Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He’s now 82 years old and has a new book, ‘Where Have All The Leaders Gone?’.

In it Lee Iacocca says:
‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course…’
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the bums out!’

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.. While we’re fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘ America ‘ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C’s of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here’s where we stand.

-We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
-We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.
-We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
-Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy.
-Our schools are in trouble.
-Our borders are like sieves.
-The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC news or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope – I believe in America . In my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America ‘s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: The ‘Great Depression,’ ‘World War II,’ the ‘Korean War,’ the ‘Kennedy Assassination,’ the ‘Vietnam War,’ the 1970′s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: ‘You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a “Call to Action” for people who, like me, believe in America ‘. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had ‘enough.’
Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It’s our country, folks, and it’s our future. Our future is at stake!!

Many people are sensing God’s call in their life to step out into the marketplace and to do so for the for the sake of building God’s Kingdom. People talk of wanting to help connect others and it is not important whether they get any business from it or not. I hear these comments which sound like the cry of self-sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom and wonder what is the real underlying foundation?

All of this verbage sounds acceptable in church circles, yet the under lying foundation of that train of thought leads to sinking sand. Truly, where is God in all of that theology? The spirit of poverty that exists today would tell King David or Joseph to give away all their money and expect nothing in return. So allow me to help break what is holding many of the Christians in the marketplace back from success. Yes, there are many pragmatic people who might scream, “This is absurd! Just get to the numbers. Give me the 5 step approach on how to do what God wants in my business.” The solution is to first reveal the spiritual truth and then we can get pragmatic about business without cutting God out of the business.

Many of the biblical references speak in agricultural terms. So ask yourself, “Where in the Bible does it teach us to sow seed and do not do it expecting to reap a crop? Just the opposite is true! We are shown the demand God puts on us to steward properly so we do reap an increase.

Much of the church world believes we should give everything away or do it for a very cheap price. Once again, I ask you to ask yourself, “Where does it teach us this way of thinking in the Bible?” Everywhere in the Bible when it talks about giving to someone or forgiving someone their debts it is out of abundance and overflow. Remember there was no planting or harvesting in the 7th year, so why and how did they do this? Well, many are familiar with the supernatural reasons of why in God’s economy yet very few live the how. In actuality, very few “can” live the how. The reason is too many people are dominated by a poverty mentality which paralyzes and stifles wisdom and good judgement. The reason people could survive the 7th year without planting was because they sowed seed, reaped a harvest, and properly stewarded their profit. Out of overflow we have God given power to bring live. In a spirit of lack everyone is covered in death.

For the meat eaters discern now between supernatural provision and the use of wisdom. We need to obey the Holy Spirit and where He calls us to go. There are some who are called to live with much financial abundance and others to live from provision to provision. The key being where is your faith? For the one with much could come to trust more in his bank account than God and it would be seen in all his financial decisions. The one with less could become full of worry and enslave himself to man which then blocks and/or distorts communication with God. Both circumstances are the same thing in different manifestations. Both lack faith and trust in an almighty God.

The point being is to slow down and allow the Spirit of the Lord to come upon you. Allow the Spirit to speak to you. Then believe what He says and take action!!!

Imagine trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together at the exact same moment. Exactly! Impossible! So, how do you do it? You look at the big picture (Your God given vision) and then you take the pieces and one by one put them together. Some days it seems to flow effortlessly and other days it seems like nothing fits. At the end of the day it is not about whether it was hard, easy, or how much you got done, yet did you obey God and do what He asked of you?

(From the 101 Series)

As I was learning to discern better in the Spirit, I gave a particular person the benefit of the doubt and chose to do business with him. I extended much grace to him. Now, my spirit identified him as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, yet I thought his over-confidence and polish could be interpreted as the way a person would act who cared deeply about his business and yet had a worldly or non-Christian worldview. In other words, I rationalized that he was a good guy and just did not know how to properly express it.

At this particular time in my life I was so willing to throw most non-Christian businesses to the curb and in attempts to balance this view it caused me to err in the opposite direction allowing too much leniency in their business interactions with me that I normally would not tolerate from anyone. So naturally one might ask at this point, “What happened and what was the lesson learned”?

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