Outliers... the common becoming exceptional

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Outliers means that something is situated away from or classified different from a main or related body. What has brought success to some may be due to outlier conditions as much as anything. Gladwell brings this to light. The story of success is more a story than some great secret weapon someone had in his business quiver. We must look beyond the individual. They had to understand the culture he or she was part of, and who their friends were, and what town their families came from. The values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are.

Society plays a big role in who succeeds and doesn't. When a person is born, where a person is born, and starts school has a big impact in sports and many other areas. Just a three-month age difference as a child can put one child ahead of his peers.

Practice can be a defining factor. Those who excel at something put in at least 10,000 hours in that field, it seems 10,000 was the number that separated those ahead of others. People don't work harder, they work much harder to be out front, at the top, recognized the most. No one has come up with a case where world class expertise was accomplished in less time. Achievement is less about talent and more about opportunity.

Intelligence and achievement are far from perfectly being correlated. The reason many very intelligent people may by pass a lucrative job in private industry and take a professorship at a university is the university gives them more freedom to do what they want to do and what they feel is right. Practical intelligence is knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it with the maximum effect. It's procedural: it is about knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it, it's knowledge that helps you read a situation correctly. The presence of analytical intelligence doesn't assure the presence of practical intelligence. Social knowledge is a set of skills that have to be learned. And many times ti comes from their families. For example some working class or poor children didn't know how
to get their way, or how to customize the environment they were in for the best purposes. It comes from a cultural advantage, painstakingly taught from the nudging, prodding, encouragement and showing them the rules of the game from mother, father, his family.

Intelligence is rated more on what we think others want us to think, how to think, rather than thinking fluidly itself.
Successful people don't do it alone. Where they come from matters. They're products of particular places and environments. It's about a skill they have been working on for years and suddenly it becomes valuable.

For work to be satisfying, three things are present... autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward. It's not how much money we make, but what makes us happy between nine to five. When these criteria are present, it is meaningful.

There's a culture of honor. Some people fight, not for money or achievement, but for their honor. The culture of honor means a man's reputation is at the center of his livelihood and self worth. For instance in the south, when you can avoid arguments and adultery you are as safe as anyone. In the back country, violence wasn't for economic gain. It was personal. You fought over your honor.

Up to this point, success rises out of a steady accumulation of advantages, when and where you were born, what your parents did for a living, your upbringing. Taking legacy seriously rates as well.

Planes are safer when two people fly a plane. One to check the other and both are willing to participate. When one ranks over the other, planes aren't as safe when the lesser ranking person is not flying. He is less likely to be direct in telling his superior when he sees a problem, and give direct orders in an emergency. In serious situations, politeness can mean disaster.

Rice patty farming is more productive than raising crops in America. Small areas of productivity and constant attention keep the rice growing. Chinese learn math faster because it is more systematic in its process. it all relates as it expands. Pattern learning makes sense and can be processed faster in the brain. Whereas, rote learning, common in America, takes more time and makes less sense to the normal brain in how its processed. Chinese math has patterns, with a system, English math is not.

.In rice paddies you work hard. Working hard is what really successful people do. The students in a south Bronx school learn to work hard and steady in a very poor environment. Shorter summer vacations and staying in the education flow, positively affect their cultures learning retention and growth. The result is higher achievement even in a recessed area, among poor families. They learn the miracle of meaningful work.

This interview with Gladwell gives more insight to Outliers:
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

What David and Jesus had in common was that their best men were the outsiders, or should we say outliers.

What made the difference? They weren't the society cream of the crop. They were actually considered not real significant. They didn't have cultural connections except in their somewhat deprived communities. They were not educated, or considered worthy of attention by their peers. Actually David's men were a bunch of bandits, and Jesus had some despicable followers known to extort money from people.

Although, they were the ones used to be world changers. How did they do it? The answer is in the end of Matthew, the first of Mark, the end of Luke and first of Acts in the Bible.

In Matthew 28 Jesus instructed his motley crew to "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

And then Mark in his Gospel, John the Baptist said he would baptize in water, but Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit.
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!" (Mark 1)

In Luke, Jesus said they will be flooded with power from on High, the High order of Spirit, God's Power over all the universe, that all this power would fall on them.
"And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." (Luke 24)

They hung around for a few days after Jesus said this and whoom... it came. They were all inundated with this power and everyone was so impressed with the transformation that came over them. “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1, 2)

Well, they are not educated, so how do they know so much many wondered. People are getting healed, even by their shadows following on them. Everyone was in awe of them. They knew something special come over them. They naturally loved everyone among themselves. They loved everyone so much, they didn't think twice to assist those in need. They seemed like one group, and how could this happen, when they were all so different.

It boiled down to the unexplainable. When the Spirit of God comes on you, you are totally different. The shy become bold, the quiet are articulate, the poor act rich, and the rich are humble. They all become the very character of God. They had the power of God on them. No one could keep them in jail as when they all prayed and worshiped God, the cell doors opened to release them to continue sharing this wonderful new power, love that is now among us.

Was it just for then. Some of faith say it was. But, what if it can be, is, and is available to us now. Wouldn't it be fun to check out if this could happen again.To investigate the Scriptures about this possibility being available to us now.

It's all in our faith, and investigation of God's word from the perspective it could happen again. Why don't we give it another run, and see if it just won't show up, like in the Acts, and rest of New Testament.

If God could make it flood in the old days, and archaeologist point out that this is verifiable, why couldn't the same happen again, and maybe even better than before.

The answer is... our time and relationship to become One with God and our time and relationship to become One with each other, releases the power. Let's give it another run, and see what God comes up with this time.

