LeadershipConneXtions

Defining Success (From Dr. Mardy)

 

Success is NOT a Bad Word

I subscribe to Dr. Mardy's weekly email quotes. Every week he has a theme/topic and he provides thoughtful quotes on the theme. A recent one was on the theme of success. None of the quotes are essentially Christian/biblical, but with a little bit of tweaking and morphing, many of them could become helpful in thinking about success from a biblical perspective.

Sometimes I have conversations with people who think SUCCESS is a bad word for Christians. At its most basic definition, success simply means:  "to accomplish an aim or purpose." 

In that light, then all we really need do is think about what are worthy, true aims that God would set forth for us, be careful about the motives we have concerning those things and then to intentionally and strategically move toward them.

So enjoy these following quotes. And think about your life, ministry and calling in light of them.

 

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.   Maya Angelou

Success is a man who has the love and trust of a woman, a job he likes, and an abiding sense of humor. Success is a man whose children love him and have made him proud of them. Success is a man who dies at home in his sleep after a good life. David Brown

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed  at night, and in between does what he wants to do.    Bob Dylan, in a 1967 interview

Success has always been easy to measure.   It is the distance between one's origins and one's final achievement.     Michael Korda

I personally measure success in terms of the contribution  an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.   Margaret Mead

To tend, unfailingly, unflinchingly, towards a goal is the secret of success.  But success?  What exactly is success?  For me it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing one's ideal.  Anna Pavlova

To freely bloom--that is my definition of success. Gerry Spence

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington

Success is to be measured not by wealth, power, or fame,  but by the ratio between what a man is and what he might be.   H. G. Wells (picture below)
 

 

May this day be another step of faithfulness and fruitfulness as you follow the call and will of Jesus for your life and leadership. 

And may you empower others for the same.

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

 

Lincoln and Leading Change

 

These words from Abraham Lincoln are quite profound to me. As I am preparing to teach one of my favorite courses (for about the 10th or 11th time) - Emerging Paradigms of Leadership, these words have been the source of reflection. I have done lectio divina meditations on most of the phrases.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Abraham Lincoln 
December 1, 1862
Annual Message to Congress

This is the kind of vision, wisdom, perspective and courage that leaders need in our current times.

May God grace us all with such insight. 
Then may God grace us with the will to act accordingly.

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

 

Unspectacular Preparation (Your Hard Private Work)

Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. Robert H. Schuller

You rarely "wing" your way into spectacular achievement.

You never "drift" or "stroll" into it.

Instead, it is the hard, behind the scenes work of preparation... learning... experimenting... falling short... gaining perspectieve (and skill)... persevering...

And then, you wind up being prepared for wonderful things. Perhaps spectacular is too strong... but let's at least say significant.

Imagine the hard work that went into this incredible artwork (read story here).

In every area of life where I am enjoying some measure of "success" and fruitfulness, it is becasue I am working hard ahead of time... and wherever I fall short - inevitably, I have put little time there.

So, what are you preparing for right now?

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

Your Leadership Matters - It Matters a Great Deal

Here are two of my all time favorite perspectives on leadership. 
Take a few minutes, read each one twice.
What is God saying to you about the importance of your leadership work? 
 

Ron Martoia,  Morph! The Texture of Leadership for Tomorrow’s Church

Leaders are the ones responsible for the flavor, feel, and direction of the local church. If the leaders aren’t healthy, learning, dreaming, praying and creative individuals, then how are we to expect the church to be any of those things? . . .

A changing, healthy, growing leader cannot help but have a team and church that slowly, over time, takes on that kind of ethos...

Out of the interior life of the leader flows a certain kind of aura, ethos and culture. I call this the leadership “leak.” It is the leak from the leader and leadership team that creates what we call ethos or organizational culture. What is going on inside us automatically flows out. 

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 Frederick Lewis,  Prayers That Are Different

It is a sobering thought that what I say or do touches the deepest parts of others’ lives and even the atmosphere I carry with me betokens the inner reality of my own life.

Help me to stand in awe of this spiritual energy, so silent and invisible and yet so powerful.

May I realize that there is something subtle and magnetic emanating from me, and that its impact upon others will be either helpful or hurtful, whether I will it or not.

May I employ this way to help society fundamentally and lastingly by the silent powerful contagion of a thoroughly good life. 

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 Much grace to you as you live in your calling of leadership.

