Thursday Three For All: Easter Prep, Being Present, and How The Last Jedi Should Have Ended
It’s Thursday, kiddies: the day when I roll out a few things I’ve been reading over the past week. Three of ‘em, to be exact. Enjoy. (Remember: click on the big bold print to read the entire article.)
You could miss this Easter opportunity, but you don’t have to…
(via @marklwaltz) Mark delivers a well-placed dig at those of us who tend to scoff at the “poinsettia and lily crowd,” and gives us a much better way forward.
This Easter we will all expect new guests, many of them returning to church – any church – for the first time in years. There will be people who appear “new,” but who gather with our faith communities twice a year: Easter and Christmas. Most of us will see more people attend our Easter services than on a “normal” weekend. Because of this, it’s not unusual for local churches to put a tremendous amount of focus on promotion, programming, worship and the sermon/talk. And rightly so – it’s THE capstone of the church calendar, the central celebration of people who follow the ways of Jesus.
But, I’m curious: are you thinking with the same intentionality about how to serve your new guests when they arrive in just a few weeks? How will you approach your guests, expecting that many of them will not be back until Christmas – nine months from Easter?
If You Aspire to Be a Great Leader, Be Present
(via @harvardbiz) Our team discussed this article earlier this week. There’s some goofy stuff in it (maybe you don’t need to visualize yourself coming fully alive in each cell of your body), but as leaders, we have much to learn. After reading it, ask yourself this question: “What is one concrete step I can take in order to be present?”
Like all CEOs, Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Company, has a daily schedule of back-to-back meetings. All of these meetings are important, all include complex information, and most require far-reaching decisions. Under these conditions, being present moment to moment, meeting after meeting, is a challenge. But in Barton’s experience, presence is not a choice. It’s a necessity.
“When I’m with people during the day, I’m doing my best to be focused, I’m present with them,” he told us. “Part of this is because I get energy from being with people. But the other part is because if you’re not focused, if you’re not present, it’s discouraging to the other people. They lose motivation. If you’re not present, I think you may as well not have the meeting. It can sometimes be difficult to do, but it’s always important.”
The person in front of you does not know what you were dealing with a moment ago, nor should they. It’s your responsibility to show up and be fully present to effectively use the limited time you have with each person you meet.
How “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Should Have Ended
(via @TheHISHEdotcom) “Shut up, Carl. Nobody asked you!” (This is going to be my new standard line, even if your name isn’t Carl. Every Star Wars movie from here out should make that a required piece of dialogue.)
photo credit: Jason Mathis
