Point of View.

November 7, 2011

    Happy Veterans Day! If you served our country in the military, thank you for what you did. We are sustained and served as a country by patriots like you and your colleagues who set-aside your personal benefit to make yourself vulnerable to harm on our behalf. You’re a Champion; we appreciate you! This week, find a person who served us all, and hand them a $5 S’bucks gift card;they earned it!
    The holiday for our friends with a military past is Friday; it appears that this national observance has acquired a new distinctive from the next Big Day. From time immemorial, Thanksgiving has been the starting line for Retail Christmas; this year, the holiday consumer push is already underway.
    On the personal level, the year-end modus operandi has a significant social component. Polite society still abhors wife swapping, but date swapping is a cultural mandate.
    Date swapping? "Hey, we owe you a dinner. We sure enjoyed that barbecue party at your house on Labor Day! How about coming to our place – with the Whatzees – the Tuesday after Thanksgiving?" Date swapping: you entertained us; we’ll entertain you. What could be more wholesome?
    It’s tempting to get into this dine-around – meals swapped by friends – during the holidays… and miss a chance to make points on a similar – but absolutely different – challenge. What is that? The directive to practice hospitality. Wait: I think that’s a “spiritual gift,” and I don’t think I have it. Matrons who make casseroles are the ones with that “gift,” right?
    The gift of hospitality? Sounds like a holy endowment for Christian canapés. Does God give some people the knack for gnocchi… and leave the rest of us free to keep the deadbolt set with our La-Z-Boy on full tilt, spending "quality time" with just enough chips for the fam?
    When Paul was laying out the Top 20 ways to "make your love sincere," he included a bullet that it’s tough to dodge: "Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality." (Romans 12:13).
    Practice hospitality? There are two words that warrant some examination! Practice doesn’t mean do it a few times to see if you can get it right… and then drop back to a banal baseline. Practice is doctors doing medicine every day. Practice, as in "make it your habit of life." Then, how about hospitality? There’s the kicker! Hospitality isn’t about setting a superior table, or mastering the art of Beef Wellington. The word used there in the Greek (the language of the New Testament) is very pointed in its meaning: its best translation is "love for strangers." Literally, the passage says to you and me: "Make it your habit of life to show love to strangers."
    That lines up with the wild idea expressed by Jesus during his earth time. He was a guest at a Sabbath dinner party, in the home of a prominent Pharisee, when this happened: "Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ " (Luke 14:12-14).
    Jesus says it boils down to this: when do you want your payback?

Continue reading “When do you want your payback?”

October 31, 2011

    “So, what are you going to do, tonight?”  When we were kids, the question had more focus: “What are you going to be?” That was the shorthand way to ask what your costumed self was going to pretend to be, in the annual haunt/hunt for Halloween candy. No one was talking about childhood obesity, back then; it was an all-out rush to find the houses inhabited by big-spenders, who bought the full-size candy bars… and were destined to run out, early…
    But now, we're in the Great Recession – leading up to the Great Election, to hear some talk – and that must mean that there will be more “lights-out” houses than “full size Snickers.” That seems logical… but, is it true?
    The National Retail Federation announced their findings yesterday, and their report says, “…Halloween spending is up again… because people are looking for an opportunity to have a little bit of fun.” They went on to say that “…the retail success of Halloween doesn't indicate a boost in sales to come for Christmastime.”  There's an intriguing indicator: Ghouls and Goblins are trending “up,” while the Christ Child and the Shepherds are trading lower before the markets open…
    Today will be a convoluted compromise for a lot of real-deal Christians in America. Workplaces that won't allow the mention of the Christ Child at Christmas will be highly-tolerant all day about the trappings of terror. Ghosts, goblins and Freddy Krueger will be welcomed in the same schools where the angels, wise men and shepherds have been blackballed.
    Tonight, you'll be faced with the annual enigma. Your neighborhood will host children – some local, some imported from across town – who will plod door-to-door with bags bulging with candy bars and organic tangerines (there's at least one health-food promoter on every block, out to reengineer the treat menu!). Will you turn off the lights and head for the cinema, or stick around and answer the door? As a Christian, how do you adopt an "in, but not of the world" posture on Halloween?

Continue reading “In, but not of … Halloween”

October 24, 2011

    It’s official: we’ll be leaving Iraq by the end of the year. The war that started with broad support on March 20, 2003 will be officially over. In that time, it has gone from supported to scorned…
    Wars usually have two distinct periods: an Expeditionary Phase, and an Occupational Phase. In the Expeditionary phase, troops are sent away from their country of origin to engage – and, displace – an enemy force. The measure of success is the moving of a geopolitical boundary: it’s always about real estate. Like a football game – played with bullets rather than balls – the goal is to move the line down the field, into the opponent’s protected space.
    Once the territory has been acquired, the Expeditionary Phase gives way to the Occupational Phase. That was what George W. Bush was trying to communicate when he appeared on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. In just over two months, the Expeditionary Phase had been won, but the IEDs kept exploding on the roadsides…
    The “Mission Accomplished” banner that was placed behind the president during that speech quickly became a political liability, because the insurgents in Iraq had no intention of standing down. Despite the ongoing guerrilla activities, the Expeditionary warfare had given way to Occupation.

