Morning Briefings

Despite low confidence in the economy overall, some Halloween stores in the Piedmont are actually seeing more sales compared to last year. ‘There comes a point where you say, ‘The heck with it. I’m going to go out one night and have fun.’ It’s a way of escaping all the stuff that’s going on,’ Mendelson said.

– MyFOX8.com
Halloween Sales Up Compared to Last Year

To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives–the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections–that requires hard spiritual work.

– Henri J.M. Nouwen
Bread for the Journey

A growing body of research suggests that having just a few nasty, lazy or incompetent characters around can ruin the performance of a team or an entire organization–no matter how stellar the other employees.

– Robert Sutton, The Wall Street Journal
How a Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything: What harm can a handful of nasty or incompetent employees do? A lot more than you think.

Infamous frauds and financial crises have wrecked the public’s faith in business in recent years, leading many to try to repair the damage by emphasizing codes of ethics. But we do not have a crisis of ethics in business today. We have a crisis of trust.

– Robert Hurley, The Wall Street Journal
Trust Me

Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals–breakfast, lunch and dinner–to India’s homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.

– Danielle Berger, CNN
Once a rising star, chef now feeds hungry

An Iowa couple who was married for 72 years died one hour apart last week in the hospital as they held hands.

When parents and children are temperamental opposites, the results can be explosive. Type A parents, driven by nature, often have to ease up on Type B kids, who are more dreamy and mellow. When the pattern is reversed, relaxed Type B parents often feel outpaced by revved-up Type A offspring. These matchups can cause conflict beyond the normal parenting challenges.

– Sue Shellenbarger, The Wall Street Journal
Ambitious Parents, Mellow Children: Driven Type A’s Often Struggle To Raise Type B Kids

Those who live in close proximity to their basic values are apt to agonize over choices that other people, drifting over the surface of their lives, might never even see as problems. Sound values raise tough choices; and tough choices are never easy.

– Rushworth M. Kidder
How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living

In the workplace, employees will spend roughly half their waking hours working and living in the environment you create as the leader. There is a lot at stake and people are counting on you. The role of the leader is a very high calling.

– James C. Hunter
The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

Now journey forth!

– Exodus 14:15