Kingdom Leader. In the internet era, we learn something about concepts and categories by Googling. Perform a web search to determine proximity – what something is like – and proliferation – how far it has spread. The concept of a Kingdom Leader (316,000 results) doesn’t come close to competing with a Christian Leader (4,910,000 results). …
Category Archives: Weekly Post
It’s Sad when Winners are Losers for a father
Fathers. King of the Hill. Top Dog. El Supremo. The Godfather. Informal titles carry almost no weight, but there’s an implied gravitas that attaches, depending on whether they’re bestowed in jest or in sincerity. This is “the week.” In the next few days, preparations for Sunday’s annual focus on fathers will go from casual (Monday-Friday) …
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“Table for One” isn’t strategic… what’s the ultimate gift?
The Ultimate Gift. In our consumer world (proof: you may have already thought of a movie title), two things dominate: 1) buy something for yourself, because you deserve it!; and/or, 2) buy something for someone else, because they deserve it! “Need” is ancient history… It’s now June, and the Big Three will keep you up …
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Memorial Day – The War with No Conscientious Objectors
Memorial Day. Often confused with Veterans Day, Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving as members of America’s military forces; Veterans Day honors the service of the living. One of the newest – and most striking – tributes to the fallen is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the National Mall, in …
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Your subpoena to testify has been served
May 22, 2017 What will you do if you’re called to testify by subpoena? That’s a question that you probably don’t have to ponder, but if you worked anywhere near the last election, and operate “inside the Beltway,” it’s something you might have to answer. There’s a Special Counsel in town, and he’s going to …
Things are not always as they seem
May 15, 2017 Hacked! I’m a well-connected guy (apparently). I only have 1685 “friends” onFacebook (I have a FB page, but it’s my social media version of a timeshare: I pay the annual dues, but I never visit). LinkedIn is higher in my SM world: over 5300 “connections,” but I’m a LI deadbeat (I build …
Why not go it alone?
Revolution, or Independence? The answer to that question depends on who’s asking. Ask a Brit about the conflict that spanned eight years – from 1775 to 1783 – and they’d say revolution. Ask an American, and they’re more likely to see it through the lens of independence.  Are we in a similar period? Launched as …
On your horizon: regrets, or riches
May 1, 2017 This message was written on a Mac by Apple. I don’t know where you are today, but I hope you’re not inside the infamous “Beltway,” hard at work on the national legislative agenda. A tax overhaul has been announced by the new administration that eliminates some categories and lowers rates in others. …
Don’t buy the tombstone yet…
April 24, 2017 Is truth dead? Time magazine sparked a cultural furor when – in April, 1966 – the cover posed the stark question, “Is God Dead?” The erosion of faith in America was the real story; God was not dead, but the relationship of Americans with him had been deeply eroded. It’s been 51 …
Just another Monday (after Easter)?
April 17, 2017 Easter. What a week! Imagine a dozen men – in the prime years of their adult lives – who had set their schedules and strategies aside under the powerful influence of a charismatic carpenter. With no backing or fanfare, he had come across their path and invited them to join him in …
Insiders only
April 10, 2017 Insiders: most people write checks/slide plastic/flash Apple Pay as consumers. Self-focused spenders want to “get what they paid for;” that’s the highest level of evaluation for the money they release from their grip. Not you: you’ve graduated from the spending-only demographic, as you elevate more of your cash flow from spending to …
The Gospel – yet everybody can’t be right
April 3, 2017 You may have missed it. With your April Fools Day festivities underway, the breaking news – coming out of Salt Lake City – probably didn’t run across the bottom of the screen while South Carolina/Gonzaga or Oregon/UNC Chapel Hill were fighting to their respective finishes (RIP, South Carolina and Oregon). The semiannual …
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Be a Fool or Don’t be a Fool
Saturday is my day. Shall I be a fool on Saturday, April 1st? Of all of the calendar stake-outs we accept – birthdays of presidents and sophisticates, religious milestones and moments, patriotic remembrances about battles and warriors – there is no passionate tie to the nameless oaf we’ll mention this weekend, with unhidden scorn. Happy …
Don’t move to Norway until you go to Brooklyn
Today’s your day, especially if you are near Brooklyn. It may not be on your calendar, but it’s on the Big One. Today – March 20, 2017, is World Happiness Day. Created by the United Nations, this is the sixth annual presentation of their World Happiness Report. How would one go about researching such a …
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Are you a casualty of the Space Program?
