Building A Band of Brothers
An interviewer recently asked me to name the single thing that has made the biggest difference in my life other than my parents and my faith. I didn’t hesitate to answer. There’s no question in my mind. The greatest force for good other than my parents and following Jesus has been, and continues to be, other men speaking into my life. I’m completely convinced men cannot become the great men they are made to be without other men walking through life with them and saying what needs to be said to spur them to their best. I’ve seen it, lived[read more]
You Become What You Behold
You become what you behold. This is a basic truth of psychology. It is also a principle in most religions. Most of us learn it from sports or from human achievement studies. You become what you behold. What you put before your eyes shapes a good part of what you become. If a man plasters his walls and digital devices with naked women and porn, he’s making a decision to program his inner gyroscope. He’s telling his soul he wants a life aligned with the erotic and the sexual. I’m all for sex, believe me. Love it. I don’t want[read more]
Let me tell you what a hypocrite I am
Let me tell you what a hypocrite I am. My wife and I have often laughed at how naïve I can be about why people don’t get along with each other. When I heard that the Judd family—country music stars Winona and Naomi Judd, actress Ashley Judd—are openly contentious, I was sad for days. Yet I don’t know any of them, and as I write these words I can’t think of a single Judd song. Still, when I was told of their feuds, I walked around grieving the human condition like some ancient prophet wandering the wilderness. Since I live[read more]
Election Day 2016
As I write these words, there are 425 days left until Election Day 2016. You are probably tired already—not of me, I trust, but of all the political haggling and silliness you’ve had to endure. Frankly, I’m glad you feel this way. Let me explain. There is a seductive temptation facing all of us today. It arises from our overheated American politics and ensnares us through the seemingly limitless reach of cable news. This is the temptation to make politics too important, to move politics so much to the center of our lives that it comes to dominate the far[read more]
Pushing Beyond Boundaries
Football season is starting up again. In fact, tonight I’m heading to a Tennessee Titans/Minnesota Vikings pre-season game, and this weekend is both Notre Dame’s game against Texas and Michigan’s first game with Jim Harbaugh as Head Coach. Should be fun. This comes at a good time for me, because I am just now restoring to my life some of the hardship and challenge that I’ve been missing. This absence has revealed itself not only in my body, but also in my soul. Let me explain. I believe that human beings have an inherent need to press against physical performance[read more]
Using Words to Build People
There are times when something I write elicits such a response that I do not feel comfortable moving on quickly. This has been true of what I wrote last week about believing in the power of words. What makes me want to stay close to this topic another week is how many of you wanted me to get practical, to talk about the exact words I use to encourage and ignite destiny in the hearts of those around me. I’m happy to hang out here a bit longer. I have a very simple approach to using words to build people.[read more]
The Power of Words
I believe in the power of words. I know you would expect that of a writer/speaker like me, but that’s not the sense in which I mean this. I mean it in a more personal sense. I’ve come to believe that the beginning of leadership and, in some cases, the beginning of romance, comes when a person realizes the power of his words. Words are carriers. They carry spirit and they also carry the power to paint pictures on the heart. When we begin to understand this and begin to discipline ourselves accordingly, that’s when we begin to change lives[read more]
I Love Maxims
I love maxims. No, not the high-gloss magazine with semi-nude girls on the front. Maxims—short statements that give us wisdom and principles of conduct. I’ve spent hours in my life reading The Sayings of So-and-So or So-and-So’s Maxims. I love that with maxims, the words are few but the thoughts that come from them are big. I also love envisioning a thousand scenes that illustrate each truth. One of the maxims that has helped me is from the great missionary/statesman E. Stanley Jones. He said, “My critics are the unpaid guardians of my soul.” Now, these weren’t easy words for[read more]
“Demons I Have Known and Loved”
I have a friend who is a college coach. He’s one of those exceptional men who digs deep into the lives of his players, his coaches, and his friends so that they can be exceptional too. There is a topic he often talks about because he’s seen it do such good in people’s lives. From time to time, he even threatens to write a book about it. He never will, but he has a title. It’s this: “Demons I Have Known and Loved.” Now, he intends this as a humorous thing. He’s not even talking about actual demons, necessarily. His[read more]
Leadership is fashioning a culture.
In all the work with leaders I have done over the years, I have learned that there is a single concept that tends to divide the successful from those who constantly fall short. If a leader understands this concept, the likelihood that he will be successful is quite high. If not, all his skills and learning will not save him. What is this all-important concept? Leadership is fashioning a culture. Culture is what you encourage to grow. It is the product of what you make contagious in your firm and about your product. It is the sum of the thoughts[read more]