If you want to hear the power of culture, record a casual conversation. Speech patterns are the product of society, writes Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow and linguist John H. McWhorter. “We are simply creatures of what has become a general context.”1 In that case, what do casual conversations characterized by like, just, and you know…
Where have all the Ivies gone? David Burnham, a partner at the Boston-based Burnham Rosen Group, says only six percent of our nation’s leading businesses are currently headed by graduates of Ivy League schools. It was once forty percent. The decline might due to our elite educational institutions practicing alchemy more than producing alloys.
Tree rings measure annual tree growth. They don’t however make the tree grow. It’s a distinction that explains the difference between character and conscience. Character is tree rings. They measure seasonal growth. Conscience on the other hand is what forms character. The connection between the two explains why the recent disappearance of conscience renders the…
“They’re great players but not necessarily great partners.” That was Paul Azinger’s zinger describing this year’s United States Ryder Cup team: great individual players but poor partners. Every game-changer movement has been the product of partnerships, but not just any old kind of network. There’s an essential feature that is largely absent in the American…
The primary problem with “truth projects” is that truth is not the primary problem. Let’s be clear, we’re all for truth. Yet for many faith communities, “truth projects” have become the primary vehicle for growing in faith and engaging the wider world. But “truth projects” overlook two ever-present realities in the Western world today—realities that…
It was the taste that changed his tune. For years, Dr. Edward Rosenbaum dismissed critics of the medical community. Then he contracted cancer. Doctor became patient. Then he got a taste of his own medicine. He changed his tune. This might be just what the doctor ordered for those who believe culture-change is from the…
It’s highly unlikely this column will change your mind. According to neuroscientist Robert M. Burton, people believe they’re right on many issues even when they’re not. The trouble is, they won’t change their mind, even in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence because the American educational system and most “two-chapter” churches deal with the tip…
By Mike Metzger & John Seel How many bits of information just zipped though your brain? What percentage of them were you aware of? The answer might resolve a debate. Many modern faith communities believe putting the Cultural Mandate before the Great Commission is like putting the cart before the horse. Others say this is…
You’re likely to be less happy tomorrow. Most Americans feel better from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Labor Day widens the weekend but only delays workweek depression. The solution is seeing the factors producing a sense of well-being or what the Bible calls shalom. They are present on the weekend but usually absent at work….
Will Harvard Business School raze the right issues? Harvard Business School has long preached innovation. Now the new dean at HBS is trying to innovate—at HBS. Nitin Nohria is an articulate Indian-American who has already demonstrated he’s capable of raising the right issues related to innovation. But innovation also requires razing the right issues. Can…