"Recent research on status and power suggests that brashness, entitlement and ego are essential components for any competent leader, the precursor to ascent and its spoils; they are the traits that provide the seedbed for risk-taking and a soft place to land when some of those risks go wrong. Yes, there are reasons to be an impatient, over-the-top boss — to a point.
For all their professed suspicion of authority, people crave hierarchy and tend to cede authority precisely to those individuals who want to take the reins. In studies of group behavior, it is usually the overconfident, outspoken individuals who take on leadership roles. "
NYTimes
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Times critics have mastered
The Times critics have mastered the art of slowly transforming a compliment into a brutal blast.
Monday, June 21, 2010
fearing success
Today has unearthed a fear that I suspect has long been a part of the make up of my heart. I am afraid of success. I fear getting my way because somehow (in my ego that has an unbalanced inflation) I am afraid that I manipulated the situation to 'get my way' at the expense of the overall good.
I don't really have this fear with failure. For some reason I have a pretty comfortable grasp on God's sovereignty over my failures and that if he thwarts my will it is for the good of his purposes both in my life and the kingdom in general. Somewhere along the way I got a strange disconnect that doesn't acknowledge God's equal sovereignty over any 'success' I find. His sovereignty isn't just a comfort in the junky times, his purposes WILL stand.
I am neither good NOR bad enough to thwart his will, just like I am not bad enough to be beneath his saving power or good enough not to need it. That sort of power does not exist in human grasp.
I can't say for sure what this silly disconnect reveals about me, other than again highlighting that my view of God can be too little, my understanding of his love to juvenile and my perception of my ability to out maneuver him completely inflated.
Interestingly enough a reggae talked how "he's got the whole world in his hands" at work today. And this afternoon I am reading Psalm 4 which reminds the reader to "Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord" and ends with a picture of peace in the midst of hardship (even perhaps the hardship of having what you wanted).
I don't really have this fear with failure. For some reason I have a pretty comfortable grasp on God's sovereignty over my failures and that if he thwarts my will it is for the good of his purposes both in my life and the kingdom in general. Somewhere along the way I got a strange disconnect that doesn't acknowledge God's equal sovereignty over any 'success' I find. His sovereignty isn't just a comfort in the junky times, his purposes WILL stand.
I am neither good NOR bad enough to thwart his will, just like I am not bad enough to be beneath his saving power or good enough not to need it. That sort of power does not exist in human grasp.
I can't say for sure what this silly disconnect reveals about me, other than again highlighting that my view of God can be too little, my understanding of his love to juvenile and my perception of my ability to out maneuver him completely inflated.
Interestingly enough a reggae talked how "he's got the whole world in his hands" at work today. And this afternoon I am reading Psalm 4 which reminds the reader to "Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord" and ends with a picture of peace in the midst of hardship (even perhaps the hardship of having what you wanted).
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Even When Monet is playing
Even When Monet is playing with her blocks she is making stories. Proof of the innate relationalism of girls I guess
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
process joy
I have a confession for you – buried deep within me there lurks a closet perfectionist. Even if you are fairly close to me – you may have never noticed her. She often hides behind my laziness so that she can’t be seen, but from the shadows she often whispers like thunder about all of the things I am not precisely good enough at. She tries to paralyze me with her mummers.
Since I am very human she has a large arsenal of things to chose from, because like everyone around me I never get anything perfect (which is something you have surely noticed even if you only know me through the interweb). What I have learned though is that as I find joy in the process it is harder to care about her observations – no matter may be.
As I am working on this quilt, learning all sorts of things about what I should do differently next time I am finding this process joy. I can see the ways in which my layout is weak and needed more finesse – more forethought. I can see how I really should have taken a lot more time in the very fist step of cutting and early piecing. I can see how irregular and unshapely my quilting stitches are. But this is how we learn, how we grow. We push past our early attempts laced with ignorance so that if flashes of brilliance break through we are in a position to embrace them.
But I can not live my life waiting for those flashes of brilliance that may never come. I can embrace the joys of the process. When you look at life as a whole, process is really all you can do to much with. God is still in the business of managing the final product of our life – and even if you don’t want to deal with God you can’t deny the fact that our lives end in death and our life was the processes of getting there.
Since I am very human she has a large arsenal of things to chose from, because like everyone around me I never get anything perfect (which is something you have surely noticed even if you only know me through the interweb). What I have learned though is that as I find joy in the process it is harder to care about her observations – no matter may be.
As I am working on this quilt, learning all sorts of things about what I should do differently next time I am finding this process joy. I can see the ways in which my layout is weak and needed more finesse – more forethought. I can see how I really should have taken a lot more time in the very fist step of cutting and early piecing. I can see how irregular and unshapely my quilting stitches are. But this is how we learn, how we grow. We push past our early attempts laced with ignorance so that if flashes of brilliance break through we are in a position to embrace them.
But I can not live my life waiting for those flashes of brilliance that may never come. I can embrace the joys of the process. When you look at life as a whole, process is really all you can do to much with. God is still in the business of managing the final product of our life – and even if you don’t want to deal with God you can’t deny the fact that our lives end in death and our life was the processes of getting there.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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