“Mirrors that hide nothing hurt me. But this is the hurt of purging and precious renewal – and these are the mirrors of dangerous grace.” — Walter Wangerin Jr.
Through my coaching work with leaders, I’ve uncovered a secret. Here it is:
8 Simple Questions for Discerning When to Say “No”
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” ~John D. Rockefeller
What do these have in common?
Overwhelm
Burn out
Fuzzy goals
Scope creep
In my work with leaders and their teams, I find these are all symptoms of the same root issue:
- The leader and/or team lacks the willingness to say “No.”
- The leader and team lacks any clear process for discerning when to say “yes” and when to say “no” to current or potential projects.
Thankfully, there’s a simple solution.
5 Signs We’re Entering a New Era
“With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.” ~ G.K. Chesterton
We’re in the middle of a worldview shift across the western world ~ or so says Brian Mclaren, and I am inclined to agree. As with the shift from the Medieval to the Modern Era, new data about the nature of the universe and what it means to be human has blown apart current paradigms of who we are and how the world works.
The Vital Importance of Learning to be Present
“Right now” is the only life you really have. Why not be here while it’s happening?
I remember when I was a boy summers seemed to last forever. Each day was like an eternity. My mother would often send me outside after breakfast and I wouldn’t be allowed back in ’till lunch, then out again till the streetlights came on. (It was a different time.) I remember how those hours stretched. A single day could hold a hundred adventures or more, and still leave time for me to linger at the back door for what seemed like years, waiting for my father to come home for dinner.
A Daily Prayer for Leaders
Good Fuel / Bad Fuel
In my coaching work with leaders, you might be surprised to learn that one of the key areas we explore is the leader’s relationship with health & fitness. Though we don’t usually think of developing a fitness regimen as a “spiritual practice,” I’m convinced it is. The reason is simple:
You show me a leader who’s eating poorly, not exercising, and not getting enough rest, and I’ll show you a leader who is more likely to experience overwhelm, battle discouragement, feel disconnected from God, and struggle with self-destructive coping behaviors.
6 Common Shadow Motivations for Leaders
“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.” ~ Brennan Manning
One of my closest friends serves as a spiritual director for pastors and Christian leaders all around the country. One day he was meeting with a pastor who was weighed down by some leadership challenges he didn’t quite know how to navigate. They were driving together to spend a few hours out in the country, and on their way they passed a huge church that the pastor had founded and left years before.
As the pastor looked at the magnificent building, he shook his head and said, “Anger built that church.”
