Leadership

Passing along a good read ... ********************* In Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger argues that modern society robs us of the solidarity we need to thrive. Unfortunately, he writes, “The beauty and the tragedy of the modern world is that it eliminates many situations that require people to demonstrate commitment to the collective good.” As life becomes safer, it is easier for us to live detached lives. We can meet all of our needs in relative isolation, which prevents us from building a strong connection to a common purpose. In our normal day to day, we rarely need to show courage, turn to our communities for help, or make sacrifices for the sake of others. Read the whole article: https://fs.blog/2020/06/crisis/ ********************* Professor at Warner University masters in business administration (mba) presenter at the WFX National Conference former president, Church Planters of the Rockies helped start 2 for-profit tech…

I've been in and around executive-level leadership for nearly thirty years. This includes my own experience as a senior leader as well as having the privilege of knowing college presidents, founders of technology start-ups, and CEO's of companies traded on the NYSE. Many of the best leaders I've ever known are far from famous. They include school teachers, volunteer board members, and retired nurses. But as I've reflected on what made each of them effective leaders, I've noticed they all share a few common characteristics. For simplicity, I'm referring to them as the 4C's of effective senior leadership. These aren't strategies. They are characteristics -- common values and actions that first shape the person, then their leadership. What do these effective senior leaders have in common? They are ... Credible. We might buy a used car from a shifty salesman (and need to shower afterwards), but we wouldn't follow them…

How close are you to your next good idea? As a person who has spent the last thirty years generating content for sermons, classes, articles, and speeches, I've had times when the ideas flowed abundantly and times when they seemed to dry up altogether. Regardless if they were abundant or scarce, the need for good ideas never went away. In fact, I often needed more than one good idea on a weekly basis. For the first five years of my career, I was prepping two talks and two classes for forty-eight or forty-nine weeks out of the year. As a young communicator, I felt like I had to crank out all these good ideas entirely on my own. This was partly due to misguided expectations compounded by an underlying pride. The pursuit of originality can quickly become an idol - and a foolish one at that. As one matures, one…

Anchors. Big, heavy pieces of metal that sailors use to keep the wind or current from moving their ship. The ship may swing, sway, and be tossed around, but the anchor is there to keep it secure. Every leader has to know when is the right time to drop their anchor. Likewise, there may be times when dropping an anchor is actually detrimental. In doing so, it may cause more harm than good. In general, we use the term "anchored" as a good thing. Effective leaders hold deep convictions; in a sense, they are anchored to them. Cultural winds or situational storms may beat against the boat, but the presence of an anchor allows them to hold their ground. Convictional anchors may sound like ... "This is who we are." "This is what we stand for." "This is what we believe." Leaders who hold no deep convictions may wake up…

In theological and scientific circles, the words creation and evolution are used in reference to the origins of the universe. How did our world and surrounding solar systems come to be? At the risk of being overly simplistic, they generally mean: Creation - the world was immediately and instantly brought into existence Evolution - the world gradually evolved into more complex states of existence Remember, I warned you that these definitions would be overly simplistic. But the point of this post isn't to debate the origins of the universe but to show how our words (those we use and those directed towards us) shape our personal and collective world. Little children discover the power of words the moment they learn their first words. They quickly realize that saying a familiar sound can direct and redirect attention. And every parent remembers when their children discovered the wonders of saying "no." Do…