L. Gregory Jones and Kelly Gilmer: Failing to learn
Many U.S. coffee drinkers prefer lighter roasts, so Starbucks set out to meet the demand. It took, according to Fast Company, “a multitude of beans” and 80 experiments with roasting time and...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Benjamin McNutt: Seeking leaders who persevere
The film “Moneyball” makes an argument about baseball applicable beyond America’s pastime. With no money and the loss of his best players, Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane discovers a young...
View ArticleC. Kavin Rowe: Cultivating resilience in Christ-shaped leaders
In 1997 the British group Chumbawamba released the song “Tubthumping,” which went on to become an international hit. I first heard it in 2003 blaring out of a store window on Main Street in Heidelberg,...
View ArticleRichard J. Mouw: Congregants long for pastors to understand their work lives
Editor's note: Richard J. Mouw will deliver two lectures during Form/Reform: Cultivating Christian Leaders, Duke Divinity School's 2012 Convocation & Pastors' School, Oct. 15-16. Register online....
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Kelly Gilmer: Performance as leadership preparation
They look like a litter of puppies out there on the grass. Exuberant and playful, they roll on the ground, bump into one another and run to and fro in a pack. At least one is off on his own, scratching...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones: Discovering hope through holy friendships
Her death triggered an unusual outpouring of emotions from her close friends. They felt that they had lost more than a good friend; they had lost a part of themselves. They grieved for her and her...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Kelly Gilmer: Cultivating institutions that nurture holy...
Throughout his life, Tsietsi Mashinini, a young black South African, had been told he had no value as a human being. That changed in the mid-1970s, when he found a discipleship group in a local...
View ArticleRichard J. Mouw: Engaging both high and low culture
Editor’s note: Richard J. Mouw will deliver the James A. Gray Lecture at “Form/Reform: Cultivating Christian Leaders,” Duke Divinity School’s 2012 Convocation & Pastors’ School, Oct. 15-16. Learn...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Nathan Jones: Working on ‘wicked’ problems
Institutional leaders often feel like jugglers spinning multiple plates, with each plate representing an urgent problem needing our attention: personnel decisions, employee conflicts, budget...
View ArticleC. Kavin Rowe: Listening well
Leaders need to know how to listen well. It seems so obvious. Why bring it up? Because the truth is that many leaders are more focused on telling people what to do than they are on listening to them....
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Nathan Jones: Deep trends affecting Christian institutions
Vibrant institutions are characterized by traditioned innovation. They continually engage their traditions in ways that create space for innovative engagement in the future. Innovation often seems like...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Nathan Jones: Engaging stakeholders in problem solving
When facing difficulties, many of us have been trained to define the challenge, brainstorm possibilities and create solutions to take to stakeholders for their support. Such a process works OK if a...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Nathan Jones: The importance of cognitive diversity
John F. Kennedy had a wicked problem on his hands. The situation in Vietnam was growing more and more complicated, and he knew its solution would require a dramatic effort from his office.And so he did...
View ArticleL. Gregory Jones and Nathan Jones: Success as the byproduct of repeated failure
In October of this year, the Nobel committee rewarded Dr. Robert Lefkowitz for solving a wicked problem.For decades, biologists and chemists had struggled to understand the nature and function of G...
View ArticleGretchen E. Ziegenhals: Up against the wall
Last summer I hummed the old spiritual “Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came a-tumblin’ down!” during our congregation’s youth mission trip to Honduras. Many mission groups build...
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