Pursuing Humility? Meditations of a Proud Heart (2021) by Joel Cornuz, Book Review

 Pursuing Humility? Meditations of a Proud Heart (2021) by Joel Cornuz

I read this book on a flight from Taiwan to Kuala Lumpur. As soon as I and my colleague landed home, I told them very proudly, “Yes, I’ve finished reading a book on humility!” What an irony! Letting people know that I’ve read books on humility (such as this one and Andrew Murray’s) is probably a sign of my pride. Maybe yes, maybe not. But it is more challenging if I write a book on humility. Joel Cornuz thought so in his introduction: “If you pretend to teach about humility, you already demonstrate pride. Go and present yourself as an expert on the subject, and you disqualify yourself from talking about it. ‘I am the best, especially at humility.' The statement may be funny, but it reflects the reality of the problem.” As the author revealed in the book about his own pride, I saw mine all too obvious too.

Thus, I find this book—a series of the author’s meditations on humility from the Scripture—very helpful in pointing out my personal sin of pride and being independent from God, either intentionally or unintentionally. It was scary, but I needed the realizations that I gained from this book. The Holy Spirit speaks through the meditations of His Word. I need humility, or more accurately, I need God for humility, or, essentially, I need God. Joel concludes, “Humility is first recognizing the reality of who I am (a proud person in need of forgiveness) and who God is (the one who offers me the forgiveness I so desperately need); humility is then accepting my dependence on that God (without Him, I can do nothing); and finally, it is placing my life at his disposal for the service of those around me (and for His glory).”

It is the humble recognition that God (YHWH) is God and placing our dependence on Him that freed us from the weight of pride so that we could be more like Christ, the ultimate embodiment and example of humility. Remember the word that says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5, Proverbs 3:34) #ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #Humility #Pride #LikeChrist #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

*Thanks to FES Singapore for the gift!

To read my other book reviews/summaries, CLICK HERE

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Angelus' Quote: Pride will Kill a Man

Pride will kill a man... Trust me, I know. I went to prison because of it 😬 Pride is hard to detect in ourselves. Others can see it in us, but we have difficulty detecting it. If you have good friends, ask them to comment on you. Usually, they will be honest if you're sincere. What makes pride dangerous is that it creates a false reflection in the mirror.

Humility is the answer. The key to biblical humility is to allow your thoughts to come under the teaching and control of Christ (read Philippians 2). Allow your attitude and behavior to be formed by the direction of God's spirit, not your own. Humility is the cure to pride - and it begins on your knees in prayer. How wonderful if a man falls in front of his King! 😉🔥📖 #ServeToLead #Manhood

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Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership (2009) by Timothy Irwin, Book Review

Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership (2009)

by Timothy Irwin, PhD

Derailment means "off the rails." To be a derailed leader means to fall short of inner character that result in outer disaster. Maybe it's better to say that a derailed leader is not a ‘leader' after all. In the second section of this book, Irwin, a consultant on leadership development, shares about six famous leaders who greatly derailed, namely: Robert Nardelli, Carly Fiorina, Durk Jager, Steven Heyer, Frank Raines & Dick Fuld. Irwin doesn't shame these six high profile leaders because their derailments are known to the public and were reported from respected media. In their cases, fraud was not the reason. "What ultimately caused the derailment of the individuals profiled in upcoming chapters was a failure of character!" write the author. "The big lesson is that no matter how brilliant, charming, strategic or commanding in the presence a leader is, the consequences of a failed character are extraordinary disabling and will bring down even the strongest among us."

But ultimately, this book is not about them… it's about us – you and me, especially we who are in a leadership position and/or authority. It's about how we can avoid derailment and recognize the early warnings of it. As Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, warned, "No one is immune from the derailment." I take the message of this book seriously and I thank Irwin for making it clear, urgent and essential for aspiring leaders like me. I've been to the dark valley of my character flaw. I went to prison because of it. A minor crime, I assure you, but a serious lack of character issue. If Irwin knew me (and if I'm famous), I can have a long profile chapter in this book! How did derailment happen? First, we must understand that it's a process. A slow but sure progression. Stage 1: A Failure of Self/Other-Awareness > Stage 2: Hubris, Pride Before the Fall > Stage 3: Missed Early Warning Signals > Stage 4: Rationalizing > and then, of course, Stage 5: Derailment.

