Good Leaders: What friend is helping you climb your mountain?

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We’re all climbing one mountain or another. And we know fear has a lot to do with feeling alone. This blog is about friendship, fatherhood and a faithful journey up Mount Rainier.

Fast friends

Tim Schmidt and I immediately became friends on the Lutheran Social Service Board of Directors 15 years ago. We shared instant chemistry as leaders, husbands and parents of young boys and girls. Tim taught me about “Daddy Daughter Date Night,” and I taught him about “Personal Accountability Groups.” Together we invented the The Seven Fs concept and wrote  What Really Works. It was our mountain.

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Tim and his son Jonathan are the speakers at the Good Leadership Breakfast this Friday. Tickets are still available because we moved to a larger venue at Golden Valley Country Club.

Stronger together

This father and son team are comrades inspired to blend together faith, family, finances, fitness, friends, fun and future by climbing Mount Rainier together. They have been on the speaking circuit sharing a harrowing tale of what they learned while tethered together across life-threatening mountain terrain.

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Today, Tim is a pace-setting Thrivent Executive and Jonathan is a professional potter and social entrepreneur. He bought his first Mocha Monkey coffee/wine bar while still in college. Today, he’s opened a second shoppe with the help of family and friends. Their story is a faithful love affair that has me wondering: what mountain will I climb with my own kids?

Success Habit

Good leaders make a habit of building friendships with people who will help them climb up the steepest slopes. And they invest themselves deep enough to call their own children friends.

My recommended reading this week is Comrades, by Steven Ambrose. It’s a great book about brothers, fathers, heroes, sons & pals.

Will you accept my invitation for breakfast this Friday?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]