Leadership Lessons I've Learned, The Beginning

I have been compiling a list of things I've learned since taking the position of Lead Pastor at Watermarke Church. I am going to spend the next several weeks thinking and talking about each lesson right here. It has been such a great journey of discovery and learning, and I bet I have only learned a fraction of what I need to know. My hope is that I will continue to learn, and maybe even be able to help someone coming along behind me, too. There's certainly room for improvement.

To begin, the greatest lesson I have learned is simply this: I'm starting to know what I don't know. This is difficult to follow, but stay with me through this Abbott and Costello-ish routine. I have spent many years not knowing what I didn't know. If you don't know what you don't know, then you end up thinking you know more than you actually know. I am also sure there are still more things I don't know I don't know than not, but it has been so helpful for me as a Lead Pastor to identify those things I know I don't completely know or understand.

I have seen too many leaders in business and church fail to know what they don't know, and that is a deadly position to be in as a decision maker. When a leader fails to realize what they don't know, decisions too often are made based on bad assumptions and faulty information.

So, based on knowing what I don't know (or at least didn't completely know), below is a list of what I've learned thus far. Don't laugh at the length of my list...I've learned a lot. For me, the best part of this list is that it is incomplete, because I certainly haven't learned all that I don't know.

1. Never stop learning or asking questions
2. Improve Continuously
3. Develop People and Teams
4. Be Honest and Transparent
5. Decisions Need to be Made
6. Patience is a Virtue
7. Flexibility is a Necessity
8. Have Some Fun
9. Create a Vision Lens
10. Humility Wins
11. Communicate Well
12. Always Rely on God

I look forward to walking through this list. Somebody smarter than I should write a 12 chapter book from this list...

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church