I know, it sounds like the language of a circus barker, "Come see the Flying Zucchini Brothers as they defy gravity." However, I am talking about much more than entertaining circus talk. "Defying gravity," is a terrific description of the way effective leadership teams learn to operate.

I have often quoted the axiom, "a difference between a leader and a follower is PERSPECTIVE. And, a difference between good leaders and better leaders is better perspective." But, perspective is more than a strategic issue. The greatest perspective is actually spiritual, and as such, it calls for the work of the Spirit.

Picture the scene. Here I was, trying to explain the problem of a 30-year-old analog TV in a flat-screen high-def digital age to a technologically illiterate senior citizen who is almost deaf. He just doesn’t have the categories.

I want to lobby for a new day in the way we think of ourselves and engage the world around us. I am tired, impatient, angry, even embarrassed by a consistent trend in the Christian community. There are times when I hear the diatribes of those who claim the name of Christ and I feel [...]

It used to be that the notion of a leader as Lone Ranger was a good thing. Riding in on a white horse to save the day single-handedly is the way great leaders carried themselves. That day is over. Today, leaders that operate today as autocratic individualists are suspect.

Character-deep leaders understand the relationship between character and competency. While character may be the key to influence, they have also learned to rely on their competencies much like a master-mechanic relies on tools.

There are five consistent attributes critical to a leader’s life-long development. The extent to which a man or woman has cultivated all five is the measure by which they will find the influence of their life growing exponentially.

I have a theory: courage is the sinew that connects our thinking to our behavior. It's not good intentions that get things done, it is courage. We can talk the right talk, we can understand key ideas, and we can have all manner of good ideas, but without courage we won't act on them.

I grew up in a Christian culture that functionally reduced following Jesus to a list of obligations and daily duties. Here is a profoundly different look at discipleship. One that is freeing and enticing.

Everyone knows what radar does. It creates a picture of what is on the horizon. Wise leaders pay attention to their radar.