Last week Scott Williams wrote several blog posts summarizing the sessions he attended at the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit, including one on a session led by Patrick Lencioni on the importance of organizational health. Lencioni is the author of ten business books and president of The Table Group, where he focuses on writing and speaking about leadership and organizational life. Williams shares Lencioni's six questions every organization must Read More …
Leadership
Becoming a Rebel Leader (#0784)
Sister Joan Chittister is a progressive Benedictine nun, a prolific author, and sought after speaker. She recently gave the baccalaureate address at Stanford University. In this moving speech on leadership, she shared these words with the graduates and all who were gathered: No, the world does not really need the skills you learned here. Today's skills will all change in the next five years and change your life with them. The world does not need answers either. Read More …
A Simple Approach to Leadership (#0751)
Scott Williams has considerable leadership experience as a prison warden, lead pastor of a congregation that grew to an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500 during his tenure, consultant, and social media guru. He is also the author of Church Diversity: Sunday the Most Segregated Day of the Week (2011 - read my review here). Recently, he shared his list of "10 Ways to Make Leadership Simple:" Believe In Yourself Believe In Others Point The Direction Read More …
The Power of Why (#0727)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. Recently he shared this wisdom about the power of why: "Why?" is the most important question, not asked nearly enough. So What? The life of faith and the ministry of a given local community of faith both benefit tremendously from why questions. Read More …
9 Reasons Leaders Struggle (#0671)
Michael McKinney recently wrote about nine reasons why leaders struggle. His article highlights the list Denny Strigl, former CEO and president of Verizon Wireless, includes in his recent book: Managers, Can You Hear Me Now? (2011): Managers Fail to Build Trust and Integrity. They Have the Wrong Focus. They Don’t Model or Build Accountability. They Fail to Consistently Reinforce What’s Important. They Over-rely on Consensus. They Focus on Being Popular. They Get Read More …
Good Followers . . . (#0604)
Anthony B. Robinson is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor who currently serves as President of Congregational Leadership Northwest, and who has written several books including Changing the Conversation: A Third Way for Congregations (2008 - read my review here). His article in the January 11, 2012 edition of the Christian Century highlights five ways people can be good followers: Good followers recognize that leadership is necessary, important and Read More …
Can You Be a Leader? (#0496)
Terry "Starbucker" St. Marie is a seasoned executive leader with over two decades of experience in the cable television industry, who has partnered with Liz Strauss to create Inside-Out Thinking (a venture centered around the development of great leaders who can make a difference in any organization) and SOBCon (a business "think tank" with a Social Media twist). On his blog, he recently shared his experience of his first job interview with a CEO, which happened while he Read More …
Being Prepared for Church Administration (#0485)
Yesterday I reviewed Robert Welch's Church Administration: Creating Efficiency for Effective Ministry, 2nd edition (2011). In that post, I noted that his research shows most pastors graduate from seminary with little or no preparation for church administration even though the average pastor spends around half of her or his time on such tasks. When I entered seminary, I already had a solid educational and experiential background in administration outside of the for-profit sector. Read More …
Should Clergy-Scholars Lead the Church? (#0339)
Donald Miller is the author of several books including A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing my Life (2009) and Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (2003). To connect with him, read his blog, like him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter. Earlier this month he posted, "Should the Church be Led by Teachers and Scholars?" In the article he questions the centuries old norm of the church being led by Read More …
A Leadership Check-Up (#0302)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He earned his MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week. For more information visit his website or read his blog. He recently posted "Seven Questions for Leaders" Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story? What do you do with people Read More …