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Leadership and Friendship—Are They Mutually Exclusive?
With whom can you be yourself—totally raw and without filters—without expectations? Someone recently asked me this question. Several names came to mind, but I realized my list was short. This person advised, “You need these types of people in your life, people who will listen to you without expectations or judgment, with whom you can climb down off the mentorship and ministry pedestal.” Regardless of the world in which you work or serve—corporate, construction, education, marketing, medical, ministry, research, restaurant, the arts, or the home—being a leader can make finding raw-and-without-filters friendships difficult. Why is that? First, leaders are visionaries. They lead the charge. They think outside the box.…
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How to Embrace Necessary Change
Seasons of life change, careers change, organizations change, and relationships and friendships change. Change is—as they say—inevitable. How do you deal with change? Do you embrace it, reluctantly (and stubbornly) submit to it, or run full-speed in the opposite direction of it? I’m a loyal person by default. Perhaps you are as well. I’m loyal to good people, good organizations, and good products. There’s nothing wrong with loyalty per se, except when that loyalty exceeds the season for which that allegiance is needed. Thus I find I struggle with change. Well-known author, leadership coach, and clinical psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud believes that if we do not embrace necessary change (i.e.…
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The Glory of Business
God has created us to pursue business, but not only to provide for our needs and make a profit. His primary purpose is to experience the glory He designed for us when He gave us the life and gifts He provided for us. The problem is many of us don’t understand what God has done. We tend to think that living for God is one thing, but conducting business is another. What we miss is the fact that God is not only interested in our going to church and participating in Bible study but also in how we run our business and even more in why we run our…
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Waco Couple Shows How to Bloom Where You Are Planted
As a new Christian in the 1970’s, the phrase “Bloom where you are planted” was passed around as frequently as ketchup at a table. It was on cards, pillows, wall hangings, and other decorative items. Bloom where you are planted. Put down roots and grow. And help others grow. That’s what Christian couple Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” fame agreed to do when they married a decade ago in Waco, TX — “plant our roots here and help make Waco grow.” And, according to a recent Dallas Morning News article, they are not just blooming where God planted them, they are producing fruit that benefits others around them…
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The Rudeness of Not Responding with a “Thank you for applying …”
Searching for a job is hard enough without all the rejection. I’m not talking about a reply saying that you didn’t get the job. I’m talking about getting no reply at all! You might expect this kind of rudeness from a secular company. Surely, Christians would do better! But do Christian organizations and Christian-owned businesses do better? In the past few months, several of my family members have been searching for new jobs. One of our daughters is an appreciated professor at a west coast Christian university. She recently applied for professor positions at several Christian universities closer to her Texas roots—universities that prominently display on their websites that they…
