Ed Young says, “God gave you two eyes to plagiarize.”

Albert Einstein said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

I have never been very good at plagiarism. So, I will now tell you all of the original, creative things I thought up this week while surfing the blogosphere. These are all my own, creative, inspired ideas (stop laughing).

I’ve been thinking a lot about vision lately, here is what I creatively came up with:

  • Vision is easy when you launch.
  • Vision is what distinguishes one organization from the next. Both may be great organizations. They just have unique visions.
  • If you grow, eventually, someone will try to shift the vision in a different direction. That’s a guarantee.
  • People need to be reminded frequently of what the vision is and where you’re going next.
  • Sometimes you have to confront people and their agenda when it’s not in line with the vision. Doesn’t necessarily mean their agenda is wrong. Just means it’s not your vision.
  • Sometimes you have to ask a leader to step down if they can’t fully support the vision. Doesn’t mean they’re not a good leader. Just means they’re not your leader.
  • Vision challenges can rock smaller organizations and go almost unnoticed in larger organizations.
  • There’s more vision stability in a larger organization, but also more opportunity for complacency.
  • The vision needs to be big enough to capture the hearts of leaders.
  • The vision rarely changes, but the immediate objectives for accomplishing the vision must constantly be defined.
  • The top positional leader has to be the loudest voice and the most passionate champion for the vision. That role can’t be delegated.
  • Vision unifies.

Then, I remembered (all on my own) a quote from David Foster where he said,

“Figure out your one thing and do it with ruthless abandon, for there is no satisfaction from succeeding at something you shouldn’t be doing in the first place.”~~David Foster

After that, I made the decision to start bringing a lot of ideas to the table in every meeting so that we can find the really great ones. Because bad ideas are a necessity.

Then finally, the most original idea I had this week was that if another church is doing something amazing that we believe would work here, I’m going to steal it. I even came up with a truly original sound bite that I will use for this. If their bullet fits my gun, I’m going to shoot it.

The coolest part of these ideas is that they are all my own. I did not have to go anywhere to get them because I am an island unto myself. Besides, I don’t think Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 are relevant anyway.

Do you like how I forgot my sources? So, what new, creative, unique ideas have you had lately that I could claim as my own?