Blessings In Truth I’ll be honest. I struggled. I struggled a lot, and without anyone to share big time truths with me about what it was I was struggling with, I’m not sure I would’ve made it. I still recall the day God spoke so clearly to me. I was at the height of my career when He called me to retire and serve Him. Surely God was joking right? I mean after all, I was a chief of police, a college professor with a PhD and a federal government contractor. I’d worked almost 26

Pray God Changes You Before Praying Change In Others I went live on Facebook (original post) after receiving numerous requests for prayer. The volume of requests weren’t the issue. I love it, but the topic seemed to show that the guys who were reaching out had possibly missed the mark on the purpose of prayer, and it’s power to change. When I started Brick Breakers a few months ago, I fully expected that a site dedicated to supporting men in their walk with Christ was going t

FIT@50 / week 25 The Ghost On Saturday I drove around the city in my POV (personally owned vehicle), sorry cop talk. I noticed drivers without seatbelts, easing through stop signs, and generally just motoring about their business. On the previous Friday, I’d been in my police cruiser. It had a wholly different effect. People immediately put on their seatbelts, they completely stopped at signs and they glance or nodded as they motored about their business. I thought on that S

The Eulogy: 2014 Over the last few days I’ve witnessed so many who’ve cursed or eulogized the last year; yes 2014. Instead of rejoicing in the 365 days of life God allowed them, they dismiss the gifts of grace in hopes of happenstance instantly or magically changing their circumstances. What makes a person believe that the tick of a second-hand tock is going to erase the hardships, the failures, the could-have-beens, the should-have-beens and the never-have-beens? Good things

In our interviews, we heard many other stories of crucible experiences. Take Jack Coleman, 78-year-old former president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He told us of one day, during the Vietnam War, when he heard that a group of students was planning to pull down the American flag and burn it—and that former members of the school’s football team were going to make sure the students didn’t succeed. Seemingly out of nowhere, Coleman had the idea to preempt the violence by

Geeks and Geezers We didn’t set out to learn about crucibles. Our research for this article and for our new book, Geeks and Geezers, was actually designed to uncover the ways that era influences a leader’s motivation and aspirations. We interviewed 43 of today’s top leaders in business and the public sector, limiting our subjects to people born in or before 1925, or in or after 1970. To our delight, we learned a lot about how age and era affect leadership style. Our geeks and

Learning From Difference A crucible is, by definition, a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity. It is perhaps not surprising then that one of the most common types of crucibles we documented involves the experience of prejudice. Being a victim of prejudice is particularly traumatic because it forces an individual to confront a distorted picture of him- or herself, and it often unleashes profound feelings of anger,

What makes a leader As lifelong students of leadership, we are fascinated with the notion of what makes a leader. Why is it that certain people seem to naturally inspire confidence, loyalty, and hard work, while others (who may have just as much vision and smarts) stumble, again and again? It’s a timeless question, and there’s no simple answer. But we have come to believe it has something to do with the different ways that people deal with adversity. Indeed, our recent resear

Are you pregnant? I thought what a crazy question to ask a man. Are you pregnant with greatness? Oh, not that kinda pregnant. With greatness? I never thought about it. How many of us are actually pregnant with greatness? Unfortunately, we fear change. Therefore, we do anything we can to avoid giving birth to this potential. An odd analogy? Not really. Change is often accompanied by uncomfort, if even for a brief season. The transition into motherhood requires many changes lea

10 Questions with Thibodaux Police Chief Scott Silverii Thibodaux Police Chief Scott Silverii shares ideas about the department after being appointed earlier this year. Originally Published: Friday, September 16, 2011. Since taking over the job in January, Thibodaux Police Chief Scott Silverii has changed the structure and ideology of the police department. He has also faced a number of challenges, most notably the brutal murder of 7-year-old Jori Lirette in August. Daily Com