Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Tag Archives: leadership lessons


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20 Leadership Lessons from Dan Hurley

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. Read my review of the book here.

Here are 20 of Hurley’s leadership lessons from the book:

  • Teaching them to be disciplined, to grow their minds as students while also growing their games, to build great relationships and be passionate about life. That’s me caring about them.
  • I wanted to teach as much as I could, as quickly as I could, mature them and get them ready for the big, bad world.
  • It was always also about giving them the mental toughness they need to be successful.
  • I try to be a role model for my players—in every way. I walk it before I ever talk it. That’s a big reason why I get the buy-in.

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25 Leadership Lessons from Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson

I read this book when it was first published in 2013, and decided to read it again as I watched ESPN’s excellent documentary The Last Dance. I read the book this time specifically to examine Jackson’s leadership as he won eleven NBA Championships (rings) as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, and see what I could learn.

Jackson doesn’t pretend to be an expert in leadership theory. But what he does know is that “the art of transforming a group of young, ambitious individuals into an integrated championship team is not a mechanistic process. It’s a mysterious juggling act that requires not only a thorough knowledge of the time-honored laws of the game but also an open heart, a clear mind, and a deep curiosity about the ways of the human spirit.” The book is about his journey to try to unravel that mystery.

Here are some of my favorite leadership lessons from the book: Continue reading →


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Leadership Lessons from Nikki Haley’s Book “With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace”

Nikki R. Haley served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019. She had previously served as Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2004 – 2010. With All Due Respect covers highlights from primarily her most recent positions, and includes a number of leadership lessons. Here are some of my favorite leadership quotes from the book:

  • I’ve always been underestimated. I’ve always responded by diving in, working harder than everyone else, and proving them wrong. I don’t let what other people think bother me. I just work.
  • (About President Trump): Our styles were very different, but we were both fundamentally disrupters of the status quo. And we were both action-oriented.
  • It’s one of the most important leadership lessons I’ve learned: Don’t talk for the sake of talking. When you say something, make it matter. If you agree with something, offer ways to make it happen. If you disagree, say so. But always have a plan to find a solution.

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Making Your Church a “Leadership Factory”: A Short Course on Leadership


I recently taught a six-week Sunday School class at our church on how to lead like Jesus. My aim was to help make our church a “leadership factory”, an idea I got from the book 3D Leadership: Defining, Developing and Deploying Christian Leaders Who Can Change the World by Harry L. Reeder III. Here’s an article I wrote titled “Why The Church Should Be Developing Leaders for the General Marketplace and How to Do It” which was the foundation for the course.

The purpose of the class was to explain how to be a Christ-centered leader no matter where you lead – business, education, government, sports, non-profits, the church, or the home. We learn about leadership in many places, including books, school, business, and seminars and conferences – why not learn leadership at the church, using the greatest leadership model – Jesus?

Below is the outline I planned for the course. I have to admit in the six weeks I didn’t come close to getting to everything that I wanted to, especially the practical applications of leadership. But you never come to the end of learning when it comes to leadership. Good leaders are always growing. Continue reading →


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Leadership Lessons from Chick-fil-A


This summer we’ve been looking at a variety of leadership lessons that can be learned in many places each and every day. Thus far, we’ve looked at leadership lessons from the Bible and also from a mother of newborn triplets. Today we’re going to look at leadership lessons that we can learn from Chick-fil-A.

There’s no organizational culture I appreciate more than that of Chick-fil-A. Their corporate purpose, and their “why”, is: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.”

Here are 9 leadership lessons that we can learn from Chick-fil-A: Continue reading →