{"id":517,"date":"2013-11-20T20:33:37","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T20:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2014-08-13T21:06:43","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:06:43","slug":"the-captain-with-the-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-captain-with-the-card\/","title":{"rendered":"The Captain with the Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was feeling pretty good about myself.\u00a0 There were 16 of us on our way to Los Angeles for a conference on diversity.\u00a0 16 pastors and leaders from our church traveling to learn more about how to minister in changing social environments \u2013 and I was the only one flying first-class!<\/p>\n

The leg of the flight from Chicago to LA was over 4 hours and because of my frequent flyer status, I was upgraded to first-class.\u00a0 I had been dreaming about how I would be eating fine foods and drinking fine wine while my colleagues were mired in economy, subsisting on water and unpleasantness.\u00a0 A very selfish dream yes, but I am human!<\/p>\n

Then our flight was canceled!\u00a0 By the time we had all been processed onto another flight, my first-class seat had turned into exactly what I had thought of earlier \u2013 a dream.\u00a0 Now I was cramped in economy, drinking water and thinking unpleasant thougths.\u00a0 To pass the time, I began reading Open Leadership<\/em> by Charlene Li.<\/p>\n

In this book, social technology and the openness it provides for interaction is examined.\u00a0 I am the unofficial Social Media champion at our church and constantly trying to encourage others of the importance and potential of social media, so I was anxious about what I would be reading, and was intrigued to learn the various ways of bringing an organization stronger ROI results.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I received the business card.\u00a0 A flight attendant walked down the aisle, looked at me and questioned, Mr. Smart? \u00a0\u201cYes\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cI have a note from the captain for you\u201d she said.\u00a0 On the captain\u2019s business card she handed me, was a hand written note that thanked me for flying United, \u201ceven when days don\u2019t work out like they did today,\u201d and he wished me a great day.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not na\u00efve. \u00a0I know that my name was generated by a computer system that recognizes those with a certain flight status who have been bumped from first to economy class.\u00a0 He might not have even written the note \u2013 but it changed my day and my attitude during the flight.<\/p>\n

Li states that using the openness opportunities that our new social technologies bring can add benefits to an organization.\u00a0 She speaks of open forums, contacts and places where non-employees can add value to whatever you do, at less cost.\u00a0 Information is king as long as it\u2019s consistent.\u00a0 She says we can change minds with customer voices.<\/p>\n

I know this to be true.\u00a0 Members in our church joke that those in my department (which encompasses Compassion and Visitation) are \u201cpaid\u201d to care. That\u2019s partly true and I see how the customer, when allowed a voice in an open environment, has a much greater influence.\u00a0 She comments that we need to \u201ctap into the emotional power of stories.\u201d\u00a0 Each quarter we schedule a \u201cGlocal\u201d Encounter (Global and Local) in which we talk about missions, share an international meal and generally inform our members about KCC\u2019s mission efforts.\u00a0 The first few I taught were fine.\u00a0 But when I began allowing those that had gone on missions trips to share their stories, a voice in an open environment, it was transformational.<\/p>\n

Li says that when we relinquish control there are dangers.\u00a0 And yes, many times those short-term trippers shared things theologically incorrect or a philosophy of missions that I don\u2019t agree with.\u00a0 But the bottom line, or ROI, is always much better and productive and missions grows.<\/p>\n

Which brings me back to the captain\u2019s business card\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure someone in United\u2019s organization has done a Socialgraphic Profile of Frequent Flyers and following the engagement pyramid, have deduced that when something happens like happened to me, then a signed note is in order to restore confidence, and that it has to be from the highest person of importance on the airplane.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s their strategy, it worked.\u00a0 \u00a0Charlene Li would have been impressed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was feeling pretty good about myself.\u00a0 There were 16 of us on our way to Los Angeles for a conference on diversity.\u00a0 16 pastors and leaders from our church traveling to learn more about how to minister in changing social environments \u2013 and I was the only one flying first-class! The leg of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[222,2,220,223],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-airline","tag-dminlgp","tag-li","tag-ual","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1851,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/1851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}