It seems as though the nearer I draw to God, the farther away I realize I am. The more I realize, the less I understand. People sometimes ask me about certainty: “How can you be certain about your faith in God?” Honestly, I gave up certainty years ago. The only thing I am certain of is my utter dependence on the mercy of God.

It seems the future of the Church, the future of the next Great and Holy Council (or the continuation of the one that has already begun) depends mostly on us, the people: the moms and dads, the brothers and sisters, the laity in general and the married priests and simple monastics. We’re the one’s whose holiness or lack thereof determines the holiness of tomorrow’s generation of leaders in the Church.

The Cross is truly the Tree of Life through which we return to the blessedness of Paradise.

In this episode we read Esther 3:13a-g, 5:1-13 LXX, and 8:12a-I, considering the royal decrees of the king, the dramatic scene where Esther enters his presence without invitation, and the misinformation about the Jewish people which he finally rejects. We are helped in seeing the significance of these fascinating scenes by recourse to Psalm 85/6, Phil 2:5-11, and 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos explains the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan through the lens of church leadership and hypocrisy.

On February 27–28, 2017, Priest David Mezynski, associate dean for Student Affairs at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, presented four lenten reflections during the two days of intensive liturgical services that annually mark the beginning of Great Lent for the seminary community. Using a story-telling format and employing a variety of sayings from the desert monastics, Father David focused on the theme of gratitude as the fruit of repentance, and especially pinpointed two main obstacles to true repentance: 1) feeling no awareness of sin, with a consequent refusal to change; and 2) possessing a despairing attitude, with a consequent inability to receive forgiveness.

On February 27–28, 2017, Priest David Mezynski, associate dean for Student Affairs at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, presented four lenten reflections during the two days of intensive liturgical services that annually mark the beginning of Great Lent for the seminary community. Using a story-telling format and employing a variety of sayings from the desert monastics, Father David focused on the theme of gratitude as the fruit of repentance, and especially pinpointed two main obstacles to true repentance: 1) feeling no awareness of sin, with a consequent refusal to change; and 2) possessing a despairing attitude, with a consequent inability to receive forgiveness.

On February 27–28, 2017, Priest David Mezynski, associate dean for Student Affairs at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, presented four lenten reflections during the two days of intensive liturgical services that annually mark the beginning of Great Lent for the seminary community. Using a story-telling format and employing a variety of sayings from the desert monastics, Father David focused on the theme of gratitude as the fruit of repentance, and especially pinpointed two main obstacles to true repentance: 1) feeling no awareness of sin, with a consequent refusal to change; and 2) possessing a despairing attitude, with a consequent inability to receive forgiveness.

On February 27–28, 2017, Priest David Mezynski, associate dean for Student Affairs at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, presented four lenten reflections during the two days of intensive liturgical services that annually mark the beginning of Great Lent for the seminary community. Using a story-telling format and employing a variety of sayings from the desert monastics, Father David focused on the theme of gratitude as the fruit of repentance, and especially pinpointed two main obstacles to true repentance: 1) feeling no awareness of sin, with a consequent refusal to change; and 2) possessing a despairing attitude, with a consequent inability to receive forgiveness.

Mark Moraitakis, Senior Director of Customer Foresight at Chick-fil-A, presents a leadership workshop at Hellenic College Holy Cross on developing the heart of a servant leader.

Bobby Maddex interviews George Matsoukas, the Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), and Ronald Muresan, the Vice President of the Orthodox Brotherhood, about the 2011 OCL Annual Meeting, which this year will honor the Council of Eastern Orthodox Youth Leaders of the Americas (CEOYLA).

Bobby Maddex interviews Rebecca Pagani, the Board Chair of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative, about the upcoming Third Annual Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Chad Hatfield and Hollie Benton about an exciting event coming up in September at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. The meeting is called The National Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference.

