Category: Leadership & Ministry Development

By Jonathan Haidt (summary by Jeffrey Bush)

• Social media has made people to be “forever elsewhere.” Even when people are not
  on their phones (in class or listening to you), they are mentally in the metaverse.
• The first generation that went through having Internet in their hands (early 2010’s)
  became more anxious, depressed, and self harming.
• Studies show that the same year young people began using social media (smart
  phones), they began having a harder time connecting with other humans.
• The increase of suicidal thoughts and threats increased shortly after smart phones
  and Internet became readily available.
• Physical play for children is like work for adults. They need to play to learn and know
  how to interact with others, with life, and with situations.
• The simple fact of playing will teach children more than information and instruction.
• Experience, not information, is the key to emotional development.
• Play-based childhood, not phone-based childhood, will teach and develop a child.
  Though smartphones can be great, they become experience-blockers.
• We are overprotecting our children in the real world while under-protecting them
  online. If we really want to protect our children, we should delay their entry into the
  online world and send them outside into the real world to play instead.
• There is no way to live without conflict; happiness cannot be reached by removing all
  triggers from life.
• For physical development, children need physical play and physical risk taking.
  Virtual games offer no risk taking. For social development, they need friendships,
  which are embodied.
• Children must face setbacks, failures, shocks, and stumbles in order to be prepared
  for life. Overprotection interferes with this and makes them more likely to be fragile
  and fearful as adults.
• Fearful parenting keeps children on home base too much, and prevents them from
  growing strong and developing the dis-attachment they need to survive in life.
• Teens that spend time on social media are more prone to anxiety, depression, and
  other disorders while teens that spend time with others (such as team sports and
  religious communities) have a better mental health.
• A 2014 study conducted by Highlights magazine on children ages 6-12 reported that
  62% of children say their parents are often distracted by their phones while spending
  time with them.
• Cell phones have connected us to everyone around us while disconnecting us to
  those closest to us.
• Sleep deprivation, caused largely because of smartphones and screens in the
  bedroom, have caused a growing amount of mental illnesses.
• People cannot really multitask, they just switch attention from one thing to another
  while losing attention span in the meantime.
• Studies show that ADHD is much more present with those addicted to video games
  than anyone else.
• Girls that spend five hours a week on social media are three times more likely to be
  depressed than others.
• During Covid, there was a spike in people going to doctors thinking they had
  Tourette’s syndrome. Doctors confirmed they did not have it, and began to call it the
  mass social media induced illness.
• Around the world, there’s a problem with girls having a social media addiction and
  guys having an internet gaming disorder.
• Video games have made it easier for boys to retreat to their bedrooms instead of
  maturing in the real world.
• Studies have found people that play on teams and are with a community are happier
  than those that stay alone. Humans are embodied, a phone-based life is not.
• Our phones drown us in quantity while reducing quality.

By Dave Harvey (summary by Jeffrey Bush)

• Partnership is a crucial piece to the puzzle of leadership longevity and mission
  impact.
• Partnerships must be rooted in doctrinal conviction.
• Partnerships are needed for a church planting movement.
• Proud people don’t play well in the partnership sandbox.
• Accountability doesn’t shadow innovation, it is essential to it.
• The more gifted the leader, the more essential is the accountability.
• Interdependence says we need each other, collaboration says let’s find a way to
  accomplish things together.
• As the African proverb says, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go
  with others.
• Ego seeks loyalty more than it does honesty.
• The seed of egotism lies within each of us.

By Dan B. Allender (summary by Jeffrey Bush)

• Leadership is ultimately about character, no matter what your position is.
• Our character reflects our Creator. We are made in the image of God.
• When a leader’s failures are exposed, the easiest response is to cover with fig leaves
  and cast the blame to others.
• Taking ownership for failures is crucial in leadership.
• If you are too busy to pray, you should reevaluate and make time.
• Grow in wisdom.
• God might use our strength in the battle, but He also uses our weaknesses for His
  glory.