Why did derailment happen? As Tim Irwin already says: a failure of character. Most good leaders have high IQ but most fallen leaders have low CQ (Character Quotient). "Character is the foundation of great leadership. We have to get this right to stay on track." There are three (3) tests of character: 1) Does the leader have a strong moral/ethical guidance system that functions well in ambiguous situations? 2) Does the leader make decisions just for expediency? And 3) Does the leader handle adversity with grace? To "stay on track" is an exercise of character. Tim Irwin outlines four character-based qualities that can help leaders to do just that:

#1 Authenticity (My strength that can be my weakness too)

#2 Self-Management (Very essential. Leader leads him/herself first)

#3 Humility (remind me of Lencioni's values: Smart, Hungry and Humble)

#4 Courage (I love the story of his father, Jim Irwin)

In the last section of this book, Irwin shares some practical suggestions, tips and axioms. He lists Five Critical Lessons In Leadership and Five Critical Habits of the Heart. To know about it, you have to read this book. It's worth the price and your time (by the way, I bought it during the sale for only RM10!). I fully recommend it. Although for me it comes in a bit late – remember I shared with you about my derailment incident – I'm glad that I learned from it quickly. I resolve by God's grace and guidance that I want to improve my character personally and as a leader. As Tim Irwin closes this book: "We must keep intense light on our character as well as continue to become more and more competent at what we do."

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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How the Mighty Fall (2009) by Jim Collins, Book Review

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Company Never Give In (2009) by Jim Collins

It’s been years since I wanted to read Jim Collins’ books such as Built to Last, Good to Great and Great by Choice but somehow I couldn’t find the motivation to do so. This year I’m decided – one of my resolutions – to learn about entrepreneurship, start-ups, and business and I would like to start with his books (Although, I’ve already started this year by reading The Lean Startup by Eric Reis halfway then decided to stop because… well, boring). So, I decided to read How the Mighty Fall for two reasons: 1) It is different from his other books. Instead of studying only about success, this book documented how and why the giants fall. Jim Collins writes, “Better to learn from how others fell than to repeat their mistakes out of ignorance”; and 2) It is more concise, straight to the point and no doubt, a shorter book than the rest.

Among the fallen-companies that Collins use for his team research for this book are A&P, Addressograph, Ames, Bank of America, Circuit City, HP, Merck, Motorola, Rubbermaid, Scott Paper and Zenith (see Appendix 1 on the selection criteria). I only familiar with HP and Motorola. Jim Collins asks: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course? So in this book, he confronts these questions, shares the analysis results, pinpoints the pitfalls and offers his insights to overcome the decline. This is my favorite quote from this book: “Every institution is vulnerable, no matter how great. No matter how much you’ve achieved, no matter how far you’ve gone, no matter how much power you’ve garnered, you’re vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do.” When I read this, I thought of churches, NGOs, Christian Fellowship (CF) and our new Malaysian government too. A decline can be avoided, detected and reversed. Read this book!

In Collin’s research project of more than 40 years, he has uncovered five stages of decline that is consistent with the studied companies. If we as leaders can understand these stages, we can substantially reduce the chances of falling all the way to the bottom:

Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success

Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More

Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril

Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation

Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

Here is my oversimplification summary for each stage of decline:

Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success. “Hubris” refers to excessive pride or arrogance. Stage 1 starts when people become over-confident, and forget the true foundations of their success.  People start to take success for granted, lose the hunger for learning, get distracted by non-core areas, and confuse their “Why” and “What”. Stage 1 reminds me of Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction.”

Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More. The arrogance from Stage 1 leads the company to overstretch, jumping into areas where it can’t be great, or pursuing growth without the right people or resources. They become obsessed with growth (to the point of losing focus and discipline), and make the fatal error of growing faster than they can get the right people, and/or don’t put the right successors in place. 

Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril. At this stage, the company is still delivering results, but there are growing signs of danger. Unfortunately, leaders view the data through “colored lenses and neglect the threats.” Leaders play up the positives, play down the negatives, read ambiguous data bias-ly, and attribute problems to external factors. “Fanatical reorganization and deterioration of team dynamics & culture are common.”

Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation. At this phase, the decline becomes undeniable. But, the organization’s death is not yet imminent. “Leaders’ responses at this point determine if the organization sinks or swims. Those who panic and seek quick salvation (e.g. bringing in an external “Saviour”, or jumping into drastic, untested changes) will accelerate their fall to Stage 5.” Revival is only possible with a return to fundamentals – the WHYs.

Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death. The longer a company stays at Stage 4, and the more its people try to find “magic solutions,” the faster it's downward decline. Eventually, the financial resources dry up and people run out of motivation. At this point, there are usually 2 paths a company can take: 1) Give up and sell the company, or 2) Keep going until it exhausts its options.

For each stage, Collins also summarize with a series of markers. These markers can be used as a self-diagnostic checklist. This is very helpful. As I go through these stages, I ask myself, is there hope? Collins puts it this way: “The signature of the truly great versus the merely successful is not the absence of difficulty, but the ability to come back from setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, stronger than become. Great nations can decline and recover. Great companies can fall and recover. Great social institutions can fall and recover. And great individuals can fall and recover. As long as you never get entirely knocked out of the game, there remains always hope.” Hope… yes!

P.s: If you want to listen to a great summary of this book, listen to The Investors Podcast entitled TIP167: How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins (Business Podcast) by Preston Pysh and Stig Brodersen. You can also search for it on YouTube.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

John C. Maxwell on Leadership #21 Be Impressed, Not Impressive

Too often we think that if we can impress others, we will gain influence with them. We want to become others’ heroes – to be larger than life. That creates a problem because we’re real live human beings. People can see us for who we really are. If we make it our goal to impress them, we puff up our pride and end up being pretentious – and that turns people off.

If you want to influence others, don’t try to impress them. Pride is really nothing more than a form of selfishness, and pretence is only a way to keep people at arm’s length so that they can’t see who you really are. Instead of impressing others, let them impress you.

It’s really a matter of attitude. The people with charisma, those who attract others to themselves, are individuals who focus on others, not themselves. They ask questions of others. They listen. They don’t try to be the centre of attention. And they never try to pretend they’re perfect.

[Taken from The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization (2011) by John C. Maxwell. Published by Thomas Nelson]

Listen with the purpose of understanding today,

and benefit from the knowledge, experience, and perspective of others.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Hates These 3 Sins: Dominated by Appetites, Outward Show, and Try to Look Important (1 John 2:16)

“For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world”

(1 John 2:16, NLT).

According to the Apostle John [thus, it is according to Jesus really, since apostles are God’s instruments] there are at least three different sins related to love for the world: “a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.” Let’s talk briefly about each of these concerns.

First, “A craving for physical pleasure” is translated as “the cravings of sinful man” and “the flesh’s desire” in other translations. It means to be dominated by your senses or appetites. Food, sex, music, or other material goods are examples. These items may not in themselves be wrong. The way we use them makes them right or wrong. Wanting food, for example, is not necessarily wrong, but if food becomes the most important thing in your life – you become obsessed with it – then you have a problem. If we want something selfishly, and we are willing to get that thing at practically any cost, then we are concentrating on that thing and not much else. That item then becomes like a god until we obtain it. But it is never enough; the desire for things tends to grow and grow.

A second sin is “a craving for everything we see” or “the lust of the eyes” or “eye’s desire.” When we begin to feel that happiness will be found in things that money can buy, we can be tugged into sin which focuses on the outward show. The Scriptures tell us again and again that what we see around us is temporary – it will eventually wear out or fall apart. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this when he says: “[Don’t] look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Remember, the eyes are the gateway to the mind, so they are a vital part of making us who we are. The Psalmist says: “Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word” (Psalms 119:37). The more we look at something, the more we will think about it and the more we will want it. And the more we want it, the more we will use whatever energy we have to get it. Then such things become gods to us.

A third sin, one which goes a step further, is called “pride in our achievements and possessions.” Another translator calls this “the boasting of what he has and does” and “life’s empty pride.” Some people are tempted to go beyond outward show or show off what they have – even to the point of lying. In trying to look better and richer, these people may try to outdo everyone else in describing what they have, whether it is true or not. People who like this are very insecure and unhappy. They spend so much energy trying to look great and important and trying hard to impress others. Beware!

As we examine ourselves over these three sins of the world, take to heart that “these are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever” (1 John 2:16-17). Ask yourself further: what do you think about most of the time? What changes do you need to make so that God is at the center of your life? According to the Scriptures and the Spirit's leading, "what pleases God"? 

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus on Prayer: More Private, Less Public

“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6, NLT).

