tension. If someone has forwarded you this list, it’s not that they think you’re not treating them right – it’s just a chance to share some thoughts. Okay, now that we’ve covered that…

I have had the honor of walking with creative people as a profession for the past decade; people that I consider to be some of the most creative people in the world. In fact, I still get to walk with some great artists, and I love the heart of an artist. They approach life, work, and relationships very differently. The way artists act, react, process, and move through life are different than the rest of the world. And you know what, that is perfect. It’s how God designed us and why we feel forced to create or else we’ll die.

Not everyone can understand these unique traits. Artists, whether we like it or not, are peculiar. So if you look at the creative people on your teams and wish you could figure out how to connect with them on a different level or understand them, here are some things you should know:

• Invest in relationships with them to the degree they are comfortable. – Don’t force it. Take time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Allow time to build the bridge. Look for common interests and ways you can show you care. Artists are not aliens – treat them like people.
• Permission emotion – Allow emotion to flow. These emotions good, bad, ugly, and sometimes even inappropriate; help them connect. Give safe and clear space to freely feel.
• Provide direction – Once the emotion has passed, provide clear direction. Artists want to know expectations and goals. Don’t confuse a lack of perceived order as a lack of caring. Direction provides a canvas from which artists create.
• Don’t allow crutches. Sometimes the hard way is the best way – and the way with the most creative return.
• Be inclusive – The more involved artists feel the more ownership and quality that can be produced.
• Brag and correct. – Brag in public and correct in private. Art is personal to artists, so treat it that way.
• Understand the power of motivation and inspiration. – Rules, systems, and processes are all necessary, but make sure to frame them the right way. Lead with inspiration and motivation as much as possible as opposed to leading with regulations and formula. It doesn’t mean there isn’t order, but it puts vision before function.
• Don’t expect the process to look the way you would do it – Artists are going to do things different. Once the expectations have been set, get out of the way and let the process unfold. Sometimes it may scare you or not make sense but the data proves itself in the final product. Artists frequently get hired because they’re different – but it’s also why they get fired. Provide space and trust. If the final art is not right, talk about it.
• Give space to communicate – have open, honest, and hard conversations. Do it often and lead with WHY. Artists usually have a reason for WHY, but maybe it doesn’t make sense.
• Take time. – Artists will want to feel. Give them space to feel. Artists will have questions. Let them ask. Artists care deeply and will want to talk about what they care about. It may not always be cognizant, but it will be worth it.
• Celebrate the wins with the same passion and frequency that you coach through the losses. – This one works for everyone, not just artists.

Now, my artist friends, don’t take these things for granted. We have a responsibility to not “be creative just for the sake of being creative.” Don’t be weird just to be weird. Be who God created you to be. Share your gift passionately, but remember – we are not bigger than the mission or organization. It’s not about our gifts or us. We get to be part of this amazing thing and we need to make sure we are helping move momentum forward and not bottle-necking the ability for our organization to be its absolute best.

What would you add to this list?

As creative leaders we sometimes need to refuel. Being in community and being challenged by other leaders is one way to refuel the tank and recenter ourselves around the passion for leading. July 16–19, in Kansas City, worship teams from all over the country will be joining together for what is being called “the biggest worship leader conference of the year”. Here is what you can expect:

Unique Workshop Experiences
You will have more than 60 unique learning experiences to choose from; and with an added workshop time slot this year, you will be able to attend 9 different workshops. It’s like squeezing a year of training and experience into only 3½ days. Lead wiser, plan better, play or sing more expansively, offer the prayers of your congregation with more authority and humility–play, present or perform with greater passion, devotion and skill. And ride the edge of technology without falling off.

Song DISCovery Listening Panel
Get your latest worship song in front of a panel of experts, which will include songwriters and major publishers, for critique and the chance to get your song on an upcoming Song DISCovery CD. Bring your song on a CD along with 5 copies of the lyrics. Songs will be chosen at random.

Conference Choir
They will again be having a conference choir in Kansas that will be lead by Stan Endicott. The choir will be singing on Wednesday night with Paul Baloche. Click here to sign up for the 2012 NWLC Conference Choir. (The choir will be limited to 100 people.)

Join some of my friends Israel Houghton, Paul Baloche, and Elevation Worship in a time of worship and training.

Use coupon code BLOG15 during checkout to save 15% (excludes mentoree and international rates):

I saw this online tonight and thought it was perfect for the work we get to do.

