I’ve enjoyed reading Dave Kraft’s blog Leadership from the Heart for several years, as well as his three previous books. The latest book from the 84-year-old author, with fifty-five years of vocational Christian leadership experience, is Finish Line Leadership: Setting the Pace in Following Jesus. Recently, I read the chapter in the book on lifelong learning. I was amazed at just how much Kraft and I agree on this important subject.
Kraft tells us first that leaders are learners, and that when you stop learning, you stop leading. In the organization I worked at my entire career, we often spoke of lifelong learning, or that “school was never out at State Farm”. There was a significant emphasis on, and support of, continuing education, be it insurance designations, master degrees, IT industry certifications, etc. No matter what area of the organization you were in, you were encouraged to improve yourself and your value to the organization through continuing education.
Dan Hurley is the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Connecticut. He won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2023 and 2024. He tells his story and shares his leadership philosophies in his new book Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great, written with Ian O’Connor. 
In the organization that I worked at, there were three “Obligations of Leadership” for all of our leaders. They were: drive results, build a high performing work environment and develop people. I believe that’s a good summation of what the obligations of each leader should be. However, the achievement of each of these obligations was not rewarded equally. What I tended to see was that those who drove results were rewarded and recognized at a higher level than those who built a high performing work environment or those who excelled at developing others. And as important as those latter things are, organizations pay leaders to drive results and move their organizations forward. In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at the importance of leaders driving results. A leader who is results driven excels in many leadership attributes and competencies. Briefly, here are 10 of them: 
Our Father in Heaven,
Project Hail Mary, rated PG-13
