ClickCease
Matt Rusten
Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company

Is joy an underrated asset in your leadership? In our latest article, Matt Rusten explores why joy, much like humor, plays a vital role in building a thriving company culture. From increasing team engagement to fostering resilience, joy can transform workplace dynamics and inspire purpose-driven work. Discover three key ways to cultivate joy in your organization and why it’s essential for leaders who seek both results and fulfillment.

Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company
Business, Faith, Faith at Work
Convene
Do Not Worry

‘Do not worry.’ We’ve read Matthew 6:25-34 in the Sermon on the Mount, but what does that look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? God knows our every worry, fear, and concern – and He can handle it. Many thanks to Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, for his encouragement to think about how our lives might be different by truly living out this scriptural principle.

Do Not Worry
Greg Leith
Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the ...

Got a quick minute to chat? I’ve been wanting to share something with you as you lead in the midst of the election cycle in the USA or when your political election takes place in your country. When the dust settles on the election and the new country leader is declared, one thing will still be as true as it is right now. You’ll still be the one leading your firm the day after the election. Your team members will still come to work the day after the winner is declared. They’ll still be looking to you for leadership, for a paycheck, for a sense of community at their workplace.

What do they want most that only you can deliver? It’s meaning. That meaning they’re looking for begins with you and your leadership. To be sure, what Washington DC does actually can impact your business significantly, however, the president of the United States or the leader of any country does not lead your firm. You do. It’s an enterprise entrusted to you to lead as a steward. It’s a place where people look to you for answers, where people want to be part of a team that cares about them and where people want to be valued, appreciated, and loved. The next president of the country will not show up this week at your office to encourage your team, fix a broken piece of equipment, hire the next team member, sell a big account, or cast a bold vision about how your team will reach your goals and impact the culture.

Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the Election?
Chip Neidigh
A Safe Place To Fall
A Safe Place To Fall
Dave Ulrich
3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

As we find ourselves mid-October and a blink away from a new calendar year, it is an opportunity to prepare for how we view transitions. Transitions allow for reflection and renewal, for letting go and beginning anew, and for learning from the past and creating the future. Instead of laying out trends for the next year, I would like to comment on a fundamental enabler of any transition: hope. Leaders who want to improve, CEO’s who work toward excellence, HR professionals who aspire to deliver more value, and employees who seek well-being all achieve their transitions by realizing hope.

Hope integrates many of the positive traits that shape transitions for others and matter to me personally: learning, patience, service, faith, humility, optimism, gratitude, and so forth. I send hundreds of formal and informal e-mails every month to invite people to programs, to thank people for attending programs, to check in on those I mentor, and to stay connected to those I care about. I begin almost every one of these notes with “Hope you are well.” Hope is one of my personal desires, tag lines, and biases and an enabler of any transition.

If I could implant one trait in my family, friends, and colleagues who are undergoing continual transition, it would be hope. 

3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

biblical living

Finding Your Life Verse

I was with a small group of guys that are intentional about the lives they lead.   It came up that only two of us had a life verse. I loved Mark’s. Picture a young skin-head, white supremacist who was a, drug pusher, addict, ex-con who met Christ in a way that transformed his life in a radical way. In short, you can now picture Mark as a what could be overly simplified as faithful husband, dedicated father, servant to others, and a (grateful) Christ follower. When he shared his life verse with me, I immediately felt empowered and inspired. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and persecutor and violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.   The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus…. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever, Amen.”

1 Timothy 1:12-17

How awesome is that!

My life verse was defined for me in 1987 when I found myself with some buddies standing at the Berlin Wall—before it fell when communism was still permeating the lives of millions. I wanted felt compelled to write something meaningful that represented everything that the United States and Jesus Christ stand for. What I wrote did, it has been that verse that has guided me for the last 25 years and, Lord willing, will for the next 50. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

1 Peter 4:10

This verse informed me that I had a gift. Even when I doubted or didn’t feel like I had one, God said to me, “Yes, you do. Now, figure out what it is and use it to serve others.”   And, I’ve have been trying to do that faithfully ever since.

I love another buddy’s life verse that has also become their family verse. It has encouraged all of them to live with a heart that God can do even more than they imagine when they feel like they are living richly in God’s presence and also give them the confidence to persevere and expect more in those dark times when it is hard to dream big in your faith.

“God is able to do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us.” Ephesians 3:20

In that long list of things I failed to do as a parent is giving my kids a life verse. But, I survived and you will to. The good news is you can Google, “life bible verse” and probably not get any really good options. It leaves you with the alternative of reading through the scriptures yourself.

This might be just what you need to make reading your bible more relevant and interesting to you if you’ve struggled in this area.

Please send me your life verse or one you are trying on out and tell me why you chose it.

Matt Hanson

Matt@theCentennial.com