Allow me to continue speaking to you in this Leading Thoughts about a theme I started last time. It was the theme of self-education. You may remember that I said that if I was asked to name one skill that would most likely lead to success in the years to [read more]
I’m always hesitant when I hear someone claiming that there is one skill that is the key to all future success. I know there is no such thing. A matrix of skills will lead to success in the future, just as a matrix of skills has always led to success [read more]
Two Leading Thoughts ago, I described some of the virtues of a devoted reading life. In the last Leading Thoughts, I strongly recommended some books for your summer reading. Now, I want to describe some tactics for reading that are essential for leaders. Most people read to kill time, fall [read more]
In my last Leading Thoughts, I wrote about my love of summer reading, about my belief that we must “read to lead,” and about some of the often-unrecognized benefits of reading. In this edition, I want to recommend some books to you. I ask only one thing: read at least [read more]
It is May 1st as I write these words. Each year on this date, my thoughts turn to reading. This is because the first of May is for me the emotional first day of summer. I look forward to all that summer holds—the travel, the sports, the outdoor life, the [read more]
I want to urge you to consider a practice that I am seeing produce tremendous results in the lives of friends and clients. I’ve never heard a name for this practice so I’ve decided to call it “micro disciplines.” Let me explain. Most of the leaders I know and work [read more]
It was George Orwell who first coined the term “groupthink” in his disturbing novel 1984. In this one word he captured the dangers and dysfunctions that can deform the thinking of a group. It would help us to apply this term to our lives. Orwell intended “groupthink” to describe the hyper-conformity, manufactured [read more]
There are a great many critics of our digitally-dominated world today and I share their concerns. We must all overcome the threatened rule of our digital devices and we must all re-acquire the gifts of silence, of stillness, and of being fully present with God and others. One of the [read more]