TED ENGSTROM: "About the only thing we can do successfully by ourselves is fail." Quoted by Rod Handley, founder/president of Character That Counts, in the upcoming issue of Christian Management Report (April 2003).

BIGGEST LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE.  In Larry Yonker's upcoming article in the Christian Management Report, on how
globalization affects leaders, "The truth is that this new globalization really isn't any different for a leader today that it was in the past. The biggest challenge is found in the urgency and intensity leaders must bring to the task of being a leader." (If your leadership competencies need dusting off, see the note about the CMA Executive Leadership Program under "Association News.")

TAX DAY + 600 YEARS!  Here's a note from the April 2003 "Tax & Business Issues" e-newsletter from Capin Crouse LLP: "In 1404, the British Parliament passed the world's first income tax. The tax was so unpopular that not only was it later rescinded, but all records of it were ordered burned by Parliament."

52 ARTICLES ONLINE.  Capin Crouse LLP, a CMA Founders Council member, has 52 helpful articles online, including "5 Steps to a Stress-free Audit" and "Tip-toeing Through a Minefield - How to Identify Unrelated Business Income."  There are also articles on board member travel policies, audit committees, and other key management and finance issues.  Go to: www.capincrouse.com.

FOUR VIEWS FOR END-OF-THE-WORLD HEADLINES.  Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, in his Feb. 28, 2003, column on how newspapers tend to slant the news, said that John Quinn, the first editor of USA TODAY, gave these possible headlines at a National Press Foundation meeting some years ago:
·       The New York Times: "World Ends. Third World Countries Hardest Hit."
·       The Wall Street Journal: "World Ends. Dow Jones Industrial Average Hits Zero."
·       The Washington Post: "World Ends. White House Ignored Early Warnings, Unnamed Sources Say."
·       USA TODAY: "We're Dead. State-by State Demise, pg. 8A. Final, Final Sports Scores, pg. 6C."
And how would CMA's Christian Management Report announce the news? "World Ends. Early Bird Rates for Next Year's Conference Slashed Even Further!"

TIME TO RE-READ SCRIPTURE.  It's interesting that Matthew 18 and I Corinthians 6 were not mentioned in a recent Los
Angeles Times (April 2, 2003) report that the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino (California) sued the Archdiocese of Boston, "charging that Boston officials hid the history of sexual molestation" by a former priest when he moved to California. "The suit, filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court, is believed to mark the first time that one U.S. Catholic diocese has sued another in civil court, according to both dioceses." 

CATHOLICS REMAIN LARGEST U.S. CHURCH.  According to the 2003 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, Roman Catholics have 65 million parishioners, while the Southern Baptist Convention has 16 million people.  Next are:  The United Methodist Church (8.3 million), The Church of God in Christ (5.5 million), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (5.3 million), The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (5.1 million), and The National Baptist Convention USA (5 million).  The numbers are based on self-reporting by denominations.  (To order the book, go to www.electronicchurch.org.)

THE HIGH COST OF BAD HIRES.  "A contributing complication to the challenge of reference checking is that (hold your breath) Christian sources often lie when answering your questions."  If that alarms you sufficiently, then read Robert W. Dingman's practical and critical suggestions on the importance of checking references before you hire people--and how to do it.  "Closer Looks in Tougher Times" is a helpful article in "Focus on Accountability" (First Quarter 2003), published by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.  For a complimentary copy of that newsletter, email info@ECFA.org and ask for the "Bob Dingman article."

BEST CHRISTIAN WORKPLACES SURVEY SNIPPET. According to Al Lopus, "the more money a staff person is required to raise as a percentage of salary, the lower the satisfaction level with their organization."

DOES SCEPTICISM TRANSFER TO CHRISTIAN CELEBS?  How soon should new celebrities (even Christian ones) hit the speaking/writing circuit?  Writing in the Miami Herald, Greg Cote questions the practice of sports figures being paid huge sums of money to share their principles of success.  He wrote, "Today's athletes and coaches are one championship or perhaps one crafty marketing agent away from a lucrative side career in inspirational books, motivation speaking and other spoon-sized psychobabble tailored for the aggressively gullible."