33: Hypersensitivity
Aug 17 2009Hugh Hewitt
Ancient Greece and imperial Rome were places and times of huge excess. So is our time. If you are the sensitive sort, this is not a book for you, and your calling to leadership needs explanation. [...]
Romans 14:1-9
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. [...]
32: Complacency
Aug 10 2009Robert J. Herbold
Success, and the resulting tendency to become complacent, often leads organizations and individuals to believe that they are very talented, have figured things out, have the answers to all the questions, and no longer need to get their hands dirty in the trenches. [...]
Obadiah 1:2-4
Listen to this, Edom: I'm turning you to a no-account, the runt of the godless nations, despised.You thought you were so great, perched high among the rocks, king of the mountain,Thinking to yourself, 'Nobody can get to me! Nobody can touch me!'Think again. [...]
31: Success Breeds Mediocrity
Aug 4 2009Robert J. Herbold
When organizations are successful, they have a tendency to stop doing the hard things, and dealing with poor performance is a really hard thing. It also becomes hard to move new people into existing jobs, because there is the burden of getting the new person up to speed and the perception that you are losing valuable expertise. [...]
I Thessalonians 4:10b
But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more. [...]
30: Slow Down!
Jul 28 2009Carl Honore
In the just-in-time, modern workplace, speed seems to be all-important. Email and cellphones demand an instant response, and a deadline lurks around every corner. A 2001 survey conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions found that EU workers were under much greater time pressure than a decade ago. [...]
Matthew 11:28-30
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. [...]
29: Unintended Consequences
Jul 20 2009Neil Postman
"The mechanical clock," as Lewis Mumford wrote, "made possible the idea of regular production, regular working hours and a standardized product." In short, without the clock, capitalism would have been quite impossible. [...]
Proverbs 16:25
There is a way that seems right to a man,but in the end it leads to death. [...]
28: Financialization
Jul 13 2009Ron J. Bigalke, Jr., General Editor
The world continues its impetuous run into financialization, a process that assigns a monetary value or transaction to an ever greater share of human activities. Human activity is being captured progressively in financial form. [...]
Lamentations 4:2
How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter's hands!
27: Receptivity
Jul 6 2009Richard J. Mouw
Transforming leaders are receptive to others. We cannot hope to bring about effective change unless we are willing to be changed. This is a profoundly biblical idea. But it is also a risky one to pursue. [...]
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. [...]
26: True Self
Jun 29 2009Richard Koch
To thine own self be true - but which self should you be true to? The self that spends a huge amount of time and sweat getting nowhere? The self that engages in destructive patterns of behavior? [...]
I Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. [...]
25: Worldview Matters
Jun 22 2009B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
No longer can an enterprise take an agnostic attitude toward moral rightness and wrongness, hiding from such sensitive issues beneath the cloak of mere goods and services. Consciously...or not, all enterprises promote a worldview. [...]
Matthew 6:43-45
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. [...]
24: Being Right
Jun 15 2009John Naisbitt
Having to be right shackles your mind.People are culturally conditioned to have to be right. The parents are right, the teacher is right, the boss is right. Who is right overrules what is right. [...]
I John 1:6-10
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [...]
23: Books
Jun 8 2009Epictetus, interpreted by Sharon Lebell
Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. [...]
Ecclesiastes 12:11-13
The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. [...]
22: Control Freak
Jun 1 2009Christine Comafor-Lynch
Business has been booming for years. It's 1998, I think, and I've made it in the heady world of technology in my own right...Bill Gates and I exchange friendly e-mails and talk shop. [...]
Matthew 11:28-30
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. [...]
21: Acquisition
May 25 2009Maurice Sendak
There must be more to life than having everything. [...]
Matthew 16:26
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? [...]
20: Generous Leader
May 18 2009Seth Godin
In today's supercharged political (and TV) environment, it's easy to believe that in order to lead, you need to be an egomaniac, a driven superstar intent on self-glorification and aggrandizement.
In fact, the opposite is nearly always the case. [...]
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. [...]
19: Defining the Future
May 11 2009Jame Canton, Ph.D.
Five Factors That Will Define the Extreme Future:
1. Speed. The rate of change will be blinding, comprehensive in scope, and will touch every aspect of life.
2.Complexity. A quantum leap in the number of seemingly unrelated forces that will have a direct bearing on everything from lifestyles to work to personal and national security. [...]
I Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. [...]
18: Fooling Ourselves
May 5 2009Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui
Aviation investigators have a euphemism: "controlled flight into terrain." What they mean is that a pilot took a perfectly functioning plane, in good conditions, and flew it into the ground, usually the side of a hill or a mountain. [...]
Proverbs 18:11-12
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. [...]
17: The Household
Apr 27 2009Michael J. Panzner
Family, social, and community relationships will likely assume a far greater degree of importance in a world of uncertainly, disruptions, and increasing danger. In the United States and elsewhere, there will almost certainly be a significant rise in the number of extended-family households, many with a growing number of adult children - and grandchildren - living at home. [...]
I Timothy 3:1-7
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. [...]
16: Design
Apr 21 2009Robert Safian
Studies have now shown that design-oriented firms in all kinds of industries outperform their more-traditional peers--that design and innovation go hand-in-hand with financial success. Research from Peer Insight has calculated a tenfold advantage in stock-market returns versus the S&P 500 for companies focused on consumer-experience design, as senior writer Linda Tischler explains in her profile of Yves Béhar. [...]
Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. [...]
15: Citizens
Apr 14 2009Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins, Ph.D.
The psychological profile of icitizens has everything to do with their ideas, their production. First, they possess expertise - knowledge of and devotion to a subject that, however narrow or quirky, becomes a part of the ideation value chain when distributed through the internet's social networks. [...]
Ephesians 2:18-20
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. [...]
14: Mediocrity
Apr 7 2009David Brandon, Chairman & CEO of Domino's Pizza
For many years as a private company, Domino's really benchmarked against itself, without looking at the outside world. We were proud of the fact that for many years we had positive same-store sales, which is a big financial indicator of growth and success in the retail world. [...]
Romans 3:23
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. [...]
13 Customer's Customer
Mar 30 2009Rishad Tobaccowala quoted by author, Jeff Jarvis
Our fixation should not be on our clients. It should be on the people our clients want to engage, sell, and interact with. We should be the champions of those people. [...]
II Timothy 2:2
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. [...]
12: Risk of Self-centeredness
Mar 23 2009Ben Carlson, MD
Once we manage to remove our egos from the equation, many of the most commonplace and unsettling personal risks we face in life become a lot less personal and no longer seem to be much of a risk after all. [...]
Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. [...]
11: Reputation
Mar 17 2009Jeff Jarvis
Your customer satisfaction is plummeting, your market share is shrinking, and your stock price is deflating. Let me give you some indication of why, from one customer's perspective...The bottom line is that a low-price coupon may have gotten me to buy a Dell, but your product was a lemon and your customer service was appalling. [...]
I Thessalonians 1:5-10
...because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. [...]
10: Waste
Mar 9 2009W. Edwards Deming
The present style of management is the biggest producer of waste, causing huge losses whose magnitudes can not be evaluated, can not be measured. [...]
Jeremiah 12:10-11
Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. [...]
9: Resourced
Mar 2 2009W. Edwards Deming
When a company holds an individual accountable for a goal, it must provide to him the resources for accomplishment. [...]
II Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. [...]
8: Planning
Feb 23 2009Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. [...]
Proverbs 15:22
Plans fail for lack of counsel,but with many advisers they succeed. [...]
7: Enough
Feb 16 2009John C. Bogle
When John D. Rockefeller was asked how much was enough, he answered, "Just a little bit more." But for most of us, as it said, enough is $1 more than we need. [...]
I Timothy 6:6-9
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. [...]
6: The Right Person for the Job
Feb 9 2009Jeffrey A. Krames
Before Drucker explained to me that Welch was the right person for the future of GE, it was easy to think of leaders in two dimensions. That entailed hiring the best person for the job without taking time frame into account. [...]
Joshua 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. [...]
5: Our Job
Feb 3 2009Paul Stevens
The Genesis account takes us beyond culture into the paradise of God. We discover that humankind has three full-time jobs: (1) communion with God, (2) community-building (the image of God is relational as well as vocational) and (3) co-creativity with God. [...]
I Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. [...]
4: Work and Play
Jan 27 2009Kevin Carroll
Why, then, do play and work seem so contradictory? Why, as adults, do we relegate them to separate spheres, and do so few workers and companies value play as a means to producing effective work? [...]
Job 38:6-7
On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? [...]
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