We serve a God that is committed to excellence and perfection in everything He does. Likewise, godly leaders should work with all their heart and give their best effort all of the time. Read 2 Chronicles 2-6.

Solomon saw to it that the design and construction of the temple was done with care and excellence. He knew that his mission was to glorify God in the construction of this building, and he shared his father David’s vision and passion for the task. Read more »

Leaders need to be aware of a subtle enemy to effective leadership – burnout. That physical and psychological exhaustion and diminished efficiency resulting from overwork or prolonged exposure to stress. Often, the problem starts with a legitimate crisis that truly demands additional time and effort. But, somehow when the crisis is over, we don’t go back to a normal routine of work, recreation, and rest.

If a leader does not take conscious steps to correct the problem, there are several actions that seem to happen almost automatically so the body and mind can protect themselves from longterm damage. We have a health crisis that gets our attention, we lose passion for our situations and change jobs or change spouses or we find a distraction in other activities that take us away from the activity that seems to be what is creating the exhaustion and stress. One of the auto-corrective actions that appears to be the most innocent looking burnout-buster is distraction. But, for any leader, distraction is the great enemy of direction. Read 1 Kings 11:1-43. Read more »

Professional athletes and coaches are committed to excellence because they want to win championships. Corporate executives are committed to excellence because they want to please customers and increase profits. These can be good motives. But as followers of Christ the motive that drives a leader to excellence should be a desire to please the One who will give us our final reward. Everything we do should be done with a conscious awareness of His presence, a realization that He is watching. Read 1 Kings 10:1-13.

Solomon had been king of Israel about 20 years. He had completed the construction of several magnificent buildings including the Temple of God and his personal palace. His fame for wisdom and understanding had spread throughout the known world. As with any account that seems too amazing to be true, some of the leaders of other nations determined to pay Israel a visit to meet Solomon for themselves. One such visitor was the queen of Sheba. Read more »

Several leadership books talk about establishing momentum. Jim Collins’ book Good to Great helps us picture business momentum as a very heavy flywheel that is very difficult to move at all for the first few turns but as one success stacks on top of another the weight of the flywheel begins to assist the forward motion and the movement of the flywheel is almost self sustaining. In fact in the physical world, it now takes work to stop a flywheel that is in motion. Read Joshua 10:16-43.

As God gives Joshua one military success after another, the Israelite army begins to experience a momentum they could not have described just months before. In the notes in The Maxwell Leadership Bible, John Maxwell calls this The Law of the Big MO. Maxwell states: Read more »