In our corner of the world, school doors have closed for two months and the dog days of summer have begun.  Traffic has noticeably decreased in the city. The highways are steady with vehicles and campers heading for points away.  Outdoor café patios are overflowing with happy chatter amidst cool beverages.  Manitobans seize the summer, perhaps because our winter climate forces life indoors for the best part of 4 months of the year.  There’s always an outdoor festival or event to be found from the beginning of June to the Labour Day weekend in September.  It’s like a collective play date, and play we do indeed.

Last September Stuart Brown wrote a compelling opinion piece for the New York Times online edition entitled “Let the Children Play (Some More)“.   If anyone knows about play, it’s Brown.  He’s the founder and president of the National Institute for Play, and has written a book entitled Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. In the Times piece, he talks about the values of lifelong play.  “For humans, play reinvigorates us not because it is down time, but because it gets us in touch with our core selves and the joy of life.”

When people are asked to identify what is important to them in their personal and their work life, words like home/work balance and creativity come up consistently.  If Brown is right (and we’d affirm his observation), play needs to be an intentional part of our lives, personally and organizationally.  It’s probably no coincidence that most ‘team-building’ exercises involve some kind of play component.  Whether we work together or live together, spending time interacting in ways that don’t involve a computer keyboard or boardroom table is critical to our health.

Getting ‘in touch with our core selves and the joy of life’ is gospel directive.  So go build a sand castle or visit a medieval castle or dance to castanets. Consider it a play date.  We’ll bring the snack.

Summer’s arrived, at least in our corner of the world, so this compilation includes some lighter reading with a focus on personal development and work/life balance.  Enjoy the season!

HBS Blogs -The Mostly Unplugged Vacation
click here

Peter Bregman has some great down-to-earth reflections on personal balance and leadership - here’s the first of three we’re recommending to you this month.  And if you don’t get to it until you’re back from an unplugged vacation, kudos to you!

HBS Blogs - Why I returned my iPad
click here
Number two from Bregman; a great reflection on the seduction of technology.

HBS Blogs - How & When to Motivate Yourself
click here
The last Bregman read for this month with some tips on personal motivation.

Fast Company - Employee Un-Engagement
click here
Some insights from Michael Hyter, the co-author of The Power of Inclusion regarding employee trust and leadership self-awareness.

Fast Company - The Most Important Quality for CEOs? Creativity
click here
A recent survey by IBM found that the most important leadership quality for success in business is creativity - even greater than integrity and global thinking.

Faith & Leadership - Humor as a mark of live-giving leadership
click here
Humour (or humor, as our US friends would write) is not typically seen as a strength in religious leaders.  C. Kavin Rowe suggests otherwise.

Faith & Leadership Call & Response Blog - Carol Howard Merritt: How (and how not) to take criticism
click here
Carol Howard Merritt shares some personal insights into responding to criticism.

TED Talks - Benjamin Zander on Music & Passion
click here
If you’re not already familiar with them, TED is a “small nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading.”  You can find audio & video podcasts of many of their presenters online, and we’re recommending you take 20 minutes out of your day to listen to Benjamin Zander’s presentation on Music & Passion.  We think you’ll find it 20 minutes well-spent.

Our summer reading recommendation is QBQ! The Question Behind the Question.  It’s an easy read, light to pack, and provides some good reflections on accountability, both personal and organizational.
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question

John G. Miller
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY
Ethics Centre Library Call #: BF611 M55 2004

On our anti-trafficking website: www.salvationist.ca/trafficking we have made information available about sex trafficking, as well as prayer resources. There are some downloads available for use by churches, and more resources will be made available throughout the summer. Please encourage pastors and members of your churches to join us in prayer on September 27 and feel free to visit the site and to make use of the prayer resources.

Churches may want to pray during the Sunday service. Men’s groups may want to have a prayer breakfast and youth groups may want to have a special prayer service or awareness event. The weekend is a chance for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together and intercede on behalf of people who have been bought and sold into the sex trade. This weekend is a Salvation Army event, but all are welcome to pray with us. Feel free to connect with Salvation Army corps or other churches in your communities so that as fellow believers, we can pray together.

Thank you in advance for joining us in prayer and in promoting this important prayer weekend in your churches. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or if there is any way in which we can help.

