Bill Gates has expressed that the CoVid-19 may be “the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.” At the same time Elon Musk tweeted, “The coronavirus panic is dumb.” Both Bill Gates and Elon Musk are brilliant, extremely hard working, and accomplished business leaders. Very smart people can disagree about very important issues. Just as with…
Leadership
One Thing Church and Marketplace Leaders Can Learn from Each Other
Last Friday I spoke for my friend John Townsend at a leadership event he hosted for leaders in his network. After my presentation, I fielded some questions for a few moments and was asked (I am paraphrasing), “Because you have led in both marketplace and local church contexts, what is one thing you think those…
Navy SEALs and 4 Reasons Trust Is Greater than Performance
The Navy SEALs are known for their skill, valor, and effectiveness. They are generally recognized as one of the most elite teams of people in any discipline or field. What do the leaders of the SEALs look for in potential team members? In Simon Sinek’s new book The Infinite Game, Sinek describes the tool that…
3 Leadership Reminders From an Elon Musk Tale
In the introduction of Edge, a book from Harvard Business School professor Laura Huang, Laura recounts a tale about Elon Musk – one a colleague shared with her. The story goes that a person was able to land a face-to-face meeting with Musk, the famed entrepreneur and leader of Tesla and SpaceX. The person walked…
5 Warning Signs a Leader is Leading at “Too High” a Level
Leaders are often encouraged to lead “at a high level.” “Lead higher” is a helpful way to describe rising above the details and the day-to-day operations so a leader can look to the future. By “leading higher,” a leader is able to set direction, remind people of the why beneath the work, clarify mission and…
4 Important Lessons From Marathon Runners About Your New Year Goals
As a new year begins there will be a lot of new goals set: physical goals about exercise or weight loss, financial goals about paying off debt or making more money, and relational goals about more time with loved ones. Setting goals can be very helpful because they force conversations about what is going to…
7 Reasons to Be Thankful to Be a Christian in America in 2019
To be thankful to be a Christian in America in 2019 is really to be thankful for three different things. First, and most important, it means to be thankful to be His, to have God as our Father. Second, it includes, of course, being thankful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy in America….
3 Things That Will Happen Naturally to Your Team This Week
Peter Drucker said, “Only three things happen naturally in an organization: friction, confusion, and underperforming. Everything else takes leadership.” Like a lot of his pithy statement, Drucker effectively captured the natural drift that occurs in organizations (and ministries) and the importance of leaders to rally people against the natural drifts. Just as a person does…
5 Differences to Value on Your Team
“How important is diversity on a team?” It is a common question I receive from leaders. “Very important” is my default response, and then I add an encouragement that “you should work towards being diverse as your context.” The caveat is important because I recognize that it has been easier for me to build ethnically…
5 Ways Thinking “Work-Life Integration” Has Helped Me
In recent years some consultants and counselors have encouraged people to stop thinking “work-life balance” and start thinking “work-life integration.” While some say this is semantics, others believe the language represents a fundamental shift in thinking with “work-life balance” as a view of your life as having disparate parts (work and life) and “integration” as…