A bank I audited as a young man had a bank president named Ron. Ron had one of the most profitable and respected banks in our system. Ron cared deeply for his team members, and for his community. Ron watched over each teammate, protecting them from verbally abusive customers and loving and serving them in their times of need. He ...
From the way he talked, everyone in the office knew that Jonah was a Christian. He spoke about going to church, volunteering to serve meals, and what he learned from his daily Bible study. Even his name hinted at his beliefs! But he also turned people away by how he acted. He frequently missed his commitments, gossiped about colleagues, and ...
For many of us, one of the hardest parts of leadership is speaking truth to one another. As someone who likes to please people, this has been particularly difficult for me over the years. If you desire your employees to become the best versions of themselves, it will occasionally require that you speak hard truths to them about the ...
John Patterson is a little-known businessman who significantly raised the level of professionalism for sales professionals. In the 1880s, Patterson founded the National Cash Register business to sell high-quality cash registers. Patterson realized his product needed much more public awareness. So, he formed a team of sales professionals who were trained to dress professionally, overcome objections, and were provided sales ...
In the 90s I owned a consulting practice. I often stayed late on New Year’s Eve, because I wanted to tally up our final profit and loss numbers! It wasn’t to greedily examine my profits. Instead, it was to determine how much extra I could give to charity before the tax year ended. Joy would fill my heart as I ...
A recent Wall Street Journal article chronicled business leaders’ complaints that too many employees are focusing on their phones or their laptops during business meetings. Some leaders acknowledged that they were guilty of the same behavior. In today’s frenetic business world, being connected is considered a prerequisite to effective leadership. But when we are more connected to our devices than ...
Walking into the conference room, I could tell my colleague was troubled. I couldn’t see her tear-filled eyes because her chin was almost on her chest. But I could tell something was wrong. Following my usual response to heavy situations, I made a joke. When she looked up – expressionless – I knew I had badly misread the situation. When ...
In his book, “Why Your Work Matters,” Tom Nelson recounts the Exodus story of God’s anointing on two men – Bezalel and Oholiab – for special service. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—” ...
The CEO knew that his company was too small to survive in its industry, so he needed to find a merger partner or acquiring company to help the company reach the needed scale in the marketplace. He worked with bankers and consultants to pursue opportunities, but one criterion was his foremost concern: that the employment, salaries, and benefits of current ...
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that states could install legal online gambling. Since that time, legal sports gambling has grown from one state to 38 states, and from $440 million to over $13 billion in revenue. With that much money involved, and the unsavory characters gambling attracts, the recent NBA gambling scandal shouldn’t be a big surprise. The driver ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