Continue reading “Occupational Phase”

October 17, 2011

    Maybe it’s time to start a new victims support group. The acrostic would be difficult; no one would be comfortable admitting that they are members of BO.
    That’s “Billionaires Obvious.” When you’re a Forbes Lister (minimum net worth, today: $1 billion), you give up your anonymity, so “BA” is disallowed. Mortimer Zuckerman is only #188 on the American list ($2.2 billion, as of last month), but would probably be asked to share at the organizing meeting for BO.
    The script for his keynote was published in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Though born in Canada and educated at McGill in Montreal, he did his graduate work at Wharton and Harvard Law in the ‘60s, and decided to stay in the USA, “because of the sheer openness and energy of life in America.”
    His optimism carried him through the 2008 election cycle, but he has experienced a decline in optimism during the last 36 months. His perspectives, offered to the WSJ’s James Freeman: “Democracy does not work without the right leadership… The country has got to come to the conclusion at some point that what you’re doing is not just because of an ideology or politics but for the interests of the country…”
    In the same section, Peggy Noonan led with a quip she heard from a TSA agent in New York: “Ten years ago, Steve Jobs was alive. Bob Hope was alive. Johnny Cash was alive. Now, we’re outta jobs, outta hope and outta cash.” A uniformed federal employee, with high assurance of continued employment… but sensing the angst that now characterizes the country that has been – for generations – the “City upon a Hill,” showing the best of a nation’s potential to offer hope in a fallen world.
    We’re on-the-hunt for a savior, in the next election cycle… but there seems to be limited certainty that an Anointed One is on the stage. Amazing, isn’t it? There is a deeply rooted longing for rescue that emanates from the soul of people, whatever their spiritual foundations…

Continue reading “Eternal Optimism”

October 10, 2011

    It doesn’t happen very often, but it sure did, this week. Since last Wednesday, I’ve received multiple e-mails asking the same question: “Is next week’s Point of View going to be about Steve Jobs?”
    My commitment to all-things-Apple is pretty well known. I didn’t get on the bus with an Apple II, but I owned one of the first-round Macintoshs, back in 1984 – the year I left my business career to found the ministry I still lead today. From then to now, I’ve been a brand loyalist… not because of the hype, but because of the horsepower. I’m not a tech guy, but the Apple geniuses knew how to make things I could figure out without reading a manual. Today, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPhone 4, iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPad are all in my tool box. In the event of a fire at home, I’d grab my Apple crate (all of the best of the family pics are on the laptop and iPad!)…
    So, how do I let the passing of Steve Jobs go unaddressed? If I said nothing, I would be in the publishing minority this week. Vantage points vary, but inclusion has been certain, in newspapers, weekly news mags, monthly cultural journals, world business periodicals; the scope of Jobs’ impact on international culture has been measured by the widespread treatment of his death. For a man who fiercely controlled the press’ access to his personal life, that strong fist ended with his last breath. Steve Jobs, the man beyond the headlines, has been reconstructed for public view as the reporting community connected the minimal dots of his life beyond the corporate boundaries.
    You’ve read – and, reread – the essence. Conceived out-of-wedlock by graduate students in San Francisco, he was adopted when his mother’s father opposed her marriage to his Syrian father (they later married). He was raised by Paul and Clara Jobs – his adoptive parents – in the area now known as Silicon Valley. He was baptized and confirmed as a Lutheran, stayed in school through one semester of Reed College in Portland… and then set off to find his future.
    In the ‘70’s, he traveled to India with a college friend to visit the ashram of Shri Neeb Karori Baba – a Hindu mystic – and came back to America as a Buddhist, with a shaved head and an Indian wardrobe. In 1975, he and Steve Wozniak – his Apple co-founder – joined the Homebrew Computer Club, an outpost for electronics geeks. One year later, they launched Apple… and the rest is history.
    I was in-flight from Minneapolis to Dallas last Wednesday afternoon – using gogo wireless, at 39,000 feet – when the first push message hit my screen: Steve Jobs, dead at age 56.

Continue reading “The Man Beyond the Headlines”

October 3, 2011

    You know about “assumptions,” don’t you? The dictionary renders an “assumption” to be “a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.”
    We live with assumptions. I got on the freeway this morning – at 5:05am – assuming that the people in the lanes around me (traffic, at that hour? I’m home in SoCal) knew how to drive, and would stay in their lines. I came to a specific Starbucks at 5:15, based on the belief that they’d open when their “hours” sign on the window promised. I assumed that the guy with the bulge under his hoody, in line behind me, wasn’t packin’ a gun, planning to get famous at the cost of my life.
    My financial planner is a great guy, a serious Christian… and a good friend. When George put the pieces of our financial story together – pointing toward the future – he made a variety of assumptions in order to make the calculations. How long would I live? How long would Cheri outlast me? How long could I create value and derive income? And, the big one: what would “the markets” do with our funds?
    The front of the USA Today finance section this morning challenges the market assumptions that we’ve all made, with this headline: “ U.S. heads for same fate as Japan’s ‘lost decades.’” Synopsis: our economy is 70% consumer spending, but Americans aren’t spending, and won’t until they resolve their personal debt crisis. Date for that resolution is about three days after we declare an end on the “War on Terror,” and take out the last remaining “I hate America” zealot with a drone strike (meaning: no time soon). I can check our financial plan, but I don’t remember a footnote called “lost decades.”
    Lost decades? That was a dark period for Japan. They were – for them – “out of control” in conspicuous consumption in the ‘80s. That caused an economic implosion that defined them through the ‘90s, when their national economy went flat. The condition continued into the first decade of the new century… and American economists are beginning to draw parallels.
    Boy, did I need the last weekend to protect my personal motivation. If my financial plan was my roadmap, we’re heading into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But, if my copy of the Truth (you have a few copies, as well, I’m sure!) can be trusted, this could be called the Found – not Lost – Decade!

