DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Creative Minority Groups: Taming Wicked Problems Jesus-Style

By: 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…

11 responses

The Spinning TOP and not putting God first

By: on February 13, 2024

I spent much longer reading Leadersmithing by Eve Poole than I had initially planned. Not that I was not intrigued by the book’s title, but that my time commitments were severely restricted due to travel, sermon preparation, leadership teaching sessions, and Conference attendance. However, once I began my elementary and inspectional reading, I had to…

12 responses

Meta-parenting

By: 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…

7 responses

To Do Our Part

By: 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…

11 responses

Simulated Pearls and an Unknown Apprenticeship

By: on February 12, 2024

The older I get the more I realize how smart my parents were. So much of what they did, and didn’t do, as parents, shaped and formed me into the person I am today. While they will admit, and I have come to realize, they are not perfect, but the positive role models of love,…

5 responses

There is no finish line.

By: 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,…

9 responses

Déjà vu for You and Your Wicked Problems

By: 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…

5 responses

Dealing with Making Hard and at Times Hard Decisions

By: on February 12, 2024

Dr. Eve Poole in her book Leadersmthing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership provides readers with a list of seventeen Critical Incidents.  These are based on asking “board-level leaders: What do you now know as a leader that you wish you had known ten years ago?[1]  I looked over the list to determine what areas…

13 responses

What Am I Looking At? OK. What Questions Does It Pose?

By: on February 10, 2024

This is a late post, because I had a severe sinus cold and throat infection this week. So, if you want a few podcast recommendations on leadership or dementia, private message me. But I also finished a series on Netflix called “Painkillers”, exploding with insight for this week’s post [spoiler alerts]. In order to retain…

12 responses

Did curiosity really kill the cat?

By: on February 9, 2024

With regard to this week reading, “How to make the World Add up,” by Tim Harford, it is very interesting how he used those real-life stories to make his points how information can be twisted into different meanings, or to one’s advantages. I like the way he used real stories to bring out is point,…

12 responses

Grace and (not or) Justice

By: on February 9, 2024

Do you know what cancel culture is?  Have you been mysteriously ghosted after a night out?  Have you had a long-lost relative jump out of the woodwork and begin to attack your latest post?  Well, The Canceling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott may be the book for you.  Lukianoff comes…

11 responses

Numbers don’t lie, people do.

By: on February 9, 2024

I love numbers. Numbers make sense. Numbers add up. Numbers give objective data. Numbers do not lie. People on the other hand do lie. People do not always make sense nor add up. People often hide or lie about things, including numbers. These are principles I live by and found myself teaching to my employees…

12 responses

Responsible Reporting

By: on February 8, 2024

Back in the days before I received the smackdown call from God to prepare for vocational ministry, I was a sales manager in the sporting goods industry. The sales reps were pretty competitive and there was a lot of strutting around by the ones with the biggest territories. In a straight commission game, the biggest…

17 responses

Collaborating with Numbers

By: on February 8, 2024

I don’t like numbers, but not because I loathe math.   For me, numbers are those random roots that pop up in the middle of a hike and trip me up.  It’s not the fault of the roots, they’re simply existing as they were designed. Nevertheless, I judge and blame them for being in my…

one response

Are We Allowed to Say That About Paul?

By: on February 8, 2024

When it comes to the First Amendment and freedom of speech, so many conflicting thoughts run through my head concerning “Cancel Culture”. I’m a huge fan of Jonathan Haidt, who wrote the forward for this week’s book, The Canceling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott. In fact, I would put Haidt’s…

6 responses

Cancel Culture: The Bad, The Ugly, and The Good.

By: on February 8, 2024

In the book, Rethinking Leadership, Annabel Beerel said, “Leading in a time of crisis requires multiple skills. These include a calm demeanor, the courage to speak to reality, an ability to find clarity amid chaos, a capacity for deep empathy, and sensitive timing.”1 And we are in a crisis. The crisis of cancel culture. It…

8 responses

Let’s raise Anti-Cancelers!

By: on February 8, 2024

“Think of the dumbest thing you did as a teenager. Now, imagine if that moment were preserved forever in the permanent record, available for anyone to see.”[1]   I am so grateful that social media was not a thing when I was in High School or in college. My high school days were filled with…

12 responses

Motivation, Consideration, and Implication

By: on February 8, 2024

As sports fans have their sights on Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas this weekend, one of the components that brings heightened anticipation to America’s most watched sporting event is the week preceding kickoff. Everyone, from football die-hards to non-football viewers, finds some way of getting in on the action. Watch parties, food, drinks, and…

18 responses

Chewed-On Numbers

By: on February 8, 2024

We got a puppy this week.  A routine trip to Walmart resulted in some potato chips, toothpaste, shampoo and a 9 week old Mini GoldenDoodle named Sullivan that we purchased from a nice lady in the parking lot.  In light of reading How to Make the World Add Up by Tim Harford I decided to…

15 responses