TheCaseForChrist

I recently read The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, by Lee Strobel (1998).

I was encouraged to read this book by my lovely bride of 46 years. The title of the book clearly sets the premise.

My top takeaways:

·      LS’s story reminded me of the similar journey taken by C.S. Lewis. 

·      LS caused me to re-think my view of circumstantial evidence, which I have generally always considered through a negative lens.

·      Skepticism is extremely healthy and advantageous, until/unless it turns into cynicism. At that point, curiosity ceases and learning stops.

·      Perfect alignment in testimonials suggest collusion, while agreement on major points with variations in details lends credence to corroborating recollections. I had not considered that nuance.

·      I have long held that context is everything when faced with weighty decisions. That assertion is confirmed in this book.

·      It takes every bit as much “faith” to be an atheist as it does to be a Christian.

·      Reaffirmed is the assertion of one of my lifelong mentors: “Everyone has an opinion; I prefer the informed ones.”

·      LOVE, at the end of the day, is the only and best answer.

My favorite quotes:

“It’s like this: if you love a person, your love goes beyond the facts of that person, but it’s rooted in the facts about that person. For example, you love your wife because she’s gorgeous, she’s nice, she’s sweet, she’s kind. All these things are facts about your wife, and therefore you love her. But your love goes beyond that. You can know all these things about your wife and not be in love with her and put your trust in her, but you do. So the decision goes beyond the evidence, yet it is there also on the basis of the evidence. So it is with falling in love with Jesus.” (p. 125)

“A text without a context becomes a pretext for a prooftext.” (p. 163)

“To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., I may not yet be the man I should be or the man, with Christ’s help, I someday will be—but thank God I’m not the man I used to be!” (p. 269)

One of my professional colleagues described this book as “a game changer” for him. It most certainly has bolstered my faith, and provided me whole new set of lenses through which to view my faith.

The Case for Christ in a profound and consequential work.

AntiSubversives

Organizational dysfunction or inertia is typically the result of subversive behavior on the part of some members of the organization (either a few of 'em or a lot).

Assuming that we are voluntary members of organizations that have worthy and noble intentions, what are some ways we -- you and I -- can be better team members, and bolster the likelihood of the success of our team? Consider these moves...

• Align our time, effort, expertise, words, and influence as highly as possible directly to the worthy and noble goals we share.
• Bring positivity and energy to the table, every day.
• Contribute instead of consume. Add value in many ways, small and large.
• Deal with disagreements in objective, non-emotional, and transparent ways.
• With all people and in all ways, treat others respectfully and fairly.
• Perseverate only on the data that highly aligns to achievement of the noble and worthy outcomes we hold dear.
• Learn, and share learning, relentlessly.
• Refuse to engage in subversive behavior. Not only does it make our organization less, it makes US less.

If, however, we are in organizations that do not have worthy and noble intentions, perhaps it's time to get off the bus. Life is too short, and our participation in same will only make it shorter.

AccountabilityCrossroads

Accountability is a word and concept that gets tossed around a lot in organizational lingo. My definition: Accountability is following on through, with fidelity, on what was reasonably ask of me and to which I genuinely committed.

Accountability is a two-way street. It only works when both those in authority (aka Leaders) hold themselves accountable to the same extent as are the others in the organization (aka Followers).

Leaders can do a lot to make accountability more understandable, more attainable, and more palatable by those with whom they share in the burden of "making it -- whatever it is -- happen":

• Vision __ Leaders make clear the purpose of the "work" is, the direction we're going, and how each person's role connects to that vision.
• Straight Talk __ Leaders clarify the roles to be played and the tasks to be completed and the metrics by which ALL are to be held. 
• Monitoring __ Leaders monitor constantly across data sets (the hard data and the soft data), providing feedback that is fair and connected directly to the data, and refuse to allow BS (from themselves or anyone else).
• Teamwork __ Leaders model and insist upon persistent commitment to continuous improvement, which necessarily means frequent conversations (listening to all voices in the game) around what the data is telling us and how to use that data to make adaptations in direction, in resource allocations, in role assignments, in personnel changes (+ or -), etc. 

