June 6, 2016 Death by Privilege. The headline on today’s Life section of USA Today is somber: “The sad intersection of fame, drugs and death” leads into an article examining celebrity addiction and demise, sparked by the recent coroner’s report on Prince’s death. Elvis Presley; Jimi Hendrix; Chris Farley; Michael Jackson; Amy Winehouse; Whitney Houston; …
Author Archives: Bob Shank
It’s never too late to remember
May 31, 2016 Memorial Day. Some holidays maintain more predictable agendas. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter – for Christians – become routine reenactments. Turkeys, trees, angels and eggs all have a place in our one-day-each-year celebration model. Memorial Day? Not so much… The menu for Memorial Day: Hot dogs. Beach umbrellas. Remote controls. Fishing poles. TV-series …
There’s no profit? There’s no point!
May 23, 2016 Who cares about the bottom line? Andy Kessler is the star of his class reunions. His education – undergrad and grad – focused on electrical engineering. He worked on computer chips but found his wiring more akin to poker chips: his real street cred broke free as a business analyst, investment banker, …
Should you stage an intervention?
May 16, 2016 Friends don’t let friends retire to leisure. Just imagine the congratulatory endorsement at the company celebration of the long-term team member who is crossing the professional threshold from full-engagement to full-enjoyment. The living eulogy couldn’t go better than this: “You’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it …
Something’s brewing…
May 9, 2016 What’s in it, for you? That can be an incendiary question, with explosive answers. I ask the question, focused on the prize that awaits you in the top-box of an organizational chart. When you arrive at the place where you have no one above you to say “no,” what options would you …
Leaders use both locker rooms
May 2, 2016 Christian Leaders. That’s our market; they’re featured in our Mission Statement: “To prepare Christian leaders to change their world and build God’s Kingdom through their irresistible lifestyles and influential works of service.” Followers need managers to tell them where to be, and what to do. Managers need leaders to cast vision and …
Moses might be waiting for your advice…
April 25, 2016 “I never would have thought of that…” Moses was the Great Leader who led the Jews out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, brought the crowd – 2 million strong – into the wilderness… and found him mired in management. He was spending his days – all day – as the arbiter …
Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On
April 18, 2015 It was a wake-up call, at 5:12a… On April 18th, 1906 – 110 years ago this morning – the 400,000 residents of San Francisco had another hour before sun-up, but their dark world got darker as the earth shook for over a minute. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake – and the fires that …
The Last can Still be First
April 11, 2016 Meanwhile, Saul… God is a great storyteller. The Gospels – four independent voices, writing biographies of Jesus – got the ball rolling in the New Testament with their accounts of our Founder. The Acts of the Apostles (“Acts”) pick up the story at Jesus’ ascension and give us Chapter One of the …
What will they find at your house?
April 4, 2016 “How much did he leave?” He left it all… It’s an old quip; no one claims it as original (including me). It’s the one-liner that captures a fact that is replayed, over and over in real-time: some of life’s metrics cease to hold meaning at death; there are other metrics which have …
You’re Not Going to Believe This…
March 28, 2016 I must have been bcc’d on this exchange, again; because it was a holiday weekend, and I couldn’t reach anyone to get myself off their distribution list. Thought you might want to see this… —–Original Message—–From: simon@galileefishing.com To: Jacob Dear Jacob, First, change your contact info for me: I’m going back to …
Stay tuned: he’s likely to win big this week
March 21, 2016 This e-mail appeared in my in-box this morning; it was routed to the wrong address (mine) in the wrong century (sent in the 1st; landed in the 21st). It didn’t have that “confidential – addressee only” message at the bottom, so I’m forwarding it to you. Interesting… —–Original Message—– From: simon@galileefishing.com To: …
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Mud wrestling has rules
March 14, 2016 Over the last 30 years, I have spent thousands of hours in front of crowds – on Sunday mornings, and other occasions – telling them what I really believe. Each of those settings was wrapped in a “nonprofit, Christian ministry” package. That isn’t a free-for-all territory; that ministry space has rules… As …
Maybe the Majority Doesn’t Win
March 7, 2016 It’s all in the Numbers. If you’re glued to the incessant election updates running across the bottom of any screen, you could call a time-out on life for the next eight months, until the final numbers are tallied. Until then, primaries and caucuses – polls and projections – will keep everyone on …
Is this just another day?
February 29, 2016 Not much happens on this date. In 1644, Abel Tasman launched his second Pacific voyage (not much of note in trip #2; he found Tasmania in #1). In 1768, Polish noblemen founded the Bar Confederation. In 1892, St. Petersburg, FL was incorporated. In 2012, the Skytree tower in Tokyo was completed (currently …
No Risk; No Reward
February 22, 2016 This is your week. Back in 2007, it was “official;” in June of ’06, the US Congress passed a bill designating the last week of February “National Entrepreneurship Week.” It was “celebrated” in 2007… but, about 10 months later, the Great Recession came in like a flood, and attention was diverted from …
Does Anybody Measure Up?
