Maybe you've seen the ads or commercials saying "Text HAITI to 90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross and wondered, "How does that work?"  Well, here's how.  When you text "HAITI" to 90999, your cell phone will be billed $10 on your next bill.  The money is routed from your cell phone carrier to the Red Cross by a company called mGive.  It's a wonderfully simple way to raise money. But is it effective?  I'll let you be the judge.  Here's a paragraph from a press release sent on January 19: Nearly 2.5 million people have texted $10 pledges for Haitian relief to the American Red Cross in seven days, the largest number ever to take action for a mobile giving campaign. Mobile pledges now total about 25 percent of all Red Cross donations for Haiti. The response to the disaster in Haiti has underscored the effectiveness of the…

How many decisions did you make today?  How many right decisions did you make today?  Here's a short excerpt from a recent blog post from Mac Lake: For many leaders it’s not the big decisions that hurts them, it’s making the wrong small decisions repeated over time that corrode character, reputation, team unity, morale, and spiritual vibrancy. It’s those small decisions that have seemingly little significance that can injure a leader the most. So if you don’t feel you are being respected, listened to, or valued by your followers perhaps it’s time to “examine carefully” your daily leadership decisions.

Did you know that Solomon used the word "listen" (or a variation of it) over 20 times in the book of Proverbs?  That may not seem that impressive, but considering that Proverbs only has 31 chapters -- that's a high percentage. "Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance" (Proverbs 1:5) "My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight" (Proverbs 5:1) "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." (Proverbs 12:15) "He who answers before listening— that is his folly and his shame." (Proverbs 18:13) Think of the implications. What if we spent more time in our marriages listening rather than talking? What if we turned off the television and listened to our children? What if leaders listened to the people they lead? What if employers held listening meetings…

Yesterday, my wife and I took one of our daughters and a friend to the Denver Zoo (it was free day!).  The weather was a bit cool but sunny and the afternoon was mainly enjoyable. Except for the end. As we were leaving, we were walking behind a lady pushing her baby in a stroller.  Walking next to her was a man yelling and cursing at her.  Not surprisingly, he was obviously drunk.  He was saying the most vile things to her, often getting right up in her face.  She never said a word and just kept walking. When he started jabbing at the baby, cussing and waving his arms, I decided to walk up behind the lady to see if she needed help.  I spoke up and told her to turn into one of the buildings.  She kept walking.  At that point, the drunk guy called me "superman" (how…