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| Remember the time....When I was working at JPL, the manager of our team left for a week and
asked me to step in his shoes for the week. remember how those 2
older men made life really hard for me...they didn't communicate well,
were stubborn to work in the team, rejected my attempts to work with
them? Then, once I had to go down to their office to communicate
with them and found out the one guy was a Satanist and had a prayer
against me (with my name) written, posted on the wall. I didn't
know much about spiritual battle back then in my late 20's. But I
prayed and knew that I knew that God was stronger and was covering me
in this battle. I told him to get it off his wall or there would
be consequences from higher authorities (and I didn't just mean at
JPL). He did. God is good all the time!
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| Thank You for My Friends, LordI pray for more of all Your Best in their lives...thank you for teaching me more about Love through them. Amen.
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| Investors need for truthful speakingHere's an excerpt from Marketwatch...about truth and investing and
public speaking. Something to learn from teh God's work in the world.
The Buffett school
Those
familiar with the Warren Buffett school of investing will readily
recognize important investing tenets concerning the value of managers.
Good managers bring three qualities to the table: rationale, candor and
resistance to the so-called "institutional imperative."
Candor is the central issue in this
story. Author and Buffett authority Robert Hagstrom writes in "The
Warren Buffett Portfolio" (Wiley, 1999) that "every company makes
mistakes, both large and inconsequential. Value is placed in a manager
who has the courage to discuss failures publicly with media and
shareholders. It is Buffett's belief that a manager who confesses
mistakes publicly is more likely to correct them."
Trust is a hard thing to develop, and
a harder thing to regain once lost. And for typical investors, a fact
checklist to appraise trust and integrity is notoriously elusive.
Last week on National Public Radio,
Lanny Davis, an author and White House special counsel in the Clinton
administration, added his insights to the mix. Speaking not about H-P
but rather the unfolding Mark Foley scandal, Davis gave a formula for
trust and mistrust applied to damage-control communication.
The "mistrust" path, taken both by
Foley protagonists and Dunn, is to "deny, delay and change the
subject," usually followed by attacks on the accusers. We saw a lot of
this, as Dunn first denied, then let the story dribble out slowly, then
went on the attack about "dysfunctional" board members.
According to Davis, the "trust" path
is to "tell all, tell early, and tell it yourself." While Hurd may not
have told "early," there was clearly no reluctance to tell as much as
possible, accept responsibility and move on.
A simple framework
Buffett, Hagstrom and Davis provide excellent insight into the
importance of executive trust and how to read it in public
communication. I'd like to offer a simpler approach -- call it a
checklist if you'd like.
As you read and listen to executive
communications, both in print and in conference calls and other public
appearances, look at:
- What they say. Look for
a balanced appraisal of what has happened and what will happen in the
business. Excess optimism, unfounded arrogance or avoidance of down
sides and risks are signs of trouble. If an executive can't say
anything bad about anything -- except the competition or the business
environment, etc. -- look out.
- When they say it.
When something goes wrong, fast, contrite responses are best. Companies
that use timing to avoid the limelight may be hiding something bigger.
In particular, watch out for the "Friday afternoon massacre" -- the
disclosure of bad news after the Friday market close. Consider laser
vision correction specialist LCA Vision (LCAV
:
lca-vision inc com par $.001
Delayed quote data\
Sponsored by:
![]() LCAV33.40,
-0.36,
-1.1%
)
,
which announced a 10% earnings shortfall and the departure of its
president on Friday, Sept. 29 after the close. Was Wall Street already
losing confidence in "interim" CEO Craig Joffe, son of founder Dr.
Stephen Joffe, who left to buy a big stake in a competitor? Perhaps.
The once-highflying stock suffered a 25% haircut the following Monday. - How they say it.
The key here is straightforward, unambiguous language -- not a sea of
buzzwords and catch phrases. I like straight, active language like
"add," "reduce," "change," "profit," "spend," "mistake." Better than
"visibility," "accretive," "reinvent," "opportunity," "efficiency." If
you feel you really know what they are saying, good -- if not, look
out.
Mark Hurd's candor and willingness
to accept responsibility for the scandal and move on is clearly
benefiting HP investors -- not to mention employees. But don't lose
sight of the fact that much of that groundwork had already been laid.
Building trust is an ongoing process, not a one time event. 
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| Your truth is my shield and buckler. Gone are the days that I wished I
could run away from truth...(as I said on a previous blog) because it
felt dangerous to the dark and dirty places in my soul. I need truth to
come and be manifest in teh Person of Jesus, full of mercy, grace and
judgment, or I shall die. "Give light to my eyes or I will sleep
the sleep of death", I cry as I jog up Loma Alta with the clouds heavy
and dark. I need judgment or dark & dirty places will destroy me. I
need salvation from myself and all my "vanity". Zephy asked me
the other day, "What does it mean 'in vain'?" As I explained I
was caught up with the truth of it all...and the warning to
live on a narrow way that gives True Life. .."He that dwells in the
secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty." I must accept that there is One who is Most High, above me
above my circumstances and that He has a "place" for me. I need
to stay in that place. It's secret. Many don't understand
it, and when it's described feel the words don't make sense. Yet it
exists, and those who dare to dwell there need few words to know what
it is.
How can I move beyond the "sons of the prophet", to Elisha
who is not held back from ALL that God has?...I must be willing to go
thru judgment...thru the telling-it-like-it-really-is by God, on my
life. What else?
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| What was it all about?Honestly, blogging has been difficult here in Malaysia. I'm standing as I type right now. But, somehow there are certain disciplines that are good for me - this is one of them.
After directing my life towards the least amount of "ministering" ever in Malaysia these 15 years, something new happened. I was aware of a specific group of crippled people like never before. And for what reason? Because this group is given a crippling setup here, but rises above it so beautifully and powerfully above it, I am humbly grateful for them. This group is the Christian women we've been living amongst here. Malaysia is a Muslim country. These women are in a Christian church with a theology from people like St. Augustine who believed women were not made as well by God as men to minister. Yet most of these women work hard with great joy and few complaints. They listen as their husbands or other male ministers are given credit for the work, and go on confident that it is God that has been glorified. So, I am purged of what I have been taught as my God-given right, to have equality.
And yet, as never before I sense that God wants me to keep pace with His breaking into old cocoons that contain the new seed for the new era. There is a new place, I sense, for women to obediently stand. As I pondered these things over the past few weeks = the discussions turned towards this theme. During the oversite meeting I felt prompted to speak for the new role God may be calling women to here...and then the next day after sharing a short word from God for a small satellite church, one of the women came and asked me to do a seminar for women leaders in Malaysia. I nodded, not with great excitement (as I have never seen women's ministry as something that needed to be focused on in a special way), as I pondered the direction God may be leading me in.
I wish I had some pics for you guys... | | |
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