Barnabas File

Every week, we find ourselves in some type of gathering with others.     Sometimes it is a group meeting where we are discussing topics of both collective and individual concern.     Often it is team of people working together to further the tasks of a church, organization, or service group.     How can you, as an individual, positively impact the effectiveness of the conversation in either setting?    Adam Grant is a professor in organizational psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He has shared these insights about group leadership.   The true leader in a group is rarely the person who talks the most.  It’s usually the person who listens best.  Listening is more than hearing what’s said.  It’s noticing and surfacing what isn’t said.  Inviting dissenting views and amplifying quiet voices are acts of leadership.  As I reviewed these observations, I realized that one d...

  "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there”. —Lewis Carroll   "If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else”. —Yogi Berra    We are far enough into the new year that most of our “new year’s resolution” have either taken hold or have been forgotten.  The beginning of the year is one of those pivot points that challenge us to stop, take inventory, and at least consider making changes in our lives.  Although we don’t often think about it, new year’s resolutions are a kind of goal setting.   The idea of setting goals often strikes fear in our hearts.  Most of us have been part of organizations that required us to set goals at one time or another.  Some of us didn’t mind so much setting goals as being required to!    In The How of Happiness , Sonja Lyubomirsky helps the reader to see goal setting as a path to mental health and growth rather than as a burden.  ...