March 13, 2017 We’re suffering the effects of the original Space Program. In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a request to Congress for $9 billion over five years for one of what he called urgent national needs: the goal of putting a man on the moon – and bringing him back safely …
Pry the baton from our cold dead hands…
March 6, 2017 Jesus was a Millennial. William Strauss and Neil Howe took sociocultural anthropology to the broad market with their first/signature book together, Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069. From political campaigns to marketing initiatives, their description of four recurring generational types – and the likelihood of predictable mass behavior in …
It ain’t over until after it’s over
February 27, 2017 Blame the accountants. What a royal blunder: “And the Academy Award for Best Picture goes to… La La Land.” Oops; no, not really. What? Jordan Horowitz, one of the producers of La La Land, corrected Warren Beatty: “There’s a mistake; Moonlight: you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke…” Give …
Did Washington have a ReBirthday?
February 20, 2017 Happy Holidays. It’s not Christmas any more, it’s “Holidays,” because others have their minds on Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, or the Winter Solstice. Accommodate everyone, with an inane alternative. Today, it’s Happy Holidays time: it’s the third Monday of February, so you can lean toward Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, or George Washington’s birthday… or …
I know mine; do you know yours?
February 13, 2017 When the story of the 2010s is added to American history, it may be said that it was a decade in which the Cold War was no longer waged between nations, but – instead – between worldviews. A worldview isthe framework from which we view reality and make sense of life and …
Which is tougher? Cigars out, or Gospel in?
February 6, 2017 I’ll bet I know where you were – and, what you were doing – at/about 6:30pm yesterday (EST). The world was noshing on nachos – or, crunching fresh veggies w/hummus – getting ready for kick-off; I was open-roading between a distant church and a demanding night flight out of LAX when my …
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We already know the winner…
January 30, 2017 I don’t know what your plans are for next weekend, but you’d better get to the grocery store if you need any of the essentials. Avocados, six packs of your favorite whatever, chips of every nature and type – you know, the basic food groups – will be wiped-out by Saturday. Anything …
Friday is big; here’s something bigger
January 23, 2017 If your office was “open” last Friday, it’s likely that the productivity meter was barely registering. For hundreds of thousands of people, they were “live” in Washington; for others, they were there – virtually – on a variety of digital devices. Others were loading their protest magazines with antagonist ammunition, getting geared-up …
Chasing Dollars, or Dreams?
January 16, 2017 “I have a dream…” He wasn’t the first to say those words, but they are forever attached to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today is his 89th Birthday. His dream outlived him; that’s not unusual, for leaders. A bullet ended his earthly life at 39, but the bullet-points of his dream are …
What would “rich” look like, for you?
January 9, 2017 Is this the year to get rich… or, to live richly? The markets have caught some tailwind as ’16 ended and ’17 began; anticipation seems to be running high. If this is a season for economic achievement, what will it mean, to you? You might not have your plans clarified the way …
Crazy Is as Crazy Does
January 2, 2017 Will 2017 be another crazy year? Albert Einstein is commonly given credit for the quip: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Whoever said it, it rings true: if you approach 2017 the way you just finished 2016, don’t expect any positive improvements. The Great Unwashed …
Time is Running Out
December 26, 2016 The hourglass of 2016 is running out of sand. It doesn’t get any better than 2016: Christmas and New Years are on Sundays, so folks can do their holiday thing with other people on the weekends, reserving the week between for pure, unadulterated self-interest, for most people. Proof: send the drone you …
Don’t be Late!
December 19, 2016 You’d better leave now. My kids now have kids; they’ve maintained a family value that was embedded in their psyche long before the culture could mess ‘em up. Here’s the Shank approach to life’s commitments: early is on-time; on-time is late; late is unimaginable. The 21st Century app for time management doesn’t …
Have you been called to 5th Avenue?
December 13, 2016 Something is going on. If you’ve ever been to New York City in December – whether for business or pleasure – you have some understanding of that iconic island at this time of year. The magnetic center of Manhattan during the Christmas season is Rockefeller Center. There’s a Christmas tree outside the …
Don’t be caught by surprise
December 5, 2016 “A date which will live in infamy.” Wednesday marks the 75th anniversary of the surprise attack on the naval installation at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese navy and the 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. At 7:48am, the attack began, with two waves of airborne destruction raining down on …
New Holiday Schedule Announced
November 28, 2016 You’re in a veritable vortex; can you feel it? It’s a calendar constellation that has developed its own gravitational forces, putting people into motion in a variety of ways. It started last week, with Thanksgiving. There were 47 million folks traveling more than 50 miles to sit down around a table for …