Did the title grab your attention? If so, why? I imagine for all sorts of reasons: perhaps you have an MBA but now am not sure if it was worth it; have an MBA and its been a tremendous investment; don’t have an MBA but would love to get one; ‘I don’t need to do any more formal study!’ etc.
Well have a read of this article in The BNET Report. It will get your brain cells ticking over – and don’t miss the comments to the article.
Music often has a profound impact on us. Over the last twenty years or so, as we have witnessed and experienced significant suffering with our son, the hymn, ‘It is well with my soul‘, never ceases to stir our hearts and clear the tear ducts! Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) composed these words in the aftermath of extreme suffering.
If you enjoyed the singing of Wintley Phipps on the previous post, then turn up the volume, get out the tissues and praise God for His strengthening presence in the midst of severe suffering:
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico places enormous pressure on the wide array of leaders involved – from the oil and gas companies to government officials to politicians. My interest in the unfolding crisis is heightened through years of working in the resources sector and interest in leadership approaches to varying situations.
At the most basic level, leadership styles can be characterised as:
directive / autocratic
participative / democratic
delegative.
Every leader will have a ‘default’ style but it is critical to develop the capability to adjust the style based on the particular presenting circumstances. Clearly the Gulf incident requires a leadership approach consistent with ‘crisis management.’ How are the BP CEO and U.S. President leading?
David Gergen, Director of the Harvard Kennedy School, senior political analyst for CNN, and a former adviser to presidents both Republican and Democrat has posted an opinion piece, that has been summarised by BNET Australia as follows:
Set up a daily command center in Washington where a presidentially appointed leader runs the show, calls the shots, coordinates the overall effort, briefs the president and briefs the country.
Have two deputies, one to direct the leak-stoppage and the other to direct the clean-up. Ex-CEOs and generals would be excellent candidates.
Summon all the major oil and drilling companies to the White House for emergency efforts to get the hole plugged.
Get BP out of the picture for clean-up; just send it the bill. If it is still needed for hole-plugging, okay, but ensure that it answers every day to directions from the government. If BP needs new internal leadership, figure out how to get that done.
Employ the U.S. military for organizational coordination and where needed, for anything else such as clean-up.
Make more aggressive efforts to tap the best minds in the world for help.
Provide the country with the kind of daily briefings that the military has mastered for wartime — bring in people who are smart, straight and tough.
Ensure that economic assistance is provided to families, small businesses and communities that need it with dispatch and generosity.
Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess.
And finally, very importantly, exercise the powers of leadership every day from the Oval Office.
There is much that can, and will, be learnt about crisis management from this incident.
I have previously posted on the magnificent Aurora Borealis. Here’s another treat. What a truly amazing Creator we worship. In Scripture, creation is Trinitarian, with a particular emphasis on the Son as the agent of creation (John 1:1-4, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:1-3).
The writer to the Hebrews begins his Letter with these words:
1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
I’m into holiday snaps tonight. If you’re travelling by car to Tuscany, via the west side of Lago di Balsena, then make sure you visit Pitigiano – a town built on rock solid foundations. I feel a sermon illustration coming on.
About two years ago, I bought my first D-SLR camera – a Pentax K10D. It has started me on a new photography hobby. Which has then stimulated me to get into graphic design (for sermon slides and website etc) and the odd (?) movie or two. All of this of course has been stimulated by our visually creative Youth Pastor.
So where does a beginner in digital photography and photoshop turn to? Well, I simply followed the advice of one of the founders of Deep Creek’s Photographic Club – ‘buy Digital Photo each month’. And what great advice. The mag is chock full of useful photography hints, and typically at least four Photoshop tutorials on CD. In the February edition, there were tips on making borders less boring.
So I tried it out on a shot I took of Volterra, Tuscany, Italy on a very cold January morning a few years ago. Italy is beckoning again!
