In their book, Rare Leadership in the Workplace, authors Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder use RARE as an acronym for how to become a mature leader.

Discernment: It is defined as the innate ability to recognize the moral and practical consequences of our decisions. Discernment also is a quality rarely demonstrated in the business and professional world today.

Because we all have our strengths and areas of expertise. Individually we may be able to accomplish some good things; but put different people together who eagerly pool their respective abilities and you can move from good work to a pure masterpiece.

This week we will look at three additional principles. The fourth principle I would suggest is, “What will you provide customers that no one else provides?”

If you don’t count the greeting cards, ice scrapers or newspapers I sold as a child, my first business startup was a car rental agency. After I liquidated that business, I made a commitment to myself never to launch another startup. This was when I began to learn that if you want to give God a good laugh, tell Him your plans – His plans are very different from yours. Because from that time, I have been part of at least seven startups!

Some people see everything in black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. Others see an ocean of gray, with nothing ever firmly planted on one side or the other. Life might be easier if the Scriptures contained a clear answer for every possible ethical dilemma.

A song from years ago complained, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” These days, we could make a similar observation that if it wasn’t for bad news, we wouldn’t have any news at all.

For many people these days, truth is treated as an optional commodity, like deciding what kind of fruit or brand of canned goods to buy at the grocery store. It is a matter of personal choice – or so they say.

In my banking and consulting career, I helped many struggling companies become profitable. Many businesses have folded recently, and many more are doing all they can to survive. I would like to highlight five steps that can help your business become financially stable and move toward thriving.

For the past several years, I have been been receiving treatment for prostate cancer. It has been nearly a year since my second mildly invasive procedure to remove the disease that lingers within that one small gland. So far, I have elected to not have it surgically removed. And thankfully, I have not experienced any pain during the entire process.