5 Reasons I Wrote Leading Change Without Losing It
It’s launch week for my new book, Leading Change Without Losing It.
First up, a deep felt thank you to all of you who have bought a copy of the book, tweeted, Facebooked, blogged about it or simply told your friends to pick up a copy. The response has been incredible.
I spent much of this week so far in shock as the book spent some time as the #1 bestselling ministry book on Kindle. In addition, it’s the #1 best selling new release in ministry on Amazon and continues to chart on other best seller lists on Amazon. It’s both humbling and exciting to see the response to the book. I can hardly put words to my gratitude, or surprise.
There are lots of reasons writers release books, but today I want to share the five reasons I wrote Leading Change Without Losing It (all this week, the Kindle and iBook version are 50% off). I’m hoping you can find your story and situation captured among within these five reasons.
1. I was tired of seeing leaders die to their dreams. For too long, leaders have had G0d-inspired dreams that died because they didn’t know how to navigate change. Too many leaders start off optimistically and by 35 have died inside. Too many 50 year old leaders are just hanging on until retirement, even though their vision expired years ago. What if God wanted to refuel your dream and help you navigate the change you long to see?
2. I’m hoping it shows leaders HOW to lead change. Most dreams don’t die because leaders don’t know what to do, they die because leaders don’t know how to accomplish them. The opposition gets too tense. That path through change becomes too complex.
The good news is that how to lead change can be learned. Leading change is as much a skill set as anything else. And while there are no guarantees, the chances of accomplishing what God has called you (and your organization) to do go up when your skill in leading change goes up. (The book covers the ‘skill set’ of Moses as he led change – quite effectively).
3. I want it to give your leadership team a common language and strategy. Change can be so disorienting. I know when we we’ve led radical change at our church, it’s like a foxhole experience. Our team needed to find a common language and develop a strategy. I tried to distill 17 years of experiences (good and bad) into a short reference manual with practical strategies and a common language your entire leadership team could use. When your team begins to develop a common strategy and a common vocabulary around change, the possibilities of navigating breakthroughs rises. That’s one of the reasons we decided to print the book rather than just release it on Kindle and iBooks. A printed copy becomes as easy book study for your staff, elder board and team.
4. I’m committed to connecting change-oriented leaders to each other. Isolation is always used by the enemy. My guess is you might feel alone in your battle to lead change. When your team becomes involved in leading change, things get better. But I think it’s also essential that you connect with other leaders going through what you’re going through. I hope the book and this blog becomes a home base for a new tribe of people committed to help each other change. Stay tuned next week for a special announcement about another way we can stay connected on the issue of change.
5. I want to encourage leaders who want to quit. Change is difficult enough that we all want to throw in the towel at some point. I know I did. More than once. I’m hoping the book provides encouragement to those ready to give up. In fact, we devoted the entire last chapter to that subject.
That’s why I wrote the book.
I can only imagine what will happen if leaders rally together around the cause of change.
Tell me – what other kind of encouragement do you wish you had? What are your hopes around change as you look into the future?
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For your chance to win a free copy of the book during launch week, tweet about the book, this post or change using the hashtag #changebook. Then, on Monday, December 17th I’ll select three winners who used the #changebook hashtag on twitter:
- Two will win a free copy of the book.
- One winner will win
- Copies of the book for their entire team (up to twelve copies); and
- A one hour video consultation with me to work through your specific change scenario with you.
Thanks for helping us spread the word. I pray it makes a difference in many, many lives.
