Receiving and Keeping the Freedom to Work Hard AND Protect Your Schedule

Whenever I have shared the principle with leaders that “it is not how much you work but when you work,” I am inevitably asked how to enjoy such a freedom. In my last three roles (executive and teaching pastor, senior vice-president, and senior pastor), I have been honored with the gift to live by the […]

Distinguishing Between Overwhelmed and Overworked and Why It Matters

2020 was, according to many and for many, a year of being completely overwhelmed. According to research by Gallup, 2020 marked a year of a twenty-year low in mental health for Americans. While people longed for the calendar to flip, the beginning of 2021 did not offer the relief people hoped for. We are still […]

Your Job Has Changed and How to Hire Yourself for It

Unless your industry has somehow remained stable and unphased through the pandemic, your job has likely changed. This is not because you did anything wrong. This is not because your boss randomly decided to reposition your job or dramatically alter your job description. This is not because your organization broke a promise to you. This […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Character First, But Is Chemistry or Competence Next?

Several years ago William Vanderbloemen and I had a conversation where he asked me to force-rank important qualities to consider when bringing a new person on the team. Many leaders have used three our four C’s as a helpful alliterated tool to describe essential characteristics when interviewing potential team members. You have likely heard the […]

Leaders and 3 Types of Stress

Right before Dr. John Townsend walked up to shred a guitar to some old Blink 182 songs with the band he has with his sons, I asked him if he was nervous. In a brief moment he talked to me about leaders and the three different types of stress we can face. Before I share […]

4 Reasons Leaders Need Large Blocks of Time

Calendars fill up quickly. If leaders don’t manage their calendars then their calendars will manage them. In my view, one of the most important decisions leaders makes is how to plan their work. Do they just react to what comes their way or do they proactively plan how they will lead and create? Meetings, emergencies, […]

3 Important Places We Benefit From People Who Are Different Than Us

The cliché “birds of the same feather flock together” has been around for centuries and it captures the reality that we tend to gather with and connect to people similar to us. While we are often most comfortable with people who are like us, we benefit and we grow when we are in relationships with […]