Confidential: the Leadership Game Plan

What is leadership? What’s a Leader to do? That’s no rhetorical question today. What are you supposed to do?

We’re all in a wartime posture; rather than a military engagement, it’s biological warfare, but the battle is being waged on political, professional, scientific and economic fields of engagement. We’re all under orders…

Shelter-in-place. Social distancing. Essential business. Self Quarantine. Those terms were head-scratchers just 30 days ago; right now, they are the boundaries for behavior. Not yet enforced rigidly by the law enforcement agencies that keep the peace, the possibility of that happening is not unlikely.

In the community gathered under the banner of The Master’s Program, the distinction between Managers and Leaders is often clarified. Both groups are essential, but their contributions to life and progress are very different. With the vast majority of the world wired as Followers (about 85%), the dynamic download of instructions from the influencers (Managers and Leaders) is crucial.

Managers are wired for Defense. By definition, that’s reactive. When the threats posed by ever changing circumstances are destructive and debilitating, the Manager creates a Defensive Posture, designed to preserve the status-quo and the safety of the Followers behind and beneath them. All of those current bullet-phrases – Shelter-in-Place, et al – are Defensive firewalls against the viral attacks. In an operational environment, Managers limit services and conserve resources as they hunker-down.

Leaders are different; they’re the authors of an Offensive Game Plan, that is designed to both anticipate (in advance) and survey (in real-time) the opposition, and create strategies to accomplish their objectives despite the obstacles before them. While supporting the Managers who are safeguarding the Followers, they create specialty teams whose task is to move into the line of fire while the less prepared are dropping back from the front lines and into safety.

At The Master’s Program, we’ve had 10 days to develop an Offensive Game Plan, and – as part of our community – I’m disclosing it to you so that you’ll know how we’re advancing through the battlefield as we create new ways to serve you and sharpen your leadership during this time.

If your connection to us is through my weekly Point of View, that every-Monday post will continue. My focus – beginning this week – will not be “business as usual.” I’ll be reminding you of the historic examples of men and women whose leadership through tough times was highlighted by Heaven.

And… a new Offensive strategy for you: beginning this Wednesday morning at 7:00a (Pacific), we’ll be hosting a weekly live video devo called Hard Times’ Heroes – presented as a Facetime Group offering – that will be < 15 minutes of inspirational encouragement. In cahoots with Noah Elias – one of the leaders in our Master’s Community – we’ll have a conversation you won’t want to miss. Watch your inbox for more info on how to sync-up.

If you’re a graduate of The Master’s Program, we’re opening our vault of IP resources to you so that we can refresh the spiritual challenges that God inserted into your soul during those Master’s days together. Our Alums will be getting an email in the next couple of days with the onboarding instructions to access Master’s OnLine: a binge-worthy collection of videos created to remind you of the leadership-level learnings from your days in TMP…

If you’re currently in the three-year journey through The Master’s Program, you’ll be hearing from us in the next week to tell you how we’re going to keep your cohort together and moving forward. If the life-from-home mandate continues beyond the next month, we’ll move your quarterly sessions from the Room to the Zoom, but you’ll have even better interaction with your Coach and your TMP buddies than before as we learn – together! – in these unprecedented times.

We have an Offensive Game Plan for our team to serve you with even more going forward than we had before the world changed around us. And… that’s not to conserve our resources, but to invest them in enhanced services to you.

Defensive Posture? It’s important. Offensive Game Plan? Even more important. That’s one powerful distinction between Managers and Leaders. Allow us to continue to coach and mentor you as you refine your own Leadership and leverage your Kingdom Calling.

To the Front Lines, with a Plan!

Bob Shank