Leading Thoughts Archive

Stephen’s weekly Leading Thoughts newsletters were written from 2015-2022. In the over 300 posts archived here, Stephen shares the “soft skills” of being a good leader in your business, community, and family.

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Dealing with the Strife-bound

I want to identify a tendency toward strife in some people’s hearts and help you lead these people well. I also want to help you identify this tendency in your own heart if it exists there. We’ve all known folks who just seem to be drawn to conflict. They are always in tension with somebody, always embroiled in a fight of some kind. I’m thinking of a person I know and love. If I had a conversation with this person every day, I would hear about some new flare up, somebody new they are ticked off at. They always seem[read more]

January 8th, 2020|

Learn from Other Leaders

One of the arts of great leadership is knowing how to learn from other leaders. The great and the unknown. The ideal and the flawed. In your field and not. Those like you and those far removed. Those living and dead. I am devoted to this art of leadership and it is what led me to watch a three-episode documentary on Netflix entitled Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. Now, I know little about where Mr. Gates, the founder of Microsoft, might be spiritually or morally. And he and I are far different personalities. Still, I learned or had reinforced[read more]

November 13th, 2019|

The Effective Meeting

“Why do most business meetings suck?” This is a question I’m often asked. What people who ask this really want to know is why are the business meetings they attend so boring, so ineffective, and largely such a stunning waste of time. I understand this frustration. Let me offer some answers that may help you. First, we cast our nets too widely. We involve too many people in our meetings. I’ve often sat in a meeting of a dozen or more people and thought to myself there were really only three of us who knew anything about the topic at[read more]

November 6th, 2019|

The Counsel of Core Values

I’m going to flood you with C-words in this Leading Thoughts, because I want to talk to you about the difference between Command and the Counsel of Core Values. I’m going to urge you to consider that Command is a lesser form of leadership. The Counsel of Core Values is the way you want to lead and it builds stronger organizations. Command is easy. I’m in charge. My employees are not. I tell them what to do. They do it. Why can I do that? Because I own the company, perhaps, or because somebody put me in charge. So, I’m[read more]

October 30th, 2019|

Leading Courageously

We make a mistake when we think of leadership as a popularity contest, as a matter of posturing for effect. Still, it is wise for us to pay attention to what people value in a leader. It can help us engage them, help us to inspire them, and help us to round out our set of natural leadership gifts. Here is an important truth for you to make your own in this arena. Second to expressing kindness and care for their team, leaders are most admired for their courage. This surfaces in surveys and polls consistently. It also is my[read more]

October 23rd, 2019|

Consider Long, Act Quickly

Take a moment and ponder something with me. Make a quick mental list of the three worst decisions you’ve made in your life. Once you have them in mind, ask yourself why they were so bad. Did you decide on impulse? Did you rush in without facts? Did you let emotion rule? Did you get bad advice? What factors led to the messes and the mistakes? These are important matters to ponder and here’s why: Leadership is largely about decision-making. To study how you make decisions and what your tendencies and temptations are is vital. The truth in short is[read more]

October 15th, 2019|

Personal Devices and Brain Science

In my last Leading Thoughts, I talked to you about a wise social practice when you use your digital devices. Now, let me talk to you about some brain science. We are learning that the brain is not a “closed system” and it is not completely “wired” at an early age. Instead, all of your interactions with the world around you continue to condition your brain throughout your life. This is good news. It means that we can grow and heal and repair as we go through life. Yet there is also a warning for the wise in this. When[read more]

October 9th, 2019|

Social Habits for Personal Devices

I imagine you feel the same way I do about the technology we use today. For leaders in particular, it is a gift. It feeds us information, extends our message, speeds our administrative processes, and generally makes life richer. Yet we know the dangers. We can allow our devices to take time from those around us. The experts also tell us that we can develop device addiction, that the use of the cell phone can be as addictive as a drug or junk food. I am aware of all these concerns, but I still believe that our technology is a[read more]

October 2nd, 2019|

Why Leaders Read Fiction

If you’ve been with me in these Leading Thoughts for a while, then you know I focus on the “soft” factors of leadership. I believe the more technical factors are important, of course, but you have degrees, consultants, and professional organizations to help you with those. I want to help you be a great leader from the inside out. So, in this Leading Thoughts I want to recommend something that may seem strange to you. I want you to read some fiction. Now, most leaders read but they tend to read non-fiction. They read biographies of leaders like Lincoln or[read more]

September 25th, 2019|

Always Change a Losing Game Plan

When I was playing a lot of racquetball and had a coach who was a pro, he embedded a truth in me that has made a huge difference ever since—and in nearly every area of my life. That principle was this: “Always change a losing game plan, never change a winning game plan.” As my friends in the South say, “That’s the dang truth!” It sounds almost too simple. It also sounds obvious. Why wouldn’t you change a losing game plan? Why would you ever change a winning game plan? Yet the truth is that both sides of this two-part[read more]

September 18th, 2019|
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