LeadershipConneXtions

Life as an Experiment

 A. J. Jacobs has written three tasty books.

The Know-It-All, where he read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A - Z so he could become the "smartest" man in the world.

The Year of Living Biblically, where he tried to obey every rule in the Bible (he makes a list of over 700 rules from the Bible).

And his most recent: The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment.

I just finished reading the GPDs and it was a fun book. More importantly, A.J. got me thinking about life.

I think we spend too much life spectating. We watch from the sidelines. Sometimes for entertainment, and other times, just as the critic.

Life is meant to be lived.

So, inspired by A.J.'s experiment, I wanted to throw out his personal idea to the readers of this blog.

2010 is almost here. 
Why don't you make this new year a year to try six or eight, month long experiments.
Try a half dozen or more things that you think would be fun, good, healthy.
Try some experiments that will mean change... getting out of the comfort zone a bit.

 The possibilities are endless.

If you are in introvert - try a month of Living Like an Extrovert.

If you have a habit of frequent criticism and complaining - try a month of speaking only words of gratitude, encouragement and praise.

Try a month of serving others, with a different person and a different act of kindness every day.

Try a month of memorizing a part of the Bible.
(or)
Try a month of reading the Bible every day for an hour. See how much you can read.

Try a month of daily exercise, especially if you never exercise.

Try a new spiritual discipline for a month. Get a book on the spiritual disciplines. Pick one and give it a try for the month.

Try a month of living according to the Sermon on the Mount as much as possible.

Try a month of complete abstinence from buying things (except necessities). Declare a moratorium on consumerism.

Like I said, the possibilities are endless.

 Here are a few things to keep in mind.

(1)    It is an experiment. You might not succeed, but that is not the point. The point is to experiment, experience and learn.  The point is to live, to engage, to try, to get in the game.

(2)    Keep some notes, or a journal on your experiences.

(3)    Work real hard at it for the month. After all, it is only a one month experiment. You can do anything for a month.

(4)    It will help a lot if you do some planning for how you will do your experiment. Take a day or two and think it through, plan it out and then dive in. Give it your full attention and your high intentionality.

(5)    If one month's experiment isn't a real good experience, at least you had that experience and you learned and lived through it. Move into the next one.

(6)    Talk to others about your experiments. Encourage them to do the same.

And finally, share your Experiments with us in the comment suggestion area. 

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
 

Some Thoughts on Reading Good Books

I wanted to take a break for a day or two on my reflections about the church,  Quitting Church, renewing the church... This theme is on the front burner for me right now and I have a lot of things I want to share (whether you want to read them is quite another matter). But they will be mixed in with other topics that are on my mind as well.

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It is no surprise to readers of this blogsite, that I am a RAVING FAN of reading good books. I also am a collector of quotes and this month I have quite a few quotes on reading and books. Rather than hold them until the first day of the new month when I give all the quotes, I thought I would share these particular quotes a little early. And follow them up with a little encouragement about your reading.

So, here they are:

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.  Henry David Thoreau

I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading. Thomas Macaulay (pictured to the left).

A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader. It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet.  Phyllis McGinley

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Reading – the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.  William Styron

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.  Joseph Addison

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.  Rene Descartes

The use of reading is to aid us in thinking. Edward Gibbon

When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before, you see more in you than there was before. Clifton Fadiman

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.  Abigail Van Buren  (pictured to the right)

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I know many people do not like reading… (is abhor the word to use?). I want to make a case that leaders need to get in touch with the most profound ideas you can. If you don't read, you eliminate one of the main ways to get access to life changing, world shaping, leadership accelerating ideas. So - where will you find those ideas? Will it be through talking with another person who has read? That means they are the ones doing the hard work. The other readers are the ones getting the most benefit. 

So, here are a few questions:

What are you reading right now? 

What is on the night stand?

What is sitting on your desk?

What are you learning?

What are you doing with what you are learning?

Leaders are those who read, learn and then lead out of their learning.

The posts I am doing on the church have emerged out of reading one book, which then led to another book and to another. By the time I am done, I'll have read at least a dozen books on this subject in about two months. And that is just some of my reading. 