Continue reading “The Found Decade”

September 26, 2011

    Who do you trust? Interesting question, isn't it? In America, about 50 years ago, it wasn't a question; it was an afternoon game show, hosted by Johnny Carson (pre-Tonight Show). Three married couples; trivia questions to be answered for a cash prize: each round began with a question posed to the husbands: do you want to answer the next question, or do you trust your wife to get it right? Awkward…
    These days, it's no game, and there are no cash prizes. Right now, it feels like everyone is losing, and looking for someone to turn the tide and rescue them from the mess we're in.
    Today's Wall Street Journal, front page, above the fold headline: “Pivot Point: Investors Lose Faith in Stocks.” Last Friday, gold lost ground. America is in a funk; Europe is worse. Russia's version of democracy is Czar Vladimir (Putin). China – our biggest trading partner – can't be trusted with technology; they have no concept of “intellectual property rights.” Neither do young Americans, who made Napster v.1.0 famous for illegal “free” music downloads. American trust – in bankers or senators, priests or presidents, coaches or consultants – is declining in epic proportions.
    Trust precedes hope; hope precedes order; order is essential for life. Why is despair growing while the Dow is plummeting?
    What is hope? “Desire, accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment” (Merriam Webster). How crucial is hope? “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope,” (unknown).

Continue reading “Trust”

September 19, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    In the event that you’ve been living in the cave vacated some time ago by Osama bin Laden, you may have missed the firestorm that has swirled over the studios of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and the seat on the set occupied by Pat Robertson.
    The situation: a caller phoned the live program – featuring Robertson and his co-host Terry Meeuwsen – with a story about a friend whose wife is afflicted with Alzheimer’s. The viewer is troubled that his Christian friend has turned his back on his ailing wife to begin dating other women. He justifies his actions by saying that “his wife, as he knows her, is gone.”
    Robertson’s response: “ What he says basically is correct. I know it sounds cruel, but if he's
    going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.” His co-host pressed Robertson about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer's “is a kind of death” and added, “I certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip on you for choosing divorce in such a scenario…”
    The headline “Sensational” (presenting information in a way that provokes public interest and excitement, at the expense of accuracy) has regularly been placed over media accounts of Robertson’s on-air comments. He has often been more vitriolic than vanilla, suggesting that he had unique insights about God’s allowance of the 9/11 terror attacks and the recent Haiti earthquake, among other things.
    This time, it isn’t a world crisis that evokes his insights, but a personal one. For a Christian – living life for the purpose of glorifying God – how does one handle the hardship of a spouse suffering from an incurable condition? We know what Pat would say; but, what would Jesus say?
    No mystery on that point; it doesn’t take the command of the original Greek version to understand this exchange: “Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’ ‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.’ ‘Why then,’ they asked, ‘did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?’ Jesus replied, ‘Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery,’” (Matthew 19:1-9).

Continue reading “Fact-checking using the Scriptures”

September 12, 2011

    It’s been 10 years. I flew into New York’s LaGuardia Airport last night. Today, I’m with our local Master’s group for Session #7, in Mid-Town Manhattan. We’ve all been looking back to The Events; here was my Point of View on 09/17/01, after the horrible attacks on our culture:

    Innocence shattered. Innocence is a winsome ignorance; it allows existence in the midst of evil, without an awareness of that evil. Innocence is dealt a fatal blow when reality invades…
    Walt Disney built the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim with a binding commitment from the city: they would approve no construction around Disneyland that would affect the skyline inside the park. Once through the turnstiles, the images of the real-world outside would disappear. Urban innocence would prevail at the Happiest Place on Earth. Through those gates was Never-Never Land; freeways and high-rise hotels would be forgotten.
    What Disneyland is in the Southern California jungle, America has been in a world marked by unrestrained evil. We read about wide-scale violence; we watch modern, undeclared acts of war on CNN, via satellite, over breakfast, half-a-world away. But this is America: once you're through the checkpoint in San Ysidro, or clear customs in Miami, you're home free. A few gang-banger drive-bys are the nuisance of the inner cities, but worlds away from the suits and Suburbans.

