So, in this section, you know, we're going to talk about believing in your team until
they believe.
Belief might be one of the most powerful leadership elements that every kingdom leader has this
unique capability.
Because when you learn to live in what you believe, now remember, upstairs, we have faculties
that are way superior to our downstairs faculties.
Downstairs faculties are your mind, your will, your emotions, and all those get renewed,
they get refreshed, they get empowered, but when the upstairs faculties work, so when
your mind knows what your heart believes, because it's what the heart man believes,
so when your mind knows what your heart believes, it goes into high energy mode, gets creative.
Well, if that's true, then we need to think this, this, this, and this, and it can lay
out and do mind maps and do all the cool stuff, because at this point, your mind just got
ignited.
So the way you set your mind free, the way you upgrade your IQ and your creativity and
your ability to think clearly and to have clarity is to become really clear about what
you believe.
This is huge.
And by the way, the world's figuring this out by themselves.
So that's how we function from rest, because we become completely confident in who He is
for us, and we cease from relying on our own efforts as the guarantee of our success, and
we start to depend on His nature as the guarantee.
That's why the scripture calls the Holy Spirit the Father's guarantee.
He's the seal of your salvation.
In other words, the Father gave you the Holy Spirit to seal it in.
He's going to take everything that belongs to Jesus, make it yours, He's going to teach
you, train you, help you execute, make it, live astonished lives.
And so you start to live astonished because of the three in you.
You've got the Creator, you've got the Redeemer, and you've got the Counselor, well He's more
than a Counselor, the Implementer, the One who makes stuff happen, the Holy Spirit.
I love the relationship that we have with all three, and it's amazing that they're one.
So we know that our identity is a powerful tool for leaders.
And when you start speaking to the identity of your people, whether they know the Lord
or not, you speak to your people with that identity in them, and do not doubt what you
think they could do.
Imagine if Martin Luther said, I have a dream, but I'm not sure they can pull it off, right?
That would kill the dream.
So this unwavering belief in your team is born out of the fact that you've had a moment
with the Lord in which the Lord's given you something to believe about them.
So people are way more inspired by what you believe than what you do or what you say.
People care much more about what you believe than the products or services you offer.
And so what helps people join you in your team, to get behind you, to commit to your
leadership, to join your movement, to join your business?
You think about it, all businesses are really a movement of a sort.
And so people are motivated why you believe what you do.
And of course we've all listened to Simon Sinek, when people know why you do what you
do, they know how to join you.
Back to people can follow you when you're simple.
So what's the simple why?
So at Brilliant, we believe in goodness and therefore I've chose to be good to you.
People say, well why are you doing this for our clients?
Because we believe in goodness and we've chosen them to be good to you.
And I'm always thinking of the story where, as you know, many of you know Graham and you
know that he and Teresa care about the homeless people in their city, in Santa Barbara.
And so if you have a meal with Graham, he eats half of it, the other half he takes with
cutlery and water and everything and he goes and looks for key people, he's got to know
their names.
Some of them, he's been feeding them for a year and they won't even talk to him.
Until one day, this one guy who was just stressed, you know, really in a bad way, homeless guy.
And Graham had to walk around for 45 minutes after our meal to find him and they found
him, gave him the meal.
And after a year of feeding him without ever acknowledging, no thank yous, no nothing,
finally looks up to Graham and he says, why are you doing this?
And Graham's answer was, I believe in goodness and I've chosen you to be good to.
And he looked down on the ground and he said, I've never been chosen for anything before.
So that is when people understand the core thing of what you believe.
You know, there's a great illustration about this called...
The Elephant, the Rider and the Pathway. A professor of psychology in the University of Virginia, in his book The Happiness Hypothesis, uses this analogy.
The analogy characterizes the rider as our rational side, your rational thinking, your minds.
The elephant is the emotional, the desire side, the what-you-believe thing.
For the most part, we talk to the rider. We say to the people in our team, OK, so what we're going to do, see the logical steps, fine.
But then they don't move. Why? We never moved the elephant.
So, there's the elephant, the emotions, the rider is the mind, the pathway is where we're trying to get them to go.
Now, if the emotion says, oh, I want, shiny thing, and charges off into the bushes, that's a destructive thing.
And the poor rider is trying to figure out what's going on. That's not what we need either.
So, the art of leadership is to align the rider with the elephant, or the elephant with the rider.
Get them on the same page, so they can move together.
And stories are the greatest way to do that.
So, any great communicator uses stories, because stories move the elephant like nothing else.
Stories make it clear, not just to the elephant, but to the rider as well.
And of course, this was also brought out in Chip and Dan Heath's book called Switch, if anyone's read that.
How to change things when change is hard.
And what they're describing is this basic phenomenon in which, how hard it is to manage change from within the change itself.
And so, he says, we often point out to the rider what we need to change, but we rarely explain why to the elephant.
So, all successful change speaks to both the why, the elephant, and the what, and how, the rider.
The pathway is the direction we're trying to take those two together.
Simon Sinek put it this way, he said, people care more about what you believe than what you do.
People do not buy what you do, but they buy why you do it.
So, the goal is not to sell people who need what you have.
The goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe.
So, we know, at Brilliant, for instance, not everybody wants to believe what we believe.
Some people will find, you know, people either love us, or they think we're heretics.
It doesn't matter, because our job is to help the people who believe what we believe.
So, what do we believe? We believe we're a new creation being.
That when you accept Christ, you become a different species on planet Earth.
A completely different creation, because now you're a God-indwelled being.