If you want to stay informed of a wide variety of very good books, you should subscribe to the weekly Book Review by Byron Borger of Hearts and Minds. It is always a great review, usually on a theme and then 5 to 10 of the best books on that theme.  So for example, Click Here to Read About Books on Marriage, the latest one Byron did.

And... if you have a book you want to suggest - do so. Just do it in the comments by clicking on the comment button.  Pass on your best recommendations to others.

A friend (a very good leader by the way) recently sent me a list of leadership books her company passed around. She sent it to me, I asked her for her top recommendations and I am going to read what she recommended.

May you be led to the best book and the worthiest ideas... learn... and then lead with greater wisdom and passion.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Participation Alone Does Not Produce Maturity

A few years ago (2007), Willow Creek issued a report of a study they had done on the maturity levels of their congregation. They studies how mature their congregation was becoming, how this was happening, what was working, what wasn't working.

Here is the "working assumption" that Willow Creek, and in fact, most churches have.

We create a variety of programs and services for people to participate in. . . . This is our strategy: We try to get folks who are far from God involved in these activities. We believe the more people are participating in these sets of activities with high levels of frequency it will produce disciples of Christ...

After surveying 15,000 people at Willow and 25 other churches, here is what they found.

Increasing levels of participating in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone's becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.

Bill Hybels described it as the "wake up call" of his life.

Of course Willow got a lot of flack for this. The critics of Willow's success swarmed gleefully around this announcement which fueled their own blindness about the same realities being present in their churches. For this is not a Willow Creek problem. This is an issue that is endemic and systemic throughout conservative Christianity.

A few of my observations are this.

(1)  Actually, participation is very important. It is just the nature of their participation and the nature of what it is that people are participating in determines the outcomes.

(2)  For many years, we have been designing transformative processes (vs. learning events) for people to participate in. Unfortunately, the conservative church has been obsessed with transferring information to the minds of people and believing that leads to renewal and maturity. It does NOT. I'll say it again. A teaching event does not lead to transformation. And teaching events are our bread and butter model in the evangelical church. 

(3)  We have been thoughtful about helping people know how to participate in (engage, experience, respond) to what it is they experience.

(4)  We equip them with spiritual formation skills and perspectives.

(5)  We design curriculum that guides them in the exercise of these skills.

(6)  We provide leaders who facilitate the process and mentor them through their experience.

(7)  We have outcomes that are our aim and regular feedback assessment for progress toward those outcomes.

(8)  We have the desire of helping people learn how to be with Jesus (together with others) in relational encounters.

(9)  It takes an enormous amount of hard work. If you want to do this well, you have to understand the dynamics and processes of leadership development, spiritual formation, mentoring and pedagogy.

(10)  And I do think we live in a culture that is increasingly interested in entertainment, who functions mainly as a consumer, and who prefers products that are fun, fast and easy. None of this is conducive to making disciples.

Obviously, we don't do all of this even close to perfectly. We have a "bell curve" of quality of experience and results seen in our attempts to do this. But we are getting better and better at it.

And it sure helps if the Holy Spirit shows up. After all, the original 12 disciples had everything mentioned in the above paragraph and they showed a remarkable lack of maturity during the days surrounding the death of Jesus. Pentecost made the difference.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

You Can't Make People Grow . . .

You can't make people grow and maybe you can't even grow people. Maybe everything I am going to say in this post is just a matter of semantics, or perhaps it is an issue of focus.

I wonder if our focus should be on creating environments of learning and putting people in those environments and letting the organic processes take over from there?

What if we should approach leadership and teaching in this way?

What if our focus shifts from the individual to the context?

What if we seek to become Architects of Learning Habitats and let the habitat and the individual interact with one another.

Becky and I are gardeners and it is natural to think that we grow plants. But perhaps that is to claim too much for ourselves. What if we don't grow plants? What if, instead, we create garden habitats full of rich humus, space, light in the right measure, water as needed, provide nutrients when called for and (especially Becky) have copious amounts of pruning and dead heading? Then, if we also remove growth inhibitors like weeds, insects and garden predators like Rabbits (grrrr to all Rabbits except for Bugs Bunny of course).

Now, as I said, maybe this is just semantics. You might say, well that is what one does to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables, etc.  But somehow I think it is a different focus. I want to focus on the environment and not on the ""plant specimum" itself. I want to think in terms of processes and not just the individual.