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

 

 

Down to Earth Wisdom

Life is tough. But it’s even tougher if you are stupid.  
(John Wayne)

 

So . . . get smart…

become a learner (if you aren’t already)…

start asking questions (lots of them)…

read (PLEASE read and read good stuff)…

double check on what you are learning, the ideas, the insights…

get second opinions…

live accordingly…

 

‘Nuff said’

 

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lcitypepad.com

 

Quotes (April 2010)

Here are the quotes for this past month. The full list (as a PDF) can be found on the Quotes Page in the right hand column.

If you find a quote or two that really grabs you, pass it on to someone else. Cut and paste it on to your Facebook page.

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BEGINNINGS:  Every morning, I must say again to myself, today I start.  Anthony of the Desert

CHARACTER:  It will pass away,' weak parents say of some fault of their children.   Oh, no, it will not pass away, it will develop.   Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

DEMONIC:  The devil has a Ph.D. in perfect logic. Anthony de Mello  (pictured to the left, an Indian Jesuit)

DESIRE:  Life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. Thomas Merton

ENEMY:  Enemies may seek our destruction, but they also keep us on our toes and often help us figure out who we are and what we stand for.    Clare Boothe Luce

EVANGELISM:  The essence of evangelism is to passionately show people how you can make history together.  Guy Kawasaki (Mac Evangelist)  

By the way, check out Guys' website.

FAME:    Fame is the thirst of youth.  Lord Byron

FRIENDSHIP:  Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures,  and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious. Thomas Aquinas (pictured to the left)

GRACE:  If I haven’t received any grace today, then I was not at home. This is because God is sending deliveries constantly. Anthony de Mello

GREATNESS:  Not every great man is a grand human being.   Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (pictured)

HELL:  Hell is other people.  Satre

JEALOUSY:  The only time people do not like praise is when too much of it is going toward someone else.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

NEGATIVITY:   To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising yourself.  Will Durant

PASSION:  Find something you love to do so much, you can’t wait for the sun to rise to do it all over again.  Chris Gardner (Pursuit of Happyness)

PRIDE:  The mother of all heretics.  Augustine

SECURITY:  If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. Thomas Aquinas

SIN:  Sin is a refusal to grow, a refusal to love, a refusal to get committed, to be concerned, and to take risks. Anthony de Mello

WITNESS: To be a witness means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.  Madeleine L’Engle

Check out this site for Madeleine L'Engle. She is an amazing writer.

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

Quotes (February 2010)

Here is the full page of January quotes, 89 of them.
Download January Quotes

And here are a few of my favorite ones from the list.

ANSWERS:  There are no right answers to wrong questions.   Ursula K. Le Guin

AUTHORITY:  Who is to decide between 'Let it be' and 'Force it'?  Katherine Mansfield

DECISION-MAKING:  In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the n 

DESIRES:  If a man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles.  Benjamin Franklin

EXPECTATIONS:  Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes. Hannah Arendt

GOOD OLD DAYS:  The illusion that times that were, are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.  Horace Greeley

INSPIRATION: You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London

LEADERSHIP, HANDS OFF:  The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

LOVE:  Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing.  Anain Nin

PROSPERITY:  Americans have always been able to handle austerity and even adversity. Prosperity is what does us in.  James Reston.

RESPONSIBILITY:  If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month. Theodore Roosevelt

SUFFERING:  Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity, and stumble from defeat to defeat. Anais Nin  (Pictured to the right.)

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

Quotes (January 2010)

Here is the monthly offering of quotes. There are about 140 new quotes and the full pdf file is available under Important Information, Quotes.  Look for the file - December Quotes. Here are some of my favorites from December.
 
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Here are a few good ones on AGING:

AGING:  It is magnificent to grow old, if one keeps young.  Harry Emerson Fosdick

AGING:  Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age and imagine right up to the brink of death that life is only beginning. I think that is the only way to keep adding to one’s talent, to one’s affections, and one’s inner happiness.  George Sand

AGING:  Years are only garments, and you either wear them with style all of your life, or else you go dowdy to the grave.  Dorothy Parker

 

Here is a significant thought from Voltaire about authority and truth.  

AUTHORITY, CONFLICT WITH:  It is dangerous to be right on matters where the established authorities are wrong.  Voltaire

I think often about our celebrity culture and here is a good word of warning.

CELEBRITY:  The minute a person becomes a celebrity is the same minute he/she becomes a monster.” Cynthia Heimel

For all parents who read this site.

CHILDREN, INSANITY:  Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children.  Sam Levenson

Here are two about religious dogmatism.