Since we were little, we wanted to create for a living. As kids, we dreamt of a life that allowed us to do what we loved as a job. The opportunity to wake up in the morning and go to a job we loved and to do the thing we felt God created us to do…

Then, there was the season of life before we got there. That season was hard.

We waited tables, did temp jobs, or whatever you did to make ends meet – all the time believing one day it would happen and we would be able to “live our dream.”

Then, it happened. We were so excited. We promised to be good stewards of this job. We were eager. We went the extra mile. We didn’t allow setbacks to discourage us. We never looked for excuses. We would do whatever it took to get things done the right way. We promised we would go in every day and treat it like it was our first day on the job. We vowed to never take it for granted.

But then it started to get hard. We had some disappointments. We failed. We got corrected. We underwent some setbacks. We ran into some politics. We realized that the JOB part of this job is actually really hard work. Our passion started to drift into negativity. We started to complain. We stopped creating solutions and started identifying problems. We lost that drive to get up. We started looking forward to Friday more than Monday. And in that moment, we forgot about the days we would dream that we could live this life. We forgot about all the people who would kill to trade positions with us. We forgot about the opportunity and the influence we have. We got self-consumed.

So today, take it back. Take it back to the first day on the job. Stop allowing yourself to feel entitled to anything. Don’t buy the hype that your past achievements have created some type of expectation that you deserve anything. Take it back to the days you created because it was what you did for fun, not what you did for a check. Today, walk in and look around at what God has given you…and be thankful. Be so darn thankful that you do your work remembering you are living your dream. Remembering that it’s a pleasure. That it’s an honor. That you are a member of an elite club that is allowed to do what they love for a living.

If you’re not living your dream yet, don’t give up. Your time is coming and, when it does, you need to remember the feeling you have today – that hunger – so you don’t waste your opportunity. It’s going to happen and you better be ready.

Are you living your dream? If so are you being a good steward of that dream? If not, what are you doing to prepare yourself for your dream job?

Photo Props:

Have you ever wondered why the important messages we’re trying to share aren’t sticking?

How do we make sure that we’re doing our best at communicating our most important and culture building ideas?

Peter Bregman has developed what he calls the Mouthwash Principle. The Mouthwash Principle goes like this:

“If you want to make an impact on people, to influence their behavior in some way, you have to keep sharing the message, coming at it from different angles and at different times long after you think you’re done. It’s critical to powerful leadership and communication.”

In other words, rinse and repeat.

Two of the most powerful communicating forces in our world today – politicians and advertisers – have figured this out. Politicians will go out and share the same message over and over, from city to city, thousands of times. Advertisers work diligently to find ways to frame their product into your life.

So, why is it different for us? According to Bergman, “There is a big difference between saying something and hearing it.” We have to make sure that our most important stuff is said until it’s heard.

We cast vision. Maybe we tell the story a time or two. We share our new idea with a handful of people and then the world keeps moving and we wonder why didn’t it stick? The reason? Repetition breeds results. We have to make sure we’re not only “pitching” but we’re creating a creative, healthy, and clear runway for our ideas. It comes down to the power of expectation around an idea.

When we have important information to share, we have to use the Mouthwash Principle to get it across.

Repeat the important stuff. Tell it over and over and over again. We may feel like we’re beating these thoughts to a pulp but, if they’re going to thrive, they must be reinforced. Further, if these ideas matter so much to our organizations and us, they’re worth repeating. Repeating the same thing the same way can often build frustration…so find alternative creative ways to share the same message. Find ways to make examples of the idea. Identify alternative ways of saying the same thing and then, point it back. When a behavior or reinforcement of the idea happens, pause and celebrate that moment.

You might feel like you’re being excessive but you’re really showing what matters most to you; you’re setting clear expectations for teams and the organization. Even if you start to hate hearing yourself repeat it, still do it because this might be the time it breaks through the clutter and sticks.

Have you been intentional using Mouthwash principle to share ideas and messages inside your organizations?

Photo Props

Leadership can be tricky. Expectations creep in stronger while vision continually leaks. It’s not easy to create engaging, creative, and collaborative environments. Further, leaders are human which means we’re 100% guaranteed to make mistakes, mess up, and fail from time to time.

