What Derails Executives & Pastors?
Hard Lessons About Soft Skills
The Center for Creative Leadership did extensive research regarding Fortune 500 companies and Fast Tract Managers (Why Executives Derail: Perspectives Across Time & Culture)
It is interesting that the #1 reason Executives derail is an inability to adapt and the #2 reason is an inability to establish good working relationships. In addition, the #1 success factor for successful Executives is an ability to adapt and the #2 success factor is an ability to establish strong relationships. I believe this study applies to Lead Pastors of churches as well.
10 Things I Learned from John Wooden
1. Humility
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
2. Focus on Fundamentals, Not Winning
Coach Wooden loved practices. He never talked about winning. Gail Goodrich: “Just before we went out on the court, he asked, ‘Does anybody here remember who was the runner-up in last year’s national championship?’ That’s as close as he ever got to a pep talk.” (Wooden on Leadership, p.134).
3. Faith
“I always tried to make clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places his faith in the hands of the Savior. Until that is done, we are on an aimless course that runs in circles and goes nowhere.”
Tebow: How To Handle Criticism
Unless you've been living on another planet, you're aware of the enormous criticism that has been heaped on Tim Tebow lately. Tebow has handled the criticism with grace, class and respect. He's a model on how to handle criticism. Critics have criticized him for his throwing motion, his lack of abilitiy, his faith and how he expresses it ("Tebowing"), and his stance on abortion (a pro-life commercial he made with his mom for last year's Super Bowl). When criticized, Tim refuses to lash out, defend himself, attack the accuser, or make excuses.
UCLA Women’s Volleyball Team Wins NCAA Title! // Rachel Kidder
Rachel Kidder / #11 / UCLA Womens's Volleyball National Champs
The UCLA Women's Volleyball Team won the NCAA title last night beating a talented Illinois team. The leading hitter and was Rachel Kidder who was selected as the "Most Outstanding Player" of the tournament as well as a first team All-American. Rachel led UCLA with 20 kills in the championship match.
Our family watched with great interest because my daughter (Jessica) played volleyball with Rachel at Moorpark High School. Rachael was a senior when Jessica was a junior.
Shopping for a Used Car? Tips from our Honda Hunt …
When I get my mind fixed on something I really zero in! My goal was to find Jessica a used Honda. My mechanic said to get either a Honda, Toyota or Nissan – in that order. Having owned 2 Hondas myself I knew they were great cars. I once saw a Honda Civic with over 400,000 miles on it! My goal was to get Jessica a 2001 or above Civic or Accord with less than 150,00 miles for under $5,000.
Larry Osborne on Preaching
5 Principles for Sticky Preaching
Whether your church is 50 or 5,000, your congregation has far more diversity than you might think. Now before you say, “Wait a minute Larry, our congregation is homogeneous, too homogeneous as a matter of fact,” let me remind you that diversity isn’t only about ethnicity. It’s also about age, length of time as a believer, socioeconomic status, special interests, learning styles, and a wide array of cultural subsets. And as if diversity is not enough, everything keeps changing at the speed of the Internet. If you feel like you’re preaching to multiple moving targets each weekend, you probably are! No wonder some of us feel stressed.
