A leadership commentary on life today by Bob Shank
November 9, 2015 Wednesday is Veterans Day, 2015; it’s the day we honor the men and women who have served in our armed forces. Whom do you plan to honor? The Census Bureau is the best source of statistical information about the American populace; here’s their current inventory of the men and women who have …
Continue reading “They risked their life for you. What would you do for them?”
November 2, 2015 It’s been called “The Most Contested 37 Acres in the World.” We were there last week. Most know it as the Temple Mount; it sits within the Old City of Jerusalem. Site of Solomon’s Temple – built about 3000 years ago, but destroyed about 400 years later – it’s history is profound. …
October 26, 2015 I don’t know what you did for dinner last night, but I’m sure it was a bit different than mine. Despite the American headlines, Cheri and I are in the middle of a trip to Israel, along with 25 friends from the Master’s and Barnabas communities. Sunday evening, we were in Sderot, …
Continue reading “Maybe playing it safe is the greatest danger”
October 19, 2015 When you live in Southern California – and travel a lot – the grief is just a fact of life. People – are they jealous? – love to poke fun at Californians for our “distinctives.” The two top grief-getters are our lack of seasons (palm trees don’t change colors); and, our earthquakes …
October 12, 2015 Be careful when picking heroes. Every aspect of life operates with the same basic ground rules: pick a category, and you can populate the space. The players come in-order, on-cue: first, the Originator (syn: creator, discoverer, pioneer, innovator); these are the few who live “to explore strange new worlds; to seek out …
October 5, 2015 “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” Frank Morgan appeared in over 100 movies while he was under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but his title role in The Wizard of Oz gave him the one-liner that would be his signature line. While Toto-the-dog pulled back the drape – revealing the huckster …
September 28, 2015 Cut the baby in half. That seems an unreasonable directive… if you don’t know the whole story. It was about 3000 years ago – a few election cycles in the past – when the new king of Israel was in his freshman year. Solomon was the come-from-behind winner of the Game of …
September 21, 2015 Things are getting really, really bad. You knew that, already; anyone who is not comatose – and, can get their eyes off their smart phone/video game for a few minutes of perspective – would reach the same conclusion. But, no; it’s worse: That same headline could be posted over almost every category …
September 14, 2015 There aren’t many leaders… but there are lots of posers. Vision. Strategy. Assignments. If you’ve been around me in the context of The Master’s Program, you’ve had that trilogy drilled into your thinking. If not, you are rightly curious. What’s up with that? I’ve declared those three elements as key indicators of …
September 7, 2015 Welcome back…. or, shame on you! You’re either reading this on Tuesday – after making Labor Day a real holiday – or, you’re cheating yourself and your family by checking your e-mail while pretending to relax, on Monday! Either way, welcome back to the “new year,” which really begins the day-after-Labor-Day!  As …
August 31, 2015 Tomorrow is a game-change day. Give me a break… Cheri and I have six amazing grandchildren; they range from 17 to 5 in age. Jackson was first; I was 45 when he was born (my dad was 45 when I came along). I have season tickets – on the front row – …
August 24, 2015 Choose two words to describe Donald Trump. What would you say? Let’s make sure we’re talking about the same guy. White Pages (whitepages.com) says that they have 43 listings for “Donald Trump” – in 15 states – and 42 of them are not the person-in-question. There’s only one Donald Trump. Just two …
August 17, 2015 It was once called “The River of Lost Souls.” Named by Spanish explorers in the 1700s, what is now the Animas (Spanish: “souls”) River, in Southwest Colorado, flows south out of the San Juan Mountains – past Durango – into New Mexico, where it ultimately joins the San Juan River on its …
August 10, 2015 Take a minute; let’s talk about stuff. First, let’s make sure we’re talking about the same stuff. Stuff comes in three varieties. Stuff 1 (its synonym is “dunk”) is a verb; if you’re in the NBA, it’s one of your monetized assets. Outside sports, it can be literal (as in, “to pack …
Continue reading “The things we love tell us who we are (Aquinas)”
August 3, 2015 Some days are more memorable than others. It’s been 22 years – today – but the effects of August 3, 1993 are still powerful, for me. I was in my second year as senior pastor at a large church with larger challenges. I was in my Sabbath month break – in the …