DOGMATISM:  In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.  J. William Fulbright

DOGMATISM:  Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. Blaise Pascal

And for all of "professional" people helpers, people fixers…

FIXING PEOPLE:  The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease.  Marianne Moore

This is a very significant assumption about personal growth.

HEART:  The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one…   Thomas Chalmers

Two thoughts on integrity.

INTEGRITY:  Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?  Fanny Brice

INTEGRITY:  When your thoughts, words, and deeds form a seamless fabric, you streamline your efforts and thus eliminate worry and dread.  Epicetus

Here is Abraham Lincoln on purpose.

PURPOSE:  I would be more than willing to die, except that I have done nothing to make any human remember that I have lived.  Abraham Lincoln in 1841

Since this is a monthly post on quotations, it is only fitting to have a quote about quotations, and this one from Churchill.

QUOTATIONS:  It’s a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.  Winston Churchill

And two quotes on self-discovery.

SELF DISCOVERY:  Nothing said to us, nothing we can learn from others, reaches us so deep as that which we find in ourselves. Theodor Reik

SELF DISCOVERY:  The delights of self-discovery are always available.  Gail Sheehy

And finally, a word to the wise from the wise (Francis Xavier, S.J., that is.)

WISDOM: When the wisdom of the world has said its last word, divine folly takes up the story.  Francis Xavier
 

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

Quotes (December 09)

Here are this month's quotes, minus the ones on books and reading which appeared a few days ago, click here to see them.

The full list of this month's quotes are found on the Quotes Page in the Right Hand column.

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 AGE:  The older one gets, the more one feels that the present moment must be enjoyed, comparable to a state of grace. Marie Curie

DEPRESSION: Depression is the inability to construct a future. Rollo May

DYING:  The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying.  Sir Thomas Browne
 

In particular, I liked these next quotes on EXCELLENCE.
 

 EXCELLENCE:   The rareness of excellence should not be made into an excuse for the failure to recognize it.  John Ciardi

EXCELLENCE:  Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.  Warren G. Bennis

EXCELLENCE:  The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy; neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.  John W. Gardner

LOST:  It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way. Rollo May (pictured to the right.)

POETRY:  Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind. Thomas Macaulay

PRAYER:  Whoever wrestles with God in prayer puts his whole life at stake.  Jacques Ellul

 



SELF:  The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly.  Soren Kierkegaard

SELF:  The self is not something ready-made” but something in continuous formation through choice of action. John Dewey

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

For a Better Church You Need Better Followers of Jesus...

For a better church, you are going to need better followers of Jesus. And while I do not want to ignore the fact of community, we need to turn the gaze inward first, before we start to put the blame on how others are inadequate.

I've been on a bit of rant and rave lately, thinking about the critics who love to complain and put the blame everywhere but on themselves. In a post a few days ago (What is Wrong With the Church: Dear Sirs...)  I mentioned that this is bad psychology, spirituality, theology, etc. Here are the insights of a few others on this issue:

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.  Marie Curie 

I like this word from Marie Curie quite a bit. If you don't like something you are a part of, then get to work to make it better… but first, make sure you are becoming a better person yourself. If that (you becoming a better person) doesn't happen, it is doubtful that you will be able to make a better world (or church, or team, or mission, or organization).
 

Huxley, in the same vein, had this to say:  
I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.  

And for every one who has worked very hard to change your "self" you know how hard it was/is just to change your self...  Now, think about trying to change an entire organization of "selves!" That is a whole lot harder.
 

And how about this thought from Erich Fromm. 
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself. 
I don't think I go quite as far as to say this is THE main task in life, but it sure does rank pretty high and deserves a spot on the short list.
 

Neither Curie, Huxley or Fromm are talking about a narcissistic self-centered preoccupation with one's self that ignores community. They are describing the Brute Fact - that if any external, organizational change is to happen, it is launched from within, by changed individuals.

My friend Brian Newman talks about the need to move from Critic to Contributor. I think a huge part of that process is the journey of self-awareness and personal development of one's inner world.  

Brian K. Rice  

Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Quotes (November 09)

Here are this month's quotes. A number of them are from Kenneth Boa and his book, Conformed to His Image. Remember, I don't always subscribe to the sentiments of a quote. For me a good quote is not so because it is true, but because it is thought provoking.

