“This is a bad economy…”
“Pretty cool, especially in this economy…”
“You know, in this economy, every dollar counts.”
I don’t know about you. But I hear bad news about this economy all the time. It’s at the point where it drives me nuts. You see, it’s one of those things that’s said on the news or people believe that just isn’t true. Want some proof? Read this AP article from today.
You probably didn’t even notice. But you’ve benefited from this for years.
The lowly API is driving tons of growth in businesses small and large, connecting systems and sharing information behind the scenes.
I remember a few years back about 10 years ago a speaker at the Willow Creek Leadership Conference saying there were two types of organizations that see huge gains.
The implications were simple. You could go out and buy talent and win in the short-term or you could build an organization that cultivates talent.
My stress level quickly elevated when I arrived in the returns lane.
“How am I going to get all of this stuff and that little boy to the airport in time to catch our flight?”
A car seat. Two check bags. Three carry-ons. And one sleepy toddler.
The beta test year for OpenYM is now about 3/5th complete, with Boston this weekend and Grand Rapids at the end of the month.
Three years ago Open started as a whitepaper. Something I was tentatively calling “YouthMin Camp.” It was forking the very best of WordCamp & some of the flavor of BarCamp, and adding in a few elements to make it work within the youth ministry world.
Last night, I had a vivid funny dream.
The vivid part was that I was just going about my normal day-to-day life. Running errands, going to meetings, taking kids to school, going to the bank and post office and all the normal stuff I do every day. That part is not funny. What was funny was that as I made my way around all day with a horse trailer with a horse in it. So, in the dream, I was navigating normal SoCal life in San Diego with a horse in tow. So I’d have to leave a meeting to go feed or water the horse. Or I’d have to figure out how to parallel park a pick-up truck & trailer on El Cajon Boulevard.
This week Marko and I are hosting The Summit for the 2nd time. It’s a TED-talk style event for youth workers, 18 presenters each delivering a 12-15 minute talk on a topic related to an overarching theme.
It’s a gathering of a few hundred people looking to have their imaginations sparked, new ideas ignited, and fellow sojourners more interested in helping youth ministry find new realities than hanging onto the past.
Can I share a little secret about being an entrepreneur?
So what are my keys to making it? I’m 3-0 in start-ups, batting 1.00 lifetime in a role most people fail.
The Saturday morning session at The Summit last year was the strongest single session of any event I’ve ever attended. (And I’ve been a part of a few events) I remember leaning over to Marko and saying… “I’ve paid way more money to attend events that weren’t nearly this good.” It was that good.
Ben Chestnut’s talk is so important for leaders. He’s not just talking about this stuff out of an ethereal or academic perspective, he’s talking about it as the CEO of one of tech’s most healthy, creative, and on constantly innovative companies: MailChimp.
He dives into one of leaderships most challenging questions: How do I foster an environment that is insanely creative, moves faster than the marketplace, and sustainable so it doesn’t burn people out or run out of cash.
If you are in leadership, any kind of leadership, you hear this stuff all the time.
I catch myself going there from time-to-time. And I’ve learned that it’s nothing more than a big, fat distraction.