Stephen R. Graves's Blog, page 8

Playing With the Giants: Can I Really Hang With Them?

Remember the movie Hoosiers? The small-town Indiana basketball team trying to play with powerhouse legacy championship teams? But they competed and even won in the end. This happens in sports, business, and causes. A small startup enters the game trying to compete with others who seem way out of their league—and win.

Over the past three decades, I have worked with a ton of these highly energized, undersized competitors going up against the giants in their respective industries.

This funny clip reminds us of what it looks like when someone tries to make the jump before they’re ready. But those small businesses that are ready will possess three things: capital, strategy, and an operator. 

Not just any capital, but smart, appropriate, and uncomplicated capital. You know what smart means. Appropriate means the right amount at the right time. And don’t forget the uncomplicated capital, which may actually be the most crucial aspect to attain.

Not just any strategy, but a needle-moving plan.

And not just any operator, but a rock star operator with a steady, get-’er-done hand on the wheel.

I call these three elements “table stakes.” Having them doesn’t guarantee success, but not having them almost guarantees eventual failure. 

But to be a small business—to jump from being the big fish in the small pond to being a consequential fish in the big ocean—you’ve got to have those three things…Plus. 

Plus, what? So glad you asked. Here are some keys to playing with the giants broken into three categories: people, structure, and strategy.

People

Have a clear-headed CEO. Senior leaders don’t have to do everything, but they have to do the right things. They must be objectively decisive—that is, not overreaching with their own personal story and passion. Build a senior leadership team that is comprised of at least 50% high-performers. I am a huge believer that you must have more than talent to win in a team sport or business. That said, the quality of the people on your team is crucial if you are scaling to play in the big leagues. Don’t hire for today; hire for today and tomorrow. Add people to your team who can carry serious water in specific areas. Don’t hire a bunch of generalists who sit at the top dreaming of all the things that “could” be done. Get people who can carry pieces of the organizational vision for the next year.Produce a raving fan segment. Identify and capture a customer segment. Get them hooked on your product or service and get them sharing. As Seth Godin said, “Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate.”

Structure

Generate an easily shareable brand story. Create a brand that sizzles and shares itself. The show can’t substitute for substance, but the show must be present. If you have to convince everyone that your idea is genius, it won’t work. Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” People need to be talking your brand up, and they can’t do that if your story is confusing or lame.Construct a model for scale, not just growth. If you want to compete with the giants, you’re not just trying to do slightly better than last year. You’ve got to build a structure of scale. How will you build the organizational capacity if sales triple next quarter or you get the opportunity to launch in forty new markets? Could you pull it off? These questions are tied to, among other things, cash, core leaders, and culture.

Strategy

Know your limits and hedge your bets. You might get lucky and hit blackjack, but you will likely lose if your plan to compete and win relies on simply chasing lightning in a bottle. Know your path to victory. Invest in your plan, process, and people instead of jumping at every shiny opportunity that presents itself.Micromanage your bank account. The number-one thing that sinks businesses is still the cash flow problem. Don’t let yourself live on fumes. Stay on top of your cash and strive for smart, appropriate, and uncomplicated capital.Prove the right things right now. Arthur Jones said, “Every organization is perfectly designed to get what it gets,” so know what you are proving and organize to get that done. Everything doesn’t have to be proven at every step—just the right things. What are your right things? Customer base? Financial backing? Product logistics? Figure out what you need to prove and prove it.Watch the public/private pendulum. Fail to self-promote and potential customers walk on by. Self-promote too much and your organization can’t keep up with your promises and the results come off as slimy. Identify the season to fly under the radar and choose the right moment to launch big.Swing big at the right moment. There’s a time to lay down a sacrifice bunt and there’s a time to swing for the home run—don’t just sit around waiting for industry leaders to make a mistake, but it is okay to wait for your moment. When should you take advantage of your tailwinds and when should you pause and build depth? You’ve got to try smarter, not just harder.Run in sprints. Organizational sprinting has appeal no matter your size, but especially right now when you’re making the jump. You’re smaller and nimbler than the big boys, so take off and get yourself a head start. It’s going to take them a bit of time to get their focus and money together, so take advantage and sprint! Level up. If you’re killing it locally, don’t jump straight to a national scale. Start regionally and map out a plan for your national jump . Lay the groundwork for the next jump and move quickly from one level to the next—but be sure not to skip a step.

