by Mike Metzger & John Seel Shell games started in the streets as sleights of hand—no pea was under any shell. The game played on baseball Jumbotrons is different. There is a pea and most can pick it out. The old shell game is still played, but now by the likes of British Petroleum and…
Books on Christianity will not trouble those outside the faith, wrote C.S. Lewis. He recommended “more little books by Christians on other subjects—with their Christianity latent.” Latent means underlying or hidden. It fits human design (creation) yet recognizes human corruption (the fall). Sequencing: Deciphering Your Company’s DNA is a case study in latency.
WWJD is speculative. WDJD is substantive. Several years ago WWJD bracelets were popular: What would Jesus do? But this is a speculative question—Dallas Willard says the point is not how Jesus would behave “on the spot.” The better question is: What did Jesus do—WDJD? For example, did Jesus define shalom as faith flourishing to the…
We need better fireworks. Americans can find them in The Federalist Papers. This is where several Founding Fathers expressed fear of lodging unchecked power in the hands of one person or one institution. They had a negative word for this kind of power—a word that’s become so commonplace today that any caution against it will…
by Mike Metzger & John Seel Hello Ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me… Isaiah Mustafa’s playful pitch for Old Spice plays well even though he makes most men look bad. With a comedic touch, comparisons can be constructive. In fact, lighthearted repartee can highlight whether a church is…
By Mike Metzger & John Seel Tides rise and fall. A rising tide lifts all boats. The converse however is reality for engaged couples. Ebb tides drop all boats. Most couples think that they can ignore the tides. They can’t. Consider any engaged couple in the U.S. These couples tend to be woefully naïve about…
“You say potato, i say potato. Tomato, tomato, potato, potato. Let’s call the whole thing off….” This Gershwin song loses its lilt right at the end. Sometimes, wrangling over the meaning of words isn’t small potatoes—it can be illustrative of what Philip Rieff called a “deathworks.” As go words, so go civilizations.
He never spoke of winning yet his teams won ten NCAA Basketball championships in 12 years. He never yelled at his players yet he commanded their attention. This past Friday, former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden passed away at the age of 99. It has been 35 years since Wooden coached. Thirty-five years is roughly…
“You think you can catch Keyser Soze?” In The Usual Suspects, agent Kujan thought so. Big mistake. He didn’t start with the right suspect—which is the unusual suspect in today’s culture. This presents a challenge, since problems are hard to solve with the right kind of suspicion.
“We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.” The wonder of the Soviet system was its design and duration. A deeply flawed design meant Soviets played “Let’s pretend” for 70 years. It’s a similar challenge in business schools. They pretend to teach ethics, students pretend to pay attention. The wonder is that B-Schools have…