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Archives for 2011

Using Mission Control (That is, Spaces) on Mac OS X Lion

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One of the things that was a bit annoying at first about Mac OS X Lion is that Spaces and Expose were integrated into Mission Control. I like the changes overall, as it brings the best of both together in one place, but they also changed the location of some features I liked to use in Spaces.

In fact, they changed the location of these features so significantly that it is almost impossible to figure out on your own, without having to spend more than a few minutes (a critical usability problem, in my view).

I just found this article which outlines the changes made and how to access the old features in Spaces you may have liked but which aren’t immediately evident in Mission Control. Here it is in case it’s helpful to you as well.

Identifying the Purpose of Life

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Here are some notes I jotted down when I was working on the chapter in my book on mission statements. They are brief and scattered, but here they are in the event that they are helpful to you.

In my chapter, I go against a major problem in most books on productivity. Most of them talk about having a “mission” or “purpose” to your life, but they say “that’s a very personal thing, something for you to decide for yourself.”

I think that’s wrong. Pretty bad, in fact. The reason is that since we didn’t create ourselves, we cannot define our own purpose. God himself defined the purpose of life. What we need to do is identify the purpose he has defined, say it in a way that captures the unique angle on that he has placed in our life, and align ourselves around it. Or, better, align ourselves not first around our “purpose,” but the gospel, with our purpose directing us but the gospel empowering and defining us.

Interestingly, the Bible talks about the purpose of life a lot. You even see mission statements all over the place, especially in Paul.

Here are my brief, rough, notes:

Criteria any Potential Purpose Must Fulfill

Must create happiness. Flourishing. So when the Bible talks of “blessedness,” we are in this domain.

It must create a happiness that is eternal, not fleeting. And happiness that is great, in itself invincible, and that can endure through immense trial and difficulty.

What the Purpose of Life Is

Making God look good. Making “good reports” about him abound. Making joy in him abound.

But not just anything does this. Mercy is at the heart of it. And justice. And, you must really do it for his glory. Micah 6:8; Isaiah 1:18; 58:1-13; Mt 5:16

What This Does

You can fulfill it each day, and yet never fully complete it. There is always more.

It drives your actions, gives purpose, and cannot be exhausted or wear out.

Jim Collins on the Greatest Leaders He Has Studied

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This is simple, and it reflects John Dickson’s definition of humility in Humilitas (“willingness to hold power in the service of others”). From Jim Collins’ latest, Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All:

The greatest leaders we’ve studied throughout all our research cared as much about values as victory, as much about purpose as profit, as much about being useful as being successful.

How the Gospel Should Shape Your Web Strategy for Those in the Twin Cities

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This Friday morning (November 11th) I’ll be speaking at the Social Media Shepherds monthly event on “How the Gospel Should Shape Your Web Strategy.” It will be 8:00 – 9:30 am at Bethlehem Baptist Church (downtown campus), 720 13th Ave S, Minneapolis, room 203 (upstairs and to the left).

For anyone in or around the Twin Cities interested in web strategy and social media, it would be fun to see you there.

Looks like you can also RSVP and get more info on Facebook.

Four Books I'm Looking Forward To

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I’m going through my in box after letting things collect for a while I attended to some major projects. Here are four books I’ve recently obtained that I’m looking forward to reading:

1. Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

Jim Collins’ new book.

I know Jim Collins only writes about one book every ten years or so, but I can barely keep up because they are so packed with incredible insight. Good to Great and Built to Last (his best, in my view) were so helpful I spent 12 hours taking notes over each of them (and then more time reviewing the notes and writing out further thoughts).

Jim Collin’s books are among the best, bar none, that you can read on how to lead your organization effectively (or, if you aren’t in top leadership, create a pocket of greatness wherever you are).

Get all of Jim Collin’s books if you haven’t, read them, take notes, then read them again.

I hope I can do that with Great by Choice in a timely manner!

2. The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

Tim Keller’s new book.

I need to read more on both marriage and parenting. I am so far behind on my parenting reading that I didn’t finish Making the Terrible Twos Terrific until our oldest was 6. Fortunately, our third just turned two, so there’s still hope with that book. And, I think I can get to this book in much less time than it took me to get to that book on the Terrible Twos.

3. Jesus + Nothing = Everything

Tullian Tchividjian’s new book, on the sufficiency of Christ. Excellent subject, excellent title. Sounds like he discusses this in the context of the most challenging year of his ministry, and so it will be combined with lots of personal stories and insights that he gained through a period of suffering. Looking forward to this a lot.

4. Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership

John Dickson’s recent book. I heard John speak at the Global Leadership Summit this August, and his presentation was the best message on humility I have ever heard. I love, love, love his definition of humility and think it is right on: humility is holding power in the service of others.