By Bil Holton (summary by Jeffrey Bush)

• Throughout the war, General Lee was extremely self-denying in the matter of food.
  He refused to enjoy a full course meal when his army was half-starved. — Douglas
  Southall Freeman
• Truly involved leaders make themselves accessible instead of distancing themselves
  from the “troops” by taking up residence in ivory towers.
• Apologies are the heart’s way of reminding the ego that everyone has value, that
  someone else besides you is important.
• The absence of legitimate support, particularly from top management, kills as many
  companies as a musketball through the heart.
• You cannot define best practices out of context. Of course, there are some best
  practices that work every time: truth, honesty, integrity, wisdom, sensitivity, prayer,
  encourage.
• Today, more than ever, leaders must rise above the inertia of inaction.
• Lee emerges as the whole person because his prewar, war and postwar career are
  totally free of contradictions: he acted like the same man under all circumstances.
  Clifford Dowdey
• Many people are seen as leaders because of circumstantial evidence. The evidence
  referred to is: how the leader reacted to the situation, whether he/she met with
  success or failure, how direct reports felt about the experience, if mistakes were
  learned from, how decisions were made, whether responsibilities and
  accountabilities were owned and acted upon with integrity, skill, etc.
• The great leader adapts to circumstances without complaint.
• Leaders, as coaches, will want to develop four general, coaching competencies:
  impassioned motivator, sensitive counselor, enthusiastic sponsor, and dedicated
  educator.
• To be effective, to be effective at all, those who assume the mantle of leadership
  must cultivate character. It is character that shines as a commanding presence. It is
  character that inspires those who follow to outperform themselves. It is character
  that makes one “awesome and complete.” It is uncompromised character that
  removes one from “common clay.”
• One of the survival skills for managers who want to remain productive and
  responsive to performance improvement challenges is the ability to effectively
  manage civilized disagreement.
• Since confrontation is natural, leaders must know how to minimize or eliminate
  dysfunctional in-fighting and seek constructive outcomes and lasting peace.
• As those who are asked to lead people and manage systems through these
  turbulent, chaotic times, you must be courageous “amid darkness and storm.”
• As leaders who navigate organizations through stormy business landscapes, refuse
  to be intimidated by naysayers. Successful leaders lay firm foundation with the bricks and blocks that are tossed unjustly in their direction. In most cases, criticisms
• arise out of “pinched” egos.
• So expect the heat, inspect the heat, and then listen to the critics with a grain – no, a
  particulate – of salt.
• Any leader who knows anything about leading people, from battlefield to boardroom,
  knows this: There’s absolutely no substitute for an honest, unshakable belief in the
  performance power of discipline.
• Data, logic, derailment assessment, and statistical analysis do not – and cannot –
  speak the same language as empathy.
• Lee’s endurance was phenomenal. His incredible endurance was fueled by his sense
  of duty and responsibility.
• An excuse is the line of least persistence. Indecision, followed by excuses, is nothing
  but alibi leadership. High-performance teams do not – would not even conceive of –
  including excuses as an element in the productivity process.
• An excuse looks for alibis; responsibility seeks results.
• We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and
  prudence, to call for greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater
  disasters. — A.L. Long
• Managers and leaders who give their totality to work at the expense of relationships,
  particularly family ties, are paying too high a price.
• Good leaders find the fault but share the blame.
• Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expedience asks, is it politically correct?
  Egotism asks, would it be the popular thing to do? But integrity asks, is it the right
  thing to do?
• Lee’s extraordinary ability to lead is legendary. Your leadership worth, your human
  worth, will be measured by your character, your attitudes, your contributions, not by
  time on the job. The ultimate testimony to your worth will not be what you have
  gotten out of your career, but what you have brought to it.
• One of the greatest, if not the greatest compliment, any leader can receive is the
  acknowledgment of having manifested absolute and equivocal grace under fire.
• Advice seems believable from one who stays composed and graceful under trying
  circumstances.
• Any leader can spout the latest management theories, chant the hottest techno-
  babble, proclaimed the best budget, tight wire strategies, applaud the latest acquisitions, invest in the newest quick-fixes, and concoct sizzling market
• projections. Only the rare leader sees the human element as the organizations, most
• valuable asset, believes it, and shows it.
• As a leader, if your foundation becomes shaky, it’s because your integrity is out of
  balance. Lee refused to deviate, even an inch, from the street line of integrity.
  Leaders must move beyond the illusion of integrity’s insignificance. All the great
  ones, military or civilian, use it unfailingly as a guiding principle. Honor is the throne
  of integrity. Sacrifice is the altar of honor.
• Heart power is the strength of any organization.
• Perfection is polished imperfection.
• A leaders day-to-day behavior sends messages that either support or suffocate
  spirited performance.
• Most leaders take responsibility, but the best leaders have response–ability.
• Fundamentally, leadership competence is a function of role competence.
• Because the moment of absolute certainty never arrives, tenacity usually takes you
  beyond the point where most people quit. Tenacity is the inner voice that whispers:
  it’s always too soon to quit.
• Heed the voices of wisdom of those who have gone before you. No leader is born
  wise.