• Ten Major Fears We All Face at Work. John Kyle looks at ten major fears people have at work.

• High Performance Organizations Build the Bench. Mark Miller, author of the forthcoming Chess not Checkers, writes “If an organization intends to grow, a key focus of the leadership team must be to Build the Bench.”

• The Church, Faith and Work. Justin Taylor shares some helpful resources.

• Two Leadership Attitudes that Make All the Difference. In this “Tuesday Tip”, Dr. Alan Zimmerman looks at attitude and responsibility.

• God the Great Janitor? Jim Mullins shares four of the main ways that janitors, and people with similar occupations, display the actions and attributes of God through their work. Mar 24,
• Good Leaders Are Willing To Change Their Mind. Todd Henry writes “Leaders, I ask you: are you allowing your ideas to evolve over time? Are you willing to adapt as your thoughts are proven incomplete or inadequate?” 2015
•  The Five Biggest Career Mistakes Christians Make. J.B. Wood writes “God has created a pretty big world out there, but many of us Christians have a tunnel-vision tendency to block out a huge portion of it. We lose sight of the sacredness of work, the benefits of education, the spiritual value of a career, the impact of our potential influence in the marketplace.”
• A Bridge of Trust. Bob Chapman writes about a “trust gap” in organizations. He states that when Bart Handy became Vice President of Manufacturing at Barry-Wehmiller’s Paper Converting Machine Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin it was a time where trust between associates and company leaders was low.

• Four Meeting Practices that Distinguish Top Leadership Teams. Ryan T. Hartwig and Warren Bird, authors of the new book Teams that Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership, write “Our data shows that there are many different ways to do effective meetings, but a few key practices make a great difference.”

• Constructive Criticism at Work. Aimee Byrd writes “It seems that as a society, and even in the evangelical world, all questions, differing opinions, and critique are taken as personal attacks. But isn’t everyone to expect constructive criticism at work here and there?”

• 4 Reasons Why God Wills Work. John Piper In 1983, John Piper preached on this passage (1 Thess. 4:9-12) and highlighted four reasons why God wills work.

• What Will You Leave Behind? Jon Bloom of Desiring God writes “What are you pouring your life into making? When it’s over, what will you leave behind that will really last? When you report to your master how you invested the talents he gave you, what will you show as a return?”

• Great Leaders Serve. Mark Miller provides strategies on how to get ahead as a leader.

      JOHN MAXWELL:

• The 3 Things I Know To Be True. John Maxwell shares three things that determines a life that counts.

• John Maxwell on Will. In this “Minute from Maxwell”, John Maxwell looks at the word “Will”.

• John Maxwell Introduces his new Growth Quest Quiz. Click to take the free Growth Quest Quiz. Think of a shorter (and free) version of the Strengthsfinder assessment). In less than 5 minutes, you can see where you’re strong, and where you might need to grow. I’ve already taken and shared with my team and wife and encouraged them to take it. We’ll be sharing results over the coming weeks.

• John Maxwell on what it means to Teach. This is a particularly helpful “Minute with Maxwell”.

       BOOKS:

• Working for the weekend? Work Matters by Tom Nelson. Michelle Lee-Barnewall writes “We should see work as an integral part of the way in which we were created.” She shares some excerpts from Tom Nelson’s excellent book Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work. See our review of the Nelson’s book here.

• 25 Popular Business Books Summarized in One Sentence Each. This was a creative approach from Drake Baer and Mike Nudelman.

Beatitudes of a Leader

I saw the “Beatitudes of a Leader” posted in my friend Greston’s cubicle last week and asked if I could share it with you. He had received it from his friend Rick.

•  BLESSED IS the Leader who has not merely sought high places, but who has been drafted into service because of his ability and willingness to serve.
• BLESSED IS the Leader who knows how to lead without being dictatorial; the best leaders are humble.
• BLESSED IS the Leader who leads for the good of the most concerned and not for the personal gratification of his own ideas.
• BLESSED IS the Leader who develops Leaders while leading.
• BLESSED IS the Leader who marches with the group.
• BLESSED IS the Leader who considers leadership an opportunity for service. 

Faith and Work Book Clubs – Won’t you read along with us?

The Conviction to Lead Book Club  ~ The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler

We’re reading this excellent book from Albert Mohler, one of the best that I’ve read on leadership. It is broken down into 25 relatively short chapters. Won’t you read along with us? This week we look at Chapter 9:  Leadership Is All About Character  

• You can go so far as to say that character is essential to leadership.
• People know better than to follow someone they do not trust.
• Character is in fact the only secure foundation of leadership itself—any form of leadership.
• We look for those whose lives are in full alignment with their convictions.
• Our difficulty in dealing with the question of character is directly related to the fact that we have no common concept of what character really is.
• The Christian leader has to know a far deeper and urgent call to character—a call to character that is not only a matter of public persona, nor merely a negotiation with the moral confusions of our own age. As followers of Christ, we know that there is no legitimacy to the claim that our private and public lives can be lived on different moral terms. And we also know that the moral terms to which we are accountable are not set by us; they are revealed in God’s Word.
• The Bible reveals that character is a condition of our hearts.
• Those we lead will expect us to live and to lead in alignment with our convictions. They will not be satisfied with character that is lived out only in public, a pretense of our real selves. They are hungry and thirsty for real leadership and real leaders. They have seen where leadership without character leads, and they want no part of it.
• Once we state our convictions, we will be expected to live them out in public and in private. The convictions come first, but the character is the product of those convictions. If not, our leadership will crash and burn.
• Character is indispensable to credibility, and credibility is essential to leadership.
• When our lives are shown to be at odds with our convictions, we destroy everything we have sought to build.
• Leaders of character produce organizations of character because character, like conviction, is infectious. Followers are drawn to those whose character attracts them as something they want for themselves.