-bkr-

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ATTITUDE:  If you think you can… or if you think you can’t… you’re right.  Henry Ford

CALLING:   The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.  Frederick Buechner

CRITICS:  The main reason people rain on my parade is because they have no parade of their own.  Jeffrey Gitomer

DISCIPLESHIP:  The bulk of Christian churches and denominations pitch their message so low that even if their members practiced the spiritual regimens they propose, it is unlikely that they would be distinguishably different from their neighbors.  Ken Boa

GOD:  It is easy and comforting to reduce God to a set of biblical propositions and theological inferences rather than a living person who cannot be boxed in, controlled, or manipulated by our agendas.  Kenneth Boa

GROWTH, PERSONAL:  The one who stops being better stops being good.  Oliver Cromwell

HISTORY:  The study of history moves on, remorselessly, like time itself. Today’s sensation becomes tomorrow’s irrelevance. The best-seller of one decade becomes the embarrassment of another. The revolutionary theory which convulses the academic world gets cut down in the next age to an ironic footnote.  Paul Johnson

JESUS, IMITATION OF:  To ask the question, What would Jesus do? Without practicing the habits we know he practiced is to attempt to run a marathon without prior training.  Kenneth Boa

JESUS, IMITATION OF: We have bought the illusion that we can be like Christ without imitating his spirituality. If we wish to be like our Master, we must imitate his practice.  Kenneth Boa

SUFFERING:  I know God will not give me anything I cannot handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.  Mother Teresa

VOCATION:  Whatever you are be a good one.  Abraham Lincoln

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To read additional quotes for this month, check out the New Quotes on the Quotes page in the right column.

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

Quotes (October 09)

This month I had a lot of quotes from a lot of reading. In fact, I had so many I postponed some of them for next month. Enjoy this sampling, and as always you can find the entire list updated on the Quotes Page to the right of this column.   -bkr-

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ADVENTURE:   Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.     Helen Keller

ADVENTURE:  The real adventure in 'Moby Dick' is the one that happens inside Captain Ahab.  The rest is a fishing trip.    Salman Rushdie

AWAKENING:  A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain. Jessamyn West

BILLION:  A billion minutes ago, Christianity appeared. A billion seconds ago, the Beatles changed music forever. A billion Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning.  Robert Guizueta, former president Coca-Cola

CHANGE, TRYING TO CHANGE OTHERS:  There is perhaps no surer mark of folly, than to attempt to correct natural infirmities of those we love.  Henry Fielding

CONSUMERISM:  We are not concerned with the ability to pay, but with the ability to want.  Emily Fogg Mead, marketing expert

CONSUMPTION:  Consumption is our system of meaning.  Jean Baudrillard

DIFFICULTIES:  Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Rabindranath Tagore

DIFFICULTY OF LIFE:  Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.  Philo of Alexandria

GOALS:  Perfection of means, and confusion of goals seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age. Albert Einstein

INSPIRATION:  Muses work all day long and then at night get together and dance. Edgar Degas

MALE-FEMALE DIFFERENCES:  Men and women belong to different species and communication between them is a science still in its infancy. Bill Cosby  (By the way, enjoy the cartoon at the bottom of this blog, from one of my favorite comic strips - Zits.)

PAST, LEARNING FROM IT:  When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness. Alexis de Tocqueville

REALITY, DENIAL OF:  I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."  Garrison Keillor

SELF-IMPROVEMENT:  If a man wants to be of the greatest possible value to his fellow-creatures, let him begin the long, solitary process of perfecting himself.  Robertson Davies

WISDOM:  A word to the wise ain't necessary-- it's the stupid ones that need the advice. Bill Cosby

  
Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com   

Quotes (September 09)

Here is a sampling of quotes for the month of August. My reading was down a bit since I was doing a lot of writing. As always, you can find the full list of monthly quotes on the Quotes Page.

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CHANGE:  People change and forget to tell each other.  Lillian Hellman (pictured)

What a great thought to remember. Life involves change. We are always in progress and in process. We are constantly improving, growing, "evolving." And we don't always remember to clue others in to what is going on and how we are changing.

CUSTOMER:  There are two essential rules to management. One, the customer is always right; and two, they must be punished for their arrogance. Scott Adams, Dilbert 

I love it!

DISCOVERY:  Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

DREAMS:  Sometimes we have the dream but we are not ourselves ready for the dream. We have to grow to meet it.  Louis L’Amour (pictured)

Sometimes the right idea is not at the right time because we are not at the right place for that idea. The one problem with having external BHAGS is when we don't have the inner Bigness and Deepness to pull them off, or to sustain them.

ECCENTRIC:  Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won’t think you’re going gaga.  David Ogilvy

This one is for all my eccentric friends, which are many. For all of those with layers and multitudes.

