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

the american dream

Here Are 4 Ways Millennials Are Helping To Redefine The American Dream

  What is the essence of “The American Dream.”?

“Every succeeding generation will have it better than the last.”

There is now the worry that our kids and grandkids won’t have the life that we enjoyed.  They won’t have…

  • A Bigger Home

  • A Better Job

  • More money

…than their parents.  Then again, “bigger and better” have a finite capacity.  How much bigger and better can it get?

Could our understanding of the American dream actually be misguiding? Here are 4 ways this new generation is challenging us to lead today for a better tomorrow.

1.    They challenge us to think qualitatively instead of quantitatively.  Quality has less limits than quantity.  Why not focus the dream on economic justice, or more tolerance for differing points of view.  Less polarization could be refreshing.  Or how about revisiting our education system to make sure real learning is taking place?  Why not focus on preparing students for the workplace of the future?  Does our instruction take place in the context of a global economy?  This new generation demands this kind of thinking.  It’s a good demand and will help define what that American dream should be.

Think quality instead of quantity.

2.    They challenge old assumptions about careers and jobs.  Getting employment and loyally working for a company until we can comfortably retire has been thrown into question.  Staying with one company is not the top consideration of a career.  And neither is the sole emphasis on the bottom line.  There is a strong expectation for businesses to expand the impact they are making.  This newest generation has a strong sense of this.  And it transcends having more than our parents.

Think contribution instead of consumption.

3.    They challenge “one size fits all.”  Learning processes will be customized.  Some of us grew up with television.  This new generation has grown up with something in their hand.  Over the next few years many of these devices will be used in the classroom and workplace.  It will be possible to monitor how fast students are learning.  They will be able to learn at their own speed.  This will prevent someone from falling into the gaps of the system, while at the same time not holding another back.  Managerial-leaders are also learning to do this. Mentoring and Coaching are a part of the leadership process.

Think “guide on the side” instead of “sage on the stage.”

4.    They challenge us to make decision-making more distributive.  It was customary for decisions to be made by central command because that’s where the information was collected.  Today, there is a pipeline of information available to everyone.  The skills for making decisions need to be dynamic – not static.  This is necessary to keep up with rapid change, and it elevates the role of the worker.  There are a lot of firsts with the Millennial generation that make this essential.

It’s the first generation that…

  • Doesn’t need an authority figure to access information

  • Enjoys external stimuli at their fingertips 24/7

  • Will learn more from a portable device than a seminar

Leadership will rise more organically, and distributed decision-making will help grow and leverage that leadership.  A hierarchical chain of command can act like a bottleneck, slowing down the system. The result?  Better decisions and stronger engagement.

Think collaboration instead of control.

Every succeeding generation will have it “better” than the last?  I believe that is true.  Redefining what “better” means gets us closer to a biblical model in our understanding of the American Dream.