Bobby Maddex interviews Hollie Benton, Executive Director of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative, and Fr. Chad Hatfield, President of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, about the upcoming 5th annual National Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conference. The conference will be taking place at St. Vladimir's Seminary from Sept. 17-19. To find out more about the conference, the lineup of speakers, and how to get a registration discount, visit the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative website.

Bobby Maddex is joined by Hollie Benton and Fr. Paul Hodge to discuss the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative and its upcoming peer learning & BootCamp sessions for leadership development. Listeners who are interested in joining the upcoming cohorts can learn more and register at the OCLI website.

John Maddex is joined by Fr. Chad Hatfield and Dr. Andrew Geleris to talk about the upcoming Advanced Leadership Conference sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative. The dates are September 16-18, 2022 and the topic is "Money - The Gospel Changes Everything." This discussion centers on the issue of funding for parishes and organizations and the mind set that hinder growth. The book by Dr. Andrew Geleris that was referenced is Money and Salvation - An Invitation to the Good Way.

One of the great evils of all times is slavery and in this time human trafficking. Unknown to many an Antiochian Orthodox Christian has dedicated his life to educating the public and ending this evil practice. In this episode host Kevin Allen speaks about human trafficking with Tony Nassif Jr, the President of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation. He also produces national Preventing Abuse Conferences which focuses on preventing human trafficking and child abduction.

For startups and small businesses that self-fund / bootstrap everything. Not for big-budget businesses. ❌ Do not give away an ebook. ❌ Do not spend money on subscribers from Meta or LinkedIn. ✅ Borrow other people’s lists. ✅ Use a smart lead-gen tool / pop-up on your site. Circa Feb 2018, Copyhackers did a webinar […]

The post How to grow your list (with good leads) appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Demand generation vs lead generation? Which should you use? You could be missing out on some qualified leads if you're not using both.

The post Demand generation vs lead generation: Do you need both? appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

You need to prepare now for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Here are the copy projects to optimize before you finalize your Black Friday deal.

The post How to prepare for Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Hint: Focus on lead gen. appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Watch the best shots from Matteo Manassero's nine-under-par third round as he takes a three-shot lead into the final round of the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Council leader Nick Adams-King reacts to budget and says it is 'deeply disappointing' for local growth.

Politicians at Stormont and across the island of Ireland react to the US election result.

Simon Beech, 36, took part in riots in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August.

More than a year on, some heads say they still do not know when their Raac-hit schools will be rebuilt.

Barrow head coach Stephen Clemence says his players have to stop the habit of squandering late leads in matches after their 1-1 draw with Colchester.

‘Don’t play Wordle’ is the plea from striking New York Times workers who are complaining about what they say are unfair labour practices. The New York Times Tech Guild, which […]

The post Boycott Wordle – New York Times workers plead, DNA firm disappears without trace appeared first on Tech Digest.

Service Level Agreements are the secret sauce for ensuring marketing and sales are singing from the same song sheet. Qualifying inbound leads is an exercise in cooperation between departments.

Volkswagen Group (VW) and Tesla rival Rivian have launched a joint venture, with the German car giant increasing its investment in the partnership. The two companies say the deal is […]

The post VW and Rivian launch joint venture, Elon Musk to lead ‘DOGE’ appeared first on ShinyShiny.

This isn’t the first time a president claimed democracy was ‘under attack’

1. Trump says Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency  The Globe and Mail
2. Why is Elon Musk becoming Donald Trump's efficiency adviser?  BBC.com
3. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead new 'Department of Government Efficiency' in Trump administration  CTV News
4. George Conway: Musk, Ramaswamy to lead ‘nonexistent department’  The Hill