LIFE LONG LEARNING:  You must learn day by day, year by years, to broaden your horizons. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about- the more you have left when anything happens.  Ethel Barrymore (pictured)

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH:  A man must himself be cleansed before cleansing others; himself become wise, that he may make others wise; become light, and then give light; draw near to God, and so bring others near. Gregory of Nazianzus

PROBLEMS: There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives. Scott Adams, Dilbert  (pictured)

To which we all say, yes and A-men.

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

Quotes (July 09)

Here is a selection of quotes for the month of July. If the longer version does not appear on the Quotes Page in the right hand column, it means I am still having some problems posting PDFs.  bkr

CHANGE:   The real sadness of fifty is not that you change so much but that you change too little. Max Lerner

CONVERSATION: Conversation is not simple. Good conversation is rare. Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Caring for Words

EDUCATION:  Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.  William Butler Yeats

GOD:  We are talking about God; so why are you surprised if you cannot grasp it? I mean, if you can grasp it, it isn’t God.  Augustine

INTUITION:  A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.  Kipling

MARRIAGE:  To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong admit it, Whenever you’re right, shut up. Ogden Nash  (By the way, here is the Home Page for Ogden Nash where you can read more of his verse.)

MESSY and MYSTERIOUS:  Our broken world is poised on a precarious fulcrum and wobbles between glory and the grotesque, beauty and brokenness, grace and tragedy. Saints are those who live their faith close to this tottering hinge.  James Smith

MOTIVATION:  Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.  Stephen Covey

PASSION:  It is stern work, it is perilous work to thrust your hand in the sun and pull out a spark of immortal flames to warm the hearts of men.  Joyce Kilmer  (Great poet who died very early in the first world war.)  Pictured to the left, Joyce was his middle name, Alfred his first

PROGRESS:  Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long. Ogden Nash  

RISK: Take into account that great love and great achievement involve great risk. 14^th Dali Lama

STORY: The stories that matter also complicate our lives. Good stories are always slightly precarious places to go. Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Caring for Words

TRUTH:  You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.  Flannery O’Connor

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Quotes (June 09)

I had a lot of quotes this past month, 139 of them. Here are some of my favorites from June. As always, you can find the full list posted on the Quotes Page.

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ADVERSITY:  Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist; it reduces him to his fighting weight.  Josh Billings

ANSWERS:  Someone, somewhere has to have a better answer.  Jack Welch

ATHEISM:  There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.   William B. Provine, professor of Biological Sciences, Cornell University

BOOKS:  Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.  Anatole Francois Thibault

CHANGE:  We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

CHARACTER:  No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

CRITICISM:  He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.  Abraham Lincoln

DETERMINATION:  Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.  Abraham Lincoln

ENEMIES:  Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them.  Abraham Lincoln

FAITH:  Faith is not belief in spite of evidence, but life in scorn of consequences.  Kirsopp Lake, New

FAILURE TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE:  Human beings, who are almost unqiue in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.  Douglas Adams

FAILURE TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE:  One never believes other people’s experience, and one is only very gradually convinced by one’s own. Vita Sackville-West

FAILURE TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE: Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.  Franklin P. Jones.

FEAR:  We must travel in the direction of our fear.  John Berryman

GROWTH:  We aim above the mark to hit the mark.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

LIFE:  life is a long lesson in humility.  James Barrie

OPPORTUNITIES, MISSED:  Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

OPPOSITION: Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

POLITICS:  If you do not know how to lie, cheat, and steal, turn your attention to politics and learn.  John Billings

REALITY:  Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious and not what you expect… Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed.   C.S. Lewis

WOMEN:  Women have for centuries been recognized as talented listeners, nurturers, motivators, excellent communicators. These very qualities that we once were told were unbusinesslike are precisely the qualities that business needs most to tap human potential.  Mary Cunningham Agee

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Quotes (May 09)

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this past month's reading. As always, you can find the complete list on the Quotes Page that is in the right hand column.

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CREATIVITY:  Creativity is about coming out of hiding and exposing yourself. Practicing creativity is about humiliating yourself in public.  Doug Hall, Jump Start Your Business Brain

EXPOSURE: The fact is, you’re always on the record, everyone is a critic (or could be), and the Web remembers forever.  Seth Godin,  Meatball Sundae

GRACE:  Grace is a curious thing. We love receiving it, but we really don’t like seeing it given out so lavishly to others.   Ed Cyzewski

HISTORY:  History rhymes, it does not repeat.  Mark Twain (pictured to the left).