Continue reading “Looking Back to 9-11”

September 5, 2011

    Holidays aren't part of the “universal calendar;" I know you knew that.
    Granted, Christmas and Easter are pretty common… unless, of course, you're in the middle of some of those 3+ billion Muslims/Hindus/Chinese Communists who don't buy their wall calendars from Hallmark. Even among the billion or so in the "Christian" world, Christmas and Easter aren't shared space: the Jehovah's Witnesses don't "do" Christmas, and the Orthodox community celebrates Easter on a variant date.
    Get past the religious festivals, and it isn't much easier. Independence Day? A number of those around the world, with a few new ones probable after our recent “Arab Spring.” They all remember different political turning points, on different dates. In Canada, if you wait until late November to stuff the turkey, you missed Thanksgiving (theirs is weeks earlier!). Presidents' Day? Don't even go there…
    With unemployment in America now “officially” reported at 9.1% (underemployment and no-longer-looking bloat that to double-digits), it’s hard to hold a Labor Day party without the risk of offense. Would a friend suffering the after-effects of an unwanted divorce be happy at a Valentines Day shindig?
    Being out-of-work is a challenging thing. I've always found myself invited into close proximity with men who – through their professional disconnection – become vulnerable, disclosed… and less self-sufficient. I've seen many of them move up my relational scale from acquaintance to friends… as we journeyed through the process of their employment transitions.
    Often-cited psychologist Abraham Maslow found that work was so important to Americans that its loss – either through unemployment or retirement – had a calculable effect on one's lifeline. Take away a full-time identity from a high-energy person… and, you run the risk of taking away their reason for being. That isn't call-in-radio speculation; that's fact, proven through research.

Continue reading “Work for the Underemployed”

August 29, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    It’s pretty innocuous, really; in the right context, it’s even pretty good advice: “You can get anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want,” (Zig Ziglar). When Zig says that, he has an underlying values filter that assumes that what you want is morally upright, and what you’ll help others experience is similarly above-board. The problem? The principle still works if the individual objectives are corrupted…
    My apologies if you read me regularly, addressing issues within a limited spectrum of subjects. My core audience is leaders who are Christian, called to live a life of stewardship, managing their time, talents, influence and resources in service to their Master in Heaven.
    Every time I get in the car, my GPS wants to know where I want to go. The first turn out of the driveway – and every turn thereafter – will be determined by my stated destination. Every morning, we are all faced with the same challenge: how will the decisions I make today advance my journey toward an intentional outcome? To what end are you managing your life?
    Allow me to suggest two overriding models. Option #1: join with the majority of your leadership peers in the race toward affluence; or, Option #2: run with the minority of leaders whose objective is influence. Affluence: an abundance of money, property, and other material goods; riches; wealth. Influence: the capacity or power to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior or opinions of others.

Continue reading “End-point or Eternity”

August 22, 2011

    Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.
    ATKINSON, IL: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he will propose a plan in September to jump-start the U.S. economy as he struggles to convince skeptical voters that he has something new to offer (Reuters News Service).
    In stable times, the need for leadership is not as pronounced as it is when the waves of history are building with potentially destructive, tsunami force. Today, people long for leadership…
    Last week, in the aftermath of country-wide rioting that left people dead and property destroyed or stolen, British Prime Minister David Cameron acted the part of a leader for his countrymen who were struggling to make sense of the senseless.
    One newspaper in England reported it this way: “In the aftermath of rioting across Britain, David Cameron blasted the nation’s ‘slow-motion moral collapse’ – a matter he plans to ‘take on and defeat.’ Facing a ‘demoralized’ state, ‘I will not be found wanting,’ the prime minister said today at a youth center. The riots were a ‘wake-up call’ for a ‘broken society’ born from ‘children without fathers; schools without discipline; reward without effort; crime without punishment; rights without responsibilities; communities without control.’ British society, he said, is one that ‘incites laziness, that excuses bad behavior, that erodes self-discipline, that discourages hard work…’” (Newser)
    At the risk of dipping my non-profit toe in the brackish political gray water, it seems like Einstein’s counsel has been embraced by Mr. Cameron. Rather than parrying around the crisis with a myopic focus on symptoms, he assessed the mess and defined the problem facing Britain’s culture.

Continue reading “Moral Storm”

August 15, 2011

    In the old days, at Disneyland, it wasn’t a one-price-at-the-gate experience. They charged for entry, and then sold you ticket books. A, B, C, D and E tickets were in a book to be traded for seats on the rides. The kid-friendly attractions were A’s and B’s; the thrill-a-minute good stuff was “E-ticket,” for sure. The last couple of weeks on Wall Street has been an E-ticket experience for everyone…
    “Fear returned to Wall Street on Wednesday, sending the S&P 500 to another 4 per cent decline, triggered by worries that Europe's debt crisis could engulf French banks and spill onto the US financial sector,” (The Economic Times).
    “Turmoil over the country’s debt ceiling and worries about a U.S. default have heightened fears about the failing condition of the American economy, despite a last-minute resolution to raise U.S debt ceiling reached on Tuesday,” (The Christian Post).
    “The volatility was evident this week as the so-called  ‘VIX volatility index’ – known as Wall Street's ‘fear gauge’ – rose to levels last seen in the midst of the financial crisis. Some of the panicked selling is surely a result of memories of 2008, when the near-collapse of major banks left many investors with an instinct to get out as soon as possible. ‘People are afraid of things that could happen rather than things that have already occurred,’ said Adam Sussman, the director of research at Tabb Group, a financial data company,” (Los Angeles Times).
    These days are not about spreadsheets and economic indicators; the daily trading experience is less about facts and more about feelings. Buy and sell decisions are no longer made just in the head; today, they are more likely ordered in line with the heart.