That is an incredible thing. There's an eternal aspect that is now,
you live in both realms, upstairs and downstairs, simultaneously.
That's a new type of creation, and to live in that space, you live from God's heart to your heart,
and you map that downstairs and take bold action.
So, the goal here is not to hire people who need a job in our business,
but to hire people who believe what we believe.
And this is the core thing. Belief is the most powerful thing you can have as a leader.
And you can explain that belief in simple, you don't even have to use Christian terms.
The source of it, of course, we're clear on.
And when we do this, when we use belief, we create a sense of belonging to a purpose.
People are naturally drawn to leaders who have a clear sense of purpose and a passion for what they do,
because their belief is infectious.
So, is your belief clearly articulated, and have you made it infectious?
So, well, you know, we do this practical downstairs stuff.
It doesn't matter what you do. Why do you do what you do?
That is really, really important.
There are a lot of consultants who come in and help you with the what and the how,
but the Lord is set up to help you with the why.
Why are we doing this, Lord?
What's in it for you? What do you so love? What is it you believe?
And that's why, you know, when we have our training, like at our Inner Circle in-person meetings,
one of the great questions we like to ask the Lord, or the Lord is asking you,
do you believe what I believe about you?
And by the way, you agreeing with God about you is the foundation of what we would call repentance.
You see, repentance isn't saying sorry for stuff you did wrong, because that was all dealt with at the cross.
Repentance is you agreeing with God about you.
And what you're really agreeing with is, what does God believe about you?
Let's get specific.
What does God believe about your role in this business at this time?
What does He believe about that?
Now part of this is most people have a much lower opinion of themselves and when a leader
comes in and has a higher opinion of them, I often say to people, I have a higher opinion
of you than this.
It's a great way to call people up.
Very quick way.
I have a higher opinion.
You don't need to do that dumb thing.
You don't need to say that thing because I have a higher opinion of you than that and
I found that if you speak to people one step above where they live, you pull them into
that possibility.
You give them something to live into.
But if you're always, well I'm just going to tell people what they are because I'm a
blunt person and I'm into reality, well then you're just a poor leader.
You've just limited the most powerful thing you have as a leader if all you're going to
do is speak to their current reality.
They get that every day.
They don't need us as their leaders to tell them that.
And what sets us apart as kingdom executives, as kingdom leaders, is that we see them as
bigger than that.
We believe more.
We're clear about what we believe in the business.
We believe in our team's ability to succeed.
So building confidence in individuals but then build confidence in your team's ability
to succeed.
And that's why your belief as a leader instills confidence in your team members.
So when they get a clear sense that you believe in them and their capabilities, even if they
think you might have it a little high, but that's the point.
You're giving them something to live into.
If you set it too high, then they just get despondent and discouraged because you went
too quick.
So the art here is to set it up one notch where they are and when they start moving
in, set them up one notch.
And that takes a little bit of practice with a team to figure out what's the rate at which
we can notch this up.
And this confidence that you have in them really inspires them to take on new challenges,
to push themselves further, to strive for excellence, to go further than they thought
they could do.
And when you as a leader believe in your team's potential that much, it starts to focus them
on their strengths, not their weaknesses.
Because one of the most useless things you can do in your own journey of leadership development
is try to fix your own weaknesses.
Just lean into your strengths and do the same for your team.
Help your team lean into their strengths and that way mitigate some of their weaknesses.
Let other people carry those areas.
Try to fix your weaknesses for a reason.
Because they don't align with your gifting and your passion and your clarity.
They don't align.
Stop trying to focus on your weaknesses.
They're a wonderful gift to you so that you know not to develop them.
Go and focus on your strengths.
Lean into your strengths.
I know that doesn't sound like the thing to do and you must fix everything that's wrong
with you.
But don't.
Part of what we believe at Brilliant is that there is nothing wrong with you.
Jesus dealt with that.
Everything was wrong with your old nature and you're dead to that.
And now you're a new creation being.
So now he sees what's missing and he's adding what's missing to your experience of him.
So when we get out of the Fix Me program or Fixing My Employees program, we suddenly open
up a whole new realm of kingdom leadership that really empowers people.
So when you believe that your team can genuinely achieve great things, and I'm just talking
about ordinary people, while I don't have that superstar, well make the superstars.
Be a superstar creator.
You don't have to be the superstar.
So when you help your team see that you believe in their ability, that they can do great things,
it will encourage experimentation, creativity, and so on.
Of course there has to be boundaries and so forth, but as we go through that, taking that
risk with them is one of the most powerful ways you can declare your commitment and belief
in them.
But if you never allow them to take risk and say, oh no, I believe in you, just don't take
any risk without my permission, then what you're really saying is, look, I know you're
probably going to screw it up and yeah, I know I'm supposed to say you're wonderful,
but the reality is my actions prove I don't believe in you.
Or the opposite, which is very empowering.
Why don't you go and do it?
I trust you to make the right decision here.
Let me know what you need.
How can I help?
And I saw that in a leadership situation once before, where all the leader did for one week
is walked around the organization, stopped telling people what to do, just walked around
asking how can I help?
It's very powerful.
How can I help?
People will tell you.
Because why that is so empowering is because the messaging in that is, I believe in you.
I believe you've got this.
I believe you can create and innovate and do what you need to do.
How can I help?
So believing in their abilities until they believe in their abilities.
doubt them. That is so that is the that's the training for today on the Kingdom
executive approach to leadership. I hope you enjoyed that.