Morning Briefings

Rarely does life unfold with the predictability of carefully scripted strategic leadership; far more leadership is improvised. We rely on our wits and accumulated wisdom.

– Chris Lowney
Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World

Jesus didn’t even ask his disciples not to abandon him–he proved to them they couldn’t.

– Hugh Prather
Spiritual Notes to Myself: Essential Wisdom for the 21st Century

The speaker of Australia’s Parliament has called for a public debate about whether the country’s lawmakers should end the practice of starting each session with the Lord’s Prayer. Dumping the prayer is unlikely to end anytime soon, though, as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said Sunday they wanted to keep the prayer.

– AP, October 27, 2008

In the workplace, employees will spend roughly half their waking hours working and living in the environment you create as the leader. There is a lot at stake and people are counting on you. The role of the leader is a very high calling.

– James C. Hunter
The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

I would like to challenge you to begin reflecting upon the awesome responsibility you signed up for when you chose to be the leader. That’s right, each of you voluntarily signed up to be mom, dad, boss, coach, whatever. Nobody forced you into any of these roles and you are free to leave at any time.

– James C. Hunter
The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

It’s a fact that many traditional employees resent the arrival of a temp from the reasonable fear that their own job may be next to be converted. Be aware that temp workers may well expect a chilly reception, and it is largely the responsibility of the staff to bring them into the team and introduce them in a positive way to the company culture.

– Peggy Post & Peter Post
Emily Post’s The Etiquette Advantage in Business

A faithful leader knows when to release her hold on the world and the world’s ways. Because every godly leader understands she is just a servant using her natural gifts while waiting to be ushered into God’s purpose and presence.

– Victoria Lowe
10 Spiritual Principles of Successful Women

Maintaining a sense of urgency throughout a company is one of the most difficult challenges in business.

– Yvon Chouinard
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Rescue mission: ‘Father Art,’ in five years at Mission San Juan Capistrano, has improved the once-crumbling site while tending to the faithful.

– Greg Hardesty
The Orange County Register

While it is certainly worthwhile to seek advice from others, ultimately a calling is between you and God.

– Ray Pritchard
Leadership Lessons of Jesus: A Timeless Model for Today’s Leaders

Although being nice can be a worthy attribute to cultivate, it must never deter us from speaking the truth and from loving in tough ways.

– Sr. Melannie Svoboda
Living Faith

At the heart of working men and women is the longing–though oft forgotten and sadly despaired of–to participate in something greater than themselves, to belong to a cause that is meaningful and to share in a legacy that endures.

– Richard D. Phillips
The Heart of an Executive: Lessons on Leadership from the Life of King David

Every godly leader understands she is just a servant using her natural gifts while waiting to be ushered into God’s purpose and presence.

– Victoria Lowe
10 Spiritual Principles of Successful Women

Farewell to a titan: Carl Karcher, who parlayed a modest hot dog stand into a multimillion-dollar fast-food enterprise, died Friday. He was 90. ‘I interviewed Carl regularly in the mid-1980s. Everyone who met him received two things: a coupon for a free Carl’s Jr. hamburger and a copy of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi,’ according to

– The Orange County Register’s
Jan Norman

At the heart of a truly great business there is a lack of busyness and the presence of a humble, determined visionary.

– Abbot Christopher Jamison
Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life

Leaders who have had great impact on society have called people to be part of the history of their times.

– from
Reflections on Leadership: How Robert K. Greenleaf’s Theory of Servant-Leadership Influenced Today’s Top Management Thinkers

Leaders imagine an inspiring future and strive to shape it rather than passively watching the future happen around them. Heroes extract gold from the opportunities at hand rather than waiting for golden opportunities to be handed to them.

– Chris Lowney
Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World

Here is the greatest calling for the executive, and the greatest challenge, too: to master his own heart, so as to inspire the hearts of others.

– Richard D. Phillips
The Heart of an Executive

Remember, the role of the leader is to identify and meet legitimate needs. I can still recall what my mother told me the day I married my beautiful wife Rita, God rest her soul, fifty years ago this month. She told me never to ignore a woman. One of the primary works of love is paying attention to each other.

– from James C. Hunter’s
The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to remind people that you are, you aren’t.

– Margaret Thatcher