So I want to create the environment/habitat of learning and discovery, where the God designed growth processes can flourish and then plant people into that kind of place.

Whether you are...

a parent working with your children...
a teacher working with students...
a mentor working with mentorees...
an employer working with employees...
a team leader working with team members...

... think about the environment and how you can improve it. 

Improve the learning environment and I think you'll see learning accelerate.

And an easy way to get started is to pull the involved, impacted people together and just start brainstorming on this question:

What can we do to create a better place for learning in our midst?

Oh, and by the way, it won't hurt to read some Parker Palmer books along the way.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Knowing - Doing Gap

Knowing what do to and why we should do it is often not the problem.

Lack of information and a deficit of good ideas is usually not the issue we have to deal with.

We have knowledge in abundance. Information abounds in ways as never before. And our access to information is at an all time high.

I think one of our "gaps," and one of Grand Canyon proportion is the gap between what we know and what we do (or how we live).

If you are a regular reader of this blogsite, this is nothing new. In fact, it is a frequent theme. I was pleasantly surprised to read a review of a business book on his exact topic by the title:

The Knowing - Doing Gap.

One of the questions raised in the book was simply - why does this gap exist? Authors Pfeffer and Sutton give several reasons for the gap. Here are a few of their answers to this question.

(1)  Pointless communication! By this they mean we give out information poorly. We give out too much information. We give it out in boring, non-memorable and non-useful ways. We have lengthy planning documents that no one cares about. 

(2)  History and tradition about how we have done things in the past can easily offset new ideas from being implemented and with our follow-through efforts. The old ways overwhelm the new information and it is aborted and not birthed into reality. Especially in the area of past success does this happen.

(3)  Naysayers. These are the critics, the complainers, the fault-finders, the doom-proclaimers, the prophets of woe (you get the picture) and their loud voices dissuade us from following through with a good idea. 

(4)  Fear of the future, fear of looking bad, fear of failure, fear of other consequences can immobilize us. So we sit with the information, paralyzed, unable to act on the knowledge.

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I would add one more.

(5)  It is easier to hear than to do. It is easier to know than to act. This has always been true and it was addressed by Jesus and by James.

To act, to change, to live differently, to perform in new ways is a greater task than to simply receive new information. It is easy for me to learn something new. I do this every day. But to implement it in my life so it becomes a part of who I am - now that is a very different and difficult matter.  

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Effective Teaching and Great Learning

Effective teachers don't try to come up with the right answers. They focus on coming up with the right questions.

A highly qualified leadership 'guru' (I won't say who) said this and I wish to respectfully disagree. The way this is said, it is an either/or and it doesn't have to be. This leader should have known (hint, hint) it can be a both/and approach.

Here is my approach to creating learning environments where effective teaching is a part of that environment.

I don't start with either questions or answers. I begin with desired outcomes. What outcomes do I want after we are finished our time together? What are the goals, the objectives, the desires results from a time of learning?

Then i ask - what are the right questions that will help a committed and persistent group of people gather together around the great things that matter the most (Parker Palmer language). The great themes of life inevitably give rise to certain questions. And desired outcomes give rise to certain kinds of questions as well.

Then I ask - are there any ballpark answers or insights that would be a part of the learning process that should be considered? A well trained facilitator can guide discussion keeping these insights in mind, while at the same time allowing for additional (even unexpected) insight and answers to emerge from the group.

It takes a lot of hard work to design substantial learning environments with the right outcomes, right questions, right curriculum/content, right process and right people working the process. But when you do - you have the possibility of truly great learning and transformation.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Those Who Know and Those Who Learn

Here was a short but sweet thought from Jim Collins,

(How the Mighty Fall, pp. 39). 

Collins distinguishes between two types of leaders (and we can generalize to two types of people). One group of leaders are the ones who think the Know. They think they know the answers, have the solutions and understand the issues. As Knowers, they inevitably become tellers, usually rather authoritative ones at that.

On the other hand are the leaders who Learn. Even when the learning leader already knows some stuff, because they are a learner, they ask questions, stimulate conversations, are open to being challenged, old their positions loosely (for the conversation) and change when presented with better insights. 