IMAGE:  Thinning hair, splotchy skin, love handles, cellulite, stretch marks, and wrinkles become sources of preoccupation, depression, and great effort. The funny thing is Jesus never talked much about thick hair, ripped abs, youthful skin, or sexy legs.  Shane Hipps

LEADERSHIP: A leader is best when people barely know he exists; not so good when people obey and admire him; worst when they despise him.  Lao-tzu (pictured to the right)

RESURRECTION:  Resurrection was always bound to get you in trouble, and it regularly did.  N.T. Wright

SAMENESS:  That sea of similarity.  Scott McKain,  The Collapse of Distinction

TRIBES:  If oral culture is tribal and literature culture is individual, the electronic age is essentially a tribe of individuals.  Shane Hipps

 

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

 

Quotes to Ponder (May 09)

This past month was a month rich in reading good sources and coming across many fine words worth repeating.  Here are a few of my favorites and as always, the full list of 85 new quotes is updated on the Quotes Page, available to the right.

ANGER:  If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?   Sydney J. Harris

BUSY:  The Chinese pictograph for busy is composed of two characters:  heart and killing.

CONSUMERISM:  The idea that Christianity and consumerism are completely compatible . . . is the great insanity of our times.  Win Butler

DIALOGUE:  Crushing truths are lightened by their acknowledgement. Remember again. Remember rightly. Re-vision.  David Dark, Sacred of Questioning Everything

DISSATISFACTION, OF SELF:  We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves. William Hazlitt

HAPPINESS:  If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem.   Richard Bach

INSPIRATION: We’re on the prowl for inspiration. We want something extra-authentic, something to shake our nerves and rattle our brains. We need something to keep us from throwing in the towel and losing our minds – something to get us out of bed. Gospel, the news we call good, is always a media issue.  David Dark, Sacred of Questioning Everything

PEACE, LACK OF INNER:  Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves. William Hazlitt

PRAYER:  Act as if everything depended on you, pray as if everything depended on God.  Ignatius  (And its opposite:  Pray as if everything depended on you. Act as if everything depended on God.)

SELF-AWARENESS:  If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.   Virginia Woolf

TOOLS:  If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.  Abraham Maslow

 

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Remember, if you ever have any good quotes, send them to me.

Blessings to all of you as a new month begins.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

New Quotes (a few days late)

Here is the March list of quotes and a few other items as well.

QUOTES:  The 43 new quotes are updated on the Quotes Page. Here is a representation of this month's offerings.

COMMITMENT:  I saw the shallowness of my commitment. I saw the incompleteness of my love. Mine was a negotiated abandonment, and that meant it was not a true abandonment at all.  Anne Rice, Called out of Darkness  (to the left)

COMMUNICATORS:  What orators lack in depth, they make up in length.   Charles de Montesquieu

CURIOSITY:  The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

GREAT COMMANDMENT:  He (St. Ignatius) loved God and loved the world, and those two things he did quite well.  James Martin

GROWTH:  It’s never too late to be who you might have been.  George Eliot

GROWTH:  One grows or dies. There is no third possibility.  Oswald Spengler

HABITS:  The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.  Fyodor Dostoevsky (pictured to the right)

LONLINESS:  We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.   Dorothy Day (to the left)

PASSION:  Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  Howard Thurman

 

And here is one of my favorites:

STORY:  God writes straight with crooked lines.

 

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If you love music and want to have some fun, check out this site. It is free and I've found a lot of music in my favorite genres that I didn't know about.  Create your own Music Radio Station and Set Lists at Pandora.com

Out of Ur is a blogsite hosted by Christianity Today and you can always find up to date and very substantial conversations there. Worth bookmarking and subscribing to.

Life on Mars was a one season TV series that was creative, clever and had an awesome ending. It was one of those ending that was like the movie, The Sixth Sense, where the final minutes pull everything together and suddenly it all makes sense. Becky and I just kept looking at each other and smiling and saying WOW.  If you didn't watch the series this final episode won't make a lot of sense. But if you did and want to see it again - here it is. It was a great, loopy, postmodern kind of ending.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

Collected Treasures From Leadership Blog (Miriam Phillips)

My friend Miriam is a developer of and mentor for leaders, Miriam is a relentless searcher after resources. Here you get some of the rewards of her labors. Thanks for sharing these with the LCI readers. Plus thanks for asking those questions about the presence (or lack) of women producing these things.  (bkr)

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My friend Johan passed on this free resource of 281 pages of worthy quotes from leadership blogs compiled by the people from Exponential Network and Passion for Planting. Check out the first quote to get an idea of the kind of thought-provoking perspectives represented in this collection.

