The first lesson I can remember learning about leadership was from playing a game. When you play Follow the Leader, one person is the leader. Everyone else lines up behind the leader, pays attention, and copies what the leader does. The lesson of the game is that leaders get to decide what happens. Follow the Leader does not bring out the best in all of us. Some people do not take the game very seriously. There are people who do not pay much... Read more
There are times when spiritual life urges us beyond where we are comfortable. Spiritual life may take us to places where we are not sure we want to go. Spiritual life may put us in touch with people we are not sure we want to know. We may face our fears or question beliefs we have known our entire lives. Spiritual life may draw us toward making changes or taking actions we would rather avoid. Spiritual life can stretch us,... Read more
There is just something about experts that causes us to hope they are making a mistake. It may be the tendency of experts to be confident in their own skills. They believe in their ability to take everything into consideration, to anticipate all the variables. Experts often project a sense they have things under control. They have a level of understanding that is beyond us. Many experts tend to emphasize the reasons we should trust them to know what is best. What... Read more
Summer is rapidly coming to an end. Some schools have already started again for the “fall.” Many of us share the feeling that summer was just too short this year, over far too quickly. It is easy to understand if there are goals and projects we set for the summer that did not get completed. Some of us tend to have the same aspirations each summer, but never seem to accomplish them. Some of us have the misfortune of actually starting... Read more
We do not build disciplines and practices to earn spiritual life. It is not as if we need to accumulate enough spiritual life points to move up to the next level. Spiritual life is not a rating or certification we need to maintain. Our practices do not demonstrate how good or spiritual we are. We practice to learn how to turn our values and beliefs into everyday life. If we do not practice what we say we believe, do we really believe it?... Read more
There is only a day or two left in the month. Has it been a good month for you? Have you gotten your month’s worth? There is still time, if you are one of those people motivated by deadlines. We can accomplish a good deal when time is running out and the pressure is building. There may be a project or two we have been working on diligently all month, or longer. For many of us, it might be more effective to... Read more
The leaders who inspire me work to build organizations which develop leaders. They are passionate about finding and strengthening leadership in the people around them. They recognize the crucial effect the next generation of leaders will have on what they have done. The leaders who inspire me want their organizations to appreciate people’s potential. They want people to leave their companies better off than when they started. The leaders who inspire me also recognize when organizations do just the opposite. They may look... Read more
It is easy for us to get confused about spiritual life and winning. We live in a society which believes in winning. Winning and losing is how we determine who is right and who is wrong. Winning and losing is how we know who is guilty, and who is not. Winning is how we make decisions, including who will represent us. Our culture does not approach conflict as an opportunity to listen and learn, to gain new insight. When we are... Read more
There are days when it feels like we are always just getting back to work. It may be because it is July. So many people are posting photos on their trips to Hawaii, Alaska, Europe, and Asia. It feels like there is a lot of peer pressure to distract ourselves. It may be because we are rounding the halfway point of the year. We have worked our way up to the top of the annual hill. We deserve a little coasting down the... Read more
We believe if someone is really good at doing something, they will make a living doing it. Professional has become synonymous with meeting high standards of performance. No one wants to be called unprofessional. Our perception of an amateur is someone who is not as skilled as a professional. Athletes who have gained renown as amateurs and turn professional need to improve. We understand amateur as meaning “not as good as professional.” The word amateur, though, does not come from an understanding of being... Read more
Strategic Monk
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