John Maxwell is one of the leading influencers when it comes to leadership hopefuls. He taught me about making my car a university on wheels. His idea was to use commute time as an opportunity to listen to leadership tapes. I bought in to his "Injoy Life Club" and played his tape-of-the-month every morning and evening.
Don and Jim, two leaders I liked and respected insisted that a 7 hour round trip to hear John Maxwell would be a great beginning for my new role as lead pastor of a large church. I had never heard of John Maxwell but once we met there was no forgetting him. That daylong seminar in Calgary, Alberta in 1994 started a decades long appreciation for his work.
Niki Oudenaarden is a new and familiar face on the Summer Olympic trail. Tracking the achievements of the world's best and Canadian Olympians in particular has been a Jones family tradition since our sons were little.
Courage is a curious thing. Those who appear courageous wish they didn't because it means they've had to face something that nearly scared the life out of them. They've come through hell. Or maybe they're still on the journey.
Choosing which ones would go and which would stay was one of the harder decisions of my life. Books are my friends and I had over one thousand of them in my office at North Pointe.