• Duke’s Coach K’s Secret to Leadership Success. Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) recently won his fifth NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, second only to the legendary John Wooden. He discussed the importance of trust in leadership success.
• Compromise and Character in the Workplace. Art Lindsley writes “There are also inevitable consequences to building your house on the sand either in this life or the next. The career you build will only be as solid as the kind of foundation you establish. That invests each choice with real significance.”
• The Rhythm of Life. Edward Welch writes “Sometimes work seems futile and miserable; sometimes we might not have work; and sometimes we might not want work. In other words, there are times when there is no rhythm to our vocational life but only monotonous and persistent dreariness.
• Entitlement: Whose Problem is It? C Patton writes “We are all spoiled and, to some degree, guilty of entitlement ourselves. Forget the employees or coworkers that frustrate us with this behavior. There is more than enough opportunity for improvement right here in the mirror to last for a while.”
• Three Lies I Have Believed. Dave Kraft writes “There are truths I believe that enable me to move forward in trust and confidence and there are lies I believe that hold me down and hold me back. Here are three lies I have believed.”
• 3 Ways Leaders Handle the Pain of Leadership. Alan Zimmerman shares three additional characteristics of effective leaders.
• How God Defines Success. Nathan Busenitz writes “if success is defined from God’s perspective, where faith in Christ and faithfulness to Him is what matters most, then the men and women of Hebrews 11 not only understood what true success is, they applied that understanding to every aspect of their lives.”
• When Faith Meets Work. Matt Smethurst writes “We don’t have enough understanding of our faith, and we don’t have enough understanding of our work. So suggests Katherine Alsdorf in a new roundtable video with Carolyn McCulley and Bethany Jenkins.”
• Bring Back Childhood Chores: How Hard Work Cultivates Character. Joseph Sunde writes “We as parents and citizens have a responsibility and opportunity to raise up children who understand work and economic exchange for what it really is: not a mere means for material gain and elevated status, but service to others and thus to God.”
• The Most Important Step to Finding Your Calling. Dan Cumberland writes “Finding your life’s calling begins with making space. Before you choose a specific way to make your impact —before finding your passion —you may need to create the space for possibilities.”
• Servant Leadership and Strategic Thinking. Eric Geiger writes “Martin Luther said, “a Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.” We are servants first because He first served us. But we don’t serve well if we enable unnecessary chaos.”
• Is Driving School Buses Kingdom Business? Bethany Jenkins writes “We need more people like Margaret—Christians who aren’t desperately trying to change the world, but who are excited to change their world—whether that’s driving school buses in northern Alabama or closing deals on Wall Street. We need people who are faithfully present in their work, listening to the needs of their neighbors, and working distinctively to change their culture—especially when that change is imperceptible. These are the culture makers who are changing the world. And this, indeed, is kingdom business.”
• 11 Key Ways a Younger Leader can Gain Credibility. Brad Lomenick discusses the Credibility Theory. He writes that it “Starts with an equation, since I was a math minor in college….. Ultimately, credibility is this: C = T x (E + E). Credibility = Time (multiplied) by Experience + Expertise.”
• Leadership Lessons from Ruth. John Maxwell continues with the rest of the lessons we can learn from Ruth (from his new book Wisdom from Women in the Bible). This time, he focuses on leadership.
• 21 Irrefutable Reasons Why Jesus is the Greatest Leader of All Time. Paul Sohn, in the spirit of John Maxwell’s classic book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, offers these 21 reasons.
• John Maxwell on Talent. In this “Minute with Maxwell”, John Maxwell looks at the word talent.
• 4 Root Idols that Corrupt Leaders. This article from Eric Geiger hits too close to home as two of my idols are comfort and control, two of the four he writes about here. Ouch.
• A Minute Can Change Everything. On May 5, The New One Minute Manager, a new book based on the 1982 business classic, written by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson will be released.
• Permission to Fail. Megan Pacheco writes “Fear of failure is a huge factor in the way we lead and follow. There is this notion that all failure is bad. In reality, unless we are willing to overcome the fears and be okay with failure, we will never know the opportunities set before us.”
• Low Cost People Development. Mark Miller shares a few ideas on how to develop people with a small budget for development. I appreciated this from Dan Rockwell, the “Leadership Freak”:

 LEADERSHIP QUOTES

• In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved. Coach K  (Mike Krzyzewski)

• I believe God gave us crises for some reason—and it certainly wasn’t for us to say that everything about them is bad. A crisis can be a momentous time for a team to grow—if a leader handles it properly. Coach K

• Aspire for progress, hunger for success, and strive for greatness. Coach K

• Diligence is Excellence over Time. Super successful people are Excellent in the Ordinary Every Day. Dave Ramsey

• Is there something in your life you’re tempted to give up on? Persist without exception! Andy Andrews

• The more I read the Bible, the more evident it becomes that everything I have ever taught or written about effective leadership over the past 25 years, Jesus did to perfection. He is simply the greatest leadership role model of all time. Ken Blanchard

• Employees will forgive and forget a leader’s errors in judgment, but they will never forget his lack of integrity. Dr. Alan Zimmerman

 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 11 Leaders Are Communicators:

• Leadership doesn’t happen until communication happens.
• To be human is to communicate, but to be a leader is to communicate constantly, skillfully, intentionally, and strategically.
• If a leader has to look for a message, his leadership is doomed.
• The most powerful leaders are those whose beliefs function like an engine of meaning—pushing out words and messages and compelling communication.
• If you don’t have a message, don’t try to lead. If you do have a message, your task is to communicate it effectively.
• Communication is a form of warfare. The leader is always fighting apathy, confusion, lack of direction, and competing voices. The wise leader understands this warfare and enters it eagerly.
• The effective leader aims for three essential hallmarks of powerful communication. The first is clarity. The goal of communication is not to impress but to convey meaning and purpose.
• The second hallmark is consistency.
• The third hallmark of powerful communication, courage. Communication requires courage for the very simple reason that, if your convictions mean anything at all, someone will oppose you. If opposition to your ideas and beliefs offends you, do not attempt to lead.
• The effective leader understands that the message has to be communicated again and again and again.