The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament kicks off on Tuesday, one of two tourneys getting underway early. The OVC regular season was won by Murray St. who ran away with the crown by three games over Samford as the Racers put together a ten-game winning streak to lock up the title. They are clearly the hottest team coming in but the other seven teams finished the season separated by just five games with the 2nd through 7th seeds separated by only three games.

I felt like Neil Armstrong on the moon when I made that first step on the floor below and left that first foot print where no one had ever stepped before. The mud had a black coating on top and when you raised your foot it left a very clear orange print about 1 inch deep. It felt strange to walk down into that huge room and then look back at the lonely set of foot prints that would soon turn into a well-worn path.

Some leaderships have been characterized as good and have been used as challenges for others to emulate. This description however raises an obvious question: upon what criteria were these leadership characterized as good? It is certain that some leaders, whose leadership does not fall within this category, have good qualities that others can emulate. For this reason it is important not only to know that a leadership has been characterized as good but also to know the characteristics that qualifies it as good. According to Anthony D'souza, leadership involves an inter-relationship between three elements:

It's not often that a team can pull out a valuable player from the ashes of the waiver wire, but when they do, it's like getting something for nothing. The past decade saw a big switch in how this process works. Prior to the new CBA, there was a waiver draft held each year just before the season started. Now, it's not uncommon to see players being claimed off waivers throughout the season. Either way, there aren't many great stories to be found from waivers, but there are a few.

There is something thrilling in the discovery of any one of that distinctive group of wild flowers, the orchids. One associates them with certain redletter days spent in quest of oddities in wild life that lurk in the sphagnum bogs. The ragged-fringed orchid, Habenaria lacera, is one of the flowers which the inquisitive botanist is likely to search out in those remote mountain swales, where the chippering yet fascinating song of the Nashville warbler greets him amid the stands of yellow birch, aspen, and tamarack trees. I shall not soon forget my first sight of this flower.

Effective leadership traits are as varied and numerous, not to mention subtle, as the human mind and heart themselves. No list will ever be complete, nor will it be the best suited for each individual reader. The bible gives some insight of the essential characteristics of effective leadership in I Corinthians, Ephesians, and 2 Timothy such as humility, integrity, focus, courage, discipline, compassion, and encouragement. The following paragraphs will place those characteristics into an organizational context.

Most of the hit songs on the charts were co-written by 2 or more songwriters. Learn why collaborating is such a powerful way to achieve success in the music business, and how you can expand your community of co-writers. Hit songwriter and coach Alex Forbes, who has had hits on the Billboard charts since 1985, shares proven collaborating techniques designed to inspire the next generation of hit writers.