The trailer looked good but it was actually gutted. When my parents—snowbirds—set their sights on purchasing a trailer in Florida, they found one that looked good. A closer inspection revealed termite damage. Americans got a closer look at Congress when the House censured Representative Charles Rangel. How many saw termite damage? It goes well beyond…

Dwight Howard was not the actual MVP. A few years back, the woeful Washington Wizards upended the Orlando Magic in an otherwise forgettable game. The press highlighted the game’s high scorer, Orlando’s Dwight Howard. Yet the NBA’s scoring system graded him as only third-best that night. Highlighting the third-best player is a minor matter but it…

Smart coaches know you take what the defense gives you. Might be good advice for faith communities at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is when faith communities often get ornery. They object to opaque references to God. However, given the world we live in, the wisest course of action might be to take what the defense gives you….

Thomas Edison was a great inventor but a poor innovator. It’s a distinction with a difference. Inventors are builders. Innovators are remodelers. The dissimilarity has significant implications for innovation. It’s the reason why Edison the inventor saw innovation as socially horrifying.

What can a mechanic do that a manual can’t? If you own a 1970s-era Honda motorcycle that won’t start, the manual says to first remove the engine covers. A mechanic might counter: Maybe. It’s hesitancy gained from hands-on experience. The value of hands-on experience applies to more than motorcycles. It could help “faith and work”…

If you want to hear the power of culture, record a casual conversation. Speech patterns are the product of society, writes Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow and linguist John H. McWhorter. “We are simply creatures of what has become a general context.”1 In that case, what do casual conversations characterized by like, just, and you know…

Where have all the Ivies gone? David Burnham, a partner at the Boston-based Burnham Rosen Group, says only six percent of our nation’s leading businesses are currently headed by graduates of Ivy League schools. It was once forty percent. The decline might due to our elite educational institutions practicing alchemy more than producing alloys.

Tree rings measure annual tree growth. They don’t however make the tree grow. It’s a distinction that explains the difference between character and conscience. Character is tree rings. They measure seasonal growth. Conscience on the other hand is what forms character. The connection between the two explains why the recent disappearance of conscience renders the…

“They’re great players but not necessarily great partners.” That was Paul Azinger’s zinger describing this year’s United States Ryder Cup team: great individual players but poor partners. Every game-changer movement has been the product of partnerships, but not just any old kind of network. There’s an essential feature that is largely absent in the American…

The primary problem with “truth projects” is that truth is not the primary problem. Let’s be clear, we’re all for truth. Yet for many faith communities, “truth projects” have become the primary vehicle for growing in faith and engaging the wider world. But “truth projects” overlook two ever-present realities in the Western world today—realities that…