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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute In a time of astounding chaos and uncertainty, one thing is getting clearer by the day: “this thing” is a not going away soon. With Covid-19 flaring up here and there, again and again and again, we are in it for the long haul. In the spring people focused on the short-term, immediate adjustments they could make to avoid – or at least minimize – contracting the virus and possibly infecting others. Those who could began to work from home. Children’s school classes migrated home too. Trips to the grocery store were better planned and le...

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By Dr. Dan R. Ebener Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles by Dan Ebener on leadership in the Catholic Church. They are excerpts from his latest book, Pastoral Leadership: How to Lead in a Catholic Parish, published by Paulist Press and the Villanova University Center for Church Management.  This book is part of a series sponsored by Paulist Press and the Villanova University Center for Church Management. It is intended as both a textbook for Catholic seminarians and a guide for parish leaders. The premise is that the Catholic Church needs leadership – because we need change. We...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute We’ve seen a revolution in leadership in the past 50 years. It began when Robert K. Greenleaf published an essay titled "The Servant as Leader" in 1970 -- and actually coined the term “servant leader.”  In 1976, that essay and others by Greenleaf were compiled into a book, Servant Leadership, published by Paulist Press, a Catholic publisher. A movement had begun. The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, which he founded, explains his connection to a religious publisher this way: “Greenleaf always claimed tha...

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By Thomas H. Dahlborg, MSHSM President, Dahlborg Healthcare Leadership Group (DHLG) Director, Health Care Global Listening Centre Board As many of us seek to be effective leaders at home, at work (but perhaps working from home) and in our communities as COVID-19 continues to impact our lives, it’s an especially timely occasion to talk about the critical importance of being agile. Leadership agility is often defined as having the ability to: Make smart and effective decisions in a rapidly changing world; Being able to anticipate the best way to go forward; Knowing how to inspire – and then doing...

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Anybody can spare 10 minutes, right? Well, yes. But not always immediately. That’s why the Yeshua Institute is making its recent series of live webcasts available on video and on demand. The series is called Hang 10: Crisis Leadership for Christians. “Pick any of the 19 episodes you think might help you and watch them when it’s convient,” says Dr. Owen Phelps, Director of the Yeshua Institute. The various webcasts feature six different presenters who all have one thing in common – they’re all active Christian Catholics who are very experienced leading in times of crisis. T...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute I’m sheltering at our summer home deep in 15 acres of undeveloped woods in the middle of an Indian reservation. We would seem to be as insulated and safe as people can be during this pandemic. But our lives are rife with uncertainty. We’re not welcome here at the moment. Summer residents have been asked to stay away. The tribe’s grocery store, gas station and boat ramps are closed to seasonal visitors. Folks are afraid. There hasn’t been a case of the virus yet on the reservation. But should it show up, it wouldn’t take much to overwhel...

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By Owen Phelps. Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute Saturday, May 16, marks the start of Laudato Si’ Week, scheduled by the Vatican to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. The encyclical was dated May 24, 2015 and officially published at a new conference on June 18. Its title, Laudato si’, translates as “Praise Be to You!” in English. New mindset In it the pope calls for a “new mindset” regarding humanity’s relationship to the earth and all of its resources. He calls on people to think of themsel...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute Welcome to the Age of VUCA. If you haven’t heard of that term before, relax. You will probably hear it again often in the future. But don’t relax too much. VUCA is about vigilance, not complacence. Let me explain VUCA is an acronym that originated with students at the U.S. Army War College to describe four characteristics of the world – and many of its smaller parts – in the wake of the Cold War. They are: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and, ambiguity. In earlier, simpler times the notion was that a leader woul...

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Thursday, April 30, marks the last day of the month. It also marks the end of some social distancing restrictions in some parts of the country, as well as the end of the Hang 10 series of live 10-minute webcasts on Crisis Leadership for Christians presented by the Yeshua Catholic International Leadership Institute. But videos of all 19 brief webcasts will be available to view shortly after the live series ends Thursday. A list of descriptions and links to the webcasts will be published in the next issue of The Catholic Leader on May 13.  “We’ve heard good things about our effort, and we look fo...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Director, Yeshua Institute One of the greatest challenges we leaders face in times of great uncertainty – like now – is how to minimize the impact of biases creeping into our decision making.  That’s because research shows that our cognitive decision biases are most likely to raise their ugly heads in highly changeable, uncertain and stressful environments—just like the one we’re in. People with little or no self-awareness are going to scratch their heads and wonder what the problem is. If you ask them, they don’t have any problem with bias. Everyth...

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