Leaders have many great qualities but there is one secret sauce that makes few list but is evident in the truly trans-generational, transformative leaders. Today’s confessional: I hate being laughed at. Or at least I used to. I mean, cringe inside, feel sick about it for days, don’t-sleep-at-night-dislike being laughed at. I’ve talked with a […]
4 Low Cost Gifts Any Father Would Love
Father’s Day. A day to celebrate dad’s. But unlike Mother’s Day, gifts are much more difficult. Favorite foods maybe, but flowers and a card don’t usually work. Dad toys tend to cost a whole lot of money. Go big or go home, right? Well, if a new jet-ski, boat, or truck isn’t in the budget, […]
How to know if you are adulting
I had never heard of “adulting” until recently. The phraseology is interesting, and I was to take it one more step. As an immature teenager, I drove my sister crazy, annoying her about who was more mature. Proving, in hindsight, that I was less mature than my younger sibling. Maybe. That’s still up for debate. […]
46 lessons I learned this past year
This blog started with 40 life lessons I learned before the age of 40. Those blogs became the basis for the book. Yearly, I spend some time reflecting on lessons learned. Some of these are obvious, others may require explanation. A few are derivatives from other leadership lessons. And because we need graphics, i’ve thrown […]
The unseen partner of break through leaders
The Point of the Spear. The place of change. Leadership and the market loves change makers. The disrupters. Those who see the sea change and anticipate the new direction. Looking past the surface success of these “Point of Attack” leadership, often you will find a strange duality between the Spear Leader and the Shield leader. […]
Growing versus grafting
New Years resolutions! New Years failures. The aspiration to change meets the reality of pain. Welcome to the world of personal growth as an adult. Nature has much to teach us about growth. Take trees for example. Now I’m not a horticulturalist. Until recently, I couldn’t have told you the difference between a maple and an […]
Please stop empowering Africans. And pretty much every else as well.
Lets have a conversation about power. Who has it and who doesn’t? Empowerment as a concept is so ingrained in the leadership literature that to dare question is to invite scorn and reprisal. But first a story. As the leader of a multinational church in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I was privileged to work with […]
Unintended Consequences: There’s an app for that
Unintended consequences: There’s no app for that. In the smartphone, uber connected world in which we live, every problem can seemingly be solved by an app. Don’t do accounting? No worries, there’s an app for that. Don’t do scheduling? No problem. There’s an app for that. Apps for staying in touch with family and friends […]
Leadership and the rubber band effect.
On any desired leadership traits questionnaire, invariably those being lead want their leaders to be flexible. Adaptable. And while I agree 100% with this desire, there is a current reality faced by most leaders that is destroying flexibility. Demands on leaders across the board have increased. Do more with less. Stretch yourself. Live in the […]
Stop offering to help others..
Because you know you can’t, and if they call, you gotta answer. NBC has this new medical drama called New Amsterdam. Based loosely on a true story, the hero is a doctor who wants to get the hospital back to caring about patients. Multiple times per show, Dr. Max will ask someone “how can […]