Leadership

Just read this morning an interesting article on "Discretionary Energy."  Here's how the author defines it: What is Discretionary Energy? For our purposes, we define an employee’s discretionary energy as: Their willing application of knowledge and skills in service towards espoused strategy and goals, and Their demonstrated positive enthusiasm for their work, their team & its members, and their customers. Discretionary energy is at play when an employee goes beyond the minimum. Sometimes discretionary energy is about innovation and creativity, but more often it is about jumping in before being asked, going beyond the basics to meet a need or solve a problem. The article is about how leaders motivate employees to use their discretionary energy towards furthering the mission or vision of the organization. Source: Driving Results Through Culture.

The following article is from Michael Palin from Monty Python and it's about how to keep an interesting diary (or blog).  The article appears in Vanity Fair but lest you think I secretly stick on in the grocery cart at King Soopers, it appeared in a daily news aggregate that I get from SmartBrief. Read "A Dogged Diarist's Dos and Don'ts of Diary Writing."

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough -- it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing." - Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, as quoted by TechCrunch That's an interesting but insightful statement from a technology company.  It recognizes that technology is not simply utilitarian but humanitarian as well -- it interacts with people, impacts people, and inspires people. But what about you?  In your life, marriage, business, or team ... what is not enough by itself? Having spent twenty-plus years as a pastor, I've seen churches that believe right doctrine alone is enough.  Or a certain worship style is enough.  The list of "enoughs" in the church world is more than I can list in one article. Here's how you might hear it: "If we just did ____, that would be enough." Here's what a person…

"Keep tomorrow in mind.  Starting a business that fails is not fatal to your future.  It can be a learning experience that future potential investors usually don't hold against you." -- Bob Reiss, bootstrapping expert, writing at Entrepreneur.com

As a former church planter (yay for LifePoint!) and as one who would jump right back into church planting ... this article from Business Week was a good reminder about balance.  Enjoy! ********** Three Signs You Are Addicted to Chaos Entrepreneurs are frequently so devoted to the business that they persist in the state of chaos, accepting it as a way of life, without ever trying to identify or solve the root of the problem. From my experiences and observations working with thousands and thousands of entrepreneurs over the years, here are the top three signs I see of entrepreneurs who are addicted to chaos: 3. Their business life revolves around the in-box. They are constantly in reaction mode, always pouncing on the hot fire that pops up, the request for information, or the opportunity that just presented itself. They don’t have an overarching, long-term strategy that ties back to…