CEOs: BIG SINNERS!  "For CEOs, It's a Lot Lonelier at the Top," read the page one headline in the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Edition, on July 18, 2002.  The pay and perks scandals at leading companies have created a bunker mentality for many CEOs. On a recent vacation a CEO, with 584 clothing stores and 7,000 employees, said she was reluctant to reveal her occupation. "I was embarrassed to tell people I was a CEO," she said.  "It's like being a big sinner."  (CEOs should plan now to join their colleagues in the CEO track at CMA Colorado Springs 2003, Feb. 24-27, at The Broadmoor.  Anonymity will be guaranteed.) 

MORE SIN.  "Alarmed by the climate of corporate deceit and greed?" asks an ad for the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management (Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif.).  The school was promoting its "Morality and Leadership" certificate program for senior executives.  Appealing to another deadly sin, the July information sessions featured Starbucks* coffee and Krispy Kremes* doughnuts. Info: www.drucker.cgu.edu. (See Ministry News on a related story.)

MORE DRUCKER.  Leader to Leader, a quarterly journal from The Drucker Foundation, can be ordered from Jossey-Bass, at 888-378-2537, for $199/year.

CEO MAGAZINE. Chief Executive, (www.chiefexecutive.net) a monthly magazine for corporate CEOs ($95/year), comes highly recommended by Eugene Habecker, president of the American Bible Society, New York, N.Y.   Click here for a hilarious article on a new device which would allow a board to discern which of its board members are actually alive.  Info:  www.chiefexecutive.net/depts/flipside/178.htm.

"KNOWLEDGE WORKER" OUT.  "INFORMATION WORKER" IN.  According to the Wall Street Journal (June 27, 2002), Microsoft Corp. "is finally moving to ditch one of its most annoying pieces of techno jargon: 'knowledge worker.'"  Jeff Raikes, who oversees Office and related products, wants the company to use a new phrase, "information worker," which describes people who use technology to do their jobs, but don't necessarily sit in front of a computer eight hours a day. (Dennis Bakke, CEO emeritus of The AES Corporation, suggested at a recent CEO Dialogue in Seattle that people on your team just be called "people!")

BARNA, AGAIN.  It may disturb you, but it's an important article.  Read Christianity Today's cover story for August 5, 2002, "The Third Coming of George Barna: Evangelicalism's most quoted pollster is more fed up with the church than ever--so what's next?"  CT quotes Barna, "The people who fill the positions of leadership in churches today are, for the most part, teachers--good people, lovers of God, well-educated, gifted communicators--but not leaders.  They do not have or understand vision.  They are incapable of motivating and mobilizing people around God's vision.  They fail to direct people's energies and resources effectively and efficiently." Info:  www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/009/1.32.html.

QUIZ!  Here's the drill.  An interested donor wants to phone, fax, Fedex or visit your ministry offices.  How long will it take this person to find your mailing address, phone number, fax number, email address, and street address on your web site? 

CURRANT, PINKLE AND LEMON MERINGUE.  Those are three of the hot colors for 2003, according to the Color Marketing Group (www.colormarketing.org), the international, not-for-profit association of more than 1,700 color and design professionals who identify and forecast color trends for all products and industries.  "The ailing economy is the primary influence on the 2003 Consumer Color Directions Palette," says the CMG.  Look for liquid silver and blues. "A more energized dusty rose form of mauve will return as well as violet.  Fashion forecasts two blues for 2003, one a turquoise and the other is "Deep Artic."  For the full story, go to: http://www.colormarketing.org/media/news/med_2003_consumer_col_dir.htm.

PAY RAISES: 4 PERCENT.  "For the first time in nine years, many white-collar workers will get pay raises of less than four percent in 2002," according to a Conference Board report released on June 24, 2002, reported the Los Angeles Times.  The survey of 533 companies said that while a majority of people would receive the traditional four percent increase, an increasing number would receive less than that amount.  For the latest research on nonprofit ministry compensation, order The Christian Management Association/Capin Crouse LLP Compensation Handbook for Christian Ministries 2002.  The survey identifies what Christian ministries are paying for over 100 positions (organized by size, position and type of ministry). The data and editorial analysis on compensation is now available for purchase from CMA.  Call Terri Hughes at 949-487-0900, ext. 3005. To download an order form, click here. An innovative feature in this year's CMA compensation handbook is the "help line" service offered by Capin Crouse LLP. The financial and management consulting firm, with offices across the country, is offering three levels of compensation help line services.  Call the Capin Crouse Help Line at 800-370-8776.