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: Jeff Styer on February 19, 2024
Life is all about perspective, how each person sees and understands something. Have you read or heard the Indian parable about the six blind men and the elephant? James Baldwin retells the story, The Blind Men and the Elephant. In the short story he describes six blind men’s encounter with an elephant. As each blind…
By: Noel Liemam on February 18, 2024
About three years ago, I had an uncle (I will call him Steve) that I knew very well that had a stroke. Since then, he decided to confine himself to his home even though he could be mobile with the aid of his wheelchair. His wife is now staying home taking care of him full-time.…
By: Joel Zantingh on February 16, 2024
Two years ago, I started consulting with churches and mission organizations. The one church asked me to become their Interim Pastor, but my gut instinct told me I could simply offer to be their Transitional Coach for 10 hours a week, and rely on the gifted staff team they had, and get them just as…
By: Akwese on February 16, 2024
There are many ways to view leadership, and various types, models, methods, and frameworks have been created to help us explore our understanding of it. When it comes to developing a theology of leadership, it seems as though what’s often being explored is the model of servant leadership or some variation of it. Jesus…
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: Julie O'Hara on February 15, 2024
We began the dive just in time to catch some slack water between the tides. It wasn’t very long before my buddy approached and knelt right in front of me in the cold, green water. Behind him, the kelp leaned and swayed in the increasing current. He looked me in the eye and made a…
By: Erica Briggs on February 15, 2024
On Thursday, February 8th, 2024 a mother called the crisis line to report that her 12-year-old son was destroying personal property and exhibiting aggressive behavior towards members of the household. The operator told her to call the police. When officers arrived, the child walked off the property and away from the scene. Since he was…
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: Chad Warren on February 15, 2024
It was early morning, hours before sunrise, when we realized we had forgotten a box of supplies in the office just a few miles away. We were setting up for an outreach event a few miles from our church office, and Dawson, our newest and youngest team member, volunteered to drive back and get…
By: Chris Blackman on February 15, 2024
When I was 3 years old, my family was coming home from a vacation in Portland, OR, to Los Angeles. As we approached Bakersfield, a city about 90 miles from Los Angeles, my dad was pulling off the highway so we could rest. Sadly, a semi-truck was behind us, and the driver was drunk. He…
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: Elysse Burns on February 15, 2024
This month marks the three-year anniversary of my arrival in Mauritania. My experiences in this country have pushed me further than I thought possible and made me grow more than I could have imagined. Reflecting on Poole’s list of Critical Incidents [1], I couldn’t help but think back to those early days in Mauritania and…
By: Nancy Blackman on February 15, 2024
I would never have connected the dots between leadership and blacksmithing so it’s fascinating how Dr. Eve Poole did that in her book, Leadersmithing. After watching her TEDx talk, I appreciated her metaphor of “pearls” and “peril,” both offering a sense of grit. The pearl is created through peril when the oyster thinks it’s going…
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: Daren Jaime on February 15, 2024
I can remember vividly sitting at our first lecture at Christ Church Oxford listening intently as Dr. Jason was presenting and introducing us to Oxford, describing what the DLGP journey would feel like. As I was taking in the moment, looking out the window to the green surroundings, inhaling England’s crisp air and basking in…
By: Kari on February 15, 2024
“Stop!” “Louder, with more authority. He needs to know you mean it.” “StOp!” “Say it like your life depends on it because it does.” “STOOOOOP!” “Excellent. Again.” “STOOOOOP!” “Again.” “STOOOOOP!” Our self-defense instructor encouraged us, “Practice this in the car, your room, wherever, keep practicing. You need to develop that muscle memory. Practice this so…
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…
