In their book, "The Truth About Leadership," authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Pozner write about leadership agility.  They define leadership agility as the ability to learn and adapt on the fly.  Leaders who lack agility are rigid, locked-in to methods that may not work any more.  Or they may hold values that are detrimental rather than helpful. As you lead, you will encounter challenges, difficulties, and setbacks.  Agile leaders are learners as well.  They learn from what they experiences, in order to improve the next time. Do you have leadership agility?

Here's a fundamental belief I have as a pastor: people want to be involved in something special.  Whether or not it is unique is not the issue.  What matters is this ... are we making a difference? What makes something "special"?  Here are few random thoughts: It goes beyond what is acceptable.  People are not inspired when they are asked to just get by or be mediocre.  People are most fulfilled when they are challenged to succeed. It touches the heart.  Meaning comes in different forms for different people.  Good leaders are those who help attach meaning to even the simplest task or responsibility.  If it's just a job, it's probably not that special. It has the faith factor.  Special projects or special teams have this in common: there is an element of "what are we doing!"  "How can we do this?"  "Are we crazy?" Are you creating special opportunities…

"Action is the antidote to despair." -- Joan Baez, singer-songwriter Desperation can have a paralyzing effect on us.  We might feel surrounded by our circumstances, unable to find the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel."  Sensing no hope, we become immobilized -- thinking there is nothing we can do. We look at the high numbers of children in foster care and wonder, "What can one person or family do?" We see the faces of poverty and feel poor in our ability to do something. It might be our own financial situation or a difficult season with a child. When a problem moves from an annoyance to a nuisance to an albatross ... we're closer to despair. Joan Baez is right: action is the antidote to despair. Often when we take action, even a small action, we begin to feel better.  We might not be able to feed the…