When considering how to be a better leader, we often focus on our physical health last. Priorities tend to lean towards the emotional and spiritual. However, a healthy body is foundational to a practitioner’s work and a balanced life for any person.  I was recently challenged by this verse during a sabbatical trip:  Joshua 14:10-12 (New Living Translation) 10 “Now,

Who’s Present with You Besides the Client? When a client sits down for a mentoring session, what we see is a single individual. However, an experienced mentor understands that it is more complicated than this. In Coaching, Mentoring and Organisational Consultancy, Peter Hawkins and Nick Smith discuss the law of three clients, which is the idea that our clients all

Learning to fill the tank My journey through burnout and recovery has remade me. I used to just go, run fast, and pay little or no attention to how I was doing. To recover from burnout, I had to learn to rest. For some reason, cultural—the pioneer spirit, a warped Christian perspective of self-emptying, or just plain low self-value, I

In my late teens, burnout described an adrenaline-fueled moment in a car. You floored the accelerator, redlined the motor, dropped the clutch, the wheels would spin, scream and smoke. The vehicle would have no momentum. Eventually though, the tires would grab and the vehicle launch forward. Often the vehicle was then out of control. This was dangerous driving.   Burnout

Once I thought it was weak people who burn out. I am ashamed of my ignorance. Now I understand that success is the prelude to burnout. Pace and Pressure A motor burns out through excessive use. People are the same. It is the ones who want to make a difference, those with drive and determination, that are prone to burnout.

I didn’t see it coming Something was wrong, and I thought I was sick physically. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, “I’m burnt out”. It was a process of realising something was not right and my GP saying, “Don, I think you are heading to burnout”. Thank you, Dr Don, for your diagnosis. Feeling tired and flat. At

Our vision at Verve Lead is to create thriving Christian leaders and flourishing communities. But why is the vitality of a leader so important? If the community itself is strong, it may thrive or at least survive even with a struggling leader. However in the long term, a community will only be as strong as its leader.  In the book

Most of our blogs are dedicated to helping practitioners in three specific lines of work: coaching, mentoring and professional supervision. If you have been following Verve Lead, you will see that I often group these practitioners together. You might ask; aren’t these unique professions with important differences, so is it appropriate to group these together? While understanding the differences is

Verve Lead has some very exciting news!  In early February, I had the privilege of joining the dissertation committee of Alyssa Serpa, with Biola’s Rosemead School of Psychology, alongside Professor Chris Adams (Director of Flourishing in Ministry and consultant and researcher with the Duke Clergy Health Initiative) and Professor Todd Hall (Faculty Affiliate in the Harvard Human Flourishing Program). I’m