Links for Leaders 4/29/16

What if we eliminated email? Would the world end? Would anyone get any work done? Check out this fascinating article I read this week at HBR about the prospect of eliminating email altogether.

“Echo chambers occur when a leader’s ideas are consistently applauded without question. Rarely are the leader’s ideas, decision-making, and actions challenged. And rarely are ideas brought to the table that do not match or reinforce what the leader has already presented.” Great article from Art Rainer on echo chambers in leadership at the LifeWay Leadership blog.

Friendship is vital in the life of an effective leader. A while back, Chuck Lawless wrote a helpful post on why church leaders, specifically, have trouble developing close friendships. This is a problem. Pastors must have friends in which they can confide and with whom they can enjoy life.

“You’ll never hear an effective leader get caught in the ‘I’m so busy trap’ because they know it can actually communicate something quite different.” Scott Cochrane recently wrote an insightful post on why good leaders never say “I’m so busy.”

Everyone has to go to meetings. If you’re a student, you go to meetings on campus for group projects or volunteer activities. If you’re a parent, you go to school meetings. If you’re in the workplace, you attended dozens of meetings every month. Here are 25 different ways you can own any meeting and be a better leader.