Continue reading “Market Coaster Stress Management Strategy”

August 8, 2011

    Most people don’t reply. That opportunity is built-in, with e-mail… but most people don’t use it. They read… they consider… they conclude… but, they don’t reply.
    One did, recently. We’re friends, so it was amicable. I had sent an e-mail asking him to come to an introductory event for The Master’s Program, for the purpose of introducing some friends to the experience that he had found “transformational.” I wanted him to influence friends to follow his lead.
    Here’s what he wrote: “You’re unrelenting! Every time I turn around, you’re asking me to ‘bring a friend’ to recruit them for TMP. Sometimes I feel like asking you to take me off the list!” Truth is, we do intro events a couple times a year in his area, so it only feels like it’s “unrelenting;” is he tired of me challenging him to use The Master’s Program and his influence to advance the Kingdom?
    Leaders are measured by their influence, not their organizational titles. The real mark of a leader is not the budget controlled, or the staff commanded; it’s the size and significance of one’s influence.
    That’s true in the 21^st Century, but it has always been so.

Continue reading “Unrelenting? You bet!”

August 1, 2011

      Allow me to make a self-disclosure: I’m a pull-out packrat. Articles that catch my attention – in newspapers and magazines – are routinely ripped from the publication. I don’t have files; I have piles. They don’t congregate in an orderly alphabetized system; instead, they become my personal driftwood.
      I have an article that is yellowed, pulled from a business section in SoCal that tells the story of a young salesman named Jason Evans. He’s good at getting business; his personalized license plate: “I CLOSE.” He’s so good that he “graduated” from making deals to making dealmakers.
      His reasoning for starting his training company was interesting: “Ultimately, for me, it was not a choice to go into business; it was a calling. I really have found what I am good at and love to do.”
      In his book, The Money or Your Life (Tandem Press), New Zealand lawyer John Clark counsels modern marketplace grinders to consider sacking their career in favor of their calling. He writes, “Everyone has a calling. That includes you. It’s out there waiting for you…” Sounds intriguing. I wonder: Do I have a calling? Do you?

Continue reading “Beyond the Temporary”

July 25, 2011

    Everyone has their rituals, especially on Sunday. Mine are engrained: up at 5:00a; S’bucks by 5:30; Sunday paper, beginning-to-end; run six miles… and be at church 10 minutes before the kick-off.
    Yesterday, I lingered at the Obituaries. Mortals (my peeps) warrant a brief mention, about the size of a private-party used-car ad. Luminaries get ‘lotsa’ space, and there were two biggies yesterday.
    First, with a full half-page: Amy Winehouse. “ British retro-soul singer Amy Jade Winehouse, who was found dead Saturday in her London apartment, had a penchant for living recklessly – she battled alcoholism and drug addiction, both of which often threatened to derail her career and usually eclipsed her talent. Winehouse was 27…” (monstersandcritics.com).
    On the facing page was a mere column – not a half-page, but 1/8 th of that allocation – for John Shalikashvili: “ Retired General John Shalikashvili, an immigrant who rose to the position of Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1990s, has died. He was 75. Shalikashvili was born in Poland of Georgian parents. He came to the United States as a teenager, learned English from John Wayne movies and rose to become the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military. Shalikashvili served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997…” (Yahoo! Finance).
    Every death is a reminder of mortality, but every life is a reminder of legacy. Each of us has a brief appearance on life’s stage; the great challenge – for all of us – is to leave our indelible mark on history in some significant way.

Continue reading “Every Life a Legacy”