February 15, 2016 Leaders can make the difference. Today is a National Holiday; you’re either “off,” or you’re trying to work and frustrated by the number of people you’re trying to contact who aren’t responsive. Don’t wait around for the mail to arrive; it isn’t coming until tomorrow. While some are now calling it Presidents …
Bring the Founder Back
February 8, 2016 Bring the Founder back into the picture. Yesterday was glued-to-the-screen television for the populations of Colorado and the Carolinas; their NFL teams were in California engaged in the 50th staging of football’s biggest spectacle. Zillions more were watching along with the hometown fans; for many, the commercials have become as anticipated as …
Could a Loser be the Winner?
February 1, 2016 It’s a great day for Groundhogs. They must be spending the day getting ready for tomorrow’s festivities. “Six more weeks of winter” is a mantra they must teach their young, from their earliest days in the burrow. Tomorrow, all eyes will be on Punxsutawney awaiting the big announcement… It may be anticlimactic, …
How to Vet a Political Poser
January 25, 2016 Who are you, really? We live in a country with lots of posers (“a person who acts in an affected manner to impress others”). Worse: a bunch of them are campaigning for significant political positions, in search of our support. The science of politics has become complex: voting blocks have been identified, …
Do you have “The Vision Thing?”
January 18, 2016 It’s the vision thing. Two weeks ago, Cheri and I were in Prague, touring the Castle Grounds: an incredible complex of buildings dating back a millennium, where the Kingdom of Bohemia – part of the Holy Roman Empire – had its political center. In the collection of buildings is the Cathedral of …
No fear; no faith. No Exceptions.
January 11, 2016 Be afraid. Be very afraid. You’d think that was the 11th Commandment, lost in the sands of time at Sinai, but reintroduced in the 21st Century by people who never turn off the “breaking news” app. Be afraid. Be very afraid. The line comes from the 1986 movie classic, The Fly. Jeff …
Your choice: new paint job… or, brand new?
January 4, 2016 new Not existing before; made, introduced or discovered recently, or, now, for the first time; just beginning and regarded as better than what went before. For the next few weeks, we’ll all be shaking the holiday dust off our tongues. Standard greeting, at least until the Pro Bowl: “Happy New Year!” Everybody …
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The 2-Minute Warning for 2015
December 28, 2015 Where do you look: what’s happening on the field… or, at the numbers on the scoreboard? The best answer is probably “C:” which is, “all of the above.” In football, we’re heading into the Bowls; college and pros will both provide excitement aplenty between now and February 7. The live crowd will …
Do it ’til it hurts
December 21, 2015 Its origins are fascinating. The word isn’t that old – birthed in the 16th Century – but the concept dates from Creation. From Latin – through Middle French – generous meant “of noble birth.” It came to denote one who was magnanimous, unselfish and plentiful. With everything at their disposal, the …
The Path to Prosperity
December 14, 2015 Feliz Navidad, y Prospero Año Nuevo. We’re seeing the resurgence of the Post Office; this is their big month. Our mailbox should have a “No Vacancy” sign; Christmas Cards now outnumber new credit card offers in the stack. Lots of photo cards; we get to see everyone in our relational world, at …
The Only Solution to Islamic Terrorism
December 7, 2015 Where were you? That question has been asked – for 14 years – concerning the terrorist attacks on 9/11. With the most casualties on American soil since 9/11, last Wednesday’s installment in The War on Terror may leave the same kind of timestamp on the current generation of Americans. Our peace has …
Before you buy those Starbucks Cards…
November 30, 2015 Who’s on your list? What are you going to give them? Those are the questions most asked, for the next 24 days in modern culture. For 11 months, many people are driven by their hit list: they maintain an archive of names – people who have “done them wrong” (bad grammar; bad …
Can you play catch by yourself?
November 23, 2015 Some things can’t be done alone. No one ever imagined the ultimate Thanksgiving experience as a solo performance. TV dinners with turkey and potatoes – heated and served on a tray – set up in front of a high-definition flat-screen carrying cable series marathons never comes to mind as the iconic Norman …
Should we boycott “red” for Christmas?
November 16, 2015 If we had a public relations department, they’d be ballistic right now. There’s a two-year campaign underway to fill the Leader of the Free World position for four years, at a critical time in human history. A radical Islamic terror group is attacking Western Civilization at-will, and producing massive casualties. Christians around …