Rochelle McAlister is our Project Associate for this weekend. Click here to contact her. Blessings upon you as you join us in this important ministry.

Sex Trafficking in Canada - FAQ

Human Sexual Trafficking - Fact Sheet

Full transcript of the sermon given by Father Tim Jones, parish priest at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York

Monday 21st December 2009

Read his sermon in full below:

People enjoy watching musicals. Sound of Music, South Pacific, Oliver, Guys and Dolls, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Oklahoma - all of them tell a story of people struggling to get something about the world the way it should be. One of the funny things about watching the musicals is the improbability of people - sometimes large groups of people: soldiers, chimney sweeps, lumberjacks - suddenly bursting into song and dance, as a constant reaction to a new circumstance or twist in the plot!

Lest anyone sneer too much at the genre of the musical, one can’t help but notice that Luke’s gospel account of the birth of Jesus Christ seems uncomfortably like the script for a musical. People - or heavenly hosts - keep bursting into song at the mention of Jesus!

These Biblical songs have become an integral part of Christian worship: the Gloria, the Nunc Dimittis, the Benedictus, and, from today’s gospel, the Magnificat - “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my saviour.”

This last Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday preparing for the coming of the Christ child, sees our focus shifting to Mary, the mother of Christ. In our reading today from Luke’s gospel, Mary, carrying the Christ child, travels for a week to visit her elderly relative Elizabeth, who, to her husband Zechariah’s amazement, is pregnant. Elizabeth recognizes Mary’s baby as the Lord, and Elizabeth’s unborn baby starts dancing inside her! The baby’s dance is almost like the introduction to Mary’s song.

The Magnificat is a remarkable song. It expresses not just her own sentiment of submission to God, but the aspiration of all Israel. It is at the heart of Christian worship and praise to this very day, because it captures the excitement and the joy that in Christ, the expectations and values of this unjust world are turned on their heads.

The recurrent theme of Mary’s song is the faithful love of God towards his children, no matter how lowly, despised or lacking they may be. The phrases of her song are drawn almost entirely from the grateful pleading of the forlorn in Old Testament prophetic literature. It is a song which has done a huge amount to reinforce the Christian commitment to the poor and needy of society in every age. Advent is the time of preparing for the birth of Christ, and in Mary’s song we are reminded every year and every evening to keep the needs of the poor as close to our hearts as can be, because the poor and forlorn are as close as can be to the heart of God.

All of that is a nice enough sentiment. But keeping the poor ‘close to our hearts’ can be a costly business. Many of us, for much of the time, shrink from this Christian calling, because to accept Mary’s call is leave our comfort zone way behind. The life of the poor is not an idyllic life of simplicity in modern Britain. It is a constant struggle, a constant battle, a constant minefield of competing opportunities, competing responsibilities, obligations and requirements, a constant effort to achieve the impossible. For many at the bottom of our social ladder, lawful, honest life can sometimes seem to be an apparent impossibility.

What advice should one give, for example, to an ex prisoner who was released in mid-November with a release grant of less than £50 and a crisis loan, also of less than £50, who applies immediately for benefits but is, with less than a week to go before Christmas, still to receive any financial support? This is just the situation that presents itself at the vicarage door. What would you advise? One might tell them to see their social worker, but they are on a waiting list for a social worker. Tell them to see their probation officer, perhaps, but the probation officer can only enquire of the benefits agency, and be told that benefits will eventually be forthcoming. One might tell them to get a job, but it is at the very best of times extremely difficult for an ex prisoner to find work, and these are not the best of times for anyone trying to find a job.

One might wish that they could be supported and cared for by their family, but many people’s family life is altogether dysfunctional, and may be part of the story of how they came to be in prison in the first place. One might give them some money oneself, but when week after week after week goes by, and benefits still do not arrive, the hard reality is that a vicar’s salary is not designed to meet the needs of everyone - or indeed anyone - whom the benefits agency has failed. What else might one advise? They cannot take out a loan, except from the kind of loan shark - and there are enough of them around - whose repayment schedule is so harsh that it constitutes indentured slavery to the criminal underworld. They could beg. But how many of us, good Christian people that we are, give constantly and generously to ex prisoners waiting for benefits? And the likelihood is that, found begging, they will quickly be in trouble with the police, and therefore in breach of their parole.

