Around the 'net

A few interesting links from the last several days. First, what's the job of a CEO?

The job of an executive is: to define and enforce culture and values for their whole organization, and to ratify good decisions.

That's all.

Not to decide. Not to break ties. Not to set strategy. Not to be the expert on every, or any topic. Just to sit in the room while the right people make good decisions in alignment with their values. And if they do, to endorse it. And if they don't, to send them back to try again.

Read the rest. It sounds idealistic, given the size of too many egos. But, if it were in place, the corporate world probably would run better (to say nothing of the government, but we won't go there).

This one, on keeping the office door open is really moving. Teachers and professors never realize how big of an impact they can have on their students.

He was the first student to ever visit my office.

I wasn’t expecting him to visit. In fact, I wasn’t expecting anybody to visit. I wasn’t holding official office hours that day. My office was nearly impossible to find, set apart from the main corridor and hidden in the back corner of the building. And I was a new professor, only a few weeks into my teaching career. The students barely knew me, and I barely knew them—or anything, for that matter. I didn’t even know how to use the campus library yet.

But my door was open—it always is—and perhaps that’s the reason why Paul* arrived unannounced at my office that afternoon. My door was open, and I was present.

Paul greeted me hello, and he parked himself in the chair beside my desk. I offered him tea, and we began to chat about the warm weather and upcoming class assignments. The conversation seemed relatively normal until suddenly, mid-sentence, he fell silent and slumped over.

This blog, which I only discovered a few months ago, has become one of my favorites. With a name like Bob on Books, what's not to like! Anyway, here's one from last week:

You know you are a book hoarder if:

You cannot leave a bookstore without a book, or ten, even if you have stacks at home to read.
You would have live at least fifty years longer than most mortals live (and retain your sight) to read all your books.
You almost feel a part of yourself is being amputated when you get rid of a book even if you know you will not read, or read again the book in question.
You have books everywhere, not just on your shelves–in stacks on the floor, on tables, on furniture, in every room, perhaps in closets.

Read the rest to find out what to do. And, yes, I freely admit to being close to a book hoarder. Thanks largely to Debbie (my wife of 41 years), I'm learning to give books away more freely. I'm trying to keep my library around 1000 books. And most of those are reference works that I need for my work. OK, a large percentage of them are. Well, I like to tell myself they are, anyway. : )

The always worth reading Roger Olson posted on the wriggly world of Christian ethics. Looks like he might be working on a book. Can't wait to read it! And while you are over there, take a gander at his post on Christian worship as a concert and his take on CCM's history. I was there, too, and have to largely agree with him.

And, on a different note, what's the future of the monograph?

Hope you found something worth thinking about. I know I did.