Innovation

"If you do not know you are in a prison, you cannot know that you need to escape." -anonymous

"Good leaders must first become good servants" - Robert Greenleaf

Today at work I was able to sit in on a seminar facilited by a Mr. Bob Allen from Integrity Arts Corp. Mr. Allen worked for Disney for 25 years as an Imagineer and executive until starting his own bussiness effort. Today Mr. Allen discussed ways to cultivate and sustain an innovative & creative work environment. I smiled as he went through his 10 points because it was so easy for me to take his 10 points and apply them to my Christian journey. The challenges he described in motivating highly creative & innovative people were very similar to the challenges I see spiritual leaders (e.g. elders, deacons, minsiters, etc) facing in our congregations today. I really liked his first point.
Managing Innovation - Give it up because it cannot be done. If you try you will;
--run off your great innovators
--suppress innovation and creativity
--get annoyed trying to manage it
--and you wil try to do it anyway

How many times have you seen "spiritual leaders" try to manage their flock instead of tending their flock?