Picture this...

Your high school student, a senior, is getting ready to head out onto the court to face one of the toughest opponents in the league. This is a pivotal game, it will decide the league champion. They have heard the pregame talk by the coach and they focused and ready.

They are physically and emotionally ready, they have their game face on. Just as they break their team huddle to head out onto the court they look up at you in the stands to get a final boost of encouragement. You stand up to cheer them on and at the top of your lungs you yell, “Go out there and be good enough!”

What does it take to be a great leader? Wisdom? Skill? Emotional Intelligence? Yes, yes and yes. Rather than focusing on “What” it takes to be a good leader I want to look at the “Who” it takes to be a good leader.

American novelist Alex Haley said, “If you ever see a turtle on top of a fence post you know he had help getting there.” It wasn’t “the what” but “the who” that got the turtle where he was.

The turtle, like leaders, need people in their life. An isolated leader is

The three most dangerous words for any leader are, “I Am Fine.” Go to a conference, stand in the lobby of a church, sit in a meeting or bump into a friend in the mall and you will hear these three words.

The words follow a standard script and I am as guilty as anyone at using them frequently. Here is a sample conversation that all of us have taken part in

Have you ever wanted to Give up? Quit? Walk away? Stop? Leave?
Have you ever wanted your day, week, month or year to be over?
Me Too!

Honestly, there have been times when I was trying to crawl my way through the tunnel of difficulty hoping, praying, believing for a light at the end! It’s in those moments I must ask myself the following four questions to just keep going.

Four Questions To Ask Yourself When You Want To Give Up

1. Do I Have Hope?

Sometimes all we have is hope. There is nothing else available. But, when hope is all we have we are reminded that