I’m hoping to get to these soon. I have about 20 books on social action and ending global poverty lined up to read as soon as I can, then I hope to get through a bunch of books on parenting, and in the midst of that I hope to fit in these and a bunch of others.

The Most Important Article on Leadership Ever Written

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To say that is not to say it is the best article on leadership ever written, though it certainly ranks up there.

Rather, it’s the most important because of discipline-altering conversation it started and change it created.

The article is “Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?,” (pdf) by Abraham Zaleznik. It was written back in 1977 and published in Harvard Business Review.

As HBR later summarized, Zaleznik argued that “the theoreticians of scientific management, with their organizational diagrams and time-and0motion studies, were missing half the picture — the half filled with inspiration, vision, and the full spectrum of human drives and desires. The study of leadership hasn’t been the same since.”

The conversation that Zaleznik’s article started, for example, is behind John Kotter’s classic 1990 article “What Leaders Really Do” (pdf) — which may take the title for the best article on leadership ever written.

Both articles remind me of Churchill’s point that “the hard part is not winning the war; it’s persuading them to let you win it.”

And, to be honest, the biggest obstacle to “winning the war” — whether that means accomplishing your mission as a ministry or non-profit, or transforming your industry and creating great products worth talking about as a for-profit — is often managers.

It just has to be said.

There is a paradox in my saying that. For I agree whole heartedly with Marcus Buckingham that the manager plays a critical, essential role in the modern organization. We need managers, and they are key to creating strong organizations.

But what we need, as Buckingham also shows (see his fantastic book on management, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently) is real managers. That is, managers who trust their people and don’t have an inflated sense of control and risk aversion.

The problem is not management, but management gone bad. Managers too often focus on obstacles and what can’t be done rather than what can be done and how to find creative ways around the obstacles.

We need good leaders, and we need good managers — managers who manage right. And the last I checked, a militant commitment to mediocrity was not part of the definition of management.

Perhaps understanding leadership a bit better will help us all become better leaders and managers. To that end, I offer both of these articles.

The Business of Design

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Good design is good business. This is starting to be recognized more and more, but there is still a long ways to go for the importance of good design to truly take root.

This is a helpful Fast Company article from 2005 on how “in a global economy, elegant design is becoming a critical competitive advantage. Trouble is, most business folks don’t think like designers.” It shows how design-oriented companies think and operate, and why this matters.

And, this is relevant not just for businesses, but churches, ministries, and all non-profits. Good design matters because people are emotional as well as rationale. To care only about the utility of a product is to fail to treat people holistically. (And, interestingly, the result is most often less helpful products as well.)

7 Benefits of Reading Non-Christian Books

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Tony Reinke, in his excellent book Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books:

What types of books should Christians read? Scripture is the most important book, and the highest priority for our reading. Christian books can teach us valuable lessons about God, the world, our sin, and our Savior.

But in this chapter I want to focus on the value of non-Christian books. By that term, I mean any book not authored by a converted Christian or written from an explicitly Christian motive. What should we do with all these books? Should we burn them? Should we treasure them? Should we read them in secret under the bedsheets with a flashlight?

My conviction is that non-Christian literature — at least the best of it — is a gift from God to be read by Christians. These books are, in the words of Spurgeon, gold leaf compared to the gold bars of Scripture, but they are gold, and they do have value.

He then discusses seven benefits to reading non-Christian books. I’d love to reproduce the whole discussion, as it is an excellent outline on how to think about the relationship between common grace and saving grace, but to see that you’ll have to get the book! But here are the seven benefits he goes in to:

  1. Non-Christian literature can describe the world, how it functions, and how to subdue it
  2. Non-Christian books highlight common life experiences
  3. Non-Christian books can expose the human heart
  4. Non-Christian books can teach us wisdom and valuable moral lessons
  5. Non-Christian books can capture beauty
  6. Non-Christian literature raises questions that can only be resolved in Christ
  7. Non-Christian books can echo spiritual truth and edify the soul

Cape Town Anniversary

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The Lausanne Movement blog has a series of post from two weeks ago in recognition of the one-year anniversary of the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization last October.

What Was the Most Important Thing About Cape Town 2010?

Here’s a key reflection from one of the posts on the most important outcome from the Congress last fall:

In an interview at the close of the Congress, Doug Birdsall, Executive Chair of The Lausanne Movement, said he believes the personal connections made by leaders were among the most important accomplishments of the gathering.  Additionally he said leaders were able to sense the magnitude of what God is doing around the world and that together the Church regained its footing and regained its nerve for world evangelization.

I agree 100%. Making connections and seeing what God is doing are the central purposes of any conference — most of all a convention such as Cape Town 2010 that brought together delegates from almost every nation in the world. And from the results of the past year, it looks like these outcomes have born much fruit — and will continue to bear fruit for a long time to come.

Here’s a closing video that looks back on the congress: Cape Town 2010: Looking back at the Congress