Archives of Leadership

Some leaders think they value people, honor people, and are compassionate to those they lead. Only sometimes they are not, and they don’t even realize it. Other times, they know, but they don’t care. I trained as a doctor in an intense residency program at John Peter Smith Hospital, ranked as the second best in […]

In the Bible God makes it clear that He wants us fully and completely. He wants us to surrender every aspect of our lives to Him. (Reference Matthew 10:37-39). Let’s consider an illustration from US history. On September 2, 1945, General Douglas McArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz received Japan’s unconditional surrender in the final chapter […]

Recently the Prime Minister of Japan addressed both Houses of Congress in the United States in a speech of solidarity and friendship. Fumio Kishida started by remembering the years he lived with his family in Queens, NY. His speech was abundant with words of affirmation for the friendship between Japan and the United States. In […]

British writer and playwright G. K. Chesterton said, “I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.” In the same vein, my mentor, Pastor Peter Rahme, said: “Don’t let someone else’s inability to see clearly what’s ahead of you dictate the vision […]

When I started writing, I made this common error: ambiguous pronoun reference. Ambiguous pronoun reference occurs when pronouns such as this, that, these, those, it, they, or them are used without a clear antecedent (noun or noun phrase that the pronoun replaces or represents). Don’t worry, I’ve got examples for you! Error: “The team worked […]

Julia Whelan, a successful audiobook narrator, was recently interviewed by Brian Bartes on his podcast. We usually take for granted that audiobooks are right at our fingertips, a click away, without thinking about everything that goes into creating one. I learned from this podcast that there is a whole world of narration and narrators. One […]

A few months ago, a person close to me got on my case—and for good reason. In meetings with her, I often arrive five to ten minutes late. I was so grateful for her feedback that I have now remedied my tardiness. What does a leader communicate in one or two instances of being late? […]

If I were to choose a universal problem that all leaders wrestle with, it would be time management. Some say we cannot manage time, we can only manage what we do with it. Regardless of how we communicate it, time and how we spend it is usually of top concern, and I believe it should […]

Part of my time during every new-staff orientation at our organization is to give a talk about emotions. I encourage our staff members to consider routinely sharing their emotions with someone in their life that they are close to, such as a spouse or trusted confidant. When people understand the emotions a loved one wrestles […]

I was recently talking to a leader friend of mine, and we were discussing how team members sometimes are not able to perform to the level we need. Then we both agreed that leadership is about accomplishing the mission through imperfect people. Our people are imperfect. We are imperfect. Yet, dedicated leaders forge forward and […]