Leaders who Know tend to stagnate. 
Leaders who Learn tend to grow and grow their organizations.

Hmmmm.....

How do I usually act?  Like a Knower or like a Learner?

How about those around me? Are they Knowers or Learners?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

What is the Reason For Learning?

I came across this quite interesting thought by Drucker about the motivation for learning. Drucker says:

In the West, we assume that "the purpose of learning is to qualify oneself for a new, different, and bigger job . . . within a certain period of time the student reaches a plateau of proficiency, where he then stays forever . . . (In) the Japanese concept . . . the purpose of learning is self-improvement. It qualifies a man to do his present task with continually wider vision, continually increasingly competence, and continually rising demands on himself."

(And by the way, Drucker was a simply phenomenal learner.)

I think what Drucker says is that in the West, we have utilitarian driven learning. And if we no longer have a utilitarian reason to drive us (i.e. better job, higher wages, etc.) then learning will cease. 

But if your motivation to learn is the joy of growth and personal development, then you will always be motivated for life long learning.

I think the Christian worldview goes one step further. The Christian approach is well said in the title of a book I read a few years ago:

The Love of Learning and the Desire for God

Learning is for the purpose of devotion to God. We learn so we may love the Lord our God with all our mind. We learn so we may grow in the wisdom of our Creator and of our Self, for as Calvin reminds us in the Institutes, true wisdom consists of two things - the true knowledge of God and the true knowledge of self. They are like the two sides of a coin. 

Perhaps this is still utilitarian, but it is the highest utilitarian good we could ever seek.

May today be one more day of seeking, discovering, learning and growing -- all for the glory of God the the redeeming of your life.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Note:  This book is a highly specialized study of Monastic culture and the spirituality of that culture. it is one of my favorite books, but I don't recommend it unless you are deeply interested in monastic spirituality and ready for a slow read.

A Life-Long Learner's Prayer

I came across this very moving prayer for wisdom and learning in Reordered Love, Reordered Lives by David Naugle (pp. 155).

Creator of all things,

true source of light and wisdom,

lofty origin of all being,

graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding.

Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born --

an obscurity of sin and ignorance.

Give me a sharp sense of understanding,

a retentive memory,

and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.

Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.

Point out the beginning.

Direct my progress,

and help in the completion.

I ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

For all of you who long for clarity of insights, the wisdom of Christ, the gift of discernment and then the thoughtful ability to express yourself, may this prayer be useful.

By the way, the prayer is by Thomas Aquinas and it can be found at:  Lux Veritatis: Thomas Aquinas.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

I've Learned My Lesson! (Really?)

In the past several weeks, I've had a number of conversations with leaders who are in a fiery furnace of some sort and of varying degrees of temperature.

God is turning up the heat of transformation in their lives through times of testing, trial and tribulation. It is the Proverbs 17:3 experience:

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.

A longer explanation of this process is described by James:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  (James 1:2-4)

I was struck by a common thread weaving through these conversations. From each leader, I heard a repeated refrain.

"I've learned my lesson.

I'm ready for this to be over.

I'm ready to move on."

In each case, my response is - Really? Why do you think you've learned the lesson?  I asked this, because in my assessment, none of them had yet learned the lesson God was teaching them.

Usually,when we say, "I've learned the lesson God wants to teach me," we mean that we now understand the issue. We now know what God has to say about the issue. And we may even be in agreement that what God says about the issue is right. But . . . THAT'S ALL WE MEAN. Just that and no more.

This is just another example of the prevailing mentality in many Christian circles of the conservative variety. That mentality thinks that knowledge of an idea is the destination point. Understanding the idea is the litmus test of maturity. And I want to say.  IT IS NOT!

Transformation of life is the terminal toward which we travel (and hopefully arrive). It is only when we reach that destination that we can truly say, "I've learned my lesson . . . I am ready to move on." Before that, we have not yet learned the lesson.

So, of the aforementioned conversations, these individuals could say, about their issues, I have learned my lesson when . . .

I now have peace and patience about a relationship that was causing me a great deal of frustration and anger.

I now have faith to take that really big step on an opportunity that I was afraid of.

I now have become a grateful person who lives in a difficult situation in my life that is on going, whereas before I use to be an unhappy complainer about my life.