July 18, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Some who are biblically-challenged could think this is a quote from the Old Testament book of Proverbs: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.” (Kenny Rogers, not Solomon. The Gambler, not Proverbs).
    Founders of Movements can be weird ducks. They (we?) live in the future; their view is always “over the rainbow,” beyond the horizon. They are firmly rooted in tomorrow… and tomorrow never comes. Their impact on people is compelling, recruiting folks with time, talent and treasure who come alongside to make the Dream (the Founder’s Dream) come true…
    Problem? Often, those Originators (The Master’s Program term for a founder, with a vision) live as if they will never die, and as if their current status is “good as ever,” with no decline. If they were the perfect leader for yesterday, they must still be the perfect leader for the movement-turned-organization today, heading into tomorrow. They missed Kenny Rogers’ wisdom, from the chorus…
    The Orange County Register used to have a “Religion Page,” every Saturday, featuring ads (paid for by churches) and articles (usually fluff, but well intended) about upcoming fundraisers and rallies. Today, the Religion Page has been long-buried (no mention in the Obituaries, but dead, nonetheless). The only two churches who still get coverage: Saddleback (always positive), and the Crystal Cathedral.
    If you haven’t heard: one of America’s first notable mega-churches is in mega-trouble. Since its founding in 1955 – in a drive-in movie theater – Robert H. Schuller’s approach to church has always been provocative. His “good news” was “possibility thinking.” His methods emphasized media exposure; mostly purchased television time. His real estate interests were on a grand scale, so he built a church campus anchored by the signature core building – the Crystal Cathedral – all of it “free and clear” because of well-orchestrated building fund drives with the local and television audiences…
    Months of headlines, in a nutshell: the church is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The transparency of that process has exposed multiple Schuller family members on the church payroll at high cost, while nearly $50 million in operations-related debt has put CC on the financial ropes. The demand: sell the property to satisfy the creditors. Current bidders include a developer who will build apartments, a local secular university who will do education, the local Catholic diocese who need a cathedral… and a church with pentecostal/prosperity leanings (37 miles away) who are proposing a “friendly takeover.” The debt-free buildings are the only asset that can satisfy the debt-laden operations, and the next steps are now in the hands of a bankruptcy judge in a courtroom in Santa Ana…

Continue reading “Leadership Succession”

July 11, 2011

    I hope your summer is unfolding well! For me, the intensity of fall/winter/spring is unrelenting: I fly 150,000+ miles during those seasons maintaining my contact with the Master’s Program groups I lead across the country. But, summer is different; my work for Master’s is closer to home, and allows me some catch-up time with family. I’m reconnecting with Cheri this week…
    Road trip! We’re in the Dakotas – North and South – while we check-off one of her Bucket List highlights. We spent the last couple of days around Mt. Rushmore…
    For most Americans, the last (only?) time they saw Rushmore was in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Shown for less than a minute in the 124 minute production, the mountain sculpture is an American icon, but when we were there – on a Saturday, middle of summer – there was no congestion, no lines. At some moments, it felt like it was just us and the four men on the mountain…
    It’s magnificent. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln (left to right, on the mountain) will still be looking over the Black Hills when Jesus returns.
    First conceived by Doane Robinson – a historian for the state of South Dakota – as a boost to tourism, it became a patriotic memorial when sculptor Gutzon Borglum was enticed to take on the task. Robinson’s idea was to sculpt famous figures from stone needles that stand in the Black Hills. Borglum was working for the Daughters of the Confederecy who were financing the carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson into Stone Mountain, in Georgia. He was two years into the project when he left it – in 1925 – to head to Mt. Rushmore( Stone Mountain completed 50 years later).
    It took 14 years to finish the majestic masterpiece at Rushmore. With artistic freedom, Borglum – son of Danish immigrants – chose the 1^st, 3^rd, 16^th and 26^th presidents to depict America’s greatness. Washington: birth. Jefferson: growth. Lincoln: preservation. Roosevelt: development. Their roles as leaders was far more than a placemark of history. They made a positive contribution to a country that was – and, remains – “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all…”
    There’s something about mountains – and great leaders – that inspires construction. “ …Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah…’” (Matthew 17:1-4.)
    Three great leaders: Moses: the Lawgiver. Elijah: the Prophet. Jesus: the Messiah. That was a threesome Peter wanted to memorialize… but Jesus told them to calm down, and keep it quiet. He wanted to remain under the radar…

Continue reading “Reminded at Mount Rushmore”

July 5, 2011

    While delivered a “day late,” this weekly piece is time-stamped for July 4^th, 2011. In America, we’re celebrating the 235^th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, which is deemed America’s “birthday.”
    Wow; we’re 235. It’s an age when we – nationally – are at risk of some historic dementia. While we wave flags and attend parades, it’s tempting to forget where we came from.
    It was 85 years ago – in Philadelphia, at the event marking the 150^th Anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence – when Calvin Coolidge, the 30^th President, gave what many believe was the finest statement about the Declaration ever made by a President. He was often dismissed as a man of few words; he didn’t specialize in speeches. Consider his comments about the integration of Christian faith and America’s origins:
    When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature’s God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say "The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven."

Continue reading “A Firm Reliance on Divine Providence”

July 27, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

A selective highlight of reports regarding a topic in the “Top 10 List” of hot-potato political issues.  

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GARDEN OF EDEN – The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him…” So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs   and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib   he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;  she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh… (Genesis 2:18-24).

ROMAN EMPIRE – Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error… (Romans 1:21-27, c. 50).

SAN FRANCISCO – New census figures show that one of every 100 California households is made up of cohabitating  same-sex couples, the highest proportion among the seven states for which detailed demographic data has been released so far… (Associated Press, June 23, 2011).

ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born… (New York Times, June 24, 2011).  

Continue reading “Weighing-in on a headline topic”

June 20, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend, 

    If you’re a dad, Happy (belated) Father’s Day. If you’re a man – but, not a dad – allow me to talk about something you experienced (your dad), but have not yet passed along (your fathering). Ladies: this week, you’re spectators, not targets…
    My pastor, Dave Mitchell, pulled a great manifesto into his Father’s Day message yesterday:
    Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well.  Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone.  Men took charge because that’s what they did.  But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men.  Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khaki’s and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.  But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for.  The world sits idly by and cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street.  For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes.  We need grown-ups.  We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency.  It’s time to get your hands dirty.  It’s time to answer the call of manhood.  It’s time to wear the pants.

