Tag Archives: Movie
Systems help you win
Posted on 30. Jan, 2012 by Kenny.
One of the things I’ve learned most this year from the books I’ve been reading is the critical nature of systems. I’m absolutely convinced that systems help you win. You can be a great leader with a lot of charisma, but if you don’t have solid systems, you’ll never maintain what you want to achieve, if you even get there in the first place. I mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago along with the books I’ve read this year that supported this idea.
So, a few weeks ago I rented the movie Moneyball. I don’t like baseball, but I LOVED this movie. I saw incredible application of both systems and leading through change told through this movie, which was based on a true story.
Here’s the trailer to the movie. Pay special attention to what happens from 20 seconds in until 1:10 seconds, but the entire clip gives you the big idea.
Essentially the story revolved around how and underdog team without adequate resources could look at the game of baseball differently and actually compete with the bigest organizations in the league. It required less of looking at “star” players and the high caliber (and costly) skills they brought to the team and looking at the nuts and bolts of what each player contributed to the game. Basically, they were looking at individuals who could consistently get on base. If you have enough people who can get on base, eventually you’ll get enough people making it home and the more people you have making it home, the higher your chance of winning the game. This systematic approach toward the game of baseball turned the A’s from a team with little hope to a winning team. Catch the movie, it’s a great one.
The application toward ministry is simple. Just because your church doesn’t have a multi-million dollar kid’s facility doesn’t mean it can’t be a winning ministry. Just because your ministry doesn’t have skilled and polished communicators doesn’t mean it can’t be an incredible experience for families. Even if there is no staff and very little money, a systematic approach may be the strategy that leads you toward a winning season.
Define your wins? Usually they’re a lot smaller than we like to think. Forget about the “star players,” but take stock in what each person on your team can do and have them exert their energy toward your wins, doing what they do best. When this is done consistently over the long haul, you’ll win. We have to redefine our image os success and put people to work… on a system to see the long term winning results.
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Avatar: a game changer
Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Most people I talk to really enjoyed this movie. I know that this movie isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but when you ask most people about what they thought, you get this wide-eyed response, “wow” it was amazing. Despite it’s “amazingness,” it does have several flaws. It’s incredibly agenda heavy. The story isn’t bad, but it’s not incredible by any means. The plot is predictable. If you remove all those things from the conversation, you’re left with the thing that truly makes this movie spectacular. The scale of CG that looks so incredibly real is mind baffling. The movie is essentially a 3 hour cartoon, but not a cartoon like you’ve ever seen, you feel like it’s a place you’ve been to. When coming out of the theater, I was thinking about the last time I had so much fun at a movie, where I so thoroughly enjoyed myself, I didn’t want it to end. For me it was probably the Lord of the Rings as they were so well done and I’d been anticipating the movies for so long (I saw the midnight showing for all three).
Here’s why this is important. It’s estimated that 500 million was spent on this movie. The studio claims to have only spent 230 million, but outside funding and even funding from James Cameron himself got the total cost up to 500 million. Epic! More notably, after just 4 weeks in theaters, Avatar has brought in $429 million. Not only is this movie going to be profitable, it will go down in the history books. After only 4 weeks in the theater, it just passed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” as the 7th biggest money making movie of all time. Unheard of to do so well so quickly. Titanic sits at the #1 spot at almost 700 million. If any movie’s going to dethrone Titanic, Avatar probably can. Due to Avatar’s success, we’ll probably see more like it. More studios will rally toward success and rethink the way they make movies. This will inspire creativity in new ways. It’s a game changer.
We’ve seen other game changers. Three years ago when the Wii came out, it totally changed video games. Xbox and PS3 are making modifications to catch up with what Nintendo did right. Apple did it with the iPhone. For three years, no other phone has been able to do what the iPhone could. I think iPhone’s reign over the phone world won’t last too much longer, but to remain in that spot for three years with not significant contender? Amazing, they changed the game.
When I look at ministry, I see some game changers out there. Not a lot, but some. A decade ago it was the purpose driven movement. I was only part of a purpose driven church for a short time, but the purpose driven philosophy greatly impacted how I do ministry. There’s no doubt that Orange has been a game changer. I think ministry was beginning to look at what to do with family, but it was Reggie’s vision and leadership (and experience has he’s been living this out for a very long time) that rallied children and student pastors from around the world.
Game changers are never predictable. That’s what makes them game changes. If you had to guess though, what do you think is next?
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A new holiday classic?
Posted on 12. Dec, 2009 by Kenny.
Last night Sara and I watched “Prep and Landing.” It’s a fun Christmas show by Disney.
I’m not really sure what it is though. Hulu says it’s Episode 1 of Season 1, but I’m not sure we’re going to see more episodes before Christmas. Regardless, it’s a great flick.
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