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…
Focus
3 Lessons for Church Leaders From Yahoo! & The Peanut Butter Manifesto
In 2016 Verizon Communications bought Yahoo! In case you are wondering, I did not mean for the exclamation point to communicate that I was overly excited about the acquisition or the demise of the former web giant. The exclamation point is part of their name…Yahoo! Most who have analyzed what went wrong with the company…
2 Possible Outcomes of Being Overwhelmed
I have encouraged leaders to look for seasons of being overwhelmed, to disregard the cliché “don’t bite off more than you can chew” and intentionally take on more than you thought you could handle so you will be forced to learn and grow. In their newest book, The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath…
“The Great Ones Don’t Get Bored. The Good Ones Do.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo is an incredible player, a rising star, and a basketball phenom. Yes, his name is really hard to pronounce, even for avid basketball fans, but the Milwaukee Bucks’ young superstar (22 years old) is playing incredible basketball. His coach, future hall of famer Jason Kidd, recently shared the advice he has given Giannis….
Links for Leaders 9/15/17
Put Your Strengths to Work—Bob Bumgarner Just because you have experience as a leader doesn’t mean you have learned the benefits of applying your God-given strengths to what you do as a leader. Your strengths are unique to you. And using your strengths sets you up to make the biggest contribution over the longest period…
The Curse of Talent for Young Ministry Leaders
I am over 40, so no longer young, and I failed to make “Gifted and Talented” as a kid so this post is not about me but about young leaders who are labeled as talented, amazing, exceptional, “the future,” and a myriad of other similar adjectives and phrases. In ministry circles, we have seen in…
Destroy Boredom or Boredom Will Destroy You
Those who work with teenagers in ministry or educational settings know that boredom often leads to absolute foolishness. Parents, school counselors, and teachers are aware that “adolescent boredom” can lead to a myriad of problems, which is why many are concerned when children or students “are not challenged enough.” For example, one study of teenagers…
Links for Leaders 8/5/16
Churches must be developing leaders, as we’ve talked about a few times this week on the blog. Last week, on the LifeWay Pastors blog, Tim Parsons shared four essentials for any leadership development program in the church. I think these are helpful. “I made a mistake” and “I was wrong” are not even close to…
Coach Popovich and Three Types of Distractions Focused Leaders Abhor
Gregg Popovich is an incredible basketball coach. Year after year, under his leadership, the San Antonio Spurs compete for championships. NBA fans enjoy watching his in-game interviews because of his sarcasm and unpredictable responses. Here are some of Coach Popovich’s best in-game interviews. The reason for his short responses is, as you may have assumed,…
Four Essentials to a Simple Ministry Strategy
As a football season is about to begin, imagine a head coach stands in front of the team he leads and, with great passion, declares, “Here is our strategy. We are going to win! We are about winning! Let’s go win!” The team breaks from the huddle with no idea how they will win. Practice…