3 Phrases That Continually Betray Leaders and Team Members
On healthy teams, dialogue can be robust and transparent. When there is trust, communication can be open and honest. Getting to solid decisions can happen much faster on teams that trust one another. When there isn’t trust, even routine decisions take insane amounts of time as people waste time building alliances with pre- and post-meetings […]
6 Problems with Obsessing over Data
Data can be a leader’s friend as it is wise for leaders to leverage data in their decision-making. While it is foolish for leaders to ignore data, it is equally unhealthy for leaders to obsess over it. Here are six problems with obsessing over data: 1. You can find your worth in the numbers. There […]
Leaders and Data: Three Approaches
Leaders have never been able to access so much data and have never been encouraged so strongly to let the data direct them. In recent years there has been an avalanche of books, articles, and conferences on leveraging big data. Data scientists are hired to bring their expertise to companies and “machine learning” is being […]
3 Things You Are Really Saying When You Bash Your Predecessor
If leadership is primarily about change, transformation, and the future, as many have advocated, then leaders are always change-oriented. And change always entails creating some dissatisfaction with the status quo. But wisely and skillfully creating dissatisfaction with the status quo is very different than subtly or overtly trashing and bashing the leaders who led before […]
When Workload on Your Team Increases, You Must Do This
Every single week the Office of President receives 65,000 paper letters, 500,000 emails, 5,000 faxes, and 15,000 phone calls (as told by Daniel Levitin in The Organized Mind). You can’t wing that type of workload. A system that sorts and prioritizes and ensures the right people are given responsibility and authority is essential. While that […]
4 Things I Learned from Stealing Credit Cards and Buying Beer in High School
I have spoken and talked a lot of character implosions over the last year. Leaders in ministry and leaders in the marketplace seem to be imploding at epidemic levels. Some suggest it has always been this way, that we are merely more aware because of our social media feeds and highly connected world. Regardless, people […]
3 Small Actions to Make Your Leadership Meeting More Effective
I recently filmed a video for all those who serve on our team in our stores—2600 folks who daily help believers navigate their faith journey. Right as I was about to begin filming, a leader in our store operations wisely and respectfully reminded me to try and stay under five minutes because of how much […]
5 Characteristics of Meetings That Develop (Not Deteriorate) the Team
Meetings can be used to develop the culture of the team, or they can be used to deteriorate the culture of the team. Meetings can be used to develop people, or they can be used to demoralize people. There really is no such thing as neutral meetings. They either develop or deteriorate. Here are five […]
“Saturday Night Specials” Versus When Pastors Really Prepare
Preachers talk smack and use slang too. For example, “sugar stick” is a sermon a preacher preaches over and over again in multiple places. If you are preaching in a new place, have a message you invested significant time and work into preparing, and it’s still fresh on your heart, it is appropriate to pull […]
Pablo Escobar and How Providing for Your Kids Is Not Enough
With the Netflix drama Narcos, there is a resurgence in interest around Pablo Escobar. The Discovery Channel just released Discovering Escobar’s Millions, which tracks two guys searching for the buried money of Pablo Escobar, who reportedly buried millions of dollars. Escobar was one of the world’s richest men as he made nearly 22 billion dollars […]