reSourcing

A monthly reflection on Pastoral Excellence

Leadership Sound Bites

Campaign rhetoric is approaching an all-time high as the pace of the presidential election moves into high gear. The engine of election year politics is fueled with words and it takes lots of them to make it run. A familiar and effective media technique popularized in past elections is the "sound bite." These short, pointed statements capitalize on the power of words to grab the attention of an audience and focus it where a candidate desires. Many campaigns strategize to have their candidate offer the sound bite that makes the evening news, overshadowing comments made by other candidates.

Over the years, I have collected a large number of sound bites. They aren't about campaigns and candidates. These have a theological bent and tend to focus on pastoral leadership. Sometimes the most valuable insights are expressed in short, simple phrases.... These are some of my favorites:

"Be intensely spiritual but perfectly human." -John Woodall

"The essence of genius is to know what to overlook." -William James

"Life is lived forward but understood backward." -Soren Kierkegaard

"It's such a little thing to be right." -Miguel de Unamuno

"I can't control other people's attitudes and actions but I can control my reactions." -Ray Robbins

Michael Wilson