Rescuing Ambition

Ambition needs to be rescued and put to work for God's glory. This book will encourage and embolden believers to pursue their dreams with a godly ambition that seeks more for God and from God.

What comes to mind when you think of ambition? Many think of ambition as nothing more than the drive for personal honor or fame. As a result, ambition -- the God-implanted drive to improve, produce, develop, and create -- is neglected and well on its way to paralysis. For some, dreams are numbed. For others, there are no dreams; life just happens. And for those who are dreaming, motives are often confused. One thing is certain: ambition needs help. Dave Harvey is calling for a rescue. He wants to snatch ambition from the heap of failed motivations and put it to work for the glory of God. To understand our ambition, we must understand that we are on a quest for glory. And where we find glory determines the success of our quest. Has your God-given ambition been starved and sedated for too long? Are you ambitious? It's time to reach further and dream bigger for the glory of God. - Publisher.

'Be encouraged by Bishop Emma's advice and inspired by her wisdom and humour.' JUSTIN WELBY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Counting things is very much on the table at the moment. But what is the theology around notions of ambition and success? Why do they sit so uncomfortably in a Christian context? After all, growth is not the preserve of big business when viewed through the lens of the story of God and his people. So, we need to ask, what is right about ambition for the Christian leader? And what were Jesus' views? Inevitably (because everything interesting is paradoxical), success and failure are close bedfellows. The single most successful event in the history of humankind - the victory of love over sin and death - looked very much like one man, naked, shamed and abandoned by most of his followers, hanging on a cross. If we keep a vision of the Kingdom of God at the centre of all we do, we cannot go far wrong. This lively and liberating book includes a brilliant take on Jesus' teaching in 'The Beatitudes for Ambitious Leaders'. Here Emma Ineson describes key spiritual dispositions that will enable us - whether in the church or living out our vocation elsewhere - to do just that.

Seth Buechley tackles the plaguing question of why ambitious people struggle to find satisfaction and reveals what they can do about it. His exceptional perspective, which began in a commune in the woods and led him to financial success through several multi-million dollar businesses, shines through his candid and direct insights into the advantages and disadvantages of ambition. A seasoned entrepreneur and leader of high-growth companies, Buechley illustrates the fundamental nature of gratitude in making the shift to lasting leadership impact.

We were created to enjoy relationships, and yet live in a very competitive world. So, we seek significance and security through performance, possessions, position, power and the like. Continuously struggling just to make it or striving to reach and stay at the top of the heap, the top of the ladder or any other figure for success has a way of making life complicated robbing us of the most important things in life. Grace Dynamics will help you to simplify your life and realize your destiny by understanding and embracing Gods grace.

Grasping the dignity and significance of women and work. Women are an integral part in God’s call to work—to create and advance God’s kingdom. But work looks different for each one of us. Whether in the home, with children, or in a professional environment—or some combination of all of these—women are cultivating a world of beauty, truth, and hope. But it’s not easy. We have doubts and dreams … questions and concerns. Chelsea Patterson Sobolik provides a robust theological foundation as she engages with our most pressing questions: How do I glorify the Lord with my work? How do I balance work and life? Is it wrong for me to pursue my career ambitions? What does it mean to be a Christian in the workplace? How do I respectfully stand up for myself at work? How do I discern my calling? Work, whether it’s professional or in other avenues of society, is an act of cultivation that involves developing something or someone to be better. Even if you don’t receive a paycheck, you’re still working. Caring for children and homes, volunteering in our communities, leading a Bible study, or caring for aging parents is God-given work. Chelsea faithfully engages with our questions and provides practical rhythms that women can incorporate into their lives to flourish in their work.

Based on an extraordinary collaboration between Steve Forbes, chairman, CEO, and editor in chief of Forbes Media, and classics professor John Prevas, Power Ambition Glory provides intriguing comparisons between six great leaders of the ancient world and contemporary business leaders. • Great leaders not only have vision but know how to build structures to effect it. Cyrus the Great did so in creating an empire based on tolerance and inclusion, an approach highly unusual for his or any age. Jack Welch and John Chambers built their business empires using a similar approach, and like Cyrus, they remain the exceptions rather than the rule. • Great leaders know how to build consensus and motivate by doing what is right rather than what is in their self-interest. Xenophon put personal gain aside to lead his fellow Greeks out of a perilous situation in Persia–something very similar to what Lou Gerstner and Anne Mulcahy did in rescuing IBM and Xerox. • Character matters in leadership. Alexander the Great had exceptional leadership skills that enabled him to conquer the eastern half of the ancient world, but he was ultimately destroyed by his inability to manage his phenomenal success. The corporate world is full of similar examples, such as the now incarcerated Dennis Kozlowski, who, flush with success at the head of his empire, was driven down the highway of self-destruction by an out-of-control ego. • A great leader is one who challenges the conventional wisdom of the day and is able to think out of the box to pull off amazing feats. Hannibal did something no one in the ancient world thought possible; he crossed the Alps in winter to challenge Rome for control of the ancient world. That same innovative way of thinking enabled Serge Brin and Larry Page of Google to challenge and best two formidable competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo! • A leader must have ambition to succeed, and Julius Caesar had plenty of it. He set Rome on the path to empire, but his success made him believe he was a living god and blinded him to the dangers that eventually did him in. The parallels with corporate leaders and Wall Street master-of-the-universe types are numerous, but none more salient than Hank Greenberg, who built the AIG insurance empire only to be struck down at the height of his success by the corporate daggers of his directors. • And finally, leadership is about keeping a sane and modest perspective in the face of success and remaining focused on the fundamentals–the nuts and bolts of making an organization work day in and day out. Augustus saved Rome from dissolution after the assassination of Julius Caesar and ruled it for more than forty years, bringing the empire to the height of its power. What made him successful were personal humility, attention to the mundane details of building and maintaining an infrastructure, and the understanding of limits. Augustus set Rome on a course of prosperity and stability that lasted for centuries, just as Alfred Sloan, using many of the same approaches, built GM into the leviathan that until recently dominated the automotive business.