Conclusion

Jim Collins writes about the flywheel effect in his book, Good to Great. And more recently, he’s written about how for-profits and nonprofits big and small learn to turn the flywheel. Good-to-great companies, he writes, have a “deliberate process of figuring out what [needs] to be done and then simply [do] it.” It isn’t a lucky break that helps them win. It isn’t a flashy new idea. It’s a commitment.

A company making the jump from being an impressive, small player to a stable, big player depends entirely on its ability to master what it takes to turn their flywheel. You can’t luck into that. You have to have the people and structure in place, and then operate a needle-moving strategy.

From the outside, it might look like you’ve fallen into success. But you haven’t actually fallen anywhere. You’ve made a jump.

Life on Life: The Key to Sustainable Influence

Every success story I’ve ever heard has a common thread. The successful person or hero points to those influencers who have cast a positive shadow on their lives. This “influencing” is often very intentional. And everyone has someone to thank for their success because we are all shaped and influenced by someone.

You may recall Kevin Durant’s moving words about his mother after winning the NBA MVP award several years ago. “You’re the real MVP,” he said.

In other words, don’t assume you have influence just because of a role or a title. Stop and interact with intentionality.

I call this “life on life”—where one person plays a role in helping shape the life of another person through touch points.

A few years ago, we took my oldest daughter out for her birthday dinner. Sixteen of her friends showed up, so we dominated the back of the restaurant. My son, Kile, (perhaps looking for some male support) asked if we could invite Andy, his camp counselor from earlier in the summer, to go with us.  

It blew me away how much Andy wanted to come (although perhaps the prospect of non-camp food with 17 girls had something to do with it), and how much he clearly valued his friendship with my son. After all, he had scores of campers during the summer and only spent a week or so with my son. But it was a time-intensive week. For seven days, they ate meals together, competed together, shared a cabin with 12 other guys, and talked about life, girls, and God. In short, they shared life.

Life on Life
Fifty years ago, Robert Coleman wrote a short book called The Master Plan of Evangelism that describes Jesus’ primary methodology of influence. In short, it was to do life with His disciples, day in, day out. That is how He changed them from the inside out and that is how He transferred life skills to His followers. “He was His own school and curriculum,” Coleman writes, noting that this organic nature of teaching contrasted with the formal, scholastic approach of many in His day (and in ours).

Jesus’ method was life on life. He poured courage, hope, and direction into His followers, and then He challenged them to do the same with those coming along behind them.

Many in the business community have also talked and written about a leadership strategy of life-on-life interaction. This Forbes article is nearly a decade old, but still dead on, noting five advantages of business leaders opening up their lives a bit more to subordinates:

Problems are solved fasterTeams are built easierRelationships grow authenticallyPeople begin to promote trust in their leaderHigher levels of performance emerge

It’s very clear from history that Jesus’ method promoted His followers’ trust in their leader and a strongly built team. They definitely believed in life-on-life mentoring. After all, decades later we see the great Apostle Paul espousing the same influence philosophy. Look what he said to the people in one town—“Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

He didn’t just show up for a meeting and after 90 minutes say, “See you next November.” He delighted to share his life. I don’t know everything that means, but it seems pretty safe to assume that it included at least at some level:

Working togetherEating togetherLaughing togetherTalking about serious thingsInteracting when he was tired or frustrated

They saw his life and he saw theirs. They learned from the way he went about his life, and he spoke into the way they lived theirs.

The Celtic Way
No, I’m not talking about Bill Russell, Larry Bird, or Paul Pierce (NBA legends who played for the Boston Celtics). I’m talking about the ancient Celtic people who lived in Great Britain.

George Hunter’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism is short on pages but extremely long on thought. He traces the highly successful—and sustaining—influence model used by the ancient Celts. One of his key points is that the Celts created a new model rather than adopting the traditional method of “influence” the Romans had established. The Romans were about philosophical debates and arguments. The Celts were about relationships.

