November 7, 2016 What will you do about the extinction dilemma? Entrepreneurs are wired differently; there’s no question about that. Most people see problems and feel some level of fear; their instinctive reaction is to move the other direction. Fire? Run the other way. Market uncertainty? Put the money under the mattress. A friend in …
Tag Archives: bob shank
Who’s got time for dead people?
October 31, 2016 Who’s got time for dead people? For various cultures around the world, tomorrow is a holiday. Driven by church traditions – often consolidated with pagan practices – a commemoration was planted on the calendar to focus on the dead. The 1st of November became All Saints Day – or, in the Mexican …
Leaders don’t wait to lead
October 24, 2016 Don’t miss the moment. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term “the first 100 days” to describe the efforts of the 73rd Congress – at that time, his legislative parallel branch – but the concept leaked across to measure his executive administration, recognizing the potency of performance by a President/CEO at …
You know what; do you know why?
October 17, 2016 Lots of people know; only a few know why. Every generation has been defined by discovery… but our generation has pushed the pursuit to levels never before imagined. In 1965, Gordon Moore – co-founder of both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel – predicted that the capacity of the microchip would double every two …
Maybe it’s time to pray
October 10, 2016 My Monday readers are a diverse bunch. Most are Americans, but not all. Adults, but with differing generational affiliations. Boomers; Busters; Millennials: we each bring nuances from our particular seasonal tribe into this conversation… Most never saw the name “Ronald Reagan” on a ballot; many were under-aged when he won his bid …
Is there Victory in the Verbiage?
October 3, 2016 Heard any great speeches lately? It happens every four years: the Olympics and the Presidential are quadrennial. The Games have a variety of settings and skills, but The Campaign has only one model: it’s all-about-the-mouth. The gold medal in persuasive rhetoric will go home with someone on November 8th this year. Speak …
It’s a Numbers Game
September 26, 2016 “What do you guys do in there?” It was a private club – in a downtown setting – where we hold our all-day quarterly sessions for The Master’s Program. The young man is part of the club staff who serve us through the day, but is never in the room when we’re …
I used to be Deplorable…
September 19, 2016 Bombs in Manhattan. Stabbings in St. Cloud. A weekend of football… and terrorism. It’s Monday morning; so much for starting the week with some “good news” in the headlines. In the old days, we left our doors unlocked; today, a deadbolt does nothing to provide security. Walking down the street – or, …
Here’s Your Assignment for 9/12
September 12, 2016 Where were you on 9/11? “A date that will live in infamy” is the description given to December 7th, 1941, by then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt to a joint session of Congress the next day. The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, and the destruction galvanized the resolve of America to enter World War …
Back to Work!
September 6, 2016 Happy Labor Day! Seems like I’m always saying that, though it’s only once a year. But, Labor Day always falls on a Monday – and, Point of View is always published on Monday (though distributed on Tuesday when Monday is a holiday!), so Labor Day – for us – is Big… Labor …
Something’s Gotta Change
August 29, 2016 “The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foothold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism.” (Albert Camus) Albert Camus was a French philosopher – he won the Nobel prize for literature in …
Living the Dream
August 22, 2016 It’s 2016; do you know who’s next door? It’s been 20 years since Tom Stanley and Bill Danko co-authored their signature book, The Millionaire Next Door (Longstreet Press). Using sound research, they countered the Thurston Howell III illusion (the rich guy on Gilligan’s Island) with the reality of rich people in America, …
Are you here to watch… or, to win?
August 15, 2016 Don’t bother me right now; somebody’s about to win the gold. Summertime productivity is always tough, but the quadrennial years are beyond reason: presidential mud-wrestling (the campaign) and worldwide competition (the Olympics) make it hard to focus on anything else on today’s schedule. Over 10,000 athletes are in Rio right now, from …
Don’t move… until you answer this question
July 18, 2016 “Where am I?” That question may not come up, for you, as often as it does for me. For the last 20 years, half of my nights are spent in a rent-a-bed. My ministry activities account for a lot of that travel, but my “off-time” isn’t spent in a recliner: for the …
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The Ball is in Your Court
July 11, 2016 Chaos burns bridges… and builds platforms. We’ve had chaos this week, in downtown Dallas. Blocks from the place where John F. Kennedy was shot, 53 years ago, another lone sniper has incited chaos and conflict across a country that is already polarized because of politics and policing. Bridges are burning; people have …
Promoting Freedom to People Demanding Slavery
July 5, 2015 Freedom! “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies …
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One thing guaranteed to make you better
June 27, 2016 What are you planning to do this summer? The magazine headline was provocative: “The Death of Reading.” Its author – Mitchell Stephens – had a vested interest: he was a journalism professor at New York University. The article appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine – when there was a Los Angeles …
Success and its Sad Statistics
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; …
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 …