A leadership commentary on life today by Bob Shank
Are these Hard Times, or what? We’re convening a mid-week briefing called Hard Times Heroes every Wednesday morning, from 7:00-7:15a (Pacific) on the Facebook Group platform (you do not need a FB account to view). Click here to catch the last four in the archive, or to sit-in on Wednesday this week. Join us… Over …
Continue reading “What if the majority doesn’t ensure victory?”
Fear is the soil into which we sow the seeds of faith, and the fruit of faith – ultimately – is hope. Hope is the nutrition that allows us to manifest courage, and courage stimulates the confidence that allows us to run into the battle with the certainty of victory. Right now, we’re under attack …
Crises – of every type – have always been the backdrop for extraordinary leaders to emerge from obscurity and find their place in history. As we do everything we can to rise to this difficult moment in our generation, we’re examining the model God gave us from Gideon’s life, c. 1160 BCE. Over the last …
Hard Times Heroes. That’s the way we’ve branded the mid-week devo that Noah Elias and I launched last Wednesday on our Facebook Group platform. (Note: you don’t have to “be on Facebook” to view that. Click here to view the March 23rd Facebook live post without having to “join”.) Here’s the BFO (Blinding Flash of …
It’s fitting to find inspiration in some of the Heroes who have emerged in the Hard Times. The Master’s Program launched in 1997. Now in our 24th year, we’ve weathered multiple storms that could have been game-enders. From ’97 to ’03, the markets experienced gyrations from the collapse of the overloaded tech sector to the …
What is leadership? What’s a Leader to do? That’s no rhetorical question today. What are you supposed to do? We’re all in a wartime posture; rather than a military engagement, it’s biological warfare, but the battle is being waged on political, professional, scientific and economic fields of engagement. We’re all under orders… Shelter-in-place. Social distancing. …
It is no laughing matter. For some, it was easily politicized. Some linked it to a racial conflict; classic xenophobia. Could it be a power play between two leaders vying for dominance? Whatever its origins, if the situation scaled to the level that was predicted, pandemic would not be the term with enough weight to …
The numbers are terrifying. So far this year, 105 children in America – infants to 17-year-olds – have died from the disease. Why isn’t someone doing something about that? Should we shut down the schools and shelter kids in place until the crisis passes? “The crisis” is the flu, and there is a vaccine for …
Faithfulness: strict or thorough in the performance of duty; true to one’s word. That should be qualification #1 to look for when vetting a leader. Today, there are approximately 15 million Jews in the world; about 80% live in either the United States or Israel. They represent less than 2% of today’s American population… yet, …
February 18, 1519. The date is underscored in history; the 501st anniversary of the events from that day came and went last week. Any clue what happened? Hernan Cortés – we know him as Cortez – was a young Spanish man with a heart for adventure. His family was nobility but economically modest; he had …
What is a Tipping Point? According to Merriam Webster, it’s “the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place.” Happy Presidents Day. Since American History was retired – along with wood shop and home economics – from the school catalogs of the 21st …
Continue reading “When people of influence have had enough…”
Punch-drunk: “stupefied by a series of heavy blows to the head.” Are you feeling it this morning? Last week, we were cornered in the ring, and the headlines were unrelenting. Are you starting this week a little punch-drunk? The Iowa Caucus meltdown: political suicide by an untested app. The Impeachment: the political equivalent of the …
If you want to be strategic with your time, there’s a smart way to watch Pro Football. Wait until the first Sunday of February to dial-in; set the whole game to record (so you’ll be able to enjoy all of the commercials)… but wait until the 4th Quarter to get serious and to focus. Yahoo …
On Friday, I broke away from the spell-binding coverage of the Impeachment to join dozens of men who had come from around the country to spend the weekend in the Wild Adventure Reunion. Their initiation to the WA fraternity happened in Montana, when a dozen men – over the course of nearly a week – …
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 52 years ago, at age 39. The impact of his life is undisputed. Few presidents warrant national holidays; one King scored that distinction 18 years after his death. Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays were merged into one day’s observance; King is the only person in the American era whose birthday …
Continue reading “Without a Dream, you’re wasting your time”
“It’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep,” (Robert T. Kiyosaki). His brand is “Rich Dad; Poor Dad.” As Dave Ramsey rose to the top of the personal financial training roster, Kiyosaki was circulating in the same arena with some frequent cross-overs of common sense good advice for people who …
