Nobody talks about the life-changing leader who helped them raise their umbrella at the beach. Influence happens only rarely in comfort zones or times of ease. Vision is not the starry-eyed product of Monday morning quarterbacks or couch potatoes. Adversity was made for leadership. And leaders were made for adversity.
Seth Godin puts it this way: [click to continue…]
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Why?
It’s the favorite question of three-year-olds, because at three you’re still innocent enough to believe it always merits an answer.
But as time passes and our “whys?” become more sophisticated, we begin to understand that there are often multiple layers and perspectives of answers to that question.
Then sometimes there is no answer at all. At least no answer that will ever satisfy our demand to know what on earth (or heaven or hell) is going on.
I don’t know why, and probably never will, somebody decided to stop dead still with no lights of any kind on in the fast lane of a freeway in New Orleans – just around a little curve.
I don’t know why, and probably never will, that had to take place just ahead of me.
I don’t know why, if such an appointment was necessary, it couldn’t have taken place during one of the many times I’ve cruised that stretch of highway alone, instead of when I was driving with my daughter and two grandsons.
I don’t know why, and probably never will, that high-speed rear-end collision turned into a hit-and-run. I hit and he ran, never to be seen or heard from again. [click to continue…]
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I’ve received just under 10,000 calls, texts, or emails over the last few weeks, all wanting to know the same thing: How’s the little sequoia tree doing?
So rather than answer it both all of them at once, I thought I’d give you an update here.
It’s ugly. [click to continue…]
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There’s a productivity that gets things done.
There’s another productivity that makes things one… that nourishes the soul and flourishes into gratitude…
Expectancy…
Joy.
This is Productivity of the Soul.
Both are important. [click to continue…]
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Thi lad I kne – a rathe larg, joll sor – onc joke, “I don’ hav a proble wit diet. I star on ever Monda!”
Th jok, o cours, hint a th proble.
Sor o lik th ki wh joine m scou troo afte bein a membe o tw other an wantin t star ove, workin o th ran o Tenderfoo.
Wh?
H like startin. Bu no pressin o o finishin. [click to continue…]
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Tense truth: Since we all have points of glaring weakness, it is far more efficient to focus on our strengths and partner with others to address our weaknesses. But sometimes we can’t escape the necessity of addressing those areas of epic incompetence. The key is discerning when to hunker down and deal with it, and when to hand it off to someone else.
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Need some encouragement? I can help you with that.
Need to find the right words to express something? I’m your guy.
Need me to remember a meeting or handle a detail I told you I would? Sure hope I wrote it down. With a reminder. In more than one place. Why? Because I’m awful – I mean awful – at details. Just ask some of my students about my “absent minded professor” moments.
Um, better still, don’t. [click to continue…]
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It doesn’t take much for a breeze
To become a roaring fury –
Or a gentle, soaking shower
To become a fierce, howling squall.
In a matter of mere moments,
The elements that nourish you
Can soon threaten to destroy you
Or just paralyze you with fear.
That is true in the natural…
More so in the relational.
Sometimes the waves that pound at you
Are tides of public opinion.
Sometimes the winds that howl to you
Are the voices of the critics.
Sometimes the raindrops that pelt you
Are problems with no solutions.
When storms are raging,
It’s time for engaging
Your faith, your hope, and your love. [click to continue…]
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What happens when senioritis and spring fever hit at the same time? That all depends, I guess, on whether you’re the student who’s writing or the one who’s grading.
But even if you’re neither – if you’re the poor soul who must trudge off to work, there is something to be learned and something to be challenged by.
So while I’m plowing through papers in search of the next little nuggets of profound writing, I thought I would share some insights from former students. These aren’t about spring fever, but spiritual passion. And they’re very well put. It’s a quick read, but I think you’ll be blessed and challenged. And if you’d like to see more of these, click here and here.
So slow down a minute, enjoy these seven nuggets of great writing, but also take your spiritual pulse while you’re at it. You’ll be glad you did. [click to continue…]
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I don’t think I’d have to argue long to convince you we’re living in a dark world. Tune in your favorite news source and it seems that it’s a daily reminder that whatever was dark yesterday has only gotten darker today, and – get this – the only “fix” for it is to change the rules and make yesterday’s “dark” today’s “light.”
Pardon my cynicism, but pay attention to what everybody is calling “evil” today. All other things being equal, a decade from now people will openly declare it as “good” or “right” or necessary.
I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be surprised that the world has its own answers to the messes it’s in. Even now, in the United States of Iowa, one Democrat and 72 Republicans are mixing it up with the locals, presenting themselves as the light of the world.
I think you know better. [click to continue…]
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Seventy miles above the earth’s surface, a satellite captures the image of a single majestic sequoia tree, rising 300 feet above the barren wasteland that once was California.
Okay, just kidding.
About California, anyway.
It really is a sequoia tree.
Not 300 feet tall, yet.
More like 3 inches. [click to continue…]
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