According to a Northwestern University study, referenced in the Wall Street Journal, productive employees can raise the productivity of those around them. (The study discovered that those employees who finish tasks quickly also raise the output of slower colleagues by 8%.) In addition, simply sitting next to a high achiever can improve someone’s performance by 3 to 16%! The author ...
While traveling home from St. Louis, Kathy and I stopped at a truck stop and ordered breakfast. After waiting 25 minutes for our food, Kathy stared at the food counter hungry and frustrated. One of the other waitresses noticed Kathy’s stare and asked if she could help. After Kathy explained the situation, the waitress said, “You have an excellent waitress. ...
As the time approached for the day long prayer retreat, I started having second thoughts. There were so many important things that needed done. Also, as an introvert, I relish my quiet time with God, but corporate prayer is more of a struggle. Despite my reluctance, I went, and left grateful. The time of prayer was sweet, but the added ...
When leading people into a new place, I always want to know if the direction we’re going makes sense and is affirmed. This does two things: It confirms to me, and them, that this is God’s path for this time, and It gets their buy-in and allows me to hold them accountable for the direction we’ve agreed to take. 2 ...
In 2001, a local CEO noticed his parking lot virtually empty at 5:00 pm and became incensed. He rashly sent an email to his executive team ranting about their poor performance. He believed that the parking lot should be half-full on Saturday mornings and on most evenings. His email demanded that the work ethic of the company improve or otherwise ...
Years ago, a business owner called me all excited about our ministry and our desire to promote integrity. He invited me to tour his machine tooling business. Amazingly, this CEO bragged about his integrity and how important ethics were to him throughout the tour. When people constantly promote their own integrity, it can be a smokescreen for trouble. Part way ...
According to Wikipedia, St. Patrick’s Day originally celebrated the priest who returned to Ireland in 432 AD to bring Christianity to his homeland. Ireland had been a polytheistic culture. One way Patrick introduced them to Christ was by using the 3 leaved shamrock to describe the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. He made a difference by communicating in cultural ...
Stanford University researchers discovered that young people may be proficient in using social media, but they’re poor at discerning real news from so called “fake news.” Stanford’s researchers discovered that students often assume that sponsored content posted by biased parties is true, sometimes even more than real news. In one assessment, more than 80 percent of middle schoolers believed a ...
Early one morning I was meeting with a pastor who looked exhausted. He shared with me that he was at a public school board meeting until 3 am and had very limited sleep. With exasperation, he said, “How can a group meet for 7 hours and not make a single decision?” When meetings are open-ended and not bound by time, ...
George Washington left his American legacy with a great reputation. Even though the famous story of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, and not lying about it, may not be true, this story speaks to people’s belief about his character. George Washington once said, “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