Link for the Leadership Blog Quotes

“Even the most creative people are tempted to stop being innovative when their ideas become successful. They subconsciously create a rule that says, "This idea worked, so don't do it differently." They "rubber-stamp" instead of "re-create." I'll say this as clearly as I can: If you are executing the same creative ideas you did last year because they worked, you are already on the decline.”

Posted by: Ben Arment, Innovation

I intend to work my way through the whole collection…which includes quotes from 20 bloggers including Alan Hirsch (co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, The Forgotten Ways, and ReJesus) and a bunch of churchplanters I’d like to get to know better.

I do, however, notice that there aren’t any women’s voices in the mix.  

When Al and Deb Hirsch were with us at Crossroads International Church, her input was as valuable to us as his.  Are women less likely to value their own thoughts enough to write them out?  Are blogs by women less likely to be posted in places where they would be discovered for such a compilation? 

Do we (both women and men) value the contributions of women less if they are less theoretical and more practical? 

Miriam Phillips

The Netherlands

Quotes for March 2009

This past month of February was a "winner" in terms of reading and finding lots of great quotes. The attachment has twice as many quotes as normal and it was a real challenge to sort through and pull out a few of the best of the best.

Quite a few quotes are from my reading of Reordered Love, Reordered Lives by David Naugle, as well as I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like.

Here are a few of the many more you can find on the Quotes page.

COMEDY:  God writes a lot of comedy. Garrison Keillor (pictured)

COURAGE:  When the Nazis came to get the Communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist. When they came to get the Socialists, I was silent. When they came to get the Catholics I was silent. When they came to get the Jews,I was silent. And when they came to get me, there was no one left to speak.  Martin Niemoeller, Confessing Pastor of the Lutheran Church (pictured to the left)

GODs:  The gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.  Emerson

HAPPINESS:  For certainly by sinning, we lost both piety and happiness; but when we lost happiness, we did not lose the love of it.  Augustine

IDEAS:  Ideas are dangerous.  G. K. Chesterton

LOVE:  Such is each one as is his love.  Augustine (pictured)

PERSPECTIVE:  A proper perspective is worth 50 IQ points.  Dave  Gibbons, The Monkey and the Fish

POWER:  Power intoxicates men.  When a man is intoxicated by alcohol he can recover, but when intoxicated by power, he seldom recovers.    James F. Byrnes

PROPHETS/RADICALS:  Christians should be trouble makers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society.  Robert Ellsberg

SAINTS:  The saints differ from us in their exuberance, the excess of our human talents. Moderation is not their secret. It is in the wildness of their dreams, the desperate vitality of their ambitions,  that they stand apart from ordinary people of good will.  Phyllis McGinley

SIN:  What am I to myself but a guide to my own self-destruction.  Augustine

UNHAPPINESS:  Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it.  Don Herold

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Also, FOR COMMUNICATORS AND TEACHERS, I have provided a link to a great post on the kinds of presentation tools that are now available for us to use. Check it out whever you want on the Make It Stick page (right hand column).  Or check it out now at: Current Presentation Tools.

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Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

February 09 New Quotes and New Sites

It is the first of the month and that means new quotes are available on the Page - New Quotes. This time I had quite a few quotes from the book, I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like by Mardy Grothe. Here are a few of my favorites out of the 77 new quotes.

BOOKS:  If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it?  Franz Kafka

BOOKS:  No furniture is so charming as books.  Sydney Smith

DEBATE:  it is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others. Michel de Montaigne

DISCOVERY:  One does not discover new continents without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.  Andre Gide

EGO:  Remember, you are just an extra in everyone else’s play.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

GOVERNMENT: Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.  P. J. O’Rourke  (ouch)

HEROISM:  let him who writes heroic poems make his life a heroic poem.  John Milton

LOVE:  The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.  Henry Scougal, 17^th century Puritan pastor.

SELF-AWARNESS:  For this is the journey that men make; to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t much matter what else they find . . .  James Michener

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I have also added these new websites/blogsites.

The Burning Man  (a massively "different" cultural experience in the Black Rock Desert).

A Pop Culture Blogsite with lots of fun things on it. conistently good humor. 

Wit, Wordplay, Metahpors and More are available here by Dr. Mardy Grothe.

Reordered Love, Reordered Lives is my favorite book of 2009 so far (and it will be hard to beat). here is a website devoted to exploring the book.

