Friday Five

I hope you made it through your week. I am in the midst of a busy season, but I’m finding that the more time I give myself to learn, grow, and be recharged, the better. I got away from that a bit in 2020 but am trying to stay on track in 2021.

Here are my favorite books, podcasts, and blogs of the last couple of weeks. I hope it helps you grow!

Favorite books:

I’m a huge football fan, but as a Steelers fan, I am supposed to despise the Patriots and Bill Belichick, but Jeff Benedict’s Dynasty was fascinating. There were so many things I didn’t know about the Patriots that I learned. The attention to detail that Belichick has is second to none. If you’re a football fan, this is a fun read. 

Over the last year, Gordon MacDonald has become one of my favorite authors. Two of his books made it on my favorite book list of 2020. Recently, I picked up Mid-Course Correction: Re-Ordering Your Private World for the Second Half of Life. Wow. If you are over 40, this book is one you should definitely dig into. It gets into many of the ruts people face in their careers and relationships and their faith journeys between 40 and 60. He walks through much of the Old Testament but really zeroes into Abraham’s life and what he walked through and how that translates to our lives. So much in this one to chew on. 

Favorite podcasts:

One of my favorite podcasts is The Learning Leader with Ryan Hawk. Recently with my daughter, we listened to the interview David Rubenstein on Launching a Business, Living With Purpose, & Loving Your Life. Before the interview, I’ll be honest I had no idea who David Rubenstein was, but his story and wisdom were fascinating. I definitely had some good conversations with my daughter about public speaking, earning money, and what matters most in life.

Favorite blog posts:

2020 was really hard, and 2021 is off to a hard start. Here is some advice to keep moving forward.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, who wrote a fantastic book on leadership, Leadership in Turbulent Times, has a great article on Lincoln and the Art of Transformative Leadership. There is a lot to learn about Lincoln and the times that he lived compared to our own current season of leading.

Links for Leaders 4/14/17

It’s the weekend. The perfect time to grab a cup of coffee and catch up on some reading. Here are 5 articles I came across this week that I found helpful as a leader and parent and hope you do as well.

Is missing church a big deal? Is it a sin? Does it matter if you and your family miss church on a Sunday morning? Sarah Piercy, has some great insight into that question and what you do miss when you miss church.

My kids are about to become teenagers so we are talking through what parenting teenagers looks like. What does social media look like for our family, what our their privileges, rights, things that are off limits, etc. This article from Jon Acuff on 5 rules for Instagram was particularly helpful.

What is the most important leadership trait? If you asked a room full of leaders this question, you would get a host of different answers. While situations matter as to what trait is needed, some of them rise to the top and cover all situations. Scott Cochrane points out one of those traits.

Do you work with any difficult people? Are you related to any difficult people? All of us do at some point and dealing with them can be difficult, but also an incredibly defining point in our relationships and leadership. Travis Bradberry shares some tips on handling difficult people.

Everyone is talking about work and life balance. We all feel overwhelmed, busy and rundown. What if, as the Harvard Business Review recently shared, that device free time is just as important as work/life balance?