They could perhaps get cereal and toast every morning from a local charity. Then could perhaps apply, and see if they are eligible for some limited help from the Salvation Army or other such body. But in the meantime, having had only £100 in six weeks, what would you do, every legal avenue having been exhausted?

My advice in these circumstances, when people have been let down so very badly by the rest of society, is that they should not hurt anybody, and cope as best they can. The strong temptation is to burgle or rob people - family, friends, neighbours, strangers. Others are tempted towards prostitution, a nightmare world of degradation and abuse for all concerned. Others are tempted towards suicide.

Instead, I would rather that they shoplift. My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift.

I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither. I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need. And I would offer this advice with a heavy heart, wishing that our society recognized that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay constitutes a dreadful invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope at the very bottom of our social order.

What then, of the eighth commandment? “Thou shalt not steal.” Is this advice to usurp the authority of Almighty God?

No. Not the God who is born of Mary, Mary whose soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. For in Mary’s song of praise is the explicit recognition that the poor are extremely close to the heart of God. The church, the community of faith, the community of people who keep the song of Mary alive, have long recognized that it is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve. For ours is a God, Mary tells us, who has “lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” [Luke chapter 1 verses 52&53]. The mother of Christ reminds us what Jesus shows us: that God’s love for the poor and despised - and who in our society is despised more than a newly released prisoner? - outweighs the property rights of the rich.

Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime.

People of God at St. Lawrence’s, Advent is at its height. Prepare for the coming of Christ, for Christmas is almost upon us. But don’t let your preparations be limited to tinsel and turkey, crackers, fairy lights and chocolates. Prepare for Christ by singing his mother’s song, and taking her words to heart. Don’t just sing about lifting up the lowly: help with the lifting!

And when we, as a society, are found time and time again to fail lift those at the very bottom, then for the love of God, a God born in a stable of all places, let us not punish them for trying to survive as best they can.

© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk

Evangelism & Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit, Albert Cook Outler

The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology, Oliver O’Donovan

The Right to Lead: Learning Leadership Through Character and Courage, John C. Maxwell

Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace, Daniel G. Groody

Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law, Courts, Michael J. Perry

Family Ethics: Practices for Christians, Julie Hanlon Rubio

War, Peace, and God: Rethinking the Just-War Tradition, Gary M. Simpson

Conscience and Corporate Culture, Kenneth E. Goodpaster

Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics, Katie Geneva Cannon, Stacey

Global Justice: Seminal Essays, Darrel Moellendorf, Thomas Pogge

Global Ethics: Seminal Essays, Thomas Pogge, Keith Horton

How Terrorism Is Wrong: Morality and Political Violence, Virginia Held

Patient, Heal Thyself: How “New Medicine” Puts the Patient in Charge, Robert Veatch

Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution, Theodore J. Koontz, et al

Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology, Robert C. Roberts, W. Jay Wood

Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account, Gillian Brock

Justice and Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives: A Record of the Fifth “Building Bridges” Seminar Held in Washington, D.C., March 27, Michael Ipgrave

Rescuing Justice and Equality, G. A. Cohen

The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, Ayelet Shachar

Civil Passions: Moral Sentiment and Democratic Deliberation, Sharon R. Krause

Why Not Socialism?, G. A. Cohen

The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, Martha C. Nussbaum

The Ways of Judgment, Oliver O’Donovan

The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit, Margaret A. Somerville

From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology And Technology in a Postmodern World, Brent Waters

Consenting to God and Nature: Toward a Theocentric, Naturalistic, Theological Ethics, Byron C. Bangert

Family Ethics: Practices for Christians, Julie Hanlon Rubio

War, Peace, and God: Rethinking the Just-War Tradition, Gary M. Simpson

Conscience and Corporate Culture, Kenneth E. Goodpaster

Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics, Katie Geneva Cannon, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas

Global Justice: Seminal Essays, Darrel Moellendorf, Thomas Pogge

Global Ethics: Seminal Essays, Thomas Pogge, Keith Horton

How Terrorism Is Wrong: Morality and Political Violence, Virginia Held

Patient, Heal Thyself: How “New Medicine” Puts the Patient in Charge, Robert Veatch

Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution, Theodore J. Koontz, et al

Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology, Robert C. Roberts, W. Jay Wood

Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account, Gillian Brock

Justice and Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives: A Record of the Fifth “Building Bridges” Seminar Held in Washington, D.C., March 27, Michael Ipgrave

Rescuing Justice and Equality, G. A. Cohen

The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, Ayelet Shachar

Civil Passions: Moral Sentiment and Democratic Deliberation, Sharon R. Krause

Why Not Socialism?, G. A. Cohen

The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, Martha C. Nussbaum

The Ways of Judgment, Oliver O’Donovan

The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit, Margaret A. Somerville

From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology And Technology in a Postmodern World, Brent Waters

Food for Life, Shannon Jung

Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right: Post-9/11 Powers and American Empire, Mark L Taylor

Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System, Laura Magnani

Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith, George S Mcgovern

The Horrors We Bless: Rethinking the Just-War Legacy, Daniel C. Maguire

Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice, Curtiss Paul DeYoung

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Incarnation and Imagination: A Christian Ethic of Ingenuity, Darby Kathleen Ray

Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgment and Policy, Warren Bennis, Deborah L. Rhode

The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics, Peter A. Singer, A. M. Viens

Climate Justice: Ethics, Energy, and Public Policy, James B. Martin-Schramm

Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility, and Community, Walter Earl Fluker

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, Leslie Crutchfield, Heather McLeod Grant

Ethics: A Complete Method for Moral Choice, Daniel C. Maguire
Greed, James M Childs

Faith and Human Rights: Christianity and the Global Struggle for Human Dignity, Richard Amesbury, George M. Newlands

Wind, Sun, Soil, Spirit: Biblical Ethics and Climate Change, Carol S. Robb

Reconciliation, John W De Gruchy

Going Green, Fifty Lessons

Ecofaith: Creating and Sustaining Green Congregations, Charlene Hosenfeld

Through a Lens Darkly: How the News Media Perceive and Portray Evangelicals, David M. Haskell

True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business, Mark Albion

Observing Bioethics, Renee C Fox, Judith P Swazey

Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Marriage: An Introduction, Raja Halwani

Social Justice Through the Eyes of Wesley: John Wesley’s Theological Challenge to Slavery, Irv A. Brendlinger

You’ve Gotta Have Heart: Achieving Purpose Beyond Profit in the Social Sector, Cass Wheeler

The Equal-Regard Family and Its Friendly Critics: Don Browning and the Practical Theological Ethics of the Family, John Jr. Witte

Coming Together in the 21st Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity, Cain Hope Felder, Curtiss Paul DeYoung

The Poor Will Be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty, Peter Greer, et al

The Way That Leads There: Augustinian Reflections on the Christian Life, Gilbert Meilaender

Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction, Amy Laura Hall

What Were They Thinking?, Jeffrey Pfeffer
Reviving Evangelical Ethics: The Promises and Pitfalls of Classic Models of Morality, Wyndy Corbin Reuschling

Love That Does Justice, Thomas Louis Schubeck

Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear, Scott Bader-Saye

The War for Children’s Minds, Stephen Law

Ethics in the Community of Promise: Faith, Formation, and Decision, Jr, James M Childs

Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America, Cornel West

Technology, Trust, and Religion: Roles of Religions in Controversies over Ecology and the Modification of Life, Willem B. Drees

SOCIAL JUSTICE HANDBOOK, Mae Elise Cannon

Freedom from Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That’s Winning the Fight Against Poverty, Ian Smillie

Putting on Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices, Jennifer A. Herdt

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth E. Bailey

Rights and Christian Ethics, Kieran Cronin

Teamwork 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know, John C. Maxwell

Everyday Ethics and Social Change: The Education of Desire, Anna Lisa Peterson

Bridging the Divide: Religious Dialogue and Universal Ethics, Thomas S. Axworthy

The Road to Audacity: Being Adventurous In Life and Work, Steven Carter, Jeremy Kourdi

Road/Lost Innocence(CD)(Unabr.), Somaly Mam

In Praise of Blame, George Sher

Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada, Byron Rempel-Burkholder, Dora Dueck