This empirical study investigates the mediating role of two components of psychological capital (PsyCap), namely self-efficacy and optimism, in the context of the relationship between transformational leadership (TL), work engagement (WE), and innovative work behaviour (IWB). The study was conducted among IT professionals with a minimum of three years of experience employed in Chennai, India. Data collection was executed using a Google Form, and both measurement and structural models were examined using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0. The findings of this study reveal several significant relationships. Firstly, transformational leadership (TL) demonstrates a robust positive association with work engagement (WE). Furthermore, work engagement (WE) positively correlates substantially with innovative work behaviour (IWB). Notably, the study underscores that two crucial components of psychological capital, specifically self-efficacy and optimism, mediate the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and work engagement (WE). These findings carry valuable implications for IT company managers. Recognising that transformational leadership positively influences both work engagement and employees' innovative work behaviour highlights the pivotal role of leaders in fostering a productive and innovative work environment within IT organisations.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how genuine leaders impact the creativity and innovative behaviour (IWB) of information technology (IT) employees. It also examines the impact of perceived organisational support as a mediator in the correlations between authentic leadership as well as innovative behaviours. This study explores the influence of authentic leadership via the employee's IWB using aspects from social exchange theory as well as social cognitive theory. The data was collected from a sample of 487 employees of the IT sector in India. The partial least square method is applied to test the structural relationship of the research framework. Findings reveal that authentic leadership positively impact innovative work behaviour and perceived organisation support mediates authentic leadership and IWB. Additionally, when organisations and leaders support the employees and value their creative thinking then the employee replicates IWB in the organisation. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

This study explores the connection between mentorship and sustainable development (SD) within three major perspectives of sustainable development, such as social, environmental, and economic perspectives from China. Second, the study revealed the relationship between entrepreneurship and SD. Third, a moderation influence of innovation management (IM) was observed among the proposed nexuses of mentorship, entrepreneurship, and SD. To this end, a total of 535 questionnaires were eventually utilised with the support of SmartPLS and the structure equation modelling (SEM) approach. A positive connection was confirmed between mentorship and SD. The outcome uncovered a positive correlation between entrepreneurship and SD. In addition, a moderation of IM was found between mentorship, entrepreneurship, and SD. The study enlists several interesting lines about mentorship, entrepreneurship, and IM that might help to improve SD in terms of social, environmental, and economic perspectives. Besides, the study provides various implications for management and states the weaknesses along with the future directions for worldly researchers.

Dynamic nature of the FMCG sector perpetually provides a tricky challenge for organisational leaders to nurture their employees. High demand for products, less shelf life and tough competitors always challenge the leaders to uphold their products in the market. Due to technology and e-commerce, many new competitors have joined the market, vying with the industry's veterans. Due to their unique business models that match client needs, these firms are expected to boost FMCG industry income in the future. Managers' leadership styles depend primarily on emotional intelligence. This quantitative study examines how emotional intelligence influences West Bengal FMCG senior managers' leadership styles. 500 FMCG managers were selected. PLS-SEM is used to study. Emotionally competent leaders choose transactional and transformational leadership styles depending on the occasion. Managers' transactional leadership style is strongly influenced by their sympathetic awareness, as shown by a path coefficient of 0.755. Transformational leadership style has a path coefficient of 0.693, indicating that managers' empathy affects their organisational management. Thus, sympathetic awareness and emotion regulation predict good management leadership.

