Kem Meyer on Less Clutter & Noise

The difference between men and women...

Allow me to use the birthday cards I got from Emmi and Easton this year to visually illustrate the difference between men and women.

    

Do you want to collide cultures to impact culture?

Yeah, but how? Glad you asked.

Many consider South by Southwest (SXSW)to be the best interactive media conference in the world. (To get an idea...just look at some of the speakers from last year.) Unfortunately, SXSW has had little if any content for churches in the past. You can change that.

We should be able to go to one place to not only learn from technology leaders but also share unique content about how to leverage the best technology for ministry. All in one place. Come on. Let's be smart about this and help leverage culture to save culture. All you have to do is vote.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS. (As a matter of fact... go ask your mom to vote, too.) Out of 2,200 submissions, only 300 make the cut.

FIRST STEP: Create a free profile for voting. You'll get an email confirmation and then...

SECOND STEP: Hit each link below and click the "thumbs up" icon to vote for each church panel below. Hit each link (all four of them) and look for the "thumbs up" icon at the top of each page to vote.

1. Creating Authentic Online Community: Tony Steward, Carlos Whittaker, John Saddington, & Cynthia Ware (moderator) 
2. Technology For Results Not Profits: Bobby Gruenewald, Brad Abare, Kent Shaffer, & Terry Storch (moderator)
3. LifeChurch.tv - Reaching 2 Million+ With Technology: Terry Storch, Tony Steward, Bobby Gruenewald, & Kent Shaffer (moderator)
4. Pushing Technological Change Without Alienating Your Co-Workers: Me & mystery experts

 

VOTING CLOSES SEPTEMBER 4. I know you have it in you (and so do your friends). Everybody you know is already voting for their favorite on American Idol every week. This is cooler than American Idol. It is. Don't argue with me. Spread the word and help us rock the vote!

Seven quotes from the Leadership Summit 2009

I LOVE learning environments. To make the most out of them for ME, I've adopted a controlled note-taking format. I can't chew on everything presented during a conference or workshop or book. Extensive note-taking is too heavy for me to carry and too much to implement. For this year's Leadership Summit: Seven quotes I'm going to chew-on. THIS, I can do.

1. Bill Hybels

"The pace at which I'm doing God's work is destroying God's work in me."
1 Chronicles 29:12

2. Tim Keller

"Are you doing stuff for others or is the stuff you're doing for them really for yourself? Don't go into the ministry to save your soul."
Romans 1:17

3. Jessica Jackley

"The secret to changing the world is a change of mindset."
Psalm 19:7-8

4. Harvey Carey

"Nothing is impossible to those who believe. When you reach outside your grasp--outside your capacity--you will see amazing results."
Matthew 17:20

5. Dave Gibbons

"When we love those who are hard to love, hard to get close to, completely unlike us--people will notice. It's completely abnormal. That's our calling. What's noticeable about being normal?"
John 13:34-35

6. David Gergen

"Leaders can be so activistic they don’t reflect, journal, write, discuss, etc. It’s easy to confuse motion with progress."
Mark 1:35

7. Chip & Dan Heath

"Am what I'm doing TBU (True But Useless)? That's worth asking."
Matthew 6:22-23

(Last year, my notes looked like this.)

Chat about team culture & leadership development...

A couple of days ago, LV from Catalyst stopped by Granger for a quick dinner & chat. We captured it on video just for you. Watch and your favorite part has to be when I raise my hand like a 2nd grader. 

Cultivate the story...

Last month I talked about my picks for personal & professional enrichment 2009.

More details about one of my picks, Cultivate 09, were revealed yesterday when the web site went live.

Very nice. Does this look curiously unique or what? I'm loving a few things about it already:

1. It's a prequel (October 27) to Story (October 28-29).
2. It's totally collaborative and insanely interactive.
3. Proceeds benefit the Center for Church Communication and Blood. Water. Mission.

I also got crazy new scoop this week about one of my other picks, Innovate (September 24-25). I got a feel for the flava with some early images, put finishing details on the new Arts Mash-Up and Speed Storytelling Round and am having final conversations with some unexpected participants. Uh. Wow. Another curiously unique opportunity. I can't wait to share it all next week.

We scrapped our job descriptions...

As a team, we strive to be insanely committed to customer service. We really do. Some of our core values are positivity, teamwork, flexibility and innovation. We've even put systems in place to help prioritize the moral fiber of our team. We love our job, these values are easy to commit to. But, sometimes, they're harder to practice in the daily grind.