When these leaders are able to say something like this, then I'll be the first one to say, WOW, you have definitely learned that lesson!

But until they (we) come to this place, God is a patient teacher. He is willing to keep on repeating tests and trials as long as they are needed. Because the end result is for the growing up, maturing, and perfecting of our lives.

I'll say this one more time, just so I'm clear on it. Understanding an idea is not the goal. Having clarity about your issues is not the goal. Faithfully living out of a changed life on those matters is the goal. All lessons in the School of Christ are only said to be learned when the result is transformation.

So, as I try to do in many of these posts, let's make it personal . . .

What are your "current lessons" and how is your learning/transformation moving along?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Challenge for 2009: Spend one hour a day in intentional learning

I'd like to throw out a challenge to all the readers of this blogsite.

Spend one hour a day in learning.

Do more if you can, but do at least one hour.

Read, study, think, learn, assess, critique, develop.

Work with ideas. Flesh them out. Follow them to implementation. Talk about them with others. Argue with them. Be their cheerleaders.

Life is so important. Making worthy contributions in this important and all too brief life is therefore - over the top important.

Is it too much to expect that we would devote 4% of our time to learning and growing so we can make the most of the other 96% of our time?

Make the time to do this. I already have made choices to be a learner. I need to spend more than one hour a day in learning. That's not enough for me. So I have to choose not to do certain things so I can choose to invest in learning.

I think about the ubiquitous TV. Most of us still spend 2-3 hours a day watching TV. That means we spend 8-12 % of our time being entertained by the TV. (Also known as the boob tube and the idiot's box. Known to increase boredom, works much like a drug with increasing levels of diminished satisfaction, promotes listlessness and weak minds.) 

For me, probably five days a week I watch two hours of TV. And it is like almost totally wasted time. I am making the decision to watch no more than ONE HOUR OF TV a day! That gives me some more time for learning.

Especially if you are a leader. You can't afford NOT to learn. (Sorry about the double negative.)

The very fact that you are a leader means you are not a part of the crowd. You go against the flow our times by choosing to invest in your learning. If you need to - be the one lone person who pursues learning.

Just one hour a day. Start there. In whatever is your preferred learning style -- start doing it.

Surround yourself with friends who are interested in study and learning, reading and conversation. Get a "reading buddy" or a "learning friend." Join a book club. Take a course in something that interests you.

It is a wonderful world God has created. It is there for us to explore, understand and add to. That is the stuff of learning. I just happen to be one who thinks Christians should be the most avid learners, the most thoughtful writers, the wisest lovers of life.

Blessings on your learning journey.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Conversations with Life-Long Learners

There are some things that are very core to my thinking.

Life-Long Learning is one of them. For the most part, it doesn't matter how you engage in life-long learning - but make sure you are doing it.  Be consistent.  Be strategic.  Go outside your comfort zones and areas of knowledge.

I have been struck in the last two weeks by a half dozen conversations with leaders I really admire. And EVERY ONE OF THEM was consistently, strategically engaged in life-long learning. Both men and women. Younger and older. In really senior levels of leadership and one person who would prefer to be known as a servant and follower rather than a leader!  Fortunately, in the latter case, it can be a both/and.

They were setting aside significant time for sharpening the saw of their mind and heart. (Covey)

Each one was excited about what they were learning. And for each one, it ws not a theoretical exercise. These are all practitioners. They are "get-it-done" leaders. They are leaders who are making a different in the lives of others.

Learning and leading are not mutually exclusive. I dare to say that the very best leaders who get the job done are those leaders who have figured out their life-long learning approaches.

They are staying hungry to learn and grow.  They pay the cost of time, money and energy to fuel the growth engines of their leadership. And they talk about what they are learning with others. Each one shared with me what they were learning. They were excited about it. I learned from them as they talked.

So -- what is on the front burner of your learning these days?

What are the really great ideas you're wrestling with because you know they will make a difference in your life?

Who is your "learning buddy/friend?" Who are you talking to about what you are learning?

May we each keep in step with the Spirit on our life-long learning (Galatians 5:25).

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Learning from the Past

Here are three quotes:

What has been will be again.

What has been done will be done again.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,

“Look! This is something new?”

It was here already, long ago.