July 27, 2015 Don’t bother me right now. I’m getting ready for my meeting… Tomorrow morning, I’ll be with George Andrews. It’s my quarterly sit-down to get my tune-up. I’m accountable for what I’ve done the last few months, and I need some counsel about the road ahead. George is the Managing Director for Ronald …
July 20, 2015 It’s where folks go with questions these days; ask Google “What makes a leader a leader?” The results come back quickly… with 910,000,000 listings (that’s 910 million). It seems like the question is prone to produce a contested answer. The query also generates more uncertainty. Are leaders made, or are they born? …
July 13, 2015 “You’re Fired!” Certain lines move from generic to become trademarks for celebrities. What Donald Trump made famous in his regular installments of The Apprentice ricocheted back at him last week. NBC signed-off with The Donald over his inciteful observations about immigration during his speech, announcing his run for president. Trump knew that …
July 6, 2015 “I’ll get back to you.” When’s the last time you heard that Grand Finale? You were feeling pretty good, because you just made your case better than ever before. Whether at the end of a first date, or after an appointment to present the opportunity found in your professional niche to a …
June 29, 2015 “You should be ashamed of yourself!” In an earlier era, that was a common maternal reaction to an out-of-bounds kid. Parenting wasn’t as complicated as it is today. The approach to family oversight was a simple, two step process: 1) lay down the law; and, 2) enforce it. Enforcement would begin with …
July 22, 2015 “Who’s your daddy?” Back in ’68, Zombies weren’t starring in prime-time television (The Walking Dead); instead, they were a British rock band with the hit, Time of the Season. Their lyric asked the question: “Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?” Their question has been abbreviated, and is still asked as …
June 15, 2015 Wow: that guy is really generous. Just two weeks ago, Harvard University announced its largest gift ever: John Paulson – hedge fund billionaire – is giving $400 million to endow the engineering school that would bear his name. Paulson made big news in 2007/2008 by making $1 billion betting against investors who …
June 8, 2015 It’s a really, really good month for pastors. That’s just my opinion, but I think I’m right. June delivers two retail opportunities; you see it in stores, incessantly. Dads and Grads have pushed May’s Mothers out of the cash register spotlight. Brides used to share the June billing, but with marriage on …
June 1, 2015 Short night (270 minutes between the sheets; sounds better than 4.5 hours); early morning (4:00a alarm); beat the traffic from home to Los Angeles Int’l; remote garage, check-in, TSA precheck (yes!), then head for the bus to the remote commuter terminal… all before 6:00a. My internal autopilot was locked-and-loaded for the Admiral’s …
May 25, 2015 The name was changed, but the focus was not. Decoration Day. Originally practiced beginning in 1868 – after the Civil War (or, to some, the War Between the States) – when an organization of veterans from the Union Army declared a particular day in May for people to visit and honor the …
May 18, 2015 “I couldn’t do that. Could you do that? Why can they do it? Who are those guys?” That’s what Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) said to Sundance (Robert Redford) from the top of a cliff, as the posse that unrelenting – and, gaining on them – was tracking them through rocks (1969). It …
May 11, 2015 “God doesn’t need your ability; he needs your availability.” I put that in quotes, because I didn’t say it. And, I didn’t cite a source, because there is none to be found in the www universe. A sentence like that is ubiquitous – “present, appearing, or found everywhere” – and, therefore, not …
May 4, 2015 This is an unusual post, for me: normally, it’s baked fresh, every Monday. This week, I’m writing on the weekend. When you get this, I’ll be in a 90°+ desert environment, hitting balls for one day so that we can elevate leaders all year long (not too late to sponsor me; click …
April 27, 2015 How are you? That question will be posed billions of times today, in English. If asked of a person – via satellite phone – who is on the streets of Katmandu today, dealing with the devastation of a 7.8 earthquake, they would likely express gratitude for life, but their helpless need for …
April 20, 2015 Happy Earth Day. I don’t know what you have planned for Wednesday, but don’t drive there. Unless you have a Tesla, your bike is your best bet. Avoid all GMO foods – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and go without lights, air conditioning and all-things-comfortable. Forget about flying; paddle a canoe, maybe… …