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For Modern Leaders

Some of the best advice my dad ever gave me:

“You have your name and your word. Be sure to keep both.”

Your greatest strengths are often your greatest weaknesses.

Days like today really have me wrestling and battling with this truth. 

Me, all day: *deleting casts, DMs, texts*

The essence of sin is us substituting ourselves for God; the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. — John Stott

"A lot of people spend their lives believing growth is the result of their effort alone  hustle, grind, self-discipline. And while those things matter, they can also lead to burnout, pride, or even feeling empty when the “results” don’t satisfy. Grace flips that mindset. Life, forgiveness, and peace aren’t things you earn, they’re things you receive. Once you see that, the pursuit of growth stops being a pressure-filled race and starts being a natural response to love and gratitude. That’s why real transformation doesn’t come from force. It comes from grace"

Gm

This. But remember grace isn’t free. It always costs someone something.

And it’s always the giver.

"Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest." - Mon Mothma, Galactic Senator*

*Andor airs on Disney+, as long as they haven't suspended it yet for Senator Mothma's comments

Option 2 by far

Stated vs revealed

People say they’re afraid of failure

They’re actually afraid of success

“Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back. But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy.”

— Gimli, Lord of the Rings, Tolkien

Whatever you idolize, you will demonize the opposite. Be careful.

Whatever can happen at any time can happen today. — Seneca

“Whatever is well said by anyone belongs to me.”
— Seneca

Truth and wisdom can come from anywhere. Discernment is key.

I learned so much from repeatedly questioning who I am. For most of my life, the answers were all adjectives in an internal language description of my "self". In the last year or so, I started breaking down the use of language itself in my own self-descriptions. Many things previously solid started falling apart.

Self-awareness is one of the most important traits I look for both professionally and personally.

When I hire folks, it’s actually a majority of the first phone screen: I’m looking for self-awareness that leads to cultural fit.

Then the 5 I’s. Then whether or not you can do the job.

One of the truest (and potentially scariest) things: you become what you worship.

Crypto, if it’s in the wrong place in your life, is a transactional, extractive, and substance-lacking god.

In the right place? It’s a transformational, freeing, and empowering tool.

Be careful.