Colin Powell's 15 Secrets to Leadership

1. Promote a clash of ideas. Allow subordinates to argue and clash with you. Once you've heard enough, make your decision, and then count on your team to execute it with full passion,
2. Encourage a noisy system. Put people at ease by listening to them; genuinely desire to want what people know.
3. Remember that only people get things done. A leader must give followers an environment to get things done. Take a third of the time to plan, and give two-thirds of the time for people to execute.
4. Maintain an open-door policy. Let people see you when you're there, and be sure to give special access to those closest to you.
5. Probe the organization. Walk the "grounds" everyday, allowing people access to you. If you uncover something affecting your organization or team that requires attention, close the loop and let those involved know the outcome.
6. Reward your best performers and get rid of your non-performers. You must constantly prune. Otherwise, the leader who doesn't prune out the bad risks watching the good turn bad.
7. Be prepared to anger and/or disappoint some people.
8. Check your ego at the door. Don't tie ego to title.
9. Have fun in your role. Maintain hobbies outside of work that can settle your mind.
10. Fit no stereotypes.
11. Remember that perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. Always assure those around you that the team will make it, that the problem will be solved. At the same time, don't do so with false statements.
12. Things always look better in the morning. Be optimistic of the day ahead.
13. Avoid war if at all possible. But when battles erupt, use your same processes to make decisions, then accept the fact your decisions will have to come faster.
14. Trust the element of instinct.
15. Prepare to be lonely.

The Substitute

The Cross of Christ
"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
The cross of Jesus Christ is the signature symbol of the central event in the history of civilization. Yet, today we depict the cross as common. Jewelers pound it into all sorts of finery so we can staple crosses to our ears and wear them around our necks. Merchandisers manufacture this symbol of unlimited atonement into fuzzy things for our rearview mirrors or decorations for our gardens. From teacups to T-shirts, people have used the cross to corner the market on crassness. Department stores hawk chocolate-covered crosses for Holy Week. Baseball players and businessmen cross themselves before a big moment. The cross itself has become big business, but it was never intended to be some lucky trinket. This is profanity in the truest sense. Is it any surprise we have lost the wonder of what happened on Calvary?
The resurrection of Christ was the event that accomplished salvation and verified Christ's victory over death, but it was the cross of Jesus Christ that showed us the grace of God. Everything that God wants us to know about Himself comes together in those crossbeams.
Our entire purpose in life is to elevate the Cross. Think on Jesus Christ there. In your mind's eye, picture Him stretched out against the sky. What's He doing up there? Answer: He's subbing for you and me. He's taking God's wrath for your sin. He's satisfying the just demands of a holy God. He's paying the price that God's holiness requires so that you and I can be forgiven. In the place where our blood should have stained the ground, Jesus hung as our substitute.
You can't understand the Gospel until you understand this idea of substitution. Jesus’ death was in the place of every person who has ever lived. I am in that line. You are too. Each of us deserves to die in payment for our own sin, but Jesus stepped in and took that penalty for each of us.

God is good in the tough times

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, . . . youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food.
Daniel 1:3-9

When things are going smoothly in your life, you might not find it hard to believe that God is good. But if life takes a bad turn and something devastating happens, you might ask, “How could a good God allow this?” If you know that kind of pain, then you can empathize with the Old Testament prophet, Daniel.

Across the pages of Scripture that detail Daniel’s life from teenager to old man, you can write “sovereignty at work.” God was directing his life whether he saw it at the time or not.

Do you know his story? One bright day in Jerusalem when Daniel was just a teenager, he was captured as a POW and was ripped away from everything warm and familiar. Daniel’s enemies were working a cruel strategy. They singled out the best young people--the All-American teenagers voted MVP and ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ and brought them to their capital city near modern-day Kuwait. Their plan was to brainwash these kids with their culture and eventually make them leaders. Daniel was given a foreign name, Belteshazzar, forced to learn a new language, and fed a new diet.

Had Daniel decided what God was like by looking at his circumstances, he would have become a disillusioned, confused, angry, young man. Kidnapped from his homeland, forced into slavery, most likely castrated to become a eunuch in the palace, Daniel’s eyes were still on God. Don’t gloss over these facts like they’re from some made-for-TV movie--this story is true in every detail. Imagine the suffering connected with his circumstances, yet Daniel went through the fire . . . successfully. This certainly gives us hope that we can make it through our firestorm, too.

No doubt a painful situation comes to mind right now from either your past or the present. You may wonder how a God of love could have allowed some devastating injustice. Yet I would bet on the fact that you’ve not yet come full circle. There will be a day when you will look back and see how God’s sovereign hand was at work. Truth is, He is in the center of the situation that troubles your heart right now. He’s right in the middle of it. Just because you can’t see Him, doesn’t mean He isn’t there and working all things together for good.

Lord, I know You are at work in my life and circumstances…even when I don’t see Your hand. I know You are working all things together for good. Help me fix my heart on You no matter how long I must wait to see a bigger picture. I believe You will bring all things around for Your glory.