Adam McLane

Tag: innovation

  • Front-line innovation

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shPgLBlBABc& Brilliant. Putting a flywheel on a bike to store lost energy? I ride my bike quite a bit, it’s the cheapest and fastest way I can get around town. This is a relatively simple solution for wasted energy of stopping for a red light. Here’s what I know about innovation. It’s never come out…

  • Mini-Helicopters are Coming to a Nightmare Near You

    [see the video] First thought? Wow,  that is so flipping cool! Second thought? I’m going to have nightmares about them. Third thought? Alfred Hitchcock. Fourth thought? How much? Fifth thought? They need cameras like this.

  • What does your ministry have to do with Dropbox?

    Did you catch that? Steve Jobs invited Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox, to his office to play Let’s Make a Deal. And Drew Houston walked away. Why? In the written interview for Forbes and the video above you get clued into Houston’s reasoning. “He said we were a feature, not a product.” Apparently, Jobs was thinking…

  • The Innovation Gap

    “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ~ William Arthur Ward “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ~ Sir Winston Churchill “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly,…

  • New ideas wanted

    The numbers are staggering. 5%-10% of the population are actively engaged in church in our country. (With some geographical variations) The United States population continues to grow, the U.S. Census bureau estimates that we’ll have 392 million by 2050. (Currently 307 million) There seems to be an deepening inverse relationship between the amount of money…

  • How to Stop Being Boring

    Most people are boring. Thirteen years ago, in our first apartment, Kristen and I lived on the 15th floor of a high rise apartment building. If you looked at just the right spot you could see Lake Michigan. And if you hung your head out the window you could look south down LaSalle Boulevard towards…

  • Youth Workers: Don’t Punk Out

    Youth Workers: Don’t Punk Out

    Youth ministry seems to be facing asymmetrical challenges right now. Two of them on the forefront of my mind are longevity and transference of wisdom. With a tough job market and a climate of deconstruction/re-thinking/shifting in the profession… it really pains me to see a lot of very gifted youth workers move on. Some of…

  • Innovating with an established ecosystem

    Starting a new organization is an entirely different task than innovating to change an existing organization. Both are hard. But changing and existing organization is way harder. For most of my career I’ve been in turnaround roles. Kristen and I have a little joke… My entire adult work life has seemed like one roller coaster…

  • Listen to the Right People

    Focus on transforming the people you have. The people in your church already have access to the people you want to reach. A popular speaker says, “You need to focus more on reaching than keeping.” That phrase shocks me. It sounds brilliant but is incredibly rude. Do you want to go to that church? I…

  • The Main Thing

    Could you help me out? What’s the BIGGEST issue you are dealing with in your church right now? What’s keeping you up at night? DM or @ me. Todd Rhodes tweeted this today. And his question perfectly emphasized what I’ve been thinking about the last few days. This Fall, I’ve had the beautiful opportunity to…