Obstacles (Often Unseen) Leaders Must Overcome — Pt. 1: Isolation

Obstacles (Often Unseen) Leaders Must Overcome

Part 1: Isolation

Often it’s not the obstacle that you can see that causes you to stumble, but rather the obstacle you can’t see that impairs, impales, and immobilizes you.

There are always obstacles. Leaders should learn to recognize both the danger in unseen obstacles and the value of overcoming them. Many obstacles are relatively easy to recognize.  However, there are several silent, slippery slopes that the developing leader must learn to traverse with sensitivity and skill.  These obstacles are extremely personal in nature and can blind, blindside and bust the leader into pieces.  In fact, these very challenges have decimated many promising leaders throughout the epochs of history. Continue reading →

Be Strong and Courageous. And, Don’t Give Up!

“If you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small” Proverbs 24:10

This is one of my favorite Bible verses. It tells me that no matter what I am faces with, I must choose not to quit. I have quoted my father many times over the years saying, “no son of mine is going to quit, that is your job, get back to work!” He said this when I got up enough courage to tell him at 16 years old that I wanted to quit washing dishes, coming home at midnight soaking wet with cracked and bloody dishpan hands, and get a job bagging groceries.

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I could have quit in my heart and let it affect my work, but that thought never crossed my mind. I knew that if I continued to work there I had to get better, faster, and stronger. It was my “day” of adversity, I could choose to excel or I could loaf so I’d get fired. If I was going to stay, I knew I must be the catalyst for my own change, growth, and development. Continue reading →