Aim/Purpose: The aim and purpose of this study is to understand why there is a dearth of faculty of color ascending to senior levels of leadership in higher education institutions, and to identify strategies to increase the representation of faculty of color in university senior administrative positions. Background: There is a lack of faculty of color in senior level academic administrative position in the United States. Although there is clear evidence that faculty of color have not been promoted to senior level positions at the same rate as their White colleagues, besides racism there has been little evidence regarding the cause of such disparities. This is becoming an issue of increased importance as the student bodies of most U.S. higher educational institutions are becoming increasingly more inclusive of people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Methodology: Qualitative interviews were used Contribution: This study adds to the research and information made previously available regarding the status of non-White higher educational members in the U.S. by contributing insights from faculty of color who have encountered and are currently encountering forms of discrimination within various institutions. These additions include personal experiences and suggestions regarding the barriers to diversification and implications of the lack of diversity at higher educational institutions. Given the few diverse administrative or executive leaders in service today in higher education, these personal insights provide seldom-heard perspectives for both scholars and practitioners in the field of higher education. Findings: Limited diversity among faculty at higher educational institutions correlates with persistent underrepresentation and difficulty in finding candidates for leadership positions who are diverse, highly experienced, and highly ranked. This lack of diversity among leaders has negative implications like reduced access to mentorship, scholarship, and other promotional and networking opportunities for other faculty of color. While it is true that representation of faculty of color at certain U.S. colleges and programs has shown slight improvements in the last decade, nationwide statistics still demonstrate the persistence of this issue. Participants perceived that the White boys club found to some extent in nearly all higher educational institutions, consistently offers greater recognition, attention, and support for those who most resemble the norm and creates an adverse environment for minorities. However, in these findings and interviews, certain solutions for breaking through such barriers are revealed, suggesting progress is possible and gaining momentum at institutions nationwide. Recommendations for Practitioners: To recruit and sustain diverse members of the academic community, institutions should prioritize policies and procedures which allocate a fair share of responsibilities between faculty members and ensure equity in all forms of compensation. In addition, institutional leaders should foster a climate of mutual respect and understanding between members of the educational community to increase confidence of people of color and allow for fresh perspectives and creativity to flourish. Where policies for diversification exist but are not being applied, leaders have the responsibility to enforce and set the example for other members of the organization. Assimilation of diverse members occurs when leaders create an inclusive environment for various cultures and advocate for social and promotional opportunities for all members of the organization. Recommendations for Researchers: Significant research remains on understanding barriers to the preparation of faculty of color for leadership in higher education. While this research has provided first-hand qualitative perspectives from faculties of color, additional quantitative study is necessary to understand what significant differences in underrepresentation exist by race and ethnicity. Further research is also needed on the compound effects of race and gender due to the historic underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. At the institutional and departmental level, the study validates the need to look at both the implicit and explicit enforcement of policies regarding diversity in the workplace. Future Research: Higher education researchers may extend the findings of this study to explore how faculty of color have ascended to specific leadership roles within the academy such as department chair, academic dean, provost, and president.

Aim/Purpose: Board of Directors seek to use their big data as a competitive advantage. Still, scholars note the complexities of corporate governance in practice related to information security risk management (ISRM) effectiveness. Background: While the interest in ISRM and its relationship to organizational success has grown, the scholarly literature is unclear about the effects of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) leadership styles, the alignment of the governance of big data, and ISRM effectiveness in organizations in the West-ern United States. Methodology: The research method selected for this study was a quantitative, correlational research design. Data from 139 participant survey responses from Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in the Western United States were analyzed using 3 regression models to test for mediation following Baron and Kenny’s methodology. Contribution: Previous scholarship has established the importance of leadership styles, big data governance, and ISRM effectiveness, but not in a combined understanding of the relationship between all three variables. The researchers’ primary objective was to contribute valuable knowledge to the practical field of computer science by empirically validating the relationships between the CTOs leadership styles, the alignment of the governance of big data, and ISRM effectiveness. Findings: The results of the first regression model between CTOs leadership styles and ISRM effectiveness were statistically significant. The second regression model results between CTOs leadership styles and the alignment of the governance of big data were not statistically significant. The results of the third regression model between CTOs leadership styles, the alignment of the governance of big data, and ISRM effectiveness were statistically significant. The alignment of the governance of big data was a significant predictor in the model. At the same time, the predictive strength of all 3 CTOs leadership styles was diminished between the first regression model and the third regression model. The regression models indicated that the alignment of the governance of big data was a partial mediator of the relationship between CTOs leadership styles and ISRM effectiveness. Recommendations for Practitioners: With big data growing at an exponential rate, this research may be useful in helping other practitioners think about how to test mediation with other interconnected variables related to the alignment of the governance of big data. Overall, the alignment of governance of big data being a partial mediator of the relationship between CTOs leadership styles and ISRM effectiveness suggests the significant role that the alignment of the governance of big data plays within an organization. Recommendations for Researchers: While this exact study has not been previously conducted with these three variables with CTOs in the Western United States, overall, these results are in agreement with the literature that information security governance does not significantly mediate the relationship between IT leadership styles and ISRM. However, some of the overall findings did vary from the literature, including the predictive relationship between transactional leadership and ISRM effectiveness. With the finding of partial mediation indicated in this study, this also suggests that the alignment of the governance of big data provides a partial intervention between CTOs leadership styles and ISRM effectiveness. Impact on Society: Big data breaches are increasing year after year, exposing sensitive information that can lead to harm to citizens. This study supports the broader scholarly consensus that to achieve ISRM effectiveness, better alignment of governance policies is essential. This research highlights the importance of higher-level governance as it relates to ISRM effectiveness, implying that ineffective governance could negatively impact both leadership and ISRM effectiveness, which could potentially cause reputational harm. Future Research: This study raised questions about CTO leadership styles, the specific governance structures involved related to the alignment of big data and ISRM effectiveness. While the research around these variables independently is mature, there is an overall lack of mediation studies as it relates to the impact of the alignment of the governance of big data. With the lack of alignment around a universal framework, evolving frameworks could be tested in future research to see if similar results are obtained.