God and the Ethics of Belief: New Essays in Philosophy of Religion, Andrew Dole, Andrew Chignell

Ethics and the Environment: An Introduction, Dale Jamieson

Religion in the Public Square: The Place of Religious Convictions in Political Debate, Audi/Wolterstorff

Ethics and Criminal Justice: An Introduction, John Kleinig (Author)

The Future of Faith in American Politics: The Public Witness of the Evangelical Center, David P. Gushee (Author)

The End of Ethics in a Technological Society, Lawrence E. Schmidt (Author), Scott Marratto (Author)

African Christian Ethics, Samuel Waje Kunhiyop (Author)

A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mary Ann Glendon (Author)

For All Peoples and All Nations, J. Nurser (Author)

Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly, Norman Daniels (Author)

Setting Limits Fairly: Learning to Share Resources for Health, Norman Daniels (Author), James E. Sabin (Author)

The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis (Author)

The Power of Forgiveness: Based on a Film by Martin Doblmeier, Kenneth Briggs (Author)

The Power of Forgiveness, Martin Doblmeier (Director), et al

A Canadian Writer’s Reference, Diana Hacker (Author)

Nonprofit Strategic Positioning: Decide Where to Be, Plan What to Do, Thomas A. McLaughlin (Author)

Christian Justice and Public Policy, Duncan B. Forrester (Author)

The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, James C. Hunter (Author)

The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader, James C. Hunter (Author)

The Bible in the Public Square: Reading the Signs of the Times, Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (Editor), et al

Social Holiness: John Wesley’s Thinking on Christian Community and Its Relationship to the Social Order, R. George Eli (Author)

Saving God’s Green Earth: Rediscovering The Church’s Responsibility To Environmental Stewardship, Tri Robinson (Author), Jason Chatraw (Author)

Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education, Nicholas Wolterstorff (Author)

Balancing Individual and Organizational Values: Walking the Tightrope to Success, Ken Hultman (Author)

Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Practices and Principles, Peter F. Drucker (Author)

Ethics, Piers Benn (Author)

Rights, Duncan Ivison (Author)

Political philosophy, Dudley Knowles (Author)

Coming Soon…

Contending for Justice: Ideologies and Theologies of Social Justice in the Old Testament, Houston

Laughter of the Oppressed: Ethical and Theological Resistance in Wiesel, Morrison, and Endo, Bussie

Between Remembering and Forgetting: The Spiritual Dimensions of Dementia, Woodward

Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, Farley

The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal, Philip Alston, Frederic Megret

Green Christianity: Five Ways to a Sustainable Future, Mark Wallace

The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being, Daniel M. Haybron

Just and Unjust Warriors: The Moral and Legal Status of Soldiers, David Rodin, Henry Shue

Moral Dimensions: Permissibility, Meaning, Blame, T. M. Scanlon

The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being, Daniel M. Haybron

Just and Unjust Warriors: The Moral and Legal Status of Soldiers, David Rodin, Henry Shue

Moral Dimensions: Permissibility, Meaning, Blame, T. M. Scanlon

Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits, Jeffrie G. Murphy

Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Leymah Gbowee, et al

Paradoxical Vision, Robert Benne

Surprised By Hope, Nt Wright

Ecologies of Grace: Enviromental Ethics and Christian Theology, Willis J. Jenkins

Spiritual Emotions: A Psychology of Christian Virtues, Robert C. Roberts

Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War, David L. Clough, Brian Stiltner

Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls, Melinda Tankard Reist, Noni Hazlehurst

Green Witness: Ecology, Ethics, and the Kingdom of God, Laura Ruth Yordy

God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics, John Anderson, et al

Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed, Frances Westley, et al

Art Of Possibility, Rosamund Zander

We’d be happy to add someone to our regular mailing list; just email us at

and ask that their name be added to the distribution list.

And finally, should you come across an article of interest, we’d be happy to hear from you and include it in a future feed.

Knowledge@WP Carey - Avnet’s Roy Vallee on Leadership
http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1836
An interview with Roy Vallee, the CEO of Avnet, about motivating employees with reference to values, shifting culture and ‘having fun.’

