In the 1910s and 1920s, four of the most influential figures of their era—Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs—began taking yearly camping trips together. They called themselves “The Vagabonds.” Imagine it: the man who perfected the assembly line, the genius of electric light, the...
“When you’re explaining, you’re losing.” Politicians of all stripes like to use this simple statement, often attributed to Ronald Reagan, as a guide to commanding attention and winning votes. A 2024 survey asked over 3,000 new car buyers how much a test-drive entered into their car-buying...
The purpose of a beehive isn’t to produce honey. Honey is the by-product of a healthy hive. -Seth Godin When you joined your church board, you may have been told – with all sincerity – that your job is to produce honey. Well, not the sticky sweet essence...
Conversations with church leaders these days often turn to Gen Z (those aged 13-28) and the inevitable question, How do we get them engaged in our church? Sometimes we get to hear what their congregations have already tried, including the use of screens, innovations in...
Restaurants are returning to candles. Real candles – not the pretend kind with the fake flame, but the waxy kind with the live flame – the live flame you have to light by hand, and re-light by hand when it goes out, and watch very...
In the Gospel of Mark’s version of the Feeding of the 5000, before Jesus blesses the loaves and fishes, he invites the vast crowd to sit down in smaller groups (Mark 6:39-40). Why the interim step? There are thousands to feed. Why bother with small...
The movie Amadeus features a memorable scene in which Emperor Joseph II approaches Mozart after the premiere of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail and awkwardly suggests that Mozart uses “too many notes.” A perplexed Mozart responds, “There are just as many notes as...
In late March, people packed into the entry hall of a Macy’s Department Store in downtown Philadelphia. The store was closing, but the crowd had not come for the close-out sales. They were there for one last day (at least for now) with the famed...
Over the past several years we have encouraged church boards to ‘dig deeper wells’ of meaning and mutual understanding that can nurture their leadership in the midst of complexity and ambiguity. And then this week, author Seth Godin gave some nicely related advice: “Dig your...