The Riddleblog  which is devoted to Reformed theology and eschatology. Some pretty good level discussions taking place here.

Vertical Creativity is a blogsite by deAnn Roe, Director of Creative Arts at LWCC.

Sacred Encounters is a blogsite by Deb Turnow, Director of Spiritual Direction at LWCC.

 

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Have fun learning, growing, emerging, moving, morphing, becoming all you can become this month of February.

Live well, lead wisely, love deeply, learn gratefully . . .

In Christ,

Brian K. Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

New Quotes, New Sites, a New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE to everyone.

May you have wonderful times this evening with your friends and family and may the New Year be full of God surprises for you.

I have uploaded the New Quotes file on the  Quotes Page.  Here are a few of my favorites for this time:

ENEMIES:  Pay attention to your enemies because they are the first to discover your mistakes.  Antisthenes

JESUITS:  We study like students. We clean like housewives. And we still have to find the time to pray like monks. Aside from that, we kind of get on each other’s nerves.

JOURNEY:  With what end in view do you again and again walk along difficult and laborious paths?  Augustine

KNOWLEDGE:  I shall need to have been dead several years before I shall thoroughly understand the meaning of creation and the omnipotence of God.  Martin Luther

PERSPECTIVE, LIMITED.  Because we cannot see the paths we have not taken, we become, by default, advocates for the path our life is on.  Ethan Watters, Urban Tribes

STORY:  We tell ourselves stories in order to live.  Joan Didion

In addition, I have listed some new blog and websites for you to check out. There are so many good ones out there. But these are some that I have been reading this past month.

Plus new books and new music.

It's just a lot of fun.

Again - Happy New Year to you.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

tomorrow - Curious Leaders

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

 

"Muchness" and "Manyness" (Hurry and the Devil)

Here is a reflection for today on an issue that all leaders (or almost all leaders) struggle with.

In contemporary society, our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, crowds. If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied. . . . Hurry is not of the Devil, it is the Devil.   Richard Foster, Celebration of  Discipline

Strong words . . . but necessary words.

Most of the time, if I ask a leader how she or he is doing with ministry, I'll hear, "Too busy, too overloaded, too much to do, not enough time to do it, feeling stressed with all my responsibilities..."

I recently had a bit of a self-awareness chuckle when someone asked me how I was doing. I said, "Well, I'm a little too busy, probably about 10% too busy, but that is a lot better than being 30-40% too busy."

Spiritual directors will tell us that we need regular doses of silence (to over come noise), life rhythms (to resist hurry) and solitude (as the antidote to crowds). Leaders move back and forth between these "dualities."

From noise to silence and back to noise, words, speech . . .

From hurry to sustainable rhythms and back to hurry . . . (the tendency is always there)

From crowds to solitude and back to crowds where we do our ministry.

Jesus had these dynamics operating in his life. Check out Mark 1:29-39.  These movements are inevitable. Our error is thinking we can live in one of the polarities when life is a constant movement back and forth.

With all that said, Foster is right. The spiritual forces of evil would love to emesh us in "muchness" and "manyness."

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Self-Awareness and Not Taking Too Seriously Your Own Press Clippings

About two weeks ago, I did a post on denial and the role that it plays in harming our organizations.  You can click here to go to that post.

Here is a related thought. Sometimes we are in denial about the wrong we are doing or the good we are neglecting. Other times we are living in a state of exaggeration about who we are and what we are doing. 

That's a human tendency. We are all Spin Doctors (to some degree) when it comes to ourselves. We have a disposition to believe the good press we get (and give ourselves). I know I do. With enough practice, any of us come easily become a Legend In Our Own Mind. 

Leaders may be especially suspectible to this tendency for exaggeration of self and their success in mission. This reality made it all the more striking when I came across a thought from Sir Edmund Hillary. Hillary was one of the first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. He eventually was knighted and became a celebrity, but a celebrity who was also a humanitarian. You can read a very nice bio of Hillary here.  Here is the thought from Hillary that hit me.

I was just an enthusiastic mountaineer of modest abilities and determination. I was just an average bloke. It was the media that tried to transform me into a heroic figure. But I've learned through the years, as long as you don't believe all that rubbish about yourself, you can't come to too much harm.

What a concise few sentences teeming with self-awareness and humility! And a good word for all of us, not to believe all that rubbish about ourselves.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

By the way, I came across this in Three Cups of Tea, by Mortenson and Relin, page 129.