This is one of the books I’m reading right now.  I love anything by Apple, so when I saw this at the bookstore the other day, I knew I needed to own it.  It’s not a book BY Job’s or even written WITH him.  The guy who wrote it has interviewed a lot of Apple people and has done a ton of research on Apple over the past 12 years.

This book is Leander Kahney’s attempt to give the masses an understanding of how Steve works and how he runs Apple.  There are a ton of life lessons and work lessons in this book.  As a leader, I really like how this book is put together. At the end of each chapter Kahney gives us a section called “Lessons from Steve,” bullet points that we can put into action in our workplace.

Here is an example…

Chapter 1 is about Focus.  At the end here are the “Lessons from Steve:”

* Get Busy.

* Face hard decisions head-on.

* Don’t get emotional.

* Be firm.

* Get informed, don’t guess.

* Reach out for help.

* Focus means saying “no.”  ”Jobs focuses Apple’s limited recources on a small number of projects it can execute well.”

* Stay focused, don’t allow feature creep. (If you don’t know what feature creep is, get the book).

* Focus on what you are good at, delegate all else.

I find this stuff fascinating and very helpful.  You may be a PC Guy instead of Mac Guy… but that really doesn’t matter.  What Job’s has done a Apple is amazing and we ALL can learn from a great leader.  As i look at that list above, most of the pastors and churches I can think of don’t do a good job of that, and I think we could all learn from this kind of leader and corporation.

That’s my thoughts.  hope you get the book, and i hope you learn from it.

peace.out.

At theedge we talk about being relational a lot.  Why?  Well, because we believe everything good comes out of relationship.

I was talking to our staff yesterday as we were planning and praying about 2010.  I shared with them some thoughts about community and relationship that had impacted me.  These thoughts came from Larry Crabbs book called Connecting.  (Great book, by the way).

Here are a few of those thoughts that really hit home for us here at theedge…

“We will not heal many souls when ADVICE or INSTRUCTION is at the CENTER of our efforts.  Our power to influence lives does not come from telling people what to do.  Nor does it come from revealing to people the details of their internal mess.”

(Those are the two most common ways church treats people, by the way).

He goes on to argue, “Communities heal when they focus on releasing what’s good.”

Wow.  That is good stuff!  And i totally agree!

You see, the problem with the church today is we want to just tell people they are wrong and then give 3 easy points on how to do better.  We give pithy, pious advise and intruction.  Not that advice and instruction is bad or unneeded, it’s just not really what Jesus calls us to.  We are called to be LIKE Christ.  And, yes, Christ was a great teacher, advice-giver, instructor, but all His teaching was backed up by the most important thing…Love!  Relationship!  Connecting!

Jesus was a master at connection.  The reason His teaching and advice are so life changing is because He really cares about us.  You can sense the heart of Jesus in his interactions.  He deeply cares and is deeply connecting, which means he is focusing on releasing the good in each of us.

I want theedge to be that kind of place.  We are not hear to preach AT you or DOWN to you.  We are here to deeply connect with you, because we see the good in ALL of God’s creation.  And that kind of relationship is what brings healing… to YOU AND me.

love.love.serve.