By: Jennifer Vernam on February 19, 2024
Interestingly, in their first book Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead,[1] Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder state that RARE leaders need to combat the tendency to be ‘sandbox leaders’; in other words, leaders who deal with conflict like children would in a playground situation- reactively,…
By: Tim Clark on February 19, 2024
I honestly couldn’t tell you how many hours of church leadership conferences and trainings I’ve listened to live, and online…. and on DVD, CD, and, yes, even cassette tapes. I do know that for nearly 40 years I’ve had thousands of hours of exposure to the best church leaders alive. However, I can tell you…
By: Kim Sanford on February 19, 2024
I first heard the term EQ or Emotional Intelligence about 15 years ago. I was hooked from the start. The deeper I went into learning about EQ the more it changed my perspective in myriad ways. It’s no surprise, then, that emotional health and maturity is a cornerstone of my NPO project. It also seems…
By: John Fehlen on February 19, 2024
Today, as I write this blog, I recall Dr. Jason Clark mentioning a book that he is in the process of writing about pain and leadership. On the Zoom call, I said, somewhat in jest, yet also quite seriously, “Hustle up on writing that book Dr. Clark because I need it for my NPO.” I…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 15, 2024
We must struggle toward choosing one plan over another, not because it is the right one, but because it is the best one we can come up with -Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth- Cases of domestic violence in our country have shown an increasing number in recent years. In 2023 data, around 18,138 women…
By: Scott Dickie on February 15, 2024
Personal Truth #1: The content of this booked helped me. Personal Truth #2: The helpful content could have been communicated in 5-7 pages. As a result of the two truths above, I find writing a review of Exploring Wicked Problems (1) by Bentley and Toth a bit of a problem—thankfully a tame one and not…
By: Russell Chun on February 15, 2024
складні проблеми – Wicked Problems (in Ukrainian) Introduction Part 1 GoodSports Ukraine Part 2 Immigration Epilogue Introduction Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth, Exploring Wicked Problem: What They are and Why They are Important.[1] Casts a simple framework over a world filled with problems. The use of the term WICKED (like the witch?) brings initial confusion…
By: Adam Harris on February 15, 2024
It’s not often that my graduate work overlaps with my 7th grader’s homework, but it did this week! While helping my oldest make sense of his English assignment I could see a pretty clear connection between this week’s reading, Exploring Wicked Problems, and my son’s reading material. He had to find main ideas and supporting…
By: Cathy Glei on February 15, 2024
“In order to find what the problems are one must drill down to the level of individual cases: people who are sexually assaulted and those who do the assaulting both have problems, an unemployed person does have a problem, a binge-drinker who cannot stay sober through a weekend has a problem. But when you collapse…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on February 15, 2024
“Every wicked problem is a discrepancy between a present state, and a future, more desirable state.”[1] So Wicked This week’s reading could not have been more timely for me. I faced the most wicked problem that I could have imagined. In my role as Interim CEO, I have been tasked with making leadership decisions that…
By: Jana Dluehosh on February 14, 2024
“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.” -Reinhold Niebuhr Problems are a problem. We have problems. We always have had problems; we always will have…you guessed it…problems. Many of us humans honestly spend most of…
By: Todd E Henley on February 14, 2024
MY NPO “Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thought processes with a view to improving them.”1 Three results of a well-cultivated critical thinker: She raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely She thinks open mindedly within alternative systems of thought She is scrupulously careful not to misrepresent or distort…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 14, 2024
Better Together I like solving problems. Unless they’re mathematical! Those problems are best managed by someone more qualified. Actually, there are quite a few problems which I do not have the expertise to tackle and it would be foolish and potentially dangerous to attempt to do so on my own. However, that does not relieve…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 14, 2024
I had a conversation the other day with a friend of mine who had just been promoted to the position of principle in an elementary school (in my area, that means Kindergarten to grade 8). She had previously served as a vice-principle and before that a teacher in various elementary grades. Only a week in…
By: Pam Lau on February 13, 2024
“The Tendency to avoid problems is the primary basis of all human illness.”[1] M. Scott Peck I started this doctoral program with many questions. One particular question on my mind was, what, if anything, about the way I lead with my voice today needs to change for me to be my most vulnerable, courageous self…
By: Kim Sanford on February 13, 2024
Parenting. There is perhaps no better example of living life on autopilot, trudging along in survival mode, foolishly trying the same solutions to problems but hoping for miraculously different results. I guess we’ve all been there. I certainly saw parenting problems on every single page of Joseph Bentley’s book Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are…
By: Esther Edwards on February 12, 2024
“Wicked problems are ill-defined, ambiguous, complicated, interconnected situations packed with potential conflict.”[1] For many years, our church housed those without a home for one week each year. This began in our city after three people died of hypothermia in 2005. A church decided to open its doors and soon they had more people seeking shelter…
By: Kally Elliott on February 12, 2024
In their book, Exploring Wicked Problems, What they Are and Why They Are Important, Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth explain the difference between “wicked problems,” those that are “complex, messy and unpredictable” and “tame problems,” those that have solutions and can be solved.[1] Using climate change or global warming as an example for a wicked…
By: Tim Clark on February 12, 2024
I like setting up chairs. At our church I’ll sometimes go into a room that’s being prepared and help set up the chairs. Our operations team must think I’m a little bit obsessive about how those chairs get set up for meetings, but the truth is, I just enjoy doing it (I tell them that,…
By: John Fehlen on February 12, 2024
The dream of the 90’s is alive in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In 1993, Bill Murray starred in the fantasy comedy Groundhog Day. It became one of the highest grossing films of 1993, and went on to be considered one of the greatest films of the 1990’s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever. I personal…
