My most successful clients are a part of what I call “learning organizations.” These are growing, dynamic churches, businesses or ministries that are seldom satisfied with the status quo. They are always learning and searching for ways to make a good experience a great one, to reach even more people, and to improve on what most people would label as a “wow” product. This past weekend I had the privilege of joining another learning organization. The Women of Faith tour reaches out to hundreds of thousands of women every year in 30 cities around the country. They have world-class speakers, singers, entertainers and production that’s second to none. I believe every woman would benefit from being in a WFO event no matter where they are in their faith walk. This weekend, for example, over 12 thousand women came to Atlanta’s Philips Arena for this two-day event. On record, there were…

I miss my dad today. Monday I left him in Florida at my sister’s house while my family and I drove back to Tennessee. He stood at the front porch fighting the inevitable tears. Being close to my father, Senhor Maurilio, as he is known in Brazil, is something very new to me. Growing up I respected my father, but I mostly feared his occasional outbursts of violence. Even though there were not often, these incidents left very powerful and negative impressions on me. I also remember my father always nursing headaches that prevented him from any meaningful exchange with me or my siblings. But God and time have a way to heal wounds and change people. In the last 25 years that I’ve lived in the US my father has changed into a kind, low-maintenance and fun man. Three weeks ago he came from Brazil by himself without knowing…

I’m often in meetings with CEO’s and business leaders looking for cutting edge ways to reach their customers. I must confess that I love technology–almost as Kip in the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” for those of you who saw it–but technology can be a trap. Today I was reminded that it’s not technology that sells, but creative, self-motivated people behind technology that make the sale. Yesterday I got an email from Courtney Ivey. Courtney works for a men’s store, John Craig, in Orlando, Florida. Earlier this year, I bought a shirt from her during one of my speaking engagements at the Shingle Creek Rosen Resort where her store is located. Yesterday, I got an email from Courtney with 5 pictures she took of her new shipment of Robert Graham shirts. I have gotten more compliments on my Robert Graham shirt than anything else I’ve bought lately and have wanted to buy…

God has a way to intersect our lives during the mundane to do something amazing when we least expect. I call these moments “divine appointments.” These are times when God places people, often the unlikely, in an intersecting path with our own, but the result is seldom what we anticipate. It’s usually something truly inspired. Unfortunately, I, for one, too often fail to see these divine appointments for what they are, and let them pass by unaware of their power to change lives, mostly mine. I travel a lot–frankly more than I want to, but it’s necessary to do my job. One of the things I enjoy about flying is the time it affords me to read , to write, or to just nap after a long day (I’m one of the few people who can sleep soundly in a plane). A few months ago I was on a flight…

A few weeks ago, my friend Anne Jackson blogged about American Airlines. Her inspired blog post aptly titled “American Airlines is the Devil” drew a lot of comments from weary travelers who had similarly painful experiences with the airline. It took American Airlines a long time to notice and respond to Anne’s post, which is read by thousands of people. Eventually someone from the company acknowledge her complaints and even confessed that AA needs to do a better job managing its online reputation. As far as I’m concerned, they need to do a better job managing their entire business let alone their online reputation. But I’ll leave that discussion for another time. In contrast with the flying woes of AA, I had a WOW experience with Southwest recently. They did something I didn’t expect them to do. Last Wednesday I boarded a Southwest airline flight from Nashville to Hartford and…