It was here before our time.

There is no remembrance of men of old,

and even those who are yet to come,

will not be remembered,

by those who follow.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

 

 

Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

George Santayana

 

 

We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.    Bernard of  Chartres

 

 

To continue reading my reflection on learning from the past, just click on the file.

 

Download learning_from_the_past.pdf

 

Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

Change Requires Learning

I know I have had a number of posts in recent weeks on the theme of life-long learning. This is another one.

Here are some great words by Walter Wright, president of Regent College in Vancouver, Canada and the author of three good books on leadership.

Continual learning and growth is critical for leaders. We serve changing organizations in a changing world... We can easily become so busy leading and serving that we do not take the time for renewal and growth.  Study, learning and continued renewal are essential to leadership...

It is difficult to lead when we are not growing. New learning is empowering. It is renewing and creates the energy needed for leadership. Leaders must carve out time for their own learning and growth even as they expect it of the people they lead.

You can't lead out of an empty soul; you can't lead with a stagnant mind that retreads old ideas; you can't lead with a lukewarm heart. Renewal. Learning. Growth. Leaders find a way to do it. Remember, plateauing is one of the reasons Clinton says leaders don't finish well. And life-long learning is a quality of those who do finish well.

Brian Rice

Goya on Life Long Learning

Life Long Learning is one of our passions and personal values. Bobby Clinton says that one of the qualities of those leaders who ARE NOT FINISHING WELL is that somewhere along the way they stopped learning. They settled into life on a plateau. And on the other side, one of the characteristics of leaders WHO DO FINISH WELL is that they find ways to constantly learn and grow.

Here is a quote by Francisco de Goya, and a "setup" by Ian Jackman to introduce it.

Long deaf, and old and infirm, Goya (1746-1828) wrote on one of his last drawings, "I keep learning."

I hope that on one of my last sermons, or last seminar notes, or blogs, (many years from now) I will be able to write those same words. "I keep learning."

Click here on GOYA to go a good website on Goya.

Brian Rice

Leaders Who Read and Books That Change Lives

Books!

I have a love affair with books, with the insights they convey and with the conversations they launch.

I believe leaders should be life long learners and part of life long learning is reading some of the best books that are out there.

This past Sunday, Greg G. (a former participants in the LWCC Leading Edge and a leader in our Children's Ministry) gave me a book that he was sure I would like. He was right.  The book was - Books That Change Lives: Recommended Reading Lists for Christian Readers.

It is exactly what the title says it is. Twenty different authors from Randy Alcorn to Philip Yancey talk about the books that have inspired them. Then there are a whole bunch of lists of books by different topics.

If you want to read some books that have had an impact on some of your favorite authors and leaders - check this book out and pay attention to the titles that appear on many different lists.

If you want to jump start your learning engines - pick up a good book and start reading. I just finished The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings by Peter Kreeft. It was a great book and gave me many things to consider. It also had an unexpected benefit - I found myself in touch with joy and love as I read this book.

Check out some of the books we have listed in our blog site.

-BR

Life Long Learning

Life Long Learning is a passion for Brian Newman and I. We are highly intentional about our own personal developmental processes and Leadership ConneXtions basically exists to empower leaders to be highly intentional about their own development.

Here is a great quote by Peter Drucker. "Increasingly, an educated person will be somebody who has learned how to learn."

Drucker's words are timeless and transcend cultures. Here is a longer quote by Baltasar Gracian (a 17th century Jesuit) that conveys the same sense of the urgency and importance of learning. It is from his book, The Art of Worldly Wisdom:

"Associate with those you can learn from. Let friendly relations be a school of erudition, and conversation be refined refined teaching. Make your friends your teachers and blend the usefulness of learning with the pleasure of conversation. Enjoy the company of people of understanding . . . We have little to live and much to know and you cannot live if you do not know. it takes uncommon skill to study and learn . . . Choose a subject and let those around you serve up quintessential knowledge . . . Make knowledge your friend." (Written about 1650)

Take some time and reflect on your own commitment to life long learning. Evaulate your current learning environment. Make some plans to be more strategic about your learning processes. And when possible do it in community with others. Find a good friend to share your insights and conclusions and questions. Have many "iron sharpening iron" conversations.

-BR