Adrian Pei

An update on my garden, and on areas I need to grow in personally.

Sometimes we have to look at things on a deeper, heart level and understand why people and situations are the way they are. Even why we are the way we are, and what we might need to change.

This is Part 1 in a series on Listening Over my life, I’ve been fortunate to work with many leaders who are older and wiser.  Sometimes...

As leaders, doing what’s “most needed or important,” and serving others and the greater good, often requires doing the hard things in life, whether it’s confronting somebody or holding them accountable for their actions.

Looking around at the most relevant and cutting edge ideas about leadership today, I’m guessing these two ‒ patience and pain ‒ probably wouldn’t make the list..

When a leader admits his or her weaknesses in front of an audience, I think to myself: “That’s great that you see that and can articulate it so well. But how will you follow that up? What kinds of steps will you take over the next few months and years in response to what you just shared with everyone? Are you sharing because you want admiration – or accountability?”

I have yet to meet a leader who hasn’t doubted him or herself at some point in their lives.  Yet so often, we can feel...

Do you ever worry that if you give to others too much, you won’t have anything left at the end of the day? Author Dr. John...

I can still recall walking out of the leadership meeting, feeling deflated and invisible.  They just don’t get me, and what I’m trying to do,...

When was the last time somebody called you on the phone just to ask how you were doing? No particular item of business to...

Here’s my hypothesis: the more we talk, the less we notice.  What do you think? Over my life, I’ve been fortunate to work with many...

Four questions I love to ask, and three unexpected benefits that come with them.  According to a well-known story, Nobel Prize winner Isadore Rabi shares...

I’m sometimes shocked at how little I have to actually do in order to make an impact on another person.  When I coach leaders, I often...

Even if we make a mistake, it’s almost never too late to “try again.”

Many people aren’t looking for a rational explanation from their leaders, but for a relational connection.

What I’ve learned is that there are two modes we get into as leaders ‒ closed and open. I wouldn’t let anything or anybody get in so everything stayed the same.

Leading in weakness does not mean passivity, and it’s not just for times of crisis or exhaustion.

No matter how big our church or ministry is, no matter how much we are respected, we are never “above” God’s words that remind us that “the first shall be last” and that “those who exalt themselves will be humbled.” If anybody was deserving, it was Jesus, but He chose humility, sacrifice and death for those He loved. May our ambition not be to serve ourselves but to give our lives in service to others. May our legacy be measured not as much in what we have accomplished as in how much we have loved. That’s my prayer.

What can we learn about leadership from the United Airlines fiasco in 2017?

I like to think and write about leadership a lot – I love that there are so many ways to look at it. My passion is to make unique connections between these insights, and raise important questions for leaders to consider.