By: Tim Clark on March 13, 2023
“The showman gives you front row to his heart. The showman prays his heartache will chart. Making a spectacle of falling apart is just the start of the show…” (from the song “The Showman” by U2). The congregation I serve includes actors, musicians, athletes, and other “known” people. Over the years that I’ve pastored here,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on March 13, 2023
Reading through Leading Out of Who You Are,[1] the behaviors of the “defended” leader (Staging, Power, and Control) made a lot of sense to me. As did the various shapes of ego which relate to our childhood experiences of trust. Learning about the types of egos, and how they impact our leadership practices set my…
By: Travis Vaughn on March 13, 2023
This past week was one of those weeks where I thought to myself: It would be easier to just be in the background. Maybe even hanging out, for a year or two, on the beach with our twenty-something-year-old kids, “free” from the warp and woof of serving in an organizational leadership role. “Were things really…
By: Noel Liemam on March 12, 2023
Bruce Lee, the Asian American-born actor, was known by many as an amazing martial artist. But not only that, but he was also a profound thinker. “He left behind seven volumes of writings on everything from quantum physics to philosophy” [1]. Mr. Lee developed a martial technique called “jeet kune do,” which resulted from his…
By: Daron George on March 12, 2023
Agarwal’s book provides a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the concept of unconscious bias and its impact on individuals and society. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and sociology, Agarwal offers a nuanced analysis of how unconscious bias manifests in various domains, including race, gender, age, and social class. The book is divided into two…
By: Laura Fleetwood on March 12, 2023
Understanding the forces that shape human behavior is a key element of emotional intelligence, strong relationships and successful leadership. In the book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, Dr. Pragya Agarwal offers an insightful look at how our behavior is influenced by unconscious bias. Drawing on a wide range of research from psychology to neuroscience, Agarwal shows…
By: Kristy Newport on March 11, 2023
In a recent Monday Cohort zoom chat, a fellow doctorate student (namely, Greg McMullen) shared one of his tips on writing his blogs. He said that when considering what to write, he lets his ideas “pass through (his) heart” and then begins to organize his ideas around this.[1] Reading Northouse’s Leadership Theory and Practice prompted…
By: Chad McSwain on March 10, 2023
What better way to spend Spring Break than on a college tour. My oldest daughter wanted to visit the University of Oklahoma (OU) and I was all for it, after all these are my people. This is where I grew up and where my family lives. I affectionately refer to this as “the motherland.” The…
By: Caleb Lu on March 10, 2023
There is a Chinese fable by Zhuangzi that I grew up hearing about a frog who lives in the bottom of a deep and narrow well. As other animals come and tell him about the world outside, the frog scoffs at them and knows in his heart that the well is the entire world, there…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on March 10, 2023
Pragya, In SWAY, responding to what inspired him to write the book about unconscious bias, said, “What we are seeing around us in most parts of the world is that partisan politics is taking Centre stage, dividing people, and causing rifts and conflicts.”[1] In this post, as in many others, I might have more questions…
By: Jana Dluehosh on March 9, 2023
Have you ever found yourself floundering? Directionless? Just plain old bored? Well I have a solution for you. Follow these “easy” steps and in no time you’ll have a Doctorate! Thresholds…. Find opportunities to expand your horizons! We often don’t know we are about to encounter a threshold experience, but we will know we have…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on March 9, 2023
“The truth can be uncomfortable, but if we don’t face reality [our] implicit biases will shape and transform our society in a way that we had never thought possible.”[1] I took some valuable steps backward and forward this week while reading Pragya Agarwal’s book, Sway, and emerged with new learnings and new commitments. Pragya Agarwal’s…
By: Becca Hald on March 9, 2023
Two years ago, my husband and a friend of his both began job searching at the same time due to company layoffs. My husband is a white male. His friend is an Hispanic male. My husband submitted between ten to twenty applications. He was hired within the same company in another position within a month.…
By: Pam Lau on March 9, 2023
Liz H. Just seeing her name on my screen floods my mind with the “Things nobody told [me] about being creative.” In 2014, I received a phone call from my publisher announcing with joy how she secured Liz H. as my editor for my next book. Wanting to share in her excitement, I quickly chimed…
By: Troy Rappold on March 9, 2023
In Stephen R.C. Hicks book, Explaining Postmodernism (expanded edition, published in 2019), the author outlines the historical development of postmodernism and then explains the movement’s assumptions and arguments as it exists today. The first two chapters prove helpful as he goes back to the beginning of the Enlightenment as his starting point for the development…
By: Jenny Dooley on March 8, 2023
Không thầy đố mày làm nên. When translated this Vietnamese proverb means: No one can accomplish great things without teachers.[1] For 13 years, I had the wonderful privilege of living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Walking along Dong Khoi Street was a favorite past time. Located in the heart of District 1, it is…
By: David Beavis on March 8, 2023
An A.I. Malfunction or Accurate Reflection “Like any other shiny new toy, A.I. is ultimately a mirror. And it will reflect back exactly who we are. From the best of us, to the worst of us.” This statement was made by comedian John Oliver in last week’s showing of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.[1]…
By: Andy Hale on March 8, 2023
The debate over postmodernism and modernism feels like it was decided years ago, like when I was a wee lad in college. However, there has been a resurgence of conversation around these issues. Stephen Hick’s book, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, has seen a revival in the zeitgeist. A professor of philosophy…
By: Roy Gruber on March 8, 2023
Stephen Hicks is a Canadian-American philosopher who teaches at Rockford University and directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.[1] His book, Explaining Postmodernism covers that broad topic in a polemic tone. Hicks states his central thesis on the Contents page: “The failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible, and the failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary.”[2]…
By: Eric Basye on March 8, 2023
What is postmodernism? In his book, Explaining Postmodernism, Stephen Hicks, a Canadian-American professor at Rockford University, seeks to answer this question. In a review of Hicks’ book, Steven Sanders states, Postmodernism rejects, or is deeply suspicious of, truth, objectivity, and progress, and is characterized by a distinctive anti-science, anti-capitalist mentality. Postmodernists are united by both…
