Author: Joe Leininger

Failure Management

Written by Joe Leininger on May 3, 2023. Posted in Reflections.

On Black Monday, October 19, 1987, the stock market fell 22% – the largest percentage drop in the Dow in history. The impact on my trading positions was calamitous. It blew a bankruptcy-sized hole into my account and wiped out the gains made in the prior two years. Back then I was a 26-year-old “veteran” of the trading floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who, two years before, had taken a $5,000 stake and turned it into a pile of cash for my personal trading account. Now it was all...

Never the Same River – May 2023

Written by Joe Leininger on May 2, 2023. Posted in Reflections.

Never the Same River –May 2023 Last month our book club discussed a favorite novel, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Although I had read and enjoyed the book years ago, I was amazed at how impactful it was to me this time around. It was as though Steinbeck’s perspective on good and evil was being written to a completely different person. “You can never walk into the same river twice because it’s never the same river and you are never the same man.” So said the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, in...

The Accidental Entrepreneur

Written by Joe Leininger on April 12, 2023. Posted in Reflections.

I have always considered myself an outsider to the business community. Ironically I felt this most acutely in the financial world in which I operated. Even though I played the part, there was always a mismatch between me and the traditional business landscape. I still remember an elevator ride in which this played out in real time. The contrast of my black trading jacket and Cubs tie was stark compared to the nattily-attired Chicago bankers next to me. One banker sniffed to the other about the...

Reflections of an Apex Predator- April 2023

Written by Joe Leininger on April 3, 2023. Posted in Reflections.

Since I began following Jesus as a young man, I’ve been aware of the inherent conflict my personality brings to this quest. From a kid playing sports, the penchant to try and conquer opponents was fostered by coaches and integrated into my operating system. Ten years on the trading floor exacerbated these tendencies—the game was all about dominating at the expense of others. Like many of us, I was trained to be an apex predator. Nowhere was the dark side of the alpha personality revealed more...

The Right F–ing Question- November 2022

Written by Joe Leininger on March 6, 2023. Posted in Reflections.

The Right F—ing Question Years ago, a friend of mine was in the process of systematically destroying his life. He was enmeshed in a problem that was eating his lunch and nothing I could do or say seemed to wake him up to the danger he was in. His career, health and marriage hung in the balance. It was obvious to me that he was headed off the cliff if someone or something didn’t stop him. After all previous overtures had failed, I asked if he would talk to my friend, Dennis. Dennis was uniquely...