“When Pixar asked me (Brad Bird) to take over Ratatouille, the project had been in development for five years but was not in any shape to produce as a movie. There was a moment, at the very beginning of my involvement, when I was in a room full of about 30 people. At this stage, the rats in the movie had been articulated. Articulation is where they design how the muscles and controls work on the characters. Because people were worried about the audience’s reaction to rats, all of them were designed to walk on two legs.

I thought that was a mistake. I knew it would be an expensive use of resources, at that point in the process, to re-articulate the rats, but I said, “We have to get them so that they walk on all fours. And Remy, the protagonist rat, has to be able to walk not only on all fours but up on two legs.” Everybody said, “Ugh!” because they had spent a year making the rats look good walking on two legs. If you simply took those models, bent them over, and put them on all fours, their hips didn’t work and things just looked wrong. They were designed to be upright.

One of the guys challenged me. He said, “I want to know why you’re doing this.” Now, I had gone into this film reluctantly. It’s not what I was looking to do after The Incredibles. And there was a part of me that wanted to say, “Because I’m the director, that’s why. Do you want to take this problematic thing over?”

But I stopped and thought for a second. I thought, these guys have been sent down blind alleys for a couple of years. They want to know that I’m not doing anything lightly and that if I’m going to make them do a bunch more work; it’s for a reason.

So I said, “This movie is about a rat who wants to enter the human world. We have to make that a visual choice for the character. If you have all of the rats walking on two legs, there’s no separation between him and the other rats. If we have this separation as a visual device, we can see the character make his transformation and choose to be on two legs, and he can become more or less ratty, depending on his emotional state. That brings the audience into the character’s mind.”

I spent six minutes saying all this and the guy was initially scowling. But gradually the scowl went away, and he said, “OK.” Once I gave that answer, everyone felt, “OK, we’re on this ship and we’re going toward a definite destination.”

Leadership demands clarity of purpose and connecting the dots of why we (the team) is doing what they are doing.

2. Take action to develop formal and informal feedback systems and then respond to them with change in your life. For instance, ask someone to share insight into what they see with your leadership – both strengths and weaknesses, talents as well as deficiencies. Ask about other arenas too, like how they see your character development, or where they see strengths and weaknesses in your relational world.

3. Engage in your followers “problems” (don’t disengage emotionally). If you lead a team, oversee staff or volunteers, choose to step more deeply into their “problems” and help them solve things. There’s not always easy answers, but when you engage more deeply and even emotionally, you establish a deeper level of influence in their life. Many leaders stay too distantly removed from those “followers” around them.

4. Lead in the tension of the real issues rather than pushing them aside for the surface of the issue. Be willing to exist in discomfort and tension. This is a rare quality in the average leader, but a common quality in great leaders.

1. Identify a person or situation that you need to confront, and do it with both honesty and grace this week?

2. Raise a concern you have with someone you care about in loving fashion. Be gentle and humble, as well as fully honest and truthful. Bring a blend of tough and tender love to the situation.

3. If you’re an avoider, initiate a conversation with someone that you keep avoiding [because of some fear]. It may help to clearly identify what you fear about conflict, name it, pray about it, and then step into it to overcome that fear. If you’re an evoker initiate a conversation with someone whom there is an offense or tension between you. However, instead of approaching this how you naturally would, perhaps being confrontational or aggressive or very vocal about how you feel, choose a different posture. Enter the conversation having prayed about it, and then strive to ask questions and practice listening, caring, showing empathy, and intentionally refraining from being accusatory, or defensive.

In my new book, PROTEGE, I have a whole chapter dialoguing about both a conflict avoider and conflict evoker. There are practical applications as well as ideas for growth and development for you no matter where you are on the spectrum of conflict resolution skills.

I’m speaking at the THRIVE conference in Sacramento about how to cultivate a leadership development culture in your church.

3500 postcards (1 for each attendee) are being given out. I’m speaking twice today. AND, I get to go to Chick-fil-a (b/c one awaits me down the street).

Thanks to David Harris for the invite to this conference. And thanks to all you supporters of my upcoming book.

Order a copy today off this link (it’s still on sale) -
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/prot-g-steve-saccone/1108217410?ean=9780830838233&itm=1&usri=protege+steve+saccone –

The next generation of church leaders must learn [and be taught and guided by others] how to build kingdom cultures. In other words, we must answer the question: How can we live out and live in the kingdom of God here and now. Jesus taught his disciples to pray for “Your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.” How many ministry leaders pray this prayer as an ongoing way of life? And just as important, how many ministry leaders live out this prayer as an ongoing way of life? To read more about how to cultivate kingdom cultures and shape the trajectory of the church’s future, check out a free chapter of my new book, PROTEGE: Developing Your Next Generation of Church Leaders (IVP)

To receive a free chapter, go to:

http://www.stevesaccone.com/protege

Or you can pre-order PROTEGE thru this link:
http://ow.ly/aFtd7

I’ll be in Los Angeles with a group of proteges and friends–I’m always taken back with gratitude at the relationships in my life that have lasted over time. It’s rare and unique to have friends whom you feel are truly “for you.” That’s a powerful and meaningful dynamic of community. Today, I stand in awe of God’s work in my life and somehow through my life.

Invest in others. It matters more than you know. Today, I’m reminded of that reality deeply.

This was not actually a religious word when Jesus said it.

In the first century, there was a dispute over land between the Persians who had attacked the Greeks and took a large amount of their land. The Greeks fought back and they eventually defeated the Persians in Battle of Marathon. As a result, they sent out a herald to proclaim in essence: “Here is the eugelion: We fought on your behalf. We’ve defeated the enemy. You were slaves and now you are free.” That’s a life-changing message and it was and still is good news.

Jesus took that term and says: I will fight on your behalf. I will set you free.

That’s the good news.

In Exodus 14:14, God says to his people what I believe he says today to us: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

As a leader myself and a developer of other leaders, 3 of the core tensions we must live in are:

1st: Cultivate the eyes to see what the real problems and obstacles are…too many leaders don’t pay close enough attention and they miss the problems right in front of them.

2nd: Lean into the challenges rather than complaining about them. Face them head on. Bring change…that’s what makes a leader a leader. They are change agents at their core.

3rd: Remind yourself OFTEN, that your ability to engage problems and overcome obstacles will shape your leadership development as much as anything else.