Friends: “I’ll be there for you!” Yeah, right. Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey: where did you go? We’ve known where to find you: in SitCom World, you’ve been at Central Perk; in the Real World of on-demand television, you’ve been on Netflix. Now that we’re in the ‘20s, you’re still locked-in-time in your West …
In 36 hours, it’s all over. I continue to speed down life’s highway. In 36 hours, 2019 will be another year in my life’s rearview mirror. You’ve heard it from others; perhaps you’ve thought it, yourself: your life is accelerating. Each year comes-and-goes at another record pace. Just 10 years ago today, 2009 was in …
The background music for the human race was written in a minor key. People woke every morning to a tone of tension, knowing something was wrong but not having a solution. The deep longings of the soul had no resolution; darkness prevailed; the need for light was universal… John – the longest-living Apostle – wrote …
Joy to the World, the Lord has come; let Earth receive her King! The triumphal ecstasy voiced in many of the songs we’ll hear this month is not genuine for many of the hearts in the crowds of Christmas. As the slice of the culture in an ongoing relationship with the Lord Jesus shrinks, the …
What’s the best thing you could give a kid for Christmas? Erica Komisar is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for the last 25 years. She’s an active participant in her local synagogue. A graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Universities and The …
Continue reading “What do you give a kid who has everything/nothing?”
Does America Still Have a Common Creed? That headline stretched across an article that dominated the Opinion Page in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition, two days ago. In it, Jason Willick – the writer for the Journal – highlighted his interview with David M. Kennedy, the aging Stanford historian who wrote Freedom from Fear: …
Continue reading “Without something to die for, what’s to live for?”
Giving Tuesday. Thankful Thursday. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. The next week is crowded with focus days calling out a culture that has come to live in an alternate reality of 24/7/365. These days, we’re living Groundhog Day: not the Punxsutawney Phil version, but the Bill Murray model where it’s the same day – every day …
Continue reading “Every day matters (or, no day matters). Do yours?”
Confession: some might call me a conference junkie (Google: 4.1 million results). I’ve always eaten my fill at church… but, from my early days, I’ve found myself hungry for more. Meat and potatoes are the mainline menu for most congregations; to expand your pallet and discover some of the rich – but, still nutritious – …
“Happy Holidays.” Get ready for the mindless repetition of that compromised greeting. Minority voices have worked to silence the faith-founded expression of “Merry Christmas,” so generic substitutes are now in vogue. Today is another day of remembrance that has the potential to expose deep-seated differences… “We are the World” is the heartfelt anthem of people …
Continue reading “There is no treaty possible; only victory or defeat…”
It’s amazing what a couple of committed people can do. Were you groggy when you woke Sunday? You probably reset your clock before retiring; you shifted time-zones without leaving home. Cheri and I watched the sunrise from our hotel room in Malaga, Spain (that’s another story); the morning sun lit the ship that had docked …
Continue reading “What could a couple of business leaders do, together?”
Saved by internet tech? Al Gore’s invention (“During my service in the United States Congress, I took initiative in creating the internet…”) has a checkered history. Internet Tech has become as ubiquitous as Starbucks in the world of 2019, but it’s gone from simply a tool, to a political one. Since the 90’s, Internet Tech …
We are a “hopeless” culture in the midst of an existential crisis, and it isn’t Global Warming. The markers surround us, yet none of the high-visibility voices with Twitter followings or new movie releases seem to be aware. In fact, the most prominent personalities in our society are both suffering from the underlying condition and …
Continue reading “You can’t live (well) without it (hopeless)”
What will you do… with the next dollar? First, a distinction: people who read this weekly blog – people like you – usually are not from the lower socio-economic quartile… or, the second, or the third. “Upper Quartile” – today – means about $115,000 in household income, nationally. Folks in that economic neighborhood listen/think/speak/act differently …
Giver: the ground rules have changed around us.. Not long ago, America was a land of order and opportunity. People who were born here were invited to prosper here; people who came here by choice were offered the chance to have most of the same promise, as long as they came in order, in search …
Continue reading “Robin Hood was a thief, not a model giver”