HBS Blogs - Why you need to fail
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/07/why-you-need-to-fail.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-MANAGEMENT_TIP-_-NOV_2009-_-MTOD1116
Peter Bregman talks about why failure is a good thing, and how to grow from it.

Forbes - Why introverts can make the best leaders
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/30/introverts-good-leaders-leadership-managing-personality.html?partner=leadership_newsletter
A look at the leadership strengths in introverts, a trait with which 40% of business leaders self-identify.

Fast Company - Visionary Leadership - Interview with Frank O’Dea
http://www.fastcompany.com/1603742/visionary-leaders-create-new-industries?partner=leadership_newsletter
Frank O’Dea spoke at a number of Salvation Army events in Canada last year, and shares in this article his insights on successful business and visionary leadership.

HBR - How to keep your action plan on track
http://blogs.hbr.org/corkindale/2010/01/how_to_keep_your_action_plan_o.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-MANAGEMENT_TIP-_-APR_2010-_-MTOD0401&referral=00203
Gill Corkindale looks at the difficulty inherent in keeping organizational planning on track once it leaves the boardroom.

Great Leadership - Going Humble with the Amish
http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2010/04/going-humble-with-amish.html
An interesting blog about humble leadership lessons we could learn from the Amish.

Faith & Leadership - Call & Response blog
http://www.faithandleadership.duke.edu/blog/04-19-2010/john-ed-mathison-vision-the-leader-and-the-whole
A letter written in response to the question “Does vision come from the leader or the people?”

Fast Company - What it means to lead with presence
http://www.fastcompany.com/1628103/what-it-means-to-lead-with-presence
A look at leadership presence, understanding it as ‘earned authority.’

Poynter Online - What Great Bosses Know About Top-Down Management
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=34&aid=182561
Jill Geisler, the head of Poynter’s Leadership & Management group discusses the positive side of a top-down management approach.

And in case you weren’t aware, the Ethics Centre maintains a resource library with most holdings available for lending.

Here’s our Pick of the Month:

Executive Values: A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership

NY Times article

It’s tragic, without a doubt.  We’re struck with indignation as we read the details.  “How callous are those people in New York City, walking by a dying man and not even stopping to call 911?” People stopped to take pictures, but not to help?  What is the world coming to?

My office has a huge window that faces a busy street. A few months ago, in the middle of the night on a long weekend, someone threw a brick through it and helped themselves to my computer. When we were outside taking pictures of the break-in for insurance purposes, a woman walking down the street slowed down and looked at the damage. We explained what had happened and she didn’t seem particularly surprised.  In fact, she said “Yes, it happened at 1:35 in the morning.”  She then went on to explain that she lived in the apartment building located kitty-corner to our office space, and heard the smashing of the glass.  She looked out of her window to see the burglar slip through the hole in the glass and emerge shortly with computer in hand.  “Did you call the police?”  “No.” “Would you give us your name and contact information so we can pass it on to the police?” “No.”  What is the world coming to?

Are we all inured to the social ills that surround us?  Is that why no one seems to respond to the violence or injustice that they witness?  I don’t think so. I certainly hope not.

What I do know is that if people fear retribution or personal consequence, they generally turn away. Simply knowing that something is wrong isn’t reason enough to respond. Was that woman who saw my computer walk down the street under someone else’s arm fearful of what might happen to her if she called the police?  Did those people who walked by Mr Tale-Yax’s bleeding body think they would be putting themselves into danger by getting involved?  And I do know that this turning a blind eye doesn’t only apply to situations on the street or in public.  In fact, it probably happens even more frequently inside.  And ‘inside’ means it happens in our organizations.  The Ethics Research Center (ERC) say in their 2007 National Nonprofit Ethics Survey  Report that “employees remain silent because of fear and futility. The top two reasons that employees don’t report misconduct are the belief that reporting will not lead to corrective action, or fear of retaliation.”

But it’s not all bad news.  The good news, according to the ERC, is that organizations who take ethics seriously - implementing programs and building a healthy and strong ethical organizational culture - “experience the greatest reduction in ethics risk.  A strong ethical culture can virtually eliminate pressure to compromise ethics standards and retaliation for reporting.”