Take a look at the differences between the Celtic and Roman models. Each model has a progression, but they seem to move in opposite directions:

RomanCelticPresentation
Decision
FellowshipFellowship
Ministry and Conversations
Belief, Invitation to Commitment

The core difference in these styles is the intentional effort the Celts made to connect life on life first, then follow through with some other agenda. The Celts were willing to put all their marbles on the table and gamble all of their influence on the back of human interaction.

I’m not saying you always wait for a deep relationship in order to speak truth, but as one of my pastors says, “Truth travels best on the road of relationship.” Life on life was the preferred method of Jesus, it was the approach the Celts chose to influence generations of cultures, and it’s what I’ve found most effective in speaking into the lives of individuals.

Think back on the individuals who have had the most influence on you. Outside your spouse and your parents, who are the 2-3 people who have changed the way you live?

It’s almost certainly those people you spent at least a short season of quality time with—perhaps a grandparent, an inspiring teacher or coach, a camp counselor or internship supervisor, a wise mentor or friend.

Without that time and without sharing life at least a little bit, who knows where many of us would be today? I know my life would be dramatically different.

The Gospel of Change (Part 2): Four Truths to Guide Us

Mary and Joseph—who look so peaceful and serene in Christmas nativity sets—were living quietly in a rural community, planning an ordinary married life together, when an angelic messenger showed up with a life-changing message. It was shocking, disruptive, and scary.

The changes that happen to us today seldom have such a supernatural element attached to them, but they, too, often occur without warning. One day it’s business as usual; the next day, we’re handed a promotion, our child is given a diagnosis, a trusted neighbor announces he’s moving, our company is sold, we receive an inheritance, or our spouse files for divorce.  Or the biggie of all COVID hits our globe. As John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Only a few of us are naturally wired for change. The rest of us have to work at it. And often we resist change even when it good for us—as Malcolm Gladwell describes the legendary Wilt Chamberlain shooting free throws.

But change is unavoidable.

I said in my last blog post that people have a “change bent.” Change reveals our true colors, as we see in the three main characters in the Christmas story:

Mary—the early adapter who displays the admirable quality of submissiveness to God.Joseph—the hard sell who wants to do the right thing but is cautious about making any sudden moves.Herod—the subtle resister who cares a lot about appearance and is inherently self-protective, overly suspicious, and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his power.

Today, we are going to look at the Christmas story again. But this time let’s identify four tips to help anyone honestly wrestling with growing their change mindset and behavior.

Life is full of the unexplainable and unexpected.

In one of his final books, management guru Peter Drucker said, “Everybody has accepted that ‘change is unavoidable.’ ” But this implies that change is like “death and taxes”—as if it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable.

But change is the norm. It keeps on coming in both our business and personal lives whether we want it or not. We should always expect change. We just don’t know exactly when it’s going to come or what it’s going to look like. To live is to experience change.

As I was once told on a trail ride, we must learn to sit a little looser in the saddle. Lean in to surprise and change. Relax a little. Sharpen your skill set of anticipation.

Sometimes change drives us and sometimes we drive change.

Two young friends of ours just got engaged. We watched them meet each other, date, and get engaged. When he asked and she said yes, they set off a chain reaction of change. Their world is now handcuffed to a series of surprises and adjustments that are all tied to their decision to get married. Sometimes we drive change.

Another young couple we know just had their first child. I met the husband for breakfast recently. He looked exhausted, excited, and overwhelmed. I didn’t even get a chance to ask how it was going. He simply said, “Man, we never sleep anymore.” We both laughed and I gave him my “You’re in the tunnel right now” talk. Sometimes change drives us.

People need information and inspiration during the change process.

Unlike Mary, who received advance notice of what was about to happen, Joseph didn’t get any official information until after he found out his fiancée was pregnant.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long for more data. The angel of the Lord soon appeared to him in a dream with a fact-filled message: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). In one dream, the angel told Joseph exactly what he needed to know.

When facing a big change at work, we often need to know why it’s happening and how it’s going to affect us. That is the core question and resistance of change for most of us. What does all this mean to me? Will I have a new boss? What does this mean for my retirement package? Will I have to share my cubicle with four other people? Will I lose my company credit card?

