1. Failure is not always a bad thing.
Pastor and author Dave Gibbons spoke of needing a different set of metrics by which we measure our success. Here's a few of his quotes on the subject of failure:
Failure is success to God.
Your failure is your platform to humanity.
Your weakness and failures are often a gift from God.
Weakness guides us more than our success.
Authors Chip and Dan Heath, whose book Made to Stick is one of my favorites, talked about how to affect change. They said in times of change, failure is a necessity. They also said we need to work to the point of failure, just like lifting weights. You don't keep lifting the same amount of weight and expect to get stronger; You have to lift weights that are too heavy for you until they aren't too heavy anymore.
2. Focus on the fringe.
Gibbons defines this as being a 3rd Culture Leader. Focus on the misfits not the masses. It goes along with Gary Hamel's point of learning from the renegades and positive deviants. The people who don't think, look, act like us are probably the best source for new ideas.
3. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
That was a quote former presidential advisor David Gergen shared.
4. Look for the bright spots.
The Heath brothers talked about this one for quite some time. The idea is to look for what's working and build on it. Here's one quote that stuck with me:
The bright spots are proof that you can solve the problem.
5. It's not OK to let people starve.
Bono - yes, that Bono, spoke of the need for the church to act like the church and stop looking the other way while people die of starvation or lack of medicine. That one is still making my stomach queasy.
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