Aim/Purpose . The quantitative comparative ex post facto research study covered in this paper aims to fill gaps in the literature by focusing on whether gender influences perceptions of leadership; diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA); and job satisfaction among federal employees within the Department of Justice using empirical data. The study also explores whether there are relationships between the perception of leadership and job satisfaction and the perception of DEIA and job satisfaction. Background. Since 2002, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has administered the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), which measures employee perceptions of whether and to what extent successful organizational conditions exist in their agencies. Areas currently assessed within the FEVS include training, job satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, management effectiveness, work-life balance, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The exploration of variations in perceptions of leadership, DEIA efforts, and job satisfaction among U.S. federal employees by gender and other criteria are crucial areas for research that are underrepresented in the literature. This is not only important for the United States federal government, which is grappling with high attrition rates, but also for public administrations around the world. Methodology. A quantitative ex post facto research design was used to analyze data from responses of U.S. federal employees working for the Department of Justice. Leadership, job satisfaction, and DEIA were all measured using aggregate scores from pre-determined question sets. Differences based on gender were analyzed using t-tests. Additionally, chi-squares and Spearman’s rank correlations were employed in order to explore whether there is a relationship between the perception of leadership and job satisfaction and the perception of DEIA efforts and job satisfaction among U.S. federal government workers. Contribution. The findings of this study aid in providing empirical data to support the need for federal government leadership to understand the impact of employees’ perceptions on their willingness to continue working in the federal government. The research study was grounded in Public Service Motivation Theory, which centers around factors that motivate individuals to pursue and maintain careers in the public service sector. More specifically, this study supported the public service motivation theory in that it looked at gender as a mitigating factor in public service motivation as well as explored the role of leadership and DEIA as a correlating factor to job satisfaction. The results of this research have practical implications for federal government leaders interested in increasing employee motivation and retention and who should be considering the range of sociocultural and demographic characteristics that have been found in the research to impact employee perceptions and experiences. Findings. The analyses found differences in perceptions of leadership, DEIA, and job satisfaction among United States Federal Government employees based on gender. Additionally, perceptions of leadership and DEIA were both found to influence job satisfaction. The first research question explored in this study used a t-test to consider whether the perception of leadership among U.S. federal employees differed based on participant gender with significance found. The second research question examined whether the perceived job satisfaction of U.S. federal employees differed based on gender, with statistical significance detected. The third research question focused on whether perception of DEIA differed when gender was explored and the results of the t-test indicated a significant difference in perceptions of DEIA when gender was considered. The fourth research question considered the relationship between the perception of leadership and job satisfaction. A Chi-square and a Spearman Rank Correlation were performed, and a relationship was found to exist. Research question five explored whether a relationship exists between the perception of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives and job satisfaction, with significance found following a chi-square and a Spearman rank correlation. Recommendations for Practitioners. Leadership behaviors of managers and the existence of DEIA policies play a critical role in employees’ job satisfaction and commitment. The recommendations for organizational leadership in the public service sector include addressing gender inequality in work practices and environments and cultivating more inclusive organizational cultures. Recommendations for Researchers. The lack of inclusion of socio-cultural norms in the research on public service motivation is a gap that has yet to be sufficiently addressed and is an area of research that should be explored. Impact on Society. Research on public service motivation in local, state, national, and international government employment can aid organizations in developing strategies for improving recruitment, selection, and retention in public service organizations. This information can advance scientific knowledge on transforming management and leadership practices across sectors. Future Research. Future research can expound on what has been done here by examining in more detail how various identities, and more specifically intersecting identities, within the LGBTQIA+ community as well as other historically marginalized groups, impact such factors as perceptions of leadership, job satisfaction, employee motivation and retention, and work-life balance. Perceptions of specific DEIA initiatives should also be further explored.

