Learning from Leaders - - - Mac Lake

Real Leaders Invest in Themselves


It was one of those rare moments when you meet someone who immediately strikes you as a person who you would like to spend a lot of time. That has happened to me several times and I do not remember many times that my instincts have been wrong.

It was one of those occasions several years ago at a conference in San Diego, CA. My pastor had assigned me to attend a workshop that was facilitated by a leadership pastor from Charleston, SC. I sat for nearly an hour listening to Mac Lake share about developing leaders and realized very quickly that Mac was able to discuss and teach on the subject because he was actually doing what he was teaching.

We have all seen cases of people teaching the theoretical but who have never really made it happen.

This was clearly not the case with Mac Lake. It was so clear...This guys does it first and talks about it second.

In the years that have followed, my travels allowed me to get by Charleston to spend a weekend with Mac and have a meal with him. That was a great experience. The best part has been reading his blog http://www.maclakeonline.com/.

If someone were to ask me what the #1 leadership resource was on the market today, I would (and have) referred them to Mac's blog.

In addition to sharing very significant ideas for developing leaders, Mac is one of the best I have met at "sharing the spotlight" with others. Regularly he is using his space to guide you to another leader who deserves to be heard.

One of his best blog entries for me probably would not rank as high for others, but it really struck me hard. On November 25th, Mac wrote about investing in your own leadership development.

We can never stop learning and growing if we are going to be used by God to develop other leaders.

I am sure that most people receive Mac's blog and think that they have something else to develop new leaders. Every time I receive a new post, all I can think about is that I must keep growing if I am to help anyone else.

Mac has been mentoring me for several years now. We have not seen each other for a since I last visited him and we have emailed a couple of times--but his impact on me is significant and he probably doesn't even know it.

Hey Mac...Thanks for continuing to invest in me.