God's Spirit Power is released in us and our circumstances around us when we worship Him. Read the Psalms... try 20 to 30... God's power is released when we worship Him. Knowledge is given, locked doors are opened, demons flee, bodies are healed, relationships restored. It all happens in worship with our prayers.

Jesus said to go, pray, and great power, the Power of Spirit will come pouring down on you, springing up from within you and you will be transformed examples of "who I am." It will be self evident as power will be oozing out from all parts of you.

The 10,000 hour rule to excellence, when applied to our Spiritual strength, will show even greater results than for anything else we attempt to master. Over 10 years, that's about 2.7 hours a day. Start at 12 and by 22, wow, or at 35 and by 45, wow. By 60, you probably have many hours already under your belt so in a years time, doing double time, you will be flying again. And if retired, make it your regular job and in a short time you will be a world changer.

It is not restrictive to a certain age, culture background, but the time you spend in His Spirit will be released proportionately in demonstrations of exceptional power, boldness, influence, love and kindness through you.

The Now Revolution ... Angels Watching Over You

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Haslund, is about the shifts in business that are making it a real-time event. The real-time shifts include engineering a new bedrock, finding talent you can trust, organizing your armies, answering the new telephone, sharpening response-ability, building fire extinguishers, and setting up your calculator.

In each section Baer/Haslund included "Now Hear This" features of ideas you can put to work. In this summary, those ideas will be featured too.

The adoption of the social web opens the way for the whole culture to participate. Inside and out side the glass bubble in which your business now exists. Along with the business of making money, how you balance your goals with the human and emotional sides of business becomes critically important. A healthy real-time culture has solidarity (reflections of one voice), demonstrated trust, curiosity to try things and see what works along extensive feedback lines, diversity of individuals and their ideas and rewards systems that fit their being-appreciated language. Now Hear This: If you suspect your employees would like to give feedback but are intimidated, set up an anonymous email account with a public password that anyone can log into and send an email to management with their thoughts. Know what you stand for as an organization beyond your product or service.

The second shift is finding talent you can trust. Every person is a spokes person for the company.
The best way to build this is hire the right ones. Before you bring then in, observe their LinkedIn profiles, blogs, Facebook activity, twitter and where they show up on search engines. Now Hear This: When possible, try to pair self-starters on teams with more reluctant, skeptical, or less confident employees to see if the motivated members can help instill and nurture this quality in others.

Communicate your cultural manifesto, values and guiding principles for your business in video, a public page on your website. Like Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis to a church door, both your team and customers will have a visible, tangible picture of your values.

The third shift is organizing your armies. We all need to communicate faster without and within, with more fluidity and less friction. Crushing the things that have given us a false sense of security and bottle-necking consistency, real-time communication makes skills of social media a necessity. Stay flexible and build integrated social media teams. Each base of social media should follow this path... authenticity, listening, going where they are, personal voice, learning through action, sharing and open source.

Use your internal social networks or collaboration tools to centralize meeting notes, highlights, and let others in your organization/associate network read about what everyone is doing. Keeping everyone informed in real time. You can conduct quick, free online polls in just minutes using software programs like Polldaddy.com. Routinely share stories of triumphs, mishaps... both successes and failures teach us important lessons about speed and inter-connectivity. Everyone needs training from each other on this.

Shift four is answer the telephone. Everyone's talking online... tweets, social forums, Facebook, blogs, so we need to be listening and respond when it affects us. They may not call you to complain about your service directly, but post a comment on their Facebook wall. This is our phone ringing and we need to answer where they are talking. look for key words like "I wish they had" or "really needs". A few tweets could turn it around. Create technology tools to listen for when your name comes up. Collect, report, respond. It's a listen, respond, then talk to your group. It's real time and the committee method is too slow to get opinions and respond. In real time business, everyone on deck is the voice of the business.

Shift five emphasizes response-ability. The communication highway starts with listening, responding, participating (in a corporate blog, category blog, topic blog), and storytelling. Email is commonly use as a dissemination vehicle, but it can be used to implement stories collected. Create a story dedicated email (story@...) and ask your team, associates, fans, customers to send in all interesting tidbits to share experiences. Re-share through email, blog, your intranet page. Wiki's, LinkedIn groups are sources to consider. Add alerts at the top for "message of the day."

Shift six is to build a fire extinguisher. Real time business has it dangers. The more who know you and know what you do the greater the chances of someone lighting fires of discord, within and without. It's easy to complain and discredit someone on the social social web. If it happens, you need to be ready and have your fire extinguisher near by. People can make a mountain out of a mole hill, set a forest on fire with one match. Fires grow with wind, fuel and direction of the wind. A person or company can be hurt greatly in a short period of time. This fear was demonstrated in the financial meltdown that launched the great recession of 2009. In hours, days, within a week a country could have been ruined.

If your fire extinguisher is set up, and near by, an incident can be warded off quickly. Keep binoculars close by so you can see the smoke. Create systems to sound the alarm so the fire trucks can be dispersed quickly.

Social media crisis has eight components. Acknowledge the crisis. Fight social media fire with social water. (Make sure your CEO has a small camera with him at all times to respond quickly where ever he may be.) Be sorry, say it and mean it. Create an FAQ. Have a "communication alert" built into your social connection network so they hear your side of the story quickly, and you build your base of support quickly. Build a pressure relief valve. Create a mechanism that enables interested persons to subscribe to crisis related notifications via email or text message. Know when to take it offline. Arm your army. So they know what's going on and how to respond. Their social network will ask them. Learn your lessons. Evaluate what just happened and if your response system worked as you liked. Then rebuild your fire extinguisher for the next fire.

Shift seven is to make a calculator. Use social media to measure your culture. Create a mechanism for collecting stories and anecdotes that don't show up on graphs.

We are in a new era of democracy. The influence of size, budgets, location, product mix is waning. In their place are speed, smarts, humanization, and an embrace of social media.

The Now Revolution:
http://nowrevolutionbook.com/

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said that everything covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be known to all. (Luke 12:12)

In the Revelation, it says we will be judged by all we have done on earth, in the open or in private. What we do in the dark will be brought to light, and made known to all. (Luke 8:17) We will be given at the end of our lives all that we deserve... if good, eternal reward, if bad eternal devastation. (Revelation 2:2)

It says in Hebrews(1) that we each have angels assigned to us. They exist to care for us and watch over us.

When you think about it, when you are alone, they (angels) are there. Everything you are doing is being monitored and recorded. It will eventually be brought to light. What we are dong will be either rewarded or exposed to our demise. We really can't get away with anything if it is not a good thing. It eventually comes out in the open. First by our behavior as it will change and then the acts themselves may be revealed. What is done in the dark and brought to light is made evident with our technology age.

It is said a computer's hard drive contains information, even if stripped manually, that skilled technicians can recover whatever was ever on the hard drive. When we inadvertently have a hard drive crash, skilled technicians can recover what was on it. So what was done is there forever. What we have tried to hide can be found out. We have seen the quick devastation to lives who use text, email with inappropriate communication. When discovered, it can in an instant be shared with the whole world. Those who tried to conceal things, will have it brought to light and the whole world will know. Nothing can be concealed today securely so no one knows.

God said he would remember our sins no more, if we confess them. It is better to come clean, admit indiscretions and seek His forgiveness as soon as possible. He said He will forgive and, even more so, forget them, and we are to continue on a better path. If we have a weakness, the more we do this(sincerely ask forgiveness), the stronger we will get to eventually overcome it. God's love is enduring and will work with the sincere broken heart over a matter.

If we become arrogant and don't ask God for His help, and try to act like all is great and fine, it will be found out, and exposed to all. Some may continue in pride to do wrong in secret but act like a wonderful saint in public. Those sins will be found out, and this person will be judged on the last days. If the person does not repent and beg God's forgiveness, he will be lost forever.

So it's better to stay humble, recognize our shortcomings, admit them to God, ask for help, and not act so great around others. "Those with a humble and contrite heart are close to the Lord."

What is hidden will be brought to light. So may what is hidden be good deeds, fair actions, kind gestures to others... that the good you do is brought to light. As Angels watch over us, may they be our assistants in doing good, and not our record keepers of what we are doing wrong. Be true to God in private and in public. What you do in secret is expressed in public. May the good you do, be matured in public that helps mankind, spreads love and shows the Love of God in the universe.

Our choices then.
Know that God knows. Admit mistakes and seek His forgiveness. He will forgive and forget.
What we do that's good, that no one knows, God knows. He will note and reward us according to the good we do on earth. It encourages us to know that the good we do, even if no one knows, that God knows and He is faithful to reward us.

If we do wrong, in secret, and we try to hide it, and show arrogance in acting like we are such a wonderful person, the truth of our hypocrisy will be found out. It will come to light.

Angels are watching over all things. Think again, do what is good, commendable and worthy of praise. Angels are around us to help us do good for people. "... servants to care for people who will inherit salvation from the coming destruction." Through Jesus we escape horrors. With Jesus, all things are possible to be victorious in all we face.

Two choices... pick doing good in secret. The rewards are greater.

Spirit Savvy Business ... the heart and principles behind it

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
www.spiritsavvy.net


People on a mission, whether it's a great cause or a business venture, live by five power principles. They refine them and execute them well on a regular basis.

In investigating what works for building a vision, I found these underlying principles in all of them. Going back to the best-selling business books of the post depression era, these principles rebuilt America then, and they can rebuild American enterprise again today.

These strategies are also the foundation for how the Spirit Savvy Business goes about building noble business ventures, and worthy causes.

A consistent thread became clear when reviewing Napoleon Hill's findings, commissioned by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900's to find what creates wealth; W. Clement Stone, who built a magnificent company in the ghettos of America; Og Mandino, the philosopher of riches in life and happiness; Dale Carnegie, the guru of personal relationship power... all of which are post-depression business thought leaders. They led us out of the Great Depression, and they remain the foundation for advanced thinking today. What are the threads that when woven together form invincible strength in a business vision or mission?

1. Faith. They all had faith, believing in something much better than themselves can happen. Their faith was enlarged by their faith in God. Everything was believed to be possible, because they saw God as an active part of the process, since His Spirit creates through those who believe in His Power at work. This bred enthusiasm... (enthusiasm means God is within). So all things are possible outside of them. Vision faith then becomes a powerful force in their lives... a creative vision of new potential.

2. Transformation of the mind. The mind had to be reprogrammed to a new way of thinking, continuous learning and learning from others. It takes deliberate mental rehearsal to accomplish this.
Moving the mind from negative to Positive,
from critical to the Possible,
from what's wrong to "How I can fix it!" way of thinking.
We do this by inundating our mind with Spiritual Thought, continually; by listening, thinking, speaking, reading, interacting... constantly cultivating a frame of mind of positive potential. 

3. Form Dreaming Teams. A Dreaming Team includes those who dream with you for positive solutions. Those who collaborate to find ways to carry them out, to create new results. Napoleon Hill called them mastermind groups. Jesus said where two or three agree it will be done. When minds are in harmony great power is released... ideas which engage the powers of God's Spirit.

4. Strategic Action
Hill, Stone, Mandino all had Strategic Action in their plans. The strategic actions included Divine Guidance as part of them. In other words, they relied on God-Inspired ideas and sought God-orchestrated direction. They believed everyone can hear from God and have His High level of intelligence at work with them.

They combined knowledge with Divine Strategy and added collaborating, cooperative action.

5. Making Noble contributions to a society is what motivated them.
They become cause based and labored in a strong sense of mission. All problems that they solved had a Higher purpose. The opportunities which become evident were an important contribution to society and met the needs people were struggling with.

Today's statistics verify how inept business is today.
Two skills are essential.
Having personal skills of business, and mission,
and effectively using Spiritual skills.
Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says the one critical intelligence lacking in America is the use of Spiritual Intelligence. We don't understand it or know how to use it. We get hung up on religious themes and over look the fundamentals of its power.
Unity of minds and spirit is where the power is. We must unite.

To develop people in using the skills of business and Spiritual skill enhancement, two hurdles needed to be crossed. Business people are busy and they have little time to attend meetings, or take time from the rush of a day to learn, refine and execute these skills in an accomplished way.The business owner is task based, so taking time for Spiritual preparations is many times rushed by. Many even believe in its value, but the pressures of the day cause him/her to be on the go without getting that in focus during the day.

To solve this problem, to efficiently develop these skills and help business create the foundations essential pointed out by our great business thinkers, I streamlined a development service, and use technology to assist in delivering information.

I email links on the internet of the best info from the best business minds in America to business/mission based people. From their best-selling business books I summarize their key business principles and post them on my blog. I add a study of Spiritual principles vital to business vitality at the end of each. Using the teachings the Bible (with an emphasis on the New Testament community), I share the powerful principles of Scripture showing how to use these in the every day goals, objectives, tasks of a business/mission effort.

Over a year, principles from 30 great best-selling business books are revealed. It's a year long "in the trenches" development program. I have used insights from the late J. Robert Ashcroft, visionary founder of Evangel University, on how Biblical power is available for us in the marketplace and how to be Spiritually empowered within your business skills each month. (Contact me and I would be glad send you the titles of business books featured.)

The power of dream teaming is added to the formula. Small cells of mind and Spirit power groups are formed to bring creative thinking, idea sharing, problem solving fulfillment into the mix. The group size is deliberately kept small from three to ten, of like-minded, compatible people. Meeting once or twice a month as needed, (in person, phone, email, video). The Special Forces in the military find that small, tightly-knit, well-trained groups, of 6 to 8 people, are quite powerful in executing important assignments.

The nucleus is Spiritual development from prayer and the Power of the Scriptures, integrated as part of the business operating philosophy. Prayer is learning the skill to tap into God's Great Power of Spirit, who empowers great things to happen.

The business transformation process is then in place.
Faith, belief in God's power in Spirit;
mental renewal, disciplined thinking and focus;
dreaming teams, of diversity but like-minded in heart and Spirit;
strategic action, from ideas which come from this Master mind of power;a cause/mission emerges that transform society for a greater good of humanity.

(Dale Shumaker, founder of the Spirit Savvy Business, M.S.,Educational Communications and Technology, researcher of entrepreneur skills, and student of the Bible and Spiritual applications in lifestyle. 417-224-3517, and I would be elated to show you ways to become one in business and Spirit and fulfill God's mission in your life through your mission and within commerce.)

Social Boom! ...the power of small communicating

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Social Boom! by Jeffrey Gitomer is about how to attract, engage, and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Gitomer simply outlines what to use each for(the unwritten internet protocol), and how to go about it. It's one of those books that really needs to be on your business bookshelf as a reference guide to follow. Here are a few areas that are emphasized in the book.

The social media mentioned above are growing quickly. Social media is instant and you have to be ready to participate consistently, if you want to win. They need to be used interchangeably, and a business strategy for you is necessary. It's not like the old mass media that is constantly pushing their product on us. Value must be created, so people want to visit you, listen to what you have to say. From that the relationships formed produce business relationships that are solid and enduring. What you build in social media will last longer n business because you formed a relationship of value first that creates a connection. It's giving people a clear picture of who you are and who you aren't. So before they ever meet you, they know you.

What you should do?
Observe what your competition is doing on line.
Talk to your customers and ask what they want.
Communicate value messages, not product offerings.

To build influential messages...
be the one most fascinating on line; message first, media second, identify what makes you fascinating, start with information and then add insight, think in verbs, hit hot buttons, don't moan, stand out and don't be a bother... be fascinating. Social media is your personal brand, it's like a river, and you are in a fish bowl.

Eight steps for using social media are:
Find your prospects, follow them, read their posts, collect information, listen, connect (or share their ideas with others), reach out to them, align yourself with people that you know they follow and pay attention to.

Facebook
Create value. The more you give, the more attractive you become. Become a community. As you build a Facebook, keep in mind...
All social media is interconnected. You have to do ALL of them consistently to gain effective results. And you have to do them well if you expect to monetize your efforts.(Gitomer)
When starting your own business Facebook page, the five step formula is:
Gather the email addresses of each of your customers.
Begin gathering valuable content that your customers would perceive as usable and profitable. Have your business page designed graphically and strategically. Your Facebook page has to be a door that swings both ways. Use Gitomer's page as an example. (Search Jeffrey Gitomer on Facebook.)
Invite your customers to your page, and ask them to press "like".
Promise to be sending them information of value to them.

LinkedIn
Go to your LinkedIn page and look at three things.
How many connections do you have?
How many recommendations do you have?
What is your summary statement?

The imperatives of LinkedIn are: Complete your profile. Update and engage frequently with your connections. Recommend others. Solve other people's problems. Join and participate in groups. Start your own group. Search companies and harvest new leads. Respond to everyone who communicates with you. Set up the SlideShare application and add value. Change your status regularly. Put a video on your profile. Promote your blog. Add a portfolio. Integrate Twitter. Leverage LinkedIn's search power and be found.

To build rank on your LinkedIn:
Make the most of your headline. Make your current and past work experience keyword rich.
Make the most of the summary section. Specialties should equal keywords. Add key-word rich website links.

Create, promote, moderate, and leverage your own LinkedIn group. Be a group owner. This is a power feature of LinkedIn. Go to the Group tab and begin. Invite others to your group. Control undesirable comments. (Block out chronic toxic contributors, or make it by invitation only.)

Personalize your invitations to your LinkedIn and let them know why you would like to connect.

Twitter
Twitter is not about meaningless chit chat. It's about sharing of meaningful information, ideas, events, that others will want to retweet... something of great interest or value. The goal is tweeting something others will retweet as a result of a compelling interest. Include original thoughts or ideas and add your name at the end. This re-enforces your personal brand.

The power of Twitter is staying in touch every day with your network with information that is interesting, of value. It's simply about informing and sharing. A tweet of value is something new, let's your personality shine, asks questions, original in thought or observation, and shows you listen. You don't need 10,000 tweets to get 20,000 followers. You need 200 quality, relevant, valuable messages that are retweetable. (Gitomer)
People are sick and tired of being sold to. They are sick of being marketed to. They come to social networks for fun, information, connection, and entertainment.
A tweet of value a day will keep your business in the main stay. (dale)

Target connections with meaningful content is the goal. Content can come in many forms... link to your blog, a retweet, comments on your LinkedIn, anecdote of the day, a special event, content of value from your business or industry.

Twelve things to know about Twitter.
You have to be on Twitter regularly. A great source to traffic people to your website. Sharing information. Respond to people who contact you. Get your message across in few words. All tweets should be 20 characters short of the 140 limit to make it retweetable. Use hashtags to categorize. Tweets have a short lifespan. Great for finding new information or look for opportunities. Use Hootesuite to schedule tweets. Best tweet times are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m Eastern Standard Time. Twitter followers are great people.
The world is not just small, it's instant. (Gitomer)

YouTube
YouTube provides the biggest opportunity to promote your name, brand, anyone in the world can watch and its free.
YouTube opportunities include a place to share client testimonials, share your business philosophy and best ideas, record your favorite customer, and anything else your imagination can conjure up. It's an entertainment, informational marketplace so others see your heart, spirit, with your ideas. Start with what you have, don't create videos, create a series of videos(brief and to the point), use videos of you speaking to others, build yourself an audience(invite, invite, constantly invite others to watch), change your business model to include YouTube and work from a strategic plan. Instead of taking 20 minutes to get your 4 points across, create a series of 4 videos, five minutes for each point.

Use a blog to glue everything together... Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Your blog should have current photos and updated biography, value in why you're blogging, news, fun, insight, information, humor, and pass-it-on information.

The glue process is your personal website, your weekly e-zine, and your blog. Ask for email addresses, and email your email magazine. This is a weekly value message that reaches your customers and prospects. Ask first, send value, and they will stay connected and pass it on.

Messages of value have to be genuine, authentic, without an offer to buy. It must be transparent without expectation of return or response.

Since everything is interconnect, a person has all the options to find more of you and see all you have to offer. You stimulate word-of-mouth marketing by being interesting, making it easy, make people happy, and earn their trust and respect.

To capsulize... The formula for business social media success: Attract people, engage people, connect people. The best way to accomplish all three is with value. (Gitomer)

Read Gitomer, brainstorm with friends and create your business social media game plan. For a taste of Jeffrey Gitomer
http://www.facebook.com/JeffreyGitomer

The Strength of Spiritual relationship is in communication. When we pray we communicate. When we pray for others we communicate. When we speak to others we empower them. Our words empower others.

The Scriptures say by the word of your testimony, it is done. God spoke and the world formed. His words shake the universal violently.

We speak and people respond. When in a position of authority people do as we say, become as we say. Communication is powerful. The Holy Spirit puts us in a position of authority. When it is spoken by the unction of the Holy Spirit there's transformational, convicting, responsive power. The Words from Spirit are invincibly, persuasively powerful.

Power is manifested and Supernatural results come about when people are in unity. Unity requires communication. When there is agreement, one-in-thought and Spirit, all Heaven comes to earth. All of Heaven surrounds our purposes.

The teachings on the Body of Christ, by Dr. J. Robert Ashcroft surmised this well.
They were no longer just a group meeting together, but an intimacy among them became obviously apparent. It was an intimate sharing fellowship as all things were considered to be in common and shared by all. This was done to such an extent, no one person in the group was without. All needs were met. Individuals seemed to lose individual identities in the group. There was a vicarious unselfishness to share all blessings with each other.

Unity in all things was the word of the day. (All of this involves communication.)
1. They were in unity as One with God.
2. They were one in themselves, one with the Holy Spirit now working vigorously through them. They turned over selfish ambitions for God's directives speaking unceasingly through them.
3. They were one with each other. As Peter spoke to the crowd afterward... He was speaking as the whole group of 11 disciples. A unique occurrence.
4. They were in unity with all Believers. Togetherness was the characteristic of the group, as well as the condition behind why they all had so much power now.
5. They were in communication. Now, the Spirit was communicating through them from the Spirit within them. They had God's voice in them speaking to them.
6. They were in unity in material things. They shared things of value with each other... food, clothing, shelter, houses, transportation. Even though most were in poverty, in their sharing they all become a group without any lack among them. Prosperity seems to promote individualism... individualism weakens Spiritual power. Their power came from their sharing... a new concept of power's origins.
7. They were in unity in witnessing. They had favor with all people and people listened to them. They were amazed that they seemed to know so much, and were bold as an authority in their field even though not educated. The warmth and love they had among each other, attracted many to them.

All this centered around the unity of Spirit as One Group they had. When there is disunity, the power is zapped. We should avoid disunity at all costs. Satan's premiere tool to make the Church powerless is to create disunity. When that happens, Power is diluted, exponentially, from the group. To the same degree, when their is unity, power is added exponentially to the group.

The Unity of Believers Brought the manifestation of God's Presence.

Today with all the social media, with a strategic use of resources, we can cause great things to emerge from the Power Principles of the Scriptures.
Facebook can be used to cultivate friendships, testimonies of life, share needs.
Twitter to keep in touch in sound bites, as well as texting, for instant updating.
LinkedIn to build a marketplace connection of Kingdom objectives with strategies to inject the potency of Spirit in the marketplace.
YouTube to be our pulpit for sharing revelations as they come.
Blog to allow gifts of thought to flow.

We have tools to do great things in the Kingdom of God for the Kingdom of God and mobilize an army for the Kingdom of God. We can be the army.

It's in sharing where the power is. Communicate and speak power into people. Use all the tools available. And then our coming together will be more powerful. So Powerful that we will see supernatural expressions of God's Spirit in all things around us.

Absolute Surrender... kept by God's Great Power

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray (1828-1917) is a Christian classic on living in the authority of God's Spirit and His Power in our life, visible daily. The section on Kept by the Power of God outlines the ingredients for experiencing this on a daily basis. Murray is a Spiritually anointed inspirational writer. Here are excerpts from this powerful guide to living in Spirit's power... Kept by the Power of God.

We have two wonderful, blessed truths about the keeping by which a believer is kept unto salvation. One truth is, Kept by the power of God; and the other truth is, Kept through faith. We should look at the two sides... at God’s side and His almighty power, offered to us to be our Keeper every moment of the day; and at the human side, we having nothing to do but in faith to let God do His keeping work. We see there is a double keeping... the inheritance kept for me in Heaven, and I on earth kept for the inheritance there.

Keeping Includes All

Think, first of all, that this keeping is all-inclusive.

He knows you are not able to keep yourself. But God says: “My child, there is no work you are to do, and no business in which you are engaged, and not a cent which you are to spend, but I, your Father, will take that up into my keeping.”
God not only cares for the spiritual, but for the temporal also. The greater part of the life of many people must be spent, sometimes eight or nine or ten hours a day, amid the temptations and distractions of business; but God will care for you there. The keeping of God includes all. Now, I bring you the message that in prosperity as in adversity, in the sunshine as in the dark, your God is ready to keep you all the time. The meaning is, that if you will entrust yourself entirely and absolutely to the omnipotence of God, He will delight to keep you.

Keeping Requires Power

Second, if you want to understand this keeping, remember that it is not only an all-inclusive keeping, but it is an almighty keeping. Have you ever thought that in every action of grace in your heart you have the whole omnipotence of God engaged to bless you?

What is Almighty God not going to do for the child that trusts Him? The Bible says: “Above all that we can ask or think." It is Omnipotence you must learn to know and trust, and then you will live as a Christian ought to live. How little we have learned to study God, and to understand that a godly life is a life full of God, a life that loves God and waits on Him, and trusts Him, and allows Him to bless it! We cannot do the will of God except by the power of God. God gives us the first experience of His power to prepare us to long for more, and to come and claim all that He can do. God help us to trust Him every day.

Keeping Is Continuous

Another thought. This keeping is not only all-inclusive and omnipotent, but also continuous and unbroken. God comes to us as the Almighty One, and without any condition He offers to be my Keeper, and His keeping means that day by day, moment by moment, God is going to keep us. Our whole spiritual life is to be God’s doing... "It is God that works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. ” When once we get faith to expect that from God, God will do all for us. Every morning God will meet you as you wake. If you trust your waking to God, God will meet you in the morning as you wake with His divine sunshine and love, and He will give you the consciousness that through the day you have got God to take charge of you continuously with His almighty power. And God will meet you the next day and every day; and never mind if in the practice of fellowship there comes failure sometimes. If you maintain your position and say: “Lord, I am going to expect You to do Your utmost, and I am going to trust You day by day to keep me absolutely,” your faith will grow stronger and stronger, and you will know the keeping power of God in unbrokenness.

And now the other side—Believing. “Kept by the power of God through faith.” How must we look at this faith?

Faith Implies Helplessness

First of all, this faith means utter impotence and helplessness before God. At the bottom of all faith there is a feeling of helplessness. And so faith always means helplessness. In many cases it means: I can do it with a great deal of trouble, but another can do it better. But in most cases it is utter helplessness; another must do it for me. And that is the secret of the spiritual life. A man must learn to say: “I give up everything; I have tried and longed and thought and prayed, but failure has come. God has blessed me and helped me, but still, in the long run, there has been so much of sin and sadness.” What a change comes when a man is thus broken down into utter helplessness and self-despair, and says: “I can do nothing!” It is possible that you might exalt yourself, and therefore I have sent you this trial to keep you weak and humble.”

It is when we sink down in utter helplessness that the everlasting God will reveal Himself in His power, and that our hearts will learn to trust God alone.

But how am I to get that trust?”

My answer is: “By the death of self. The great hindrance to trust is self-effort. So long as you have got your own wisdom and thoughts and strength, you cannot fully trust God. But when God breaks you down, when everything begins to grow dim before your eyes, and you see that you understand nothing, then God is coming near, and if you will bow down in nothingness and wait upon God, He will become all.”

As long as we are something, God cannot be all, and His omnipotence cannot do its full work. That is the beginning of faith... utter despair of self, a ceasing from man and everything on earth, and finding our hope in God alone.

Faith Is Rest

And then, next, we must understand that faith is rest.

In the beginning of the faith-life, faith is struggling; but as long as faith is struggling, faith has not attained its strength. But when faith in its struggling gets to the end of itself, and just throws itself upon God and rests on Him, then comes joy and victory.

Oh, friends, that is faith! When God comes to me with the promise of His keeping, and I have nothing on earth to trust in, I say to God: “Your word is enough; kept by the power of God.” That is faith, that is rest.

My God, let my life be a proof of what the omnipotent God can do. Let these be the two dispositions of our souls every day... deep helplessness, and simple, childlike rest.

Faith Needs Fellowship

That brings me to just one more thought in regard to faith... faith implies fellowship with God. No goodness or power can be received separate from God, and if you want to get into this life of godliness, you must take time for fellowship with God.

Leave your heart, and look into the face of Christ, and listen to what He tells you about how He will keep you. Look up into the face of your loving Father, and take time every day with Him, and begin a new life with the deep emptiness and poverty of a man who has got nothing, and who wants to get everything from Him... with the deep restfulness of a man who rests on the living God, the omnipotent Jehovah... and try God, and prove Him if He will not open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it.

Shall we not say: “All that that omnipotence can do, I am going to trust my God for”? Are not the two sides of this heavenly life wonderful? God’s omnipotence covers me, and my will in its littleness rests in that omnipotence, and rejoices in it!

This is from Absolute Surrender which is online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/surrender.toc.html
Click on the chapter, Kept by the Power of God, for the complete chapter above.

Lead with LUV ... one in Spirit

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Lead with LUV by Ken Blanchard and Colleen Barrett (President Emeritus of Southwest Airlines)
reveal through dialogue her secrets of being a Love Manager. Southwest Airlines, with LUV as its stock market symbol, lived in a love relationship with each other, customers and stock holders. During Barrett's servant leadership as president until 2008, Southwest's culture was all about love.

As Southwest's LUV leader and followers of the Golden Rule, her VP of marketing said this of Colleen. "Colleen teaches us that love is what matters and that you have to lead with your heart and know that the heart will take you in the right directions."

Servant leadership is about love. Although this view is seen in the corporate world as a soft idea. Love is a powerful driving force. Loving your mission, customers, your people, yourself, so others can be magnificent. The true servant leader deals with vision/direction, strategic leadership to see that everything goes in the same direction.

The servant leader has a triple bottom line. Treat your people right as your most valued customer. the employees then treat the passenger (the customer) as their most valued person in warmth, caring, and a fun spirit. The customer tells others and comes back, so then the shareholders benefit from this love cycle. As the employer of choice, the provider of choice, the investment of choice, the triple bottom line yields the financial bottom line.

Make your people your business partners in every way.

Servant leaders run with a compelling vision which includes a significant purpose (what business are you in?), a picture of the future (what it will look like if successful?), clear values (what guides your behavior and decisions daily?). It tells you who you are, where you're going, and what guides you in getting there. People admire your strengths, but they respect your honesty regarding your vulnerability.

Servant leadership is love in action. How are you defining love?
Patient. Patience is helping people down on their luck, rebuilding self-confidence.
Kind. Kindness seeks to be useful, and searches for opportunities to do good.
Generous. Generosity rejoices over others' success, recognizing and rewarding acts of courage, determination, sacrifice, or goodwill.
Courteous. Courtesy is to be love in little things, promoting the happiness of all.
Humble. Humility does not call attention to itself, bloat up with self-conceit, take credit for ideas. People with humility don't think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.
Unselfish. Unselfishness never neglects others. Consider others, their welfare, satisfaction and advantage to be above its own. Never advancing, aggrandizing, enriching, gratifying itself at the cost of others.
Good temper. Love restrains passions and is not exasperated, never angry without a cause. Anger cannot rest in a heart where love reigns.
Guileless. Love thinks no evil, sees the bright side, puts the best construction on every action.
Sincere. Love takes no pleasure in doing injury or hurting others, or broadcasting someone's miscues. It doesn't gossip or bear false witness, taking time to thank people for their worthwhile contributions.

The true test of a servant leader, who maintains a healthy culture, one with everyone involved in feedback, is to have other servant leaders who are wiser, freer, more autonomous, healthier and better able themselves to become servant leaders.

In summary, Colleen loves this company, loves the employees, the customers.
Commonly referred to as a fun-LUVin company, leading with love is a different (and fun) way to create success.

"Every dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

Ken Blanchard's website:
http://www.kenblanchard.com/

Oswald Chambers is a classic prolific inspirational writing. His devotional My Utmost for His Highest reflect his insights to vibrant Spiritual living. Ponder these excerpts from May 22 through May 29. Current daily devotionals appear at
http://utmost.org/

God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind. Yet there is one prayer which God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ." Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?

Jesus prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself, just as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far from this oneness; yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him— because Jesus prayed, “. . . that they all may be one . . . .”

Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?” And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . .” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself.

Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .”

Our thinking about prayer... The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . . " maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.

The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.

If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature, that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”

“. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name . . .” “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship—”. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ."

Put trust in God first. Being one with Him, we have all His ever expansive universe as part of our life as we live to be His instrument on earth.

Tell to Win ... the greatest story ever told

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Tell to Win by Peter Guber is about how to connect, persuade, and triumph with the hidden power of story. Everyone is in the emotional transportation business. Purposeful stories, those created with a specific mission in mind, are absolutely essential in persuading others to support a vision, dream or cause. Guber is from the movie industry and he has learned what works in movies, we can learn similar principles that work when we communicate to others with the power of the story. In any environment, place, you to can create a compelling story that connects and persuades.

The components of a good story, whether told in person, on a page or via actors, are challenge, struggle, and resolution.
First, get the listener's attention with an unexpected challenge or question.
Next, then give your listeners an emotional experience by narrating the struggle to overcome the challenge, or find an answer to the opening question.
Finally, galvanize your listeners' response with an eye-opening resolution that calls them to action.
From Guber's movie experience he says you are skunked if the three part story-listening experience is not delivered.

What fuels emotional transportation?
1. True heroes are sympathetic and recognizable characters. Your hero in the story is the conductor. The more sympathetic to this person, the more we feel bound to the story.
2. Drama gets your story moving. Once we have our hero, what keeps us spellbound is wondering what will happen next. Create tension between expectation and uncertainty. Emotional tension makes you think it might go this way, or go that way, so your listener hangs with you to find out. It's that we want something to turn out one way, but with the situation it could have several outcomes. This is emotional tension that keeps us in the story to find out. The "what happens next" is a compelling story telling component that keeps the audience glued to you.
3. Get people from "ah" to "ha." Or moving the emotional to the ahha, "I got it".This is what is going on and how it turned out.
4. Move from the me to the we factor. That the story is shared by the other person too. It now becomes a shared experience between you, another person or a group. The teller and listener feel the benefit of the experience. We align in interests and others know what's in it for them.

The meat of Win to Tell details the art of the "tell" which is ready... set... tell.

Ready... To tell a great story preparation is key. Do your homework and demonstrate authenticity and congruence, the rails which your story rides. Aim for the heart and emotionalize your offering. Be interested in what your listener is interested in. Then they will find your story interesting and compelling. Know your audience and what interests them. Be aware of your listeners' prejudices, pet issues. Overlooking this can hijack your whole story.

Set... your hero represents the point of view of your listener. He/she/it is the one your audience identifies with, the audience experiences the story through the hero. The call to action embraced by the hero will as well be embraced by the audience. Your hero is the person, place, product, or brand that enables your audience to feel the change promised in the story. Metaphors and analogies are great to use. In a single word, in a single image all the emotion and meaning can be delivered. Engaging powerful narratives from books, popular movies, history can emotionalize your call to action.

Tell! Present authentic, contagious energy. Your energy, that's real, is the catalyst for a great story. All audiences expect experiences. Being vulnerable is an asset, not a liability. Persist if you get a "no", and pressing on in spite of their fear ("no" comes from fear expressed in fight, flee, freeze) and change "no" to "on". Be clear on your goal, use inspiring stories, learn, refine and improve your story with each no. Rejection is just a sign to detour to find the better road to success. Your body talks more than your tongue. Be interactive, arouse curiosity, use props that support your story. Listen actively and responsively, be ready to drop your script when the situation calls for it. The audience needs to own it, so surrender control and proprietorship to your audience. The best raw material you have is your firsthand, witnessed experience.

To sustain a never-ending story, identify the essential elements of your story and the audiences who clearly echo the essence of your story. Multiply that by encouraging these audiences to retell your story through their own voice and through their own experience... their networks, relationships, social media of preference. State of the art technology has its benefits, although it's the state of the Heart technology that's the game changer when you can tell your story in the room, face to face.

More on Tell to Win at:
http://www.peterguber.com/telltowin/home

The Greatest Story Ever Told is a movie produced in the 60's. It was an epic portrayal of the life of Christ and why He was on earth... the son of God coming to earth in a human being.

It held all the intrigue of a great story. Jesus came with a challenge... to save mankind. He ran into struggles.... religious leaders conspiring to have Him put to death. Internal betrayal from one of his close associates.

And then the triumph. He was the only person ever to die, come back, and then leave again only to promise us that He would put in us the Same Spirit, that He had, to work in us continually. During the time on earth he deliberately set up a coalition of dedicated followers to spread the message He was sent to share and set up for all mankind.

He gave a bold promise... Jesus said He came to give life to everyone, and give it more abundantly than what we have now. He said that He was the way to this Life, He spoke the truth and showed how this world can work better. He was the light to see a better way. Our minds will be opened to see things like never before and get supernatural insights beyond our human ability. He said to believe in Him and He would give us all of this.

During the whole time while He was explaining how this would work, demonstrating how it worked by healing others and bringing grace into lives, a gang of holier-than-thou folks were out to get Him killed. Ironically, He never committed a real crime and beyond that, not one small sin that God would be opposed to. He was said to be perfect in His human relationships.

The whole time He kept dodging and having to outwit these scoundrels while setting up and training His team of special forces to carry on after He left the earth. He made a unique promise to His followers. That as a group, remaining unified, they would be like Him, with all the wisdom, power, revelation He had.

As the Greatest Story unfolded, He intensified His efforts to set up His Kingdom on earth, a Spiritual Kingdom, while He knew He was running out of time as these unscrupulous folks tried to capture Him and have Him killed. It was a race against the clock.

They finally caught Him and put Him to death after an unfair trial. Everyone thought His mission had been stopped. But He had the biggest surprise coming. After dying He came back and appeared to His followers, His meticulously trained associates, and gave them final instructions and encouragement to wage the battle of building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and to follow His example in how to do it. He told them to wait for a while and the Spirit that was on Him would come on them and all the things He did they would do. Beyond that all who joined in the crusade through the centuries would receive what He left on them. They would do just like Him, be just like Him, and get results like Him.

It was an intriguing strategy that would not ever be outwitted by anyone. He explained further and pointed out that they would mature in this and grow beyond where He was on earth. Leaving His physical body, He sent back a Spiritual body, made up of "many ones" united, to become bigger than He was while in a physical body as just one person. He said that increasing power will be in this united Spiritual body, and through it His Kingdom, a kingdom like Heaven, would grow and mature more than when He was on earth.

The story doesn't have an ending. It continues on and never dies. It's a never-ending story with its plot still unfolding. Those part of it are alive today, and will live together forever, even after a physical death just like Jesus went through. It's a story that's still alive, the greatest story ever told is still in the making.