My friend, Phil, serves on a local hospital board. After reviewing the hospital’s investments, Phil challenged the board with this question. “The mission of the hospital relates to helping people be healthy. Isn’t it hypocritical to own tobacco stocks?” Phil was surprised how few of the board members understood his concern. It seemed that they had compartmentalized their investments and […]

When Buster Douglas fought the Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Mike Tyson, Tyson was undefeated. The Las Vegas odds were 42 to 1 against Buster Douglas. Despite being knocked down in the 8th round, Buster roared back, becoming the first boxer ever to knockdown Tyson. Buster became the new Heavyweight Boxing Champion! After the fight, Buster revealed that his mother had passed […]

Jack was born with a hearing deficiency. Even worse, as a young man, Jack became blind due to a degenerative disease. Then, as a young husband and father, Jack was laid off from his ministry job. Desperate, Jack turned to God. God challenged Jack to view his challenges as an opportunity, directing him to Ephesians 3:20 which says, “Now to […]

My wife, Kathy, doesn’t like suffering alone. She appreciates finding someone who has, or is, suffering through a similar problem to compare notes and share life. On occasion, I’ve seen Kathy meet someone with a similar dilemma as Kathy may be facing. Without thinking Kathy has been known to blurt out, “I’m so glad to hear that.” Then she will […]

As a Senior Vice President for a large organization, I was once appointed to lead a task force to report on and resolve a challenging issue. Unfortunately, our research report concluded that the real problem revolved around my boss and his decisions! The same boss who had appointed me to lead this task force, was not pleased. Soon thereafter I […]

A Harvard Business Review article referenced a CEO Genome Project study on leaders who became CEOs much faster than their peers. A key factor that worked to the benefit of 30% of these fast track leaders was inheriting a mess at work. Early in my banking career I accepted a chief lending officer position at a troubled bank. This position […]

If you ask most people about St. Patrick’s Day, you might hear about drunken Irishmen, leprechauns, and lucky green shamrocks. St. Patrick would likely be appalled at how his legacy is now celebrated. St. Patrick was a 5th century Irish slave who later escaped and became a Catholic priest. Later, God called Patrick to return to a hedonistic Ireland! For […]

In the movie, “Legends of Bagger Vance,” Matt Damon stars as a washed-out golfer named Junuh, who gets a chance at greatness. On the final hole of an exhibition tournament against the two greatest golfers of the day, Junuh is positioned to win the tournament. But when he tries to remove something from in front of his ball, his ball […]

When I was 25 years old, I started a car rental agency from scratch. Interest rates and unemployment were skyrocketing at that time, but I still believed I could overcome all odds to be successful. One year later, I sold the cars to pay off my debts and left the car rental industry forever. The lessons I learned, however, prepared […]

Josh is a recent acquaintance and a serial entrepreneur. When I asked Josh about his work, he said, “When I left high school I determined to become an entrepreneur. But my first business failed, then my second, and my third. My fourth business started to get some traction, and by my fifth I was on my way.” Amazingly, Josh today […]