Backblasts

VISION:

Def: Unusual competence in discernment or perception: intelligent foresight

VALUE

Def: Worth in usefulness to the possessor: utility or merit. A principle, standard or quality considered worthwhile or desirable.  

I felt as if I was walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial

Sir Winston Churchill

My premise is that a true leader is defined by how he handles and comes through disruption.  This disruption leads to clarity, the true leader now has a context for living out his life.  Through this context a True Leader’s Vision now becomes crystallized in such a way that he can add long term Value to his wife, his family, his community, his world and his legacy.  

Lately I have been reading authors like John Eldredge, Pat Lencioni Tommy Newberry and Michael Gerber.  While they don’t articulate the D2C2V like I have, they all are in unison on the concept of Vision. Think about the above definition “unusual competence”, “intelligent foresight” if you have no context how can you have any Vision for the future?

How does an unusual competence or intelligent foresight relate to a Vision for you life?  It starts with being unusual, it is not the norm, not something that the donut makers, clock watchers and the “here for the party” guys understand.  Being unusual in a usual world is what F3 is all about…0530, the Gloom, CSAUP, leading others for free. To reinvigorate male leadership into our communities it takes being unusual.  

Competence is defined as the state or quality of being adequately or well qualified…a specific range of skill, knowledge or ability.  Now if we are all accelerating on a daily basis our level of competency will improve and we will become those HIM that are unusually competent. It is by competence that we have the courage and the wherewithal to take on tasks that are visionary, that have something bigger than today attached to them.  

Intelligent foresight is a phrase that I think best describes Vision.  Anyone can have the foresight to know certain things from time to time, hell a broken clock is right twice a day.  What does it look like to be intelligent in your vision for the future? It is a unique understanding of where you came from (Disruption), where you are going (Clarity), and how you will get there (Context).  The Vision and the Value add are the target and the legacy respectively.

Let’s take a look at a couple of HIM that have cast a Vision that will harvest long term Value.  

Above all else, a warrior has a vision, he has a transcendance to his life, a cause greater than self preservation.

John Eldredge

If you have ever been around Red Skull you would be hard pressed to argue that he doesn’t have a Vision for his life that adds long term Value to those around him.  For the uninitiated, Red Skull came to F3 via an EH from Toga. Red Skull runs an organization here in town called 413 Strong where we hold our AO The Stronghold.  This is the Vision for 413 and the Vision Red Skull has for his life: Our vision is to create a path to legitimacy, independence and self-sufficiency for men who are looking to radically improve their lives.  

Red Skull and his partners sold their company several years ago and was subsequently introduced to 413 Strong.  Sure, as a successful suit, Red Skull could have opted for another company to grow, build and sell; he could have sold his consulting services to the highest bidder; heck he could have been a mentor at the EC downtown.  Instead, Red Skull had a Vision to change the trajectory of men’s lives who for whatever reason had the cards stacked against them.

Red Skull’s Vision for changing lives, making communities better and instilling a walk of faith in men sounds very similar to what DREDD and OBT started that all of us have bought into.  

How does Red Skull’s Vision create Value?  Take a look at the success stories on their website, ask the employers that have put his guys to work, ask the families of the 413 guys, ask Isiah.  

We all have a Vision in our inmost being.  That Vision needs to be crystallized in order to be shared so that it can add long term Value to those around us.  Ask Red Skull how he came up with his Vision, I am sure he would love to share.

One of the other PAX that I learned True Leadership from through the concept of Vision and Value is Umbrella.  Umbrella was EH’d by DREDD and OBT through the Art of Manliness podcast after having recently moved to Brentwood from Kentucky.  Ya’ll may know him as the AOQ for The Racetrack, I have also come to know him as a HIM with a Vision that all of us can aspire to and as a HIM that is creating long term Value for those around him.  

Looking through Umbrella’s Twitter bio, you see a lot of the usual…Husband, Dad, Insurance Broker, F3er.  If you observe his life you would see him as a Mentor, a Philanthropist, a Connector, a Leader. I had the good fortune to spend the weekend with Umbrella and his boys last summer at F3 Dads camp sponsored by F3 Birmingham.  With the exception of Insurance Broker, I saw him exhibit all of the other ways I describe him.  

Back in Middle Tennessee I can also see the Vision that Umbrella has cast for his life as he mentors the men in his office.  Also, as you may have experienced, Umbrella is one of the most vocal PAX petitioning for the importance of the 2nd and 3rd Fs of F3.  Umbrella is a member of a business owner’s group here in town, C12, that has a mission of sharing Jesus with their employees, their vendors and their customers through their work.  

How does Umbrella pick up the mantle of Philanthropist?  Again, don’t ask him, take a look at his Twitter feed and look at all the things the company he leads, VMI, is involved in that are focused on making families whole and on the betterment of our community.  Men of Valor, Nashville Rescue Mission, 2nd Harvest, United Way, Catholic Diocese of Middle Tennessee and the list goes on.

The greatest example of Umbrella’s true leadership through his Vision creating long term Value comes from a tweet he posted on 3 October 2018; it is a letter from one of his boys telling people who his dad is.  A True Leader exhibits Vision creating Value in such a way that those around him are impacted and leaves a palpable legacy behind.  

The two greatest days of a man’s life are the day he was born and the day he realizes why.

Mark Twain

As I reflect upon what I have learned about leadership through the Vision creating Value concept I am quick to realize that our actions, our intentions and our investments speak much louder that our words about them.  So, as you think through and ponder what your Vision is and how that will instill long term Value, listen to your heart, to what has been written on your soul by your maker and then follow that still small voice.

Parting shot:

I leave you with a snapshot of my Vision statement which I argue creates long term Value as a point of future discussion and to ask you to hold me accountable for that which I am writing:

I love my Maker well by having an ongoing, interactive and vibrant relationship with Him.

I love my wife well by pursuing her while at the same time dying to myself.

I love my children well as an encourager, pointing them to Jesus and being the chief repenter in our family.

I love my friends well by drawing out their best, helping them articulate their why and accelerating to their articulated purpose.

I love my community well by being part of a movement to reinvigorate male leadership in that community.  

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt