Thursday Three For All

It’s Thursday, kiddies: the day when I roll out a few things I’ve been reading over the past week. Three of ‘em, to be exact. Enjoy. (Remember: click on the bold print to read the entire article.)

9 Lessons from Amusement Parks for Church Leaders. (via @richburch) You know I love me some amusement parks. Here’s how to make your weekend experience less like a roller coaster. (Did you see what I did there?)

Every year 300,000,000 Americans will visit amusement parks … that’s a staggering number of people waiting in line! As church leaders we can’t ignore this massive cultural phenomena and the lessons we can draw for our churches. Here are some lessons that jump out to me when I think about amusement parks and the local church:

• Guests Need Good Signage // Most of the people that come to amusement parks come once in a while and so they require great signage to point them in the right direction. We have the same issue in churches … think about the level of signage that you’d be comfortable with and double it. It disappears to your people after 2-3 weeks but your first time guests appreciate it.

6 Leadership Lessons from a 3 Star General. (via @businessinsider) Drop and give me 20.

You have to know what right looks like for each role in the organization.

Management guru Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great,” says you need to get the right people on the bus, but Kearney says he tries to get the right person in the right seat. Ensuring that people truly fit in the role is one of the most difficult challenges leaders face, he says.

The military uses physical training, aptitude and psychological testing, and skills assessments to assess, recruit, and place soldiers. Kearney says part of the skill in selecting people is “knowing what right looks like.”

The profile of a special operations force operator, for example, is a leader between the ages of 29 and 34, with about eight years of experience in the general-purpose force. They’ve attended multiple advanced tactical schools, have received cultural and language training, and gravitate toward “thinking sports” like track and problem-solving games like chess.

Kearney recommends looking at who is successful, figuring out why, and then trying to repeat it.

6 Goats Jump on a Trampoline. (via @youtube) Face it: you’ve never been as happy as these goats.

(photo credit)