I have spent most of the day reading Ray Blunt’s leadership articles on the site http://www.govleaders.org/
I have found them to be excellent. He has a articulated well leadership values that I’d like to live.
I’d like all my guys to read The Toughest Choices a Leader Must Make http://www.govleaders.org/choices.htm
After watching the movie Amazing Grace, you need to read this article on Wilberforce and Jefferson. http://www.govleaders.org/2leaders.htm
We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without the moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil… we want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms we want it.
-James Davison Hunter in The Death of Character
As quoted at http://www.govleaders.org/crucible2.htm
Wish I had time to write on leadership but here is an excellent article by one of my heroes Peter Drucker http://www.forbes.com/management/2004/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker.html
I found a site that has business e-books for free
http://www.wowio.com/index.asp
I’m checking out 2 of them:
THE 60 SECOND ORGANIZER
Sixty Solid Techniques for Beating Chaos at Home and at Work
JEFF DAVIDSON
and
THE 60 SECOND PROCRASTINATOR
Sixty Solid Techniques to Jump-Start Any Project and Get Your Life in Gear!
JEFF DAVIDSON
For those of you who have heard the saying “Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet.” You will appreciate Ruth Bell Graham’s suggested epitaph for herself:
“End of Construction: Thank You for Your Patience.”
“Fear is the parent of failure. It exaggerates difficulties, neglects knowledge, shrinks will, and paralyzes action. Courage, on the other hand, is the progenitor of success. It summons faith, applies wisdom, stirs up endurance, and never shudders at the task.”
Brenda Evans in Clear Living, Summer 2007, Randall House Publications, Nashville, TN
I like the mag Fast Company. On their site they have a demo of a computer that is straight out of the movie Minority Report - and even cooler. No keyboard, or mouse. All touch - not like the old touch screens. Enlarge by placing two fingers on screen and move apart. Put your fingers on an image and move it. It responds to pressure as well. The demo loads and with a guy in an elevator. After that, wait a sec and the demo begins. Then you can read the article - Remapping the Universe. www.fastcompany.com
Until the Anti-Christ comes, the future just might have some fun in it.
A realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.
Warren W. Wiersbe in Leadership
(Copied from Christianity Today Oct. 2006 p. 134)
“Trust is oil in the work place. Without it there is grinding in every relationship.”
- Mark Gedeon
I like using experiential learning. One activity is a trust fall. A seemingly simple exercise. But the facilitator can notice those who are doing the “limbo,” looking over their shoulders or taking a step back. There are those that joke around and don’t realize how hard it is for others. You can observe a lot of things and use it as a tool of discussing what enhances trust and what kills trust. Low trust can make it difficult for some to share what is going on in their work place but the activity tends to open people up by removing it from a direct question. The questions a facilitator asks during debriefing and not rushing this part of the activity is key. Debriefing is something learned but there are those that are better at observation and have a gift to connect with participants and draw them into what is going on inside themselves. Those interested in more about debriefing may want to Google “debriefing experiential activity.”
Mark Gedeon
www.Grow-Leaders.com