I hear a lot about alignment lately. Business and church leaders like to talk about being aligned with mission, staffing, and consumers. It sounds great in meetings. It usually makes people think that you very smart when during any discussion you say “but we must make sure we have alignment here.” Try it next time you’re in any kind of strategy meeting, you’ll feel good. But true alignment is difficult to come by. The road to alignment is often paved with a lot of tough and very unpopular decisions—specially if you’re trying to re-align an organization that, for whatever reason, has gotten off course. Most likely, true alignment comes at the high cost of cancelled programs, product lines, reassigned or terminated staff positions. But when it works, it’s a beautiful and inspiring thing to see. I’m thankful to have been part of a true alignment exercise in the past year.…

Last week was a difficult one for me. I was confronted with my own mortality through the deaths of several of my generation’s icons, Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett, Ed Mcmahon and even, Billy Mayes. Farah Fawcett and Mrs. Piggy posters hung side by side in my bedroom wall growing up. I didn’t understand then as well as I do now that everyone dies; well, maybe Mrs. Piggy will live on through eternity, but all of us humans will eventually pass away. But I find myself, like many others in my generation, bucking the we-all-die trend. After all, Suzanne Sommers has me convinced that she’ll live to be 150 and look 35. That’s what I want. Interestingly enough, I’m slow realizing that, like the reminder of the recently deceased icons, my own life is just as fleeting. Last Saturday I set out on a long run in the oppressive heat of…

The Big Kahuna’s Water Park is a vacation tradition for the boys. We must spend at least one day of our week-long vacation there. This year is no exception. I love the water park rides as well as the sea of humanity that shows up there. At Big Kahuna you’re sure to encounter anything and everything. But I’m always aware I’m no where near Brazil for several reasons. I was reminded I was not in South America by the generous amount of material on women’s bathing suits. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that the Brazilian dental floss bikini (now that’s a mental picture for ya–and no I’m not posting a pic) has not made its way into the American beaches and water parks. The thought of seeing the women I saw today wearing the dental floss is pretty upsetting. But I’m also thankful for the men’s long shorts in…

I’m on vacation this week. Vacations are weird things for me, since I’m so structured in my daily regimen that vacations are interruptions of my schedule. I’m not complaining, however, it’s just the way it is. My friends and family call me “captain schedule” for my seemingly obsession with “redeeming the time.” I must confess I have gone overboard in the past. A few years ago I bought a software package that allowed me to customize our Disney World experience based on the age of our children, our food tastes and the best time to reach the rides and restaurants that we liked. I had a print out every day with a timeline for our park experience. I thought it was great; my family not so much. This week I have decided not to have a schedule–well not a hard one. So far I have done well. The only thing…

In the past few days I have heard from three different pastors the same story: my creative team has asked me to do something I’m not comfortable doing. One group had the Pastor repelling down from the rafters in a harness before delivering the sermon. But no matter the request, each of the men I talked with ended up arriving at the same conclusion: ultimately it’s not the creative team that has to preach this message, I am, and I’m not comfortable doing what they have asked me to do or say. Before you accuse me of being old school and not wanting to try new things, let me tell you I value creativity. My dad is an artist and I grew up in my parents’ art gallery. The A Group, a business I own, is built on creativity and filled with creatives. And beyond all of that, I consult…

I have been on Twitter for over an year now. I lost count of the number of times I have described it to people who look at me like I was completely insane. I love Twitter and I’ll be writing about it more shortly. For now, let’s just celebrate the best Twitter cartoons that have capture the best and worst of this micro blogging tool that has taken our planet by storm. Top 25 Twitter Cartoonshttp://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=twittercartoons-1233888048677500-3&stripped_title=top-25-twitter-cartoons .

Google has changed the way we catalog and access information. Now the geniuses are out to redefine and change the way we communicate. Google Wave is schedule to come out later this year, and if it is successful it will kill email as we know it. This is a long presentation, but it’s worth your time to see how Wave might change the way we communicate. How quick are you to adopt a new communication platform?

I chose “Making a Difference” for my blog title years ago because when I started The A Group, my intent was to help churches, ministries and businesses to make a difference in the lives of people in their communities and around the globe. And we have. Over the past 9 years we have helped our clients to become better and more effective at what they do. Last week I was reminded again that we are still making a difference. Pastor Bruce Frank of Biltmore Baptist Church in Asheville, NC, spoke to the Groupers (that’s what we call anyone on the The A Group team) on Friday about the impact our Easter marketing had on his church. We often hear of the percentage of increase in attendance during our media campaigns, total growth numbers over last year’s attendance, and conversions. Those are great ways to measure the return on investment for…

Last week we closed on the sale of our house. We lived there for almost 11 years. Here’s what’s interesting about the sale of our house: we put the house in the market on a Thursday, had an open house on Sunday, and had a full-price offer within a week, and closed in 6 weeks. Oh, and we did it without a Realtor. I know my experience is not typical in this market, but here’s how I did. It’s Got to Look GoodFirst of all, my house was in good shape. No, it was in an amazing shape for a 25 year-old-house (that’s the kind of endorsement you want from your wife after 25 years of marriage). In the past decade, we remodeled most everything about the house. New roof, new landscaping, Bathrooms with travertine counter tops, glass bowls, multiple showerheads. Our kitchen was my favorite room. Since I love…

Protestants have been on the marketing bandwagon for a long time, but our Catholic friends have not embrace it until recently. This video is from Father Vic on the behalf of the Roman Catholic churches of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. This was part of a “confessional campaign” to drive people to confession before Easter. The video was featured on their campaign microsite www.soulwow.com. Yes, this is for real. center this I’m going to give them props for trying something new and funny. It got me to watch all the way through and it made me smile. And that’s a feat considering I don’t usually make through most church videos no matter how short they are. What’s your take on Father Vic and his “ShamWow” parochial parish parody? (sorry, but I could not resist.)