During my final Graduate School of Banking summer, I was a new Christian. My midwestern peers noticed a difference and seemed determined to draw me back into drunkenness and debauchery.   One evening, my peers decided to visit a strip club. It suddenly became their mission to ridicule and pressure me to join them. I locked ...

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As someone who has hired hundreds of speakers, I take seriously the responsibility of hiring someone to speak God’s truths to our network. I’ve experienced the awe of watching Henry Blackaby speak a powerful message from God during the 2008 stock market collapse.   But I’ve also experienced the horror of a speaker offending our audience ...

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My friend and former police officer, Steve, once told me, “I never had a problem chasing a man that I suspected had a gun. But if I had to stand before a large audience and speak like you do, I would be petrified.”  God didn’t design Steve for public speaking, and He didn’t design me ...

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When someone feels compelled to tell you they are ethical, it’s likely they aren’t. Years ago, I met a business owner who kept telling me that he was a person of high integrity.   While touring his business, one of his employees stopped me to say, “Don’t believe anything he says. My boss is a crook ...

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In this series, we’re discussing the art of delegation. The fourth step is establishing an effective organizational structure and then, begin delegating.  Bill was the President over five branches. He had the bank divided between retail and commercial. I led the commercial side.   Every Monday, Bill assigned me a stack of files and required me ...

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In this series, we’re identifying four steps to help you delegate some of your work to others. The second step is to teach your team members your guiding principles and expectations.  Bill was a bank president known for his clean loan portfolio. He prided himself on having almost zero past due loans. If a loan ...

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In this series, we’re identifying four steps to help you delegate some of your work to others. The second step is to teach your team members your guiding principles and expectations.  Bill was a bank president known for his clean loan portfolio. He prided himself on having almost zero past due loans. If a loan ...

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My friend, Roger, used to call on small town radio stations. These small radio stations often struggled to survive unless they found a good advertising salesperson.  But frequently, a good salesperson would become very productive. Their sales commissions would soar until eventually they made more money than the owner.  Roger observed that this often led ...

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I love new ideas. One thing that I’ve discovered, however, is when I chase a new idea that I dream up without God’s input, it usually doesn’t have a great result.   However, there are times when God will give me an assignment that I wouldn’t normally consider. After receiving affirmation that this new assignment is ...

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Steven was excited to take a new leadership role in the company. But he quickly got into trouble when he tried to make changes based on his own experiences, before understanding the unique aspects of his new team.  At work, our experience and expertise often propel our career advancement. But relying only on our experience ...

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