It is the week of The Masters Golf Tournament, and I am fortunate enough to have a kind and generous friend who gave me two tickets to Thursday’s opening round! I am like a kid on Christmas morning! You don’t have to know much about golf to understand that so much of it revolves around the word impact. If you impact the golf ball in just the right way and with just enough force, you will enjoy your round of golf. Just for fun, stop right now and enjoy the next five minutes of your life watching  Bryson DeChambeau’s Biggest Drives of the 2020-21 Season. I especially liked Bryson driving the green on a par four while other golfers were still putting! 

Leadership is like golf in that so much of it revolves around impact. Impact is a word which gets used in every powerpoint slide deck and is the selling point of every presentation. We long to be a part of something that is making an impact. This week I listened to a podcast which challenged my views about impact, and I want to pass it along for your consideration. In the podcast, Andy and Curtis talk about the limitations, drawbacks, and even potential idolatry involved when individuals are over-focused on impact as their definition of success. They then explore an alternative way to think about a Christian’s role in the world, one that is rooted in the surprising model of Jesus.