Teamwork

One of the greatest sins a “leader” can commit is to work alone.  Good leadership equips, empowers, trusts, and releases.  The best way to do this is through teams, and this is a good definition of team.  “A team is a group organized to work together to accomplish a set of objectives that cannot be achieved [...]

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Never Eat Alone

I just finished Keith Ferrazzi’s excellent book, Never Eat Alone.  I found out about the book from several references to it on LinkedIn’s excellent business networking site.  Still, you never know what you’re going to find when you buy a book based on others’ recommendations.
Almost from the first page of the book I was hooked.  I knew [...]

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Ignorance is not a good thing!

“The only thing worse than training your people and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”  Henry Ford.
 
 Organizations that do not train their people are poured in ideological and methodological concrete.  In some respects they are like a university that never allows research or thought that is dated after a particular [...]

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To the Next Level

Yesterday Jennifer Krumm, COO of the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce, and I went to an all-day seminar at the California Chamber of Commerce.  The seminar was entitled “Taking Your Chamber to the Next Level,” and it was sponsored by Superchex, a Chamber group that provides training for local Chambers to help them offer better [...]

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“I’m never to busy for your referrals.”

I really admire my friend Russ.  He is one of the kindest and most attentive people I know.
It’s not unusual to find a message on my cell phone.  “Hi Bruce, this is Russ.  I was just calling to say hello and see how you’re doing.”  It takes him about a minute to do that, but [...]

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Marketing Non Profits

On Thursday I was dreading the thought of giving up my Saturday. I treasure sleeping in, a slow breakfast, and being lazy for one day. But Jeff from Radio Merced gave me a free ticket to the “Nonprofit Management and Marketing” seminar at Merced College.
So the alarm went off at 6:00 AM, and [...]

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Teamwork

Whenever I have talked with church planters, a common warning comes from them. It’s always something like “Don’t surrender your vision to anyone.”
Many planters warn that disgruntled and baggaged people seek out new churches and attempt to shape them into their own vision. That vision can take the form of a particular kind [...]

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Public Service

Today I had two meetings to attend, one early this morning and the other in the late afternoon. The groups were highly diverse in membership, and the individuals very busy and responsible people.
Despite their differences, the members share a common interest and love of Merced city and county. You will see them all [...]

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DNA

I recently had an interaction that caused me to think about the important matter of church DNA. DNA is the basic character of the congregation including what she values and how she goes about accomplishing her goals.
For several years I have believed that the leadership of a church is largely responsible for how members see [...]

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