Month: January 2014

Self-esteem is a failed ideology, the “science” is based on a statistical fallacy, there is little evidence that efforts to promote self-esteem work, and in its popular form of “boosterism”, self-esteem promotion comes with hazardous and unwanted side effects, according to Glynn Harrison in his book Ego Trip: Rediscovering Grace in a Culture of Self-Esteem. We need a wholly different approach to the age-old question of how we should think about ourselves.

These statements are quite shocking, given the extent to which the importance of self-esteem is accepted unquestioningly in modern culture. According to the author:

• Self-esteem ideology exploded into popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s as an explanation for just about everything that psychologists, educationalists and politicians worry about;
• In the 1980s, programs for boosting children’s self esteem were integrated into school classrooms around the world;
• Churches embraced self-esteem ideology by catering to attendees’ narcissistic obsessions with choice and individuality;
• By the mid-1990s, the average child had a higher self-esteem than 73% of children from 1979;
• However, although today’s young Americans are more confident, assertive and entitled than ever, then are also more miserable than ever before;
• Statistically validated research reveals no causal link between low self-esteem and risky sexual behaviour, drug abuse, and anti-social behaviour;
•  In fact, anti-social behaviours are often linked with excessive self-belief and self-regard;
• There has been a significant rise in extreme narcissistic behaviours in recent years, although there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the self-esteem movement is the primary cause.

So, what is the answer? According to the author, the answer for Christians is to change their mindset from a focus of “what’s good for me” to one of what’s good for God’s kingdom or what’s good for God’s glory. Like happiness, true significance is discovered in aiming for something else.

This is a challenging and thought-provoking book, which deserves to be read widely, particularly by Christians involved in church leadership, counselling and education.

Followers want to know that the aim toward which they move is important and meaningful, according to Tim Irwin in his book Impact: Great Leadership Changes Everything. Even in the military and the corporate world, which remain organizationally hierarchical, people follow leaders with high commitment only when the leader is profoundly trustworthy and when he or she pursues a clear and compelling purpose.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

The ability to take a perspective on a problem is at the heart of all great business leadership, according to Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen in their book The Moment of Clarity: Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems. Leading by way of sensemaking requires that you, as a leader, know how to ask the right questions, how to see the patterns in the data, how to make the right interpretation, and how to shape those interpretations into actions.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

While the ready availability of information on the Internet has made some types of sales easier, it has made other types harder. Customers have frequently completed their own diagnosis and prescribed their own solution before approaching your company, and it can be an awkward sales conversation if their self-diagnosis is wrong. Customers are no longer looking for the old style of sales conversation; instead they are looking for insights, according to Michael Harris in his book Insight Selling: Sell Value & Differentiate Your Product with Insight Scenarios.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

Leadership is not a licence to do less; it is a responsibility to do more, according to Simon Sinek in his book Leaders East Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Leadership takes work. It takes time and energy. The effects are not always easily measured and they are not always immediate. Leadership is always a commitment to human beings.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

I hesitated before buying Sell Your Thoughts: How to Earn a Million Dollars a Year as a Thought Leader by Matt Church, Peter Cook and Scott Stein. The subtitle made it sound a bit too much like a “get rich quick” scheme. But now that I have read the book, I am glad that I did so. Although there is a greater emphasis on the money side of things than I would prefer, the authors do provide some really interesting insights.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

Thought leaders do not simply pontificate on what needs to be done; they actively engage in bringing to life new, first-of-their-kind projects, programs and creative initiatives. It is those actions that influence and inspire others to get on board, according to Denise Brosseau in her book Ready to Be a Thought Leader: How to Increase Your Influence, Impact and Success. A thought leader is defined by her or his ability to galvanise others to think new thoughts, modify the way they have always done things, and embark on new behaviours.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

Change is in the air, but it is difficult to get a grip on exactly what is changing, how and why, and what the future will look like as a result, according to Georg Vielmetter and Yvonne Sell in their book Leadership 2030: The Six Megatrends You Need to Understand to Lead Your Company into the Future. The book contains the authors’ best attempts to imagine the future based on key megatrends which they have identified in current global society.

My full review of the book is available at my business book reviews website.

A generation of young people is desperate for someone somewhere to share the Good News of Jesus with them in a context where they have community in which to safely process it, according to Rich Atkinson in his book Target: Leading Missional Communities for Students and Youth. The book describes the remarkable things God has been doing in the fairly hostile environment of Sheffield, England, through a new approach to youth ministry.

Instead of attempting to create large-group experiences designed to attract as many people as possible, the author’s approach is to start groups where young people already congregate, based around sports or other activities, and then to transition the groups into communities where deeper friendships are formed, testimonies can be shared, and the gospel communicated. The four phases of these groups are: contact, community, connection and commission.

It seems to me that this approach to youth ministry addresses a number of common problems, including:

• Youth groups seem to have a natural size limit of about 30 people
• Any group’s natural orientation is inward, and constant energy is required to maintain an outwards aspect
• Youth ministry tends to be expensive and unsustainable because the people being ministered to do not have the capacity to pay for it
• When young people become too old for the youth ministry, the transition to adult church membership is not handled well

Another key aspect of the author’s approach to youth ministry is that it is effective in reaching completely unchurched young people and can grow quickly without requiring significant resources. I found the book very inspiring, and would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in youth ministry.

There is an unmistakable quality of historicity and chronology in the life of Jesus and how the events of his life were celebrated by his followers, according to Steven Ware in his book When Was Jesus Really Born: Early Christianity, the Calendar and the Life of Jesus. Although the spiritual meaning of Jesus’s birth, death and resurrection are more important than the dates, the quality of historicity should not be overlooked by his followers 2,000 years later.

The New Testament does not provide many clues concerning the birth date of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus was born during the time of King Herod, that the Magi saw a star when it rose, and that afterwards Herod slaughtered all the boys in the Bethlehem area under two years of age. Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus was born during a census ordered by Caesar Augustus while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Unfortunately these clues are too scant to enable anything other than speculation as to dates. The year of Herod’s death is not known, there were several astronomical events which could have been the Magi’s star, and although the historian Josephus refers to a census it seems to be a different one.

It is generally agreed that Dionysius Exiguus was mistaken when he created the calendar of the Christian era starting from a week after what he believed to be Christ’s birth, but there is no agreement as to the extent of his mistake. After reviewing the opinions of the early Christian writers, the author settles on 25 December, 3 BC as the most likely date, although admitting that 25 December is conveniently 9 months after 25 March which was at the time the vernal equinox and celebrated as the start of the year.

The book contains plenty of interesting discussion on the difficulty of reconciling lunar months with solar years, and the various attempts by different civilisations to create accurate calendars. The author successfully refutes some wild theories, but his answer to the question posed by the title of the book is ultimately little more than reasoned conjecture. As has always been the case, Christians will have to continue to accept the historicity of the life of Jesus without knowing precise dates.

Nonetheless, this book provides an excellent and entertaining insight into the history of recorded time and the problems associated with dating events in ancient history.