Readers Without Borders: What killed the big-box retailer? Hint: It wasn’t the Internet.
Borders Books is closing all its stores after not being able to find a partner to help it out of bankruptcy. What killed it?
The company itself gave three reasons for its demise in its corporate communication-cum-suicide note. “We were all working hard towards a different outcome,” President Mike Edwards said. “[B]ut the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, e-reader revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now.”
That is not a very satisfying answer. Other companies have adapted to the e-reader revolution, and even benefited from it. Other companies have changed to fit the new bookselling paradigm. And other companies are dealing with the drawn-out aftereffects of the recession. The better reason for its demise is that Borders had long lost its competitive edge on many fronts, from corporate strategy to coffee. It died by a thousand–OK, maybe just four or five–self-inflicted paper cuts.
GOAL-SETTING: THE 90-DAY CHALLENGE
The former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers describes his 90 day goal challenge:
I have been setting goals in one form or another for years. Every now and then, I stumble across an old list of goals. I am always fascinated by how many of the things I write down come to pass. And, I must confess, it often happens despite the fact that I do nothing more than write it down. The magic of this is all explained in a very compelling book by Henriette Klauser called Write It Down, Make It Happen.
Even if you don’t create an action plan for each goal and work your plan, there is tremendous power in simply identifying what you want and focusing some thought on the outcome.
Every project worth doing comes with constraints. Our natural inclination is to fight them. When we fight constraints and eliminate them, we often gain access to new insights, new productivity and new solutions. It also makes it easier to compete against people who don’t have those constraints.
The church and its leaders desperately need a vision of a life with God and not just for him. by Skye Jethani
“There is a first-rate commitment to a second-rate mission.” That is what Roger, a leader in global church planting, said as he looked at the rock climbers ascending a cliff in the Alps. Many of us called into ministry feel the same way. Rather than giving our lives to climbing a rock, building a business, or amassing a fortune, we are committed to what really matters; a first-rate mission–advancing the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ.
But what if we’re wrong?
5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO GET BETTER AT SAYING “NO”
Michael Hyatt has now resolved to say “no” to everything unless there is a really, really compelling reason to say “yes.” He has switched my default response from “yes” to “no.” Why?
The Science and Strategy of Keyword Research for SEO
Tentblogger explores keywords and how they are fundamental to your use globally throughout your blog and your blog content.
More Irruptions of the Real? “Hey SBC, Read Fitch!”
Todd Little explores how the gaffes of Southern Baptist leadership and issues going on in Sovereign Grace Ministries apply to David Fitch’s book The End of Evangelicalism.
Southern Baptist Official Calls Obama “a Playboy”
Sometimes Richard Land says something positive and intelligent. Other times he says things that are juvenile and petulant. This is a case of the later and not the former.
C.J. Mahaney, Pride, and SGM-gate
C.J. Mahaney’s “leave of absence” and Josh Harris resigns from the board. What’s going on a Sovereign Grace Ministries? by Url Scaramanga
I am wondering if the Piper tree is begining to show fruit? Remember, we teach what we know; we reproduce what we are. We need to be careful about who we celebrate and allow to invest in us.
A new study has revealed that 53 per cent feel upset when denied access and 40 per cent feel lonely if they are unable to go online. The research found that people experience these feelings even if denied online access for a short time.
Here come the N.Y. brides — and their brides
Gay marriage dawns in New York State Sunday and some couples didn’t wait for dawn — marriages were planned for moments after midnight in Niagara with the wedding-centric city planned to illuminate the falls in rainbow colors.
Healthy Eating Habits for an Awesome Work Day
When you think about it, it makes absolutely no sense that we tend to pay less attention to healthy eating when we’re super busy and rocking it out at the office for more hours in a day than we quite possibly should be. In fact, beyond even eating healthy foods, statistics now say that 1 out of 10 workers don’t even take a lunch break, and of the rest who do take one, most only take 45 minutes.
This is What Emerging Church Is! Tony Jones Responds! Should I Be Fine With This?
David Fitch has a short response to Tony Jones about the emerging church. Fitch says that after reading the post Tony put up, he has come to some conclusions:
a.) “Emerging church” is a conversation and that’s it. It’s logic was never meant to provide theological direction for the gathered life of a people with God and His Mission. I guess I should be fine with that.
b.) “Emerging church” should not be expected to generate churches. It is not attached to any ecclesiological practice not does it aspire to work out any of these issues through ecclesiological practice. It instead is a provocateur to already existing churches. And I guess I should be fine with that.
c.) Since I am committed to the church’s work of bringing/witnessing to on-the-ground salvation in Christ to actual contexts and places and people amid seismic cultural shifts, “emerging church” will frustrate me. And I should be fine with that.
My question is: SHOULD I BE FINE WITH ALL THAT?