This paper contributes to the limited research on roles ICT can play in impression-management strategies and is based on case studies done in the Swedish Police. It also gives a theoretical contribution by adopting a holistic approach to explain how ICT can contribute to giving a misleading picture of conditions. Output generated by ICT has nowadays a central role in follow-up activities and decision-making. Even if this type of output, often in colourful, presentable, graphical arrangements, gives the impression of being accurate and reliable there is a risk of defective data quality. The phenomena can be described as a process divided into five steps. The first step is about how the data is generated and/or collected. The second step is linked to how the data is registered. The third step is about the output generated from the ICT-systems. The fourth step is how the output of ICT is selected for presentation. The fifth step concerns how output generated by ICT is interpreted. This paper shows that ICT can easily be used in impression-management strategies. For example, that personnel take shortcuts to affect the statistics rather than applying methods that may give the desired effects.

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to develop a descriptive typology to better identify leadership toward creativity in virtual work in different types of companies. Background: The study empirically explores how leadership toward creativity occurs in virtual work and uses the theoretical lenses of creativity-conducive leadership and heterarchy to generate a typology. Methodology : A multiple qualitative case study design, interpretivist approach, and abductive analysis are applied. Data is collected by interviewing 21 leaders and employees face-to-face in four companies in the ICT sector and one business advisor company. Contribution: The empirical evidence of this study enriches the understanding of leadership toward creativity in virtual work and contributes to the limited empirical knowledge on leadership that stimulates a virtual workforce to achieve creativity. Findings: The four different types of companies in the typology utilize various transitions toward leadership creativity in virtual work. The trend in leadership in the existing virtually networked business environment is toward the “collective mind” company, which is characterized by shared values, meaningful work, collective intelligence, conscious reflection, transparency, coaching, empowering leadership by example, effective multichannel interaction, and assertiveness. The findings empirically support applying a heterarchy perspective to lead a virtual workforce toward creativity and promote leaders who are genuinely interested in people, their development, collaboration, and technology. Recommendations for Practitioners: The typology helps professionals realize the need to develop leadership, communication, interaction, learning, and growth to foster creative interaction and improve productivity and competitiveness. Recommendation for Researchers: This study enables researchers to more rigorously and creatively conceptualize the conditions and relationships in leadership that facilitate creativity in virtual work. Impact on Society : The findings highlight humanistic values for developing leadership. The study strengthens the view that collective creativity in virtual work cannot emerge without virtual and physical interaction in appropriate spaces and caring for each other. Future Research: Future studies may focus on other fields, industries, networks, roles of materialities, and employees in fostering creativity and on theory development. Longitudinal studies are advisable.