Len has a great post on leadership. Leadership in this new world must primarily be a vocation of contemplation and not activity. I love this quote:

“The greatest hope of influencing change is not our compulsive activity to shape a world different than the one we know, but to become the change we seek. That means becoming still.. risking the quiet and empty spaces… It means facing our own fears that there will be no one to offer approval.. no voice in the silence.. no one to clap us on the backs to say ‘well done.'”

Len’s post reminded me of a great quote by the late Henri Nouwen:

“There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.”