Every Nation Boards and More Olanisms

Sun., March 19, 2006

Last week I sat in a room in Nashville for three full days with the Every Nation International Policy Council and the boards of Every Nation Churches and Every Nation Ministries discussing Policy Governance with our favorite consultant, Olan Hendrix. It was great to see some of my good friends from all over the world. We have Every Nation board members from Lagos, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Singapore, Dubai, Calgary, Nashville, Northern California, NYC, DC, and Jacksonville. Olan has met with some of us so many times in the past eighteen months, that he quipped that we must either really like him or we must be slow learners. Both are probably true.

My favorite "Olanism" from the first day was: "I've told you everything I know, and some things I don't know." Here are some more nuggets of wisdom from Olan.

ON EMPOWERING PEOPLE:

  • "A wise leader makes fewer and fewer decisions."
  •  "It is the nature of decisions to rise to the top, but good leadership will continually push decisions down."
  • "Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong."

ON LISTENING & LEARNING:

  • "There is no substitute for the leader listening." 
  • "How you listen is much more important than how you answer."
  • "Don't be on a policy governance board and not be a continual learner."

ON LIFE IN GENERAL:

  • "I only lie about my weight."
  • "I'll never forget ole what's-his-name."
  • "I only hire people with less hair than I have." (While Olan didn't exactly offer me a job, I am glad to know I have a possible career option in case this one goes south.)

 

 

 


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