Disproportionate accountability expectations is a hallmark of organizations that are CTD (circling the drain).

Holding ourselves accountable is the first step for Leaders who want our organizations to be accountable. 

OutcomesFocus

The late Dr. Stephen Covey was fond of saying that 80% of the folks in most organizations are not even clear on the mission of the organization.

His assertions are compelling enough to prompt those of us in leadership roles (regardless of the size or scope of the organizations in which we live-work-relate) to think -- or REthink -- how we spend our effort, time, resources, and energy.

Consider this analogy: My lovely bride of 46 years daily uses a couple of robot vacuums. They have been wonderful additions to our lives (Hazel1 and Hazel 2, we call them). Our Hazels are marvelous workers, doing needed and helpful work. Occasionally, however, our Hazels run low on "fuel" or get stuck or seem to wander aimlessly (lost direction/purpose). 

Seems to me we ALL (people and Hazels) function better when...

1) we're clear on what we're doing and why,

2) we're well fueled and energized, and 

3) we remain unstuck. 

As an organizational leader, perhaps I can help immensely by focusing my time and attention to address all three of those inhibiting factors. Having noble and worthy and well-articulated OUTCOMES is an excellent start.

JudiciousOptimism

Thinking about the future is tricky business. In fact, it's a cottage industry with its own moniker, Futuring.

Strategic plans. Market analyses. Investment projections. Infrastructure anticipations. Technological divinations. Revenue-Expenditure prognoses.

In all situations, forecasting (in our personal lives and in our work) eventually calls us into self-positioning from one of two viewpoints: Optimism or Pessimism.

Those two mindsets are like the ends of a continuum:

OPTIMISM..........<<<<<..........stumpedness..........>>>>>..........PESSIMISM

I choose Judicious OPTIMISM, somewhere to the left of "stumpedness." 

(Mostly because PESSIMISM just makes me feel hopeless, and because pessimists are not much fun to be around.)

RelationalLeadership

For those who lead organizations in which the work does not involve people, you (or your AI) can stop reading this blog post now.

For the rest of us -- those who work in and lead organizations populated by people and are dependent on those teammates for success -- let us look in the mirror. What ways of thinking and ways of behaving and ways of symbolizing will cause our organizations to BE better, and to perform better?

Consider engaging in some, or all, of the following efforts:

• Repeatedly, often, and across many "platforms," paint a clear picture of the direction we're going. It's that Vision thing. Knowing the direction makes a ton of difference to those with whom we share the journey, even if pesky details about the pathways are deceptive and uncertain.
• Model the powerful relational elements that glue us together in difficult work: caring, empathy, sensitivity, positivity, appreciation, affording voice.
• Create and foster an environment in which continual learning, habitual growth, and ongoing improvement are baked into the DNA of all those who choose to remain on our team. 
• Ensure an environment that encourages and insists on full-disclosure, engagement, safety for dissent, dialogue (instead of diatribe and debate). 
• Build operational structures and systems founded in voluntary engagement rather than punitive compliance measures. Think in terms of "covenant" instead of "contract."

Our survival depends on it...

LearningInversion

Learning has ALWAYS been personal. Even when we were sitting in lecture halls with hundreds of others, whatever learning we took out of the experience was personal. We either owned it, or we didn't.

Governmental insistence over the last several decades, through standardization and accountability measures, implies that learning occurs en masse. It does not, and it never has. We either own it, or we don't -- it's personal. The tricky part has always been on how best to assess that learning in some meaningful and relevant way.

Recent developments related to the robustness of artificial intelligence (AI) cuts to this very issue. AI accelerates the difficulty in assessing whether or not learning has occurred, and to what degree. AI provides those with a nefarious bent a plethora of options by which to cheat assessment systems (which have always had some rather glaring deficiencies).

As with all other technological developments in the evolution of humans -- from the wheel to plows to email to AI -- we'll have to figure out how best to use the tool for general good.  

In the case of AI, it looks like we may also have to figure out how to keep it from using us...