Continue reading “Good Men, Happy Fathers”

June 13, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend, 

    I’m considering a news fast; the daily headlines are in conflict with my quality of life.
    The markets are losing steam, and there’s no indication of change-points on the near-term horizon. The ideas in Washington – and, on the early-stage campaign trail – regarding a “fix” for the economy run the gambit, from tired to trendy.
    As the markets run down, many people who had growing balances a few years ago now have growing uncertainty, instead. The people who were comfortable just “getting by” are either jobless or hopeless. The bell curve has shifted and reset; today, there are more people with current needs… and less people with current abundance. Today, compassion seems to be something that more people need, but less can afford.
    What a time for people like Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett – the “two” Americans at the top of Forbes’ List – to challenge their billionaire peers with The Giving Pledge ( givingpledge.org ).
    Buffett describes his outlook in this way: “The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my (resources) on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.”
    The Gates and Buffett didn’t invent generosity, but they’ve introduced it as a value to people for whom generosity would not require personal sacrifice. They’ve aligned with a certainty expressed half a century ago by Winston Churchill, who said: “ We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”  Years ago, entertainer Danny Thomas went from comedy to compassion in his own life; he put it this way: “ All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.”
    When great surplus comes alongside even greater need, the solution seems clear. Generosity is the free-will provision that alleviates the shortfall. When the surplus is taken against the will of the person who holds it, emotional damage is imparted on both parties. When interpersonal provision occurs, both giver and receiver are enriched.
    Generosity isn’t taught in school, and – too often – it isn’t modeled at home. It’s more caught than taught … and seeing it in action is better than reading about it in books. Where do you go for the ultimate picture of generosity, in action?

Continue reading “Cultivating Compassion, in a down market”

June 6, 2011

    It’s the sixth largest county – measured in people, not acres – in America; in California, it’s #3, behind Los Angeles and San Diego. There is no “big city” anchoring Orange County, but there is a Magic Kingdom. In my travels, the question, “Where’s home, for you?” has always been the county, not our map spot (Tustin Hills?); for most of my life, the qualifier was, “You know… Disneyland!”
    Then, 1994 hit. Tinkerbell and Mickey lost their prominence behind Robert Citron, the county treasurer whose misdeeds in money management led to the largest municipal bankruptcy, ever (stay tuned; that record may fall, soon…). Orange County lost some luster, as our assets got kicked…
    We went from bad to worse, in March of 2006. As the country’s opulence orgy climbed to new heights – fueled by speculation and unserviceable mortgage debt – my hometown county got a face transplant. The public servants who exposed our financial deficiency went into history’s waste bin, and the Real Housewives of Orange County exposed our moral deficiency.

Continue reading “40 Great Years”

May 31, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Memorial: something set up to remind people of a person or an event. Memorial Day may be a convenient start-of-summer holiday, but its purpose is clear: it is a day set-aside to remember the men and women who gave their lives in defense of our national freedom.
    That’s a tough assignment, in a culture that is suffering from historic dementia. Too many of us didn’t pick up the story line in American History class; we’ve been under the spell of revisionists who have interpreted the American drama through lenses that lead to apology for our national past instead of the celebration of our epic progression.
    Memory is a funny thing; it isn’t a quality that develops on its own. Memories are the deposits made in our mind, principally by the exceptional occurrences, not the mundane.
    Moshe Bar is director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. He writes – for laymen, like me – about the curious function of the brain in archiving life as memorable history. He says that the majority of life is lost when we turn the corner; we only store in our long-term file what we deem “important.” How does something qualify for inclusion?
    According to Bar, “…novelty is the primary, if not the primal, trigger of learning. What we learn, what stays in memory, are novel bits of information…” When our lives become predictable and routine, our brain doesn’t waste the space on the hard drive. That’s why – according to Bar – you cannot remember what you did two Saturdays ago…
    Research is most-often forward-looking; it’s progressive. Remembering is – by definition – backward-looking; that doesn’t make it regressive, but rather, wise(“having or showing experience”).
    If “God” is the subject, you may find evidence of Him in the research lab, but whatever is found there will build on the foundation of the memories of Him that are inscribed in the parchments.

Continue reading “Memorial – To Remember”

Dear Marketplace Friend,  

    I’m sure he meant well.
    Harold Camping is an elderly gentleman who has built a media platform – dozens of stations, under the banner, “Family Radio” – which has allowed his voice to be heard, by lots of folks. His early work was civil engineering; he had his own HalfTime when he pursued ministry as his calling. He has always had – and, expressed – strong opinions, based on his interpretations of Scripture.
    He has now had his “15 minutes of fame.” Millions heard of his declaration: May 21^st was the day that would mark the Return of Jesus. Cataclysmic events were to begin at 6:00pm local time – in every time zone – as the End of History commenced.
    Well, we’re still here. Atheists are partying like there’s no tomorrow lot’s of tomorrows. Christians who believe the Bible’s prophetic future are now certified “kooks;” are they right?

