Bridging The Knowing-doing Gap by Pastor Sam Adeyemi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Knowing-Doing Gap

Most people do not do what they know they should do. In fact, most organizations do not do what they know they should do. They hire consultants. The consultants recommend what they should do — and then they do not do what they are supposed to do. One organization hired a consultant who, upon investigation, discovered that five consultants had come before. After requesting to see their reports, the response was: our recommendation is that you should do what all the other consultants have told you to do.

There is a book by this title written by two professors at Stanford University — The Knowing-Doing Gap. The gap between knowledge and execution is the defining challenge of leadership.

When it comes to applying and executing, formidable obstacles are faced. Most transformation efforts come to nothing — at the personal, organizational, and national levels. Three categories of these obstacles must be addressed.

The Three Obstacles to Execution

1. Obstacle 1 — Internal Obstacles: Mindsets, Values, and Culture

   These are the obstacles within ourselves that must be overcome to be able to innovate and apply what has been learned. They have to do with mindsets, values, and cultures — and as simple as they may sound, they are formidable.

   2 Corinthians 10:3–5 — Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not man-made. They are mighty through God to pull down strongholds, casting down imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

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   Paul the Apostle is talking about thoughts. Changing your mindset is warfare. Innovation is warfare. Doing things in a new way is warfare.

   Looking at African culture, the values that drive innovation include accountability, integrity, creativity, collaboration, curiosity, experimentation, and excellence. And there is a culture that actively works against all of them.

   In interacting with Africans in the diaspora, difficulty with collaboration keeps surfacing. Other ethnic groups in Western countries band together — they pull resources, they help new arrivals land well, they have cornered specific areas of business in specific countries. Among Africans, the level of trust is so low that building partnerships and businesses becomes so difficult.

   Check the big tech companies in Silicon Valley — you will hardly find any built by only one person. They came through partnerships. One person has certain skills, the other has complementary skills and personality, and together they build. We find that difficult because the level of trust is so low.

   Romans 12:2 — Do not be conformed to this world. If we are going to innovate, we will have to go countercultural. That is what makes it formidable.

   Where is the value for excellence? When someone pushes for high quality, the reaction is: "Your own is too much." Once you do a little better than average in the environment, people say that is enough.

   A loved one once asked: how come countries that say they do not know God are developing faster than those who say they do? The reply was: we are the ones who concluded they do not know God. We are looking at them through our own prison.

   They have experienced a dimension of God that is foreign to our own culture. Their definition of miracles is different. Tracking back: the wisdom of God and the power of God. The part of the world that believes in miracles and the supernatural, and the part that values logic. The ideological foundation of where you were raised influences the dimension of God that appeals to you.

   

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   Pastor Sam Adeyemi

   Daystar Christian Centre

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   Each time on a transatlantic flight, when a jumbo jet lifts off and travels thousands of miles and lands gently in another country — that is a miracle. But the African does not recognize that kind of miracle. When a seed goes into the soil and disintegrates, and a plant that has never existed before grows into a tree — is that not a miracle? It is a miracle governed by the principle of reproduction, the law of sowing and reaping.

   When a rocket returned to earth and landed exactly where intended — people were clapping and shouting the same way we do when someone rises from a wheelchair in church. Because that was a miracle. Opening up new possibilities for mankind.

   Romans 1 — The invisible things of God are clearly seen and understood through the things that are seen. If you do not value nature, there is a dimension of God you will never find.

   If our revival in Africa does not lead to a shift in values, this revival will be swept down the drain without transforming the continent.

   It is time to free up our minds and be flexible.

   Paul the Apostle went into Ephesus in Acts 19. He tried to teach at the Jewish synagogue — they beat him and threw him out. He then went to rent a school, the School of Tyrannus, and the Bible says that daily he was teaching there for the space of two years. As he was teaching, the new concepts he introduced began to spread all over Asia. The new ideology Paul introduced overtook the existing ideologies to the extent that people went to gather all their magical books — a massive quantity worth a large amount of money — and set everything on fire.

   What Paul was teaching made existing mindsets and beliefs expire.

   Acts 19:20 — So the word of God grew mightily and prevailed over other words, other philosophies, other ideologies.

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   Further down in the chapter, Demetrius, a craftsman, called his fellow businesspeople and cried out — because the ideology Paul was teaching was economically disrupting their trade. That is when you know a new mindset has truly taken root: when it begins to disrupt old economies and create new ones.

2. Obstacle 2 — External Obstacles: Powerful People and Powerful Systems

   Powerful people and powerful systems have the capacity to limit us. But this is the prayer:

   Lord, intervene on my behalf in palaces and boardrooms. Change minds on my behalf. Frustrate policies. Change them. Suspend them on my behalf. Every system or power that is working against me — let them work for me at the end of the day. There is no counsel against the Lord. No purpose, no system can prevail against your plans. As you align me with your plans and purposes, let the power of systems and people be leveraged for me to fulfill my destiny. The hearts of kings are in your hands — you turn them wherever you want. When you anointed David for the palace, you allowed a problem to happen there and they had to send for him. Help me to solve problems at the highest possible levels. Joseph interpreted a dream in the prison — you used it to get him to the palace. Use my service in every sphere as leverage to get me to the highest levels where I can offer my gifts.

3. Obstacle 3 — The Internal Courage Deficit

   The third obstacle is the failure of courage. Most people are not lacking knowledge — they are lacking the courage to act on what they know. The courage to make the call. The courage to organize the conference. The courage to write the book. The courage to create the song. The courage to start that business or nonprofit. The courage to use gifts to serve the world on a larger scale.

   Lord, give me courage to use my gifts to serve on a larger scale. I receive boldness. I receive courage. I receive freedom from fear. I receive the capacity to take action in obedience to God. I receive the courage to try, and to try again and again and again.

Grace for Innovative Leadership

The theme is not simply innovation — it is innovative leadership. The question is not just: can you come up with new ideas? The question is: how are you going to influence your world? How are you going to make impact? How are you going to affect other people positively?

Collectively, grace is being received. Divine help. Wisdom beyond the capacity of the human mind. You will wake up in the morning and just have a clear idea of what to do. One phone call will change everything. One proposal submitted will change everything. You will wake from a dream in the night, remember it clearly, know it is divine inspiration, act on it — and everything will change.