When my youngest daughter was a teenager, I remember one day giving her some advice, I was stunned by her response. She said, “Dad, I suspect what you are telling me may be correct, but I’m the kind of person that needs to experience it on my own.” Sure enough, she ignored my advice and it cost her significantly. Being ...
Mark was a young entrepreneur trying to build a website business. He had very limited monies to fund his core business, let alone a new venture. Then, someone convinced Mark to buy into an unproven technology. He borrowed money to invest in the product only to discover that his customers were not interested in his new product. His impulsive pursuit ...
When Bill was younger, his business was struggling for survival about the time he attended a ministry retreat. During that retreat, the ministry founder challenged the attendees to pledge at least $1 million in their lifetime to support evangelism. Bill said it felt crazy, but even though he was broke, he made the pledge. Within 10 years, Bill had surpassed ...
William Arthur Ward, poet of the early 20th century said, “Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.” When the line is crossed from admiration to envy, there is a shift in the heart. It is a shift of heart posture. ...
Recently, a Marketplace Chaplains Care Partner was called by a company they serve to respond to a potential suicide threat. A male employee had a gun and was not responding to police efforts. The care partner arrived and made verbal contact with the young man and engaged him in conversation to attempt a peaceful resolution. The employee started sharing his ...
In reading “The Moralist,” a Woodrow Wilson biography, I observed the futility of bluffing. Early during World War I, Germany’s submarines sunk multiple British ships with many Americans on board. President Wilson sent Germany letters and threatened them publicly, but the Germans believed, correctly, Wilson’s words were just a bluff. The Germans became so brazen that they eventually sank nine ...
As a young loan officer, I was introduced to the owner of a local furniture store. Early on, I did not trust this person. His ethical practices were questionable, so I refused his loan requests. Recently, I heard a commercial of this business advertising a “going out of business” sale. His advertisement made me grateful I never loaned this person ...
The theory behind balancing a bank account seemed straightforward in college. But during my first auditing engagement, I worked two weeks trying to reconcile a payroll account. In theory it seemed easy, but with inadequate information it became impossible. When I told the audit partner, we were out of balance $900,000, he said, “Write off the difference. $900,000 is immaterial ...
Albert Einstein said, “I speak to everyone the same whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.” Einstein draws to the surface that respect and honor are given regardless of class, stature or position. Withholding honor is inappropriate. Romans 13:7 says, “Pay to all what is owed to them; taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue ...
On inauguration day, President Biden proclaimed he was going to administer 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days. The day of that pronouncement, the former administration administered 1.5 million vaccines and the previous week’s average was 966,000 doses a day. Many might call this “sandbagging.” Sandbagging is when you lower expectations so that you can exceed your goal later. In ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