In using the word “hypocrites”, Jesus referred to many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders who wanted people to think they were holy. They even used public prayer to get attention (Eugene H. Peterson paraphrased verse 5 in The Message as: “[When] you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production… All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?”). Jesus called them hypocrites because they were not actually praying to God; instead, they were putting on a show for an audience who would revere them for their apparent holiness. Their motive was pride.

Now, by saying, “when you pray”, Jesus was assuming that his followers would pray. He wasn’t saying people shouldn’t pray in the synagogues (or church) or even on “street corners” for that matter, but that prayers shouldn’t be done for show. We find the reality and depth of prayer not in public but in private communication with God. Corporate, public prayer can be powerful, and such prayers were vital to the early church and have an important place in churches today. But people who pray more in public than in private should consider their motives. If they really want to communicate and fellowship with God, they should go alone into a room, “shut the door” and pray. Praying only where others will notice may indicate that their real intention is to please people, not God. The only “reward” or results from the prayers of hypocritical religious leaders would be esteem from their earthly audience.

The prayer life of Jesus’ followers should differ radically. When we pray in public, pride can easily creep in. We can be overly concerned with using the right words and phrases, or about being politically and religiously correct. We may even be tempted to use prayer to spread gossip about others or to let everyone know of our spiritual accomplishments. But in private prayer, we eliminate pride from our motives; we humbly pour out our emotions to God, express our true thoughts and feelings, and listen in the quiet for God’s answers.

Think about this: Prayer should be a habit and a vital part of our lives. Apostle Paul wrote that Christians should “never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), implying that we should pray at all times of the day and in all locations, including home, office, school, malls, and presumably, “street corners.” Most believers today probably won’t shout out prayers in a crowded mall or business district, but we may be tempted to make a show of our piety in religious settings (worship services, small groups, Sunday school classes, prayer meetings, Bible studies, etc.). At those times, we should guard our motives, remembering that God is our primary audience, not the people in the group. Our biggest problem, however, is that we may limit our prayers to those locations. Instead, God wants to hear from us as we drive, before and during important meetings, while working in the kitchen or garden – in all of life’s routines. We also need to spend extended time with the door closed behind us, listening to our Father and humbly presenting ourselves and our need to him.

Where will you choose as your place of private prayer?

When will you begin to spend personal time with your Father?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus... Jump Off and Be Famous (3rd Temptation)

“Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’’ Jesus responded, ‘The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’’” (Luke 4:9-12, NLT)

In this final temptation, Satan took Jesus to the top of the Temple, the tallest building in the area. The “highest point of the Temple” probably would have been the corner wall that jutted out of the hillside, overlooking the valley below. Here we see that Satan changed his tactics as he tried to appeal to ego, to pride. He challenged Jesus to prove his identity, to show off to the world that he was God’s Son. “Do something spectacular,” Satan was saying, “Make a grand entrance to let everyone know who you are! You’re more than a carpenter’s son – you are the Son of God! You’ll be famous. Display your power!” And what a great show it would have been: Jesus hurtling toward the group but rescued dramatically, at the last moment, by angels!

Satan doesn’t denied Jesus’ deity. He knew very well that Jesus is the Son of God (and Jesus doesn’t denied it either). So what was this temptation all about? This temptation epitomizes the third category of what the “world offers” – pride in who we are and what we have done (1 John 2:16). This was another blatant attempt to side-track Jesus from fulfilling his purpose, which was to humble “himself in obedience to God” and die “a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus rebuffed this temptation by affirming his deity as he quoted Deuteronomy 6:16: “You must not test the LORD your God.”

Think about this: The appeal to pride is a huge temptation in our society today. Everyone seems to be seeking the spotlight, self-promoting, trying to gain that moment of fame, to be the next big thing, to be a star. Many people, even believers, will compromise their morals values, faith, and goals to fulfil this lust for popularity, significance, to be known and fame. But not Jesus and his followers. Jesus’ way is humility, and he promises that “those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last” (Matthew 20:16). Many of the most ‘insignificant’ people in the world will be great in Christ’s Kingdom. What matter is not how many events we organized and attended or preaching great sermons or awesome Church building project or the quality of our praise and worship sessions or whatever we do in the name of religion to gain personal popularity and fame; what matter is how we measure up to God’s standards, not the world’s – what matter is how God think.

Take a quiet time for yourself before the Lord today,

Examine your own pursuits of popularity or relevance.

Ask God to shift your personal longings to a strong desire for his glory

and his purposes in the world. Seek Jesus to be humble. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.