"Responsibility Strengthens Your Talent"

Our church in Austin, Celebration Church had John Maxwell booked in to speak today. Due to Hurricane Ike, Dr. Maxwell was not able to make it. His promotional material and book store did arrive as scheduled, though. Funny how that works.

I really enjoy Maxwell's writings because he has a great grasp of marketing and salesmanship. From the title to the stories, he has a gift for getting and keeping my attention. Today was no exception. I was looking across the display when one of his newer books, Talent Is Never Enough, caught my eye.

In the book he has a chapter entitled "Responsibility Strengthens Your Talent." What a great title. It's like something out of a John Mason book. I had to find out more. I'm glad I did.

The chapter (and really the book) basically makes the argument that talent won't mature into gifted leadership without a stimulus of grow. That stimulus in this case is responsibility. Here are some highlights as I understood them:

1. Responsibility provides the foundation for success. Success cannot come without a challenge. A challenge cannot be won without first accepting the responsibility of fighting to the finish. He makes a great point that our founding fathers left a huge hole in the design of the nation. They wrote the Bill of Rights, but declined to draft a Bill of Responsibility. In doing so, they told us what we were entitled to, but failed to call us to be the people God wants us to be.
   
2. Responsibility handled correctly leads to more responsibility. Once a person shows themselves worthy of a task, they no longer be given simpler tasks. Success breeds success.
   
3. Responsibility maximizes ability and opportunity. As an employee, it's our responsibility to be a contributor. We are hired to produce. That is our job. Not working is more than wrong, it's criminal. On the other side, by performing, we grow as employees. When leaders find responsible people, they reward them with opportunities and resources to be more effective.
   
4. Responsibility over time builds solid reputation. Simply being consistent and dependable will build your reputation. Maintaining your responsibilities day in and day out lets people know you are a person of character in whom they can trust.

How does one become a talent-plus person? (i.e. a gifted leader?)

1. Start where you are. Start small. Build on your successes, however small. How do you eat an elephant... Often times the best helping hand you will ever receive is at the end of your own arm.
2. Choose your friends wisely. Where you are in 5 years will be determined by two things: what you read and with whom you associate. When you wrestle with a pig, the pig doesn't get clean.
   
3. Stop blaming others. The world has enough victims. It doesn't need another one. Take responsibility for your failures as well as your success. You are exactly in life where you chose to be.
   
4. Learn responsibility's major lessons:
   
   

   
   
   1. Gaining success means practicing self discipline. This is the first and greatest victory of any leader
   
   
   2. What you start, you finish. If people can't count on you to finish, you won't be entrusted with much responsibility.
   
   
   3. Know when others are depending on you. Sometimes it's about more than just you.
   
   
   4. Don't expect others to step in for you. Again, this has to do with seeing things through. At some point you're going to have to realized that you're the stop gap and that's a good thing. Be empowered by the fact that if something has to get done, you can do it.
   
   
   
   
5. Make tough decisions and stand by them. People will respect you more for your resolve and your determination. No one likes a squid. Stick to your guns. Show your backbone.
   
6. Take responsibility beyond yourself. To whom much is given, much is required. We all stood on the shoulders of giants. We own it to give someone else a lift.

In the end, it all boils down to the fact that taking on more responsibility is the opportunity for greater success. Bigger challenges require more of us. Striving to overcome those challenges provides the catalyst for our talent to develop at a new level.

The irony of the whole thing is that as we take on more responsibility and our impact increases, our rights actually decrease (selfishness fades away as we serve more and more people). In my opinion, it's a worthy trade. Freedom is not free. It is, however, always worth the price.