But don’t give up hope – great creative cultures can be built. It takes very intentional work and remembering a few important behaviors:

• The gift of not always being right. – As a leader, we don’t have to know everything. The illusion of control will kill us if that is our goal. We have teammates for a reason – use them. Allow teammates to do what they do and shine and accept that we’re not going to be always right. That is what makes our team strength not a personal weakness.
• Willingness to admit and own mistakes. – Own our personal mistakes will happen. It will set a tone for teammates to do the same and not try to hide errors, but be willing to share them so teams can adjust.
• Grace to coach. – When things go wrong, use the moment to coach but don’t hold on to the issue personally. Remember to extend grace to the level you would want grace extended to you…all the while holding people accountable for their responsibilities and for getting better.
• Protection from the haters. – Protect our artists. As a leader, we are responsible to buffer for our teams. Let them create passionately without the fear of haters.
• Hustle from the top down. – Simply: the pace of the leader is the pace of the team. It’s not about 80 hour workweeks, but about how we approach the hours we do work.
• Tell the truth. – Leaders have to make hard decisions at times. Be upfront and honest at all times.
• Set expectations. – Staying on the same page as the rest of your team is crucial. Set the stage for success by being clear on what is expected and what roles are required to be filled. When team members fail to meet these expectations, be willing to coach and create a path to their success.
• Value people – People are not widgets. Treat them like people. Think about them as people – not spots on an Org chart. Engage them and relationships with them so you know WHO they are not just what they do.
• Treat everyone fair, but not the same. – People are different and need to be approached differently. Everyone will not be treated the same, but everyone should be treated fair. Make sure to not play favorites.
• Deflect & Own. – Deflect praise to team members and the teams work. Own blame and error individually as the leader, then coach and correct our team. Throwing people under the bus never builds good culture.

Continue working hard to create amazing creative environments. When we do, we set up our teams to win, create the ability to bring in the best talent, and build cultures where we actually LIKE to do what we love with people we enjoy working with.

What would you add to the list?

I have a hard time being satisfied. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it can be venomous to moral. I have be be very intentional not to allow this to happen. The truth is, like Jim Collins says, good and great are very closely related yet are enemies of one another.

For years I worked in an industry that was changing so fast we had to always ask questions about not just the market but the connectivity to that market. We had to look for problems before they arrived…seeking them out so we could solve them quickly.

Albert Einstein – once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them…
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

We have a choice every day: to manage problems or seek opportunities. We have been taught to be afraid of problems. We hide them, get embarrassed by them, choose to be intimidated by them, or hope someone else will solve them for us. It makes sense, as leaders are faced with problems every single day. But, what if we changed the way we approached our problems?

A recent survey of employers said that growing organizations are desperate to hire people who seek out problems. Problem sourcing helps us be more creative and more prepared for growth, opportunity, and adjustments. It takes an innovative and creative person to see problems before they arise. When we actively pursue problems, we take the power away from the problem and engage imagination and possibility. Imagining future problems allows us to imagine future solutions. Finding problems opens the door for being our creative best.

Do you fear problems or are you ready to go hunting for them?

A few days ago I sent this tweet out:

Coach Scott Brooks on Kevin Durant: “He works like he has no talent. He works every day like he wants to make the team. That’s his mindset.” #hustle

Since hitting send, it has become the most retweeted tweet I have ever sent.

Everyone loves the idea of HUSTLE, so why is it so rare?

There are a few things about HUSTLE that not everyone has figured out:

• It’s not just working a lot…it’s how you approach your life.
• It’s a FREE resource that can give you an advantage over your competition.
• Hustle comes with a cost…sweat.
• It’s one of the few things that you’re always in control of – no one else gets to control your work or how you approach your work.
• Everyone likes the idea of Hustle, but few people like the execution of it.
• Hustle will seperate you from the pack.
• Hustle trumps talent.
• Hustle magnifies strengths.
• Hustle comes from passion, not books, quotes, tweets, or talk.
• Hustle amplifies data.
• Hustle requires the extra 2% that makes a big difference.
• Hustle isn’t very sexy.
• Hustle takes work.
• Hustle never gets satisfied.
• Hustle hates entitlement.

The truth is people who are willing to hustle understand that what they GET to do is a GIFT. They cherish that gift because they know how special it is and how rare it is for people to get to do things they love. They never take that for granted and they respect the fact that they’re blessed with an opportunity. When we embrace this concept, we realize we have to stay hungry, stay focused, and stay willing to do whatever it takes. Hustle is about stewardship, not chatter.

So let’s go create. Let’s make amazing stuff…like HISTORY…and let’s do it understanding the amazing blessing we get to live. Who’s with me?