Even when we love our jobs, personal pressure can consume us. Even with good intentions, sometimes our projects can become the priority. Over time, our task list becomes our "precious" and we forget we're on the same team with others who don't share our "precious".

As a team, we acknowledged this reality of our human condition and agreed we needed something more; something practical to prevent us as individuals from getting out of sync. Something that moved our job out of the leading role and into the supporting character. Something we could refer to daily, if needed, to remind us what the win really is.

So here’s what we did. We scrapped our job descriptions and completed this exercise.

1. Answer the question: “At the end of the day, if I’ve done this, then I’ve done my job.”
2. In your answer, remember to demonstrate the benefit to others trumps the task.
3. Keep your answer simple and short enough to easily remember and recite.
4. Include your individual strength theme to help maximize impact.

Here's what we came up with ...

The underbelly of technology nobody talks about...

Last month I had the privilege of delivering a keynote session at the Dynamic Church Conference.

The team at Fellowship Technologies was generous enough to make all of the keynote sessions available to everyone, whether you were able to make it to Dallas or not. You gotta love those guys.

My topic? The Underbelly of Technology Nobody Talks About.

DC09: Kem Meyer Keynote from Fellowship Technologies on Vimeo.

My favorite graduation gifts for 2009

[SPOILER ALERT: If you a a recent graduate I know and love...don't read this post if you want your gift to remain a surprise.]

For the rest of you ... Here are my top three graduation gifts of choice this year.

       

Ignoring social media may be hazardous...

Ignoring social media may be hazardous to your organizational health. The number of users is up 87% since 2003 and now outnumbers email users for the first time. In the past year, the time spent on social networks increased 73 percent, Nielsen says.

The full article shows ways more companies are using it. Thanks for the link, Guy Kawasaki.

Worth noting... the smartest companies use social media to LISTEN to what customers and competitors are saying. They don't jump in with the self-centered perspective of "here's another outlet for us to TALK." They use it as an opportunity to deliver great customer service fielding real-time to customer feedback; good and bad.

It's called taking your hand out of the sand. And, it may not always be pretty. But, if you're serious about learning the perception others have (which is their reality), then I'm confident you can handle it.

Maybe this will help...you choose which audience to respond to and which to absorb, but without looking through that social network window...you risk making decisions on incomplete or inaccurate information about your company.

Not ready to set up a blog, twitter or facebook account for your organization? That's ok. At least search to see what others are saying about your church or your company. And, here's where to start:

• Technorati
• Google
• Twitter

Personal trainer & leadership coaching

I recently finished a busy season where I pretty much was married to my laptop. While finishing a book can be a rewarding accomplishment, the exercise I abandoned and replaced with enormous amounts of comfort food took a toll on me. I emerged from my writing cave unhealthy and sluggish. (Not to mention, no pants left in my closet fit me.) It was time for a new approach, a fresh perspective, a renewed resolve.

So, I hired Brooke as my fitness trainer. Sure, I could have gone to cardio classes. I could read Shape magazine. I could subscribe to exercise podcasts and diet RSS feeds. But, that wouldn't get what I needed at this crossroads. I had reached a place where I needed something more specialized. I needed customized, focused, up close and personal attention where I could be blunt about the challenges I face and get frank, encouraging insight in return. I needed to talk to someone with heart, experience and objectivity. Someone I trusted. Someone who would share what they've learned and energize me for my next phase. It's was the right decision at the right time. Brooke, has refined my strategy and poured life back into me.

Sometimes, we need that same infusion in other areas of our lives. Ministry leadership is tougher than diet and exercise and way more complex to navigate through. Sometimes, instead of a class or a book or a conference, you might feel the need for customized, focused, up close and personal attention where you can be blunt about the challenges you face and get frank, encouraging insight in return. You need to talk to someone with heart, experience and objectivity. Someone you trust. Someone who will share what they've learned and energize you for your next phase.

Leadership Live happens on May 5-6. That's only a couple weeks away. What's Leadership Live, you ask? It's like hiring six Brooke's for an intense 48-hour coaching session with these leaders:

Mark Beeson | Tim Stevens | Rob Wegner | Mark Waltz | Butch Whitmire

Is this the right decision at the right time for you? It may be just what you need to refine your strategy and renew your energy. There are still seats left. But, not for long. Registration includes two full days, ALL meals AND lodging. That's amazing.