By: Mark Steele on November 9, 2013
Earlier in my career I faced an ethical decision. I had been selected as the Executive Director of a new Retirement Community to be built. At the time, we were in the sales mode and had collected 70 per cent presales of over 110 apartments. We were finalizing the designs so we could build. I…
By: Sam Stephens on November 9, 2013
One of the major issues that needs to be dealt with in India is corruption. Studies reveal that it affects the country’s economy substantially. Last year India ranked 94th of 174 countries according to Transparency International’s corruption Perceptions Index. A vast majority of the Indian population have had firsthand experience in paying bribes. It is…
By: Raphael Samuel on November 9, 2013
The discussion about leadership is inescapable. We are confronted with questions and encounters around leadership on a daily bases. Questions arise from various fields including, government, business, family, and church. We often find ourselves debating whether someone is an effective leader or not. The fact that we are so engage with the issue of leadership,…
By: Phil Smart on November 9, 2013
In this fascinating book, ethics are reexamined in light of worldview and a methodological Christian interpretation. I’m convinced more and more of the leverage or influence worldview has on all of our mental inputs and outputs. Rationality often seems to be cast aside in favor of falling under the spell of whatever worldview we subscribe…
By: Richard Volzke on November 8, 2013
As I was reviewing this week’s reading I came across this quote, “Will leadership largely be seen as a means of getting ahead, of gaining power, rather than of being understood as a serious professional calling with social responsibilities?”[1] in chapter 1 and it reminded me of a leadership principle and truth that I learned…
By: Stefania Tarasut on November 8, 2013
When you pick up Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice your fist though is “how am I going to get through these 800 pages” but as I started reading, I was slowly pulled into every article. There was something I could glean from every page and I felt as if I was not only affirmed…
By: Fred Fay on November 8, 2013
This is a repost. The week began with my children’s ministry leader telling she heard that one of the children’s leaders was sleeping with her boyfriend. In a very conservative church sexual matters matter! In the same week, three young adults said they wanted to rent a house that the church owns and had just…
By: gfesadmin on November 8, 2013
Fred Fay: You Are Only Young Once, then look out! ffay55: The week began with my children’s ministry leader telling she heard that one of the children’s leaders was sleeping with her boyfriend. In a very conservative church sexual matters matter! In the same week, three young adults said they wanted to rent a house…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on November 8, 2013
I have had the privilege this week to be on vacation with my family in our nation’s capital. The days are filled with trips to the Smithsonian museums, the national monuments, and of course a drive through the beautiful changing leaves to visit Mount Vernon, the home of President George Washington. Upon arriving on the…
By: Michael Badriaki on November 8, 2013
While growing up in East Africa, my friends and I were repeatedly told that “we were the leaders of tomorrow”. I also thought that the notion of leadership was something that happened to a person by way of some sort of coronation. When does a person become a leader and what was the necessary criterion?…
By: Carol McLaughlin on November 8, 2013
After reading the introductory chapter in Harvard Business School’s publication, Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice I made a decision that I will take the necessary time to read through each chapter. As I was reading these opening pages I knew that I was going to walk away with something that will fit into the…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on November 8, 2013
While reading through Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, the discussion on Leadership and Cultural Context in chapter 13 resonated with me the most. One of the things that the authors, Mansour Javidan, Peter W. Dorfama, Jon Paul Howell, and Paul J. Hanges, highlighted in their discussion is how societal and organizational culture can shape the implicit leadership theory.…
By: Sharenda Roam on November 8, 2013
This is the kind of book I like to devour with a hot cup of herbal coffee sitting next to a fireplace in a busy coffee house. It delves into the variety of philosophical approaches regarding ethics. Nullens and Michener, in their book, The Matrix of Christian Ethics share tasty bits of knowledge from Aristotle,…
By: Julie Dodge on November 8, 2013
I have been involved in leadership throughout much of my life, both formally and informally. I have been a volunteer leader and a professional leader, an executive and a senior manager. I have trained leaders, and I have coached leaders. I have enjoyed significant success, and fallen flat. As I read through this week’s…
By: Ashley Goad on November 8, 2013
On the plane ride to London, I had the great pleasure of watching Monsters University, the sequel to one of my all-time favorite Disney movies Monsters, Inc. Yes, of course, this is a movie directed at children, but after my “Hakuna Matata” post, I thought this was only appropriate! In spite of Disney’s commercialization of…
By: Richard Rhoads on November 8, 2013
It was late in the Spring of 2010. I had just finished up my last class and was about to leave for a well needed rest over Spring vacation. Just before closing my office door, my dear mentor, friend, colleague and co-leader for our Israeli travel-learn tours casted a vision for a new site…
By: Bill Dobrenen on November 8, 2013
One factor that leadership theory, contemporary social theory, and theology all have in common is that writers in these particular fields do not always agree. Also, these fields do not contain all the answers to all the big questions. This is refreshing for me. Mark Zupan says in his article “An Economic Perspective on Leadership”…
By: Sandy Bils on November 8, 2013
“Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” This quote is by Neo, the main character of the matrix trilogy. Neo says it in the third part, called matrix- the revolution. The matrix trilogy is by the Wachowski brothers, who worked over 30 years to film…
By: David Toth on November 7, 2013
How does one determine what is good? Is it discovered, dictated, or determined? Will it still be good tomorrow? In another culture? These and many more ethical questions and possible decision paths are the topic of Nullens and Michener’s book The Matrix of Christian Ethics. The purpose for the book is to promote “an embrace of…
By: Garrick Roegner on November 7, 2013
Patrick Nullens and Ronald T. Michener unpack the intersection of ethics and Christianity in their work The Matrix of Christian Ethics: Integrating Philosophy and Moral Theology in a Postmodern Context. They begin with a definition of ethics as “emphasizing the methodical thinking of morality rather than morality itself (9).” As pertains to Christian ethics they…