The moral of the story?  It’s in your hands.  And if you’re looking for some help along the way building that strong ethical organizational culture, we’ve got resources to help you get there.  Give us a call.

http://speakout.e-summit.org

One of the keys to any successful event is honest feedback from the participants.  We need to know what worked for you and what could have worked better.  Tell us at the survey found at www.surveymonkey.com/s/speakout-e-summit.  Be assured that your responses are anonymous.

Thank you, for your encouragement simply by being part of SPEAK OUT, and for taking the time to complete the survey.

As we’ve entered into the sacred journey of Holy Week, let us be faithful sojourners who are not content to simply look down and follow our feet.  May we all know the blisters that bring strength and the assurance that we do not travel alone.

DAY SEVEN MESSAGE

From Jim Read

 To read all of Dr. Read’s daily devotionals log onto the speakout website

http://speakout.e-summit.org

Each day of the e-Summit Dr Read sends an email to all delegates, which includes a Bible message from the handbook ‘Jesus and Justice: Living Right While Righting Wrongs’, published in the Theology and History stream.

DAY SIX MESSAGE

From Jim Read

27 March 2010

Welcome to all who are able to participate in Speak Out today, whether for a few minutes or a full shift. Let Speak Out be a venture in mutual learning. And let it be a safe place to try out new ideas. We need creative thinking, bold thinking, and the trusting environment that is the soil in which good ideas germinate.

Today’s Discussion Facilitators

• Theology and History discussions are being facilitated by Cadet Nyree Bond
• Theory and Principles discussions are being facilitated by Daniel Alarcon
• Promising Practices discussions are being facilitated by Luke Geary

Today’s “Chat Room” Discussions with Presenters

Alan Johnson will be online to discuss advocating for changes in government alcohol policies from 8 am to 10 am New Zealand time. (You will find a converter on the website to tell you the equivalent in your time zone.)

Today’s Scripture: Mark 1:22-34 and Matthew 6:9-15

Part D.3 of “Jesus and Justice” is titled “Releasing the Demons of the Soul.”

Demons are “anti-God forces.” Whether they are fallen angelic creatures or corrupted power structures or deep character flaws, demons are forces that oppose God and the mission of God in the world.

“Jesus and Justice,” p. 27 says, “ Consider another demon on the soul, the anti-god force of refusing to forgive. Refusal to forgive is like a death sentence. It’s a self-imposed state of oppression. In contrast, forgiveness releases people. Forgiveness frees people to deal with the past and find a pathway into the future.

Imagine a world wit hout forgiveness….Now imagine a world where forgiveness could be spread in war zones, gifted to fractured families, injected into dysfunctional workplaces, infused into individuals who are locked in past memories and unable to begin again.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s book about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa is titled No Future without Forgiveness. Dani Shaw’s paper in the Theology and History stream recalls The Salvation Army’s role in the TRC. There other places in the world where The Salvation Army could be an agent of forgiveness today. But the one who facilitates forgiveness needs to know what it is to be forgiven.

Nicholas Wolterstorff has written an important theology of justice in the past couple of years that springs from the observation that because forgiveness is central to the Christian value scheme, justice must be central too. Forgiveness is not needed where injustice has not been done. The Bible says all are in need of forgiveness. Advocates who think they are impeccable need to think again.

The prayer Jesus taught his disciples begins with the plea that God’s will might be done on earth; at its centre is a plea for forgiveness, and at its end is a plea to be protected from the Evil One. These prayers are not disconnected, are they?

Let us begin this day with thanks for the amazing grace of God and the company of forgiving people. And let us pray that the demons of our world will be cast out.

To read all of Dr. Read’s daily devotionals log onto the speakout website

http://speakout.e-summit.org

Today’s “Chat Room” Discussions with Presenters

• 1000 to 1200 Toronto local time on March 26, Dr. Don Posterski will be online for realtime discussion of his presentations on Principles of Justice, Advocacy for Justice, and Strategy for Advocacy.
• 1500 to 1700 Boston local time on March 26, Dr. Roger Green will be online for a realtime discussion of his paper, Why social holiness?
• 0800 to 1000 New Zealand local time on March 27, Alan Johnson will be online for a realtime discussion about the SPPU’s advocacy regarding alcohol policies.