Continue reading “15 Minutes of Fame”

May 16, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend, 

    Great quotes are memorable synopses of something far larger in scope and substance.
    I saw the picture of a tombstone recently that said it all:”I Have Nothing Further to Say".  If anyone is going to mark the location of my remains someday, I would love to have that sentiment punctuating the end of my earthly journey…
    Cinema connoisseurs love to capture the memory of a movie through quotes that are lifted from the screenplay. A film trilogy about an Italian family in New York produced this one-liner: “My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” (Michael Corleone, in The Godfather, 1972.)
    The “offer” that son Michael referred to was just one example of the strong-arm, do-or-die style of the Mafia approach to influencing people to make decisions in alignment with the “Big Boss.”
    What a contrast to the way the real Big Boss operates. If we were scripting a mainstream movie on the life of Jesus, we might put this line out for the Star: “My Father made him an offer that he chose to refuse.” (Jesus of Nazareth, in Luke’s Gospel, c. 29.)

Continue reading “Honoring a Choice”

May 9, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Let’s hear another sustained applause for the moms who enrich our lives! Yesterday was tremendous… but a token, nonetheless. Some mothers devote themselves almost exclusively to the role, making maternal duty their day-in, day-out assignment. Others carry a full load in the career arena, but place the priority on their progeny, when push comes to shove (and it does, often). I trust your Mother’s Day ( United States and Canada) allowed you to extend – or, to receive – commendation, as deserved.
    Men need to spend more significant time with their families. In The Master’s Program, we focus on the “significant” factor: time can be squandered, or leveraged. If the time one spends produces little or no value, increasing the amount will do little to enhance the relationships. Men benefit from learning how to turn minutes into moments when engaged with their family; making memories that capture the hearts of wives and sons and daughters is an art to be learned…

Continue reading “Become Better at Being”

May 2, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    ​It took almost 10 years; the hunt has been relentless. It consumed the bulk of the Bush presidency, and it was the legacy handed to the current president: the international hunt for Osama bin Laden is the initiative that has, in part, defined American foreign relations and actions since soon after the turn of the century.
    ​ ​Last night, President Obama announced the successful mission of a small cohort of American Special Forces in a suburb of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. In a mansion compound built for the express purpose of housing bin Laden, he was found and killed in a firefight that left him and one son dead. In the brief skirmish, reports said that bin Laden used a woman in the home as a human shield. It is reported this morning that his body was taken from the scene and later buried at sea, in respect to Muslim customs requiring burial within a day of death. It’s over… or, is it?
    ​​Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the 9/11 attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden’s death as a momentous achievement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said. No one argues that the death of bin Laden – as reported – was “just.” But, a huge question remains: has justice, in fact, been “done?”

Continue reading “A picture of Osama”

April 25, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    There are some businesses that have staying power (grocery stores, gas stations), and some that are on the way out (Blockbuster). You could put daily newspapers in Category #2.
    ​The Sunday morning paper pile that calls itself the Los Angeles Times – April 24, 2011 – is proof of my premise. The task of a newspaper editor is to sift through the pile of happenings and assign priority, through placement. The supreme position is “front page/above the fold.” Prominence declines, page by page, specialty section by section. When something “didn’t make the paper,” the message is clear: the event or occurrence borders on irrelevance. It happened… but, no one cares.

Continue reading “My King was born King”

April 18, 2011

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    "Only in the federal government would you double up on workers, averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits, that aren’t doing their job." That’s according to Rep. John Mica (D-FL), who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He’s reacting to the avalanche of reports of air traffic controllers who can’t stay awake on the job. As a guy who flies 160,000 miles/year, it’s always reassuring to know that your survival is secure in the hands of a sleeping union professional…
    Last week, the Wall Street Journal addressed the question, before it became a question. In their weekend Personal Journal, the lead article was provocative: “The Sleepless Elite."  It snagged me…
    Summary: there are three kinds of people around you today. First, largest group: Normal Sleepers. They comprise about two-thirds of the world, and they have “normal sleep needs.” You read about them in the medicine-for-the-masses articles: “you need 7-9 hours of sleep… or else.” That’s the mantra; anyone logging less is a danger to themselves and others.
    Group 2: the Wannabe Short Sleeper. Line a third of Americans up in that queue. With less than seven hours a night, they live with chronic sleep deprivation. Put the Air Traffic Controllers in that category; they’re posers, many of them. Not cut out for the job; one by one, they are being cut off from the job, once exposed as nappers. Does that make them members of a “sleeper cell?”
    Last group, though a very small one: Short Sleepers. About 1% to 3% of the population, “they function well on less than six hours of sleep… tend to be unusually energetic and outgoing. Their moods are upbeat; they have a high tolerance for physical pain and psychological setbacks.” The article goes on to say that “there is currently no way people can teach themselves to be Short Sleepers…” Seems like the FAA needs to find a way to attract those SS folks to work the control towers!
    Sleep Trumps Responsibility.

Continue reading “Sleepers, Be Alert!”