For several years I have been extremely fortunate to be a member of a team of senior leaders who are not interested in playing the ‘Blame Game’. My colleagues have been men and women of great creativity, integrity, humour, compassion and faith who are committed to living their lives in humility and transparency. In the years since this team has developed, I have experienced none of the jostling for position or one-up-manship that can be common in even the best of teams. Open,

I am always interested in the way people communicate. Take conversations, for example. For most people, a conversation is a fantastic opportunity to gain insights, get to know someone better, learn more, and generally exchange information. For a small percentage of the population though, a conversation is just a monologue, thinly disguised. Being a talkaholic is a real problem for human relationships, and even more so for a leader. Sometimes a talkaholic can be helped if some

The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas is one of the best-loved classics of all time. A swashbuckling adventure story of camaraderie, subterfuge, romance and honour, it’s ironic that there are actually not three but four musketeers, and the one who isn’t technically a musketeer is actually the leader of the band. What that means is that when people work together for a common purpose, who’s in the spotlight isn’t as important as getting the job done. These guys are famous for

One of the greatest classics of literature, The Odyssey, was written almost 3000 years ago by the great poet Homer. The story is about a guy named Odysseus who went on a long journey, leaving his baby boy in the care of his friend, Mentor. For the next 20 years, Mentor encouraged, fathered, counselled and advised Telemachus until he reached maturity, at which time his dad got back from being away. (Might have been some counselling needed in that family!) Though the rightness

People grow in leadership – none of us are born capable of leading what we become capable of leading. What we lead grows according to our capacity to lead it. You will grow your church or department grows to the limits of what you are able to work with. Your team is the size you can manage and effectively engage with. If a leader doesn’t grow personally, what they lead will always hover around the same numbers and they will always get the same types of people. Many years ago

Leaders accept the blame, but losers pass the buck. Rick Warren Saddleback Community Church The life of a leader is never easy. All sorts of things tend to happen that are unexpected, and many of those things have the capacity to upset the apple cart in more ways than one. Plans that have been carefully formulated and well thought through can be undone by carelessness, the thoughtlessness of one player in the team or some unforeseen event, and all that hard work has gone to