Like Joseph, the more information we get, the easier it is to process the change. That’s why it’s so important for change leaders to keep their employees informed. As a general rule, the more we know, the more willingly we embrace change.

Unfortunately, managers who initiate change often assume that the people who will be affected by the change have the same facts. But that’s often not true, according to John Kotter and Leonard Schlesinger. In a classic 1979 Harvard Business Review article on change strategies, they note: “The difference in information that groups work with often leads to differences in analyses, which in turn can lead to resistance.”

We need both information and inspiration during times of change. We need someone to pour courage into our soul. And this can’t be conveyed in a quick email or text.

It is normal to experience emotional turmoil during periods of change.

Are you worried about the change you face? That’s normal.

“A change can make sense logically but can still lead to anxiety in the psychological dimension,” writes Bobb Biehl. Even the strongest followers of Christ experience emotional upheaval during periods of transition. That’s because change is often accompanied by pain, and we hate to hurt. These feelings are legitimate, and they don’t signify a lack of faith. In fact, feeling troubled about something actually can be good if it prompts us to pray.

As for Mary, the Gospels reveal that she was “greatly troubled” (Luke 1:29) when she found out about the coming birth of Christ. Joseph, likewise, was “afraid” (Matthew 1:20), and Herod was “disturbed” (Matthew 2:3). Who wouldn’t be? Troubled, afraid, and disturbed—those three words aptly describe what change often feels like.

Of course, the event that was about to take place in Israel two thousand years ago was a wonderful thing. At the point of application, however, the change looked less than preferable.

Conclusion

As John Kotter, the preeminent change management expert, has written: “People don’t change a minute before they’re ready.” But you can learn to become more ready for change and learn how to navigate it.

Accept that change is part of living. It happens often. And it happens to all of us.

And always remember that the never-changing God is at work ahead of you, behind you, and around you to orchestrate the changes in your life for your best and your benefit, and for His glory.

Merry Christmas.

The Gospel of Change (Part 1): Which Face of Change Are You?

Mark Twain speaks for most of us when he said, “I’m in favor of progress; it’s change I don’t like.”

But it is a fact—change comes when we least expect it and it happens whether we like it or not. Look over your shoulder at this past year. What an incredible year of change!  What changes came your way? How did change occur in your life, your family, your work, your relationships, your health, your community, or even your world?

Change comes and it comes often. It’s not that all change is good (and it’s not all bad, either), but change is inevitable. I’m not talking about change that we choose but change that happens to us. It forces a response like I heard yesterday: “Change or die.”

Heart Check

Right after my heart attack some 5 years ago, the doctor said, “Steve, you have to make some changes.”

He was right. I had to face the fact that I had heart disease. Even if my way of life hadn’t caused my heart attack, I had to respond to it. So today I try to be more careful about what I eat, I exercise more, and I try to keep a more relaxed travel schedule.

In cardiac rehab, however, I was stunned to meet quite a few people who had a different response. Many had experienced heart attacks and undergone heart surgery, yet they didn’t change anything. They didn’t lose weight, they didn’t exercise, they didn’t stop smoking.

Why don’t we change when we know it is good for us? Because it’s hard and it’s uncomfortable and it’s scary.

But that being said, I believe leaders can improve their ability to understand and embrace change. I have been working with CEOs and business owners for more than thirty years. One reoccurring theme has been how to handle disruption and change, and how to lead through change. I even wrote a few blogs this last year on leading through COVID (Wartime Leadership, Wartime Followership, and 4 COVID Impacts.) Allow me to use a familiar story from the Bible to talk about the three ways people usually respond to change that is thrust upon them.

One Event, Three Responses

Of all the biblical events that illustrate the drama and dynamic of change, none has more significance than the birth of Jesus. The Bible uses the metaphor of light coming into darkness to describe the moment, which is about as drastic of a metaphor as you can imagine.

So let’s look at how three people responded to that change. See if you can recognize your own “change bent.”

Mary—The Early Adapter

Mary had recently gotten engaged to Joseph, and she was looking at the normal future of being a wife and mother. Then the angel Gabriel appeared to her with this message: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. … You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:28, 31-32). No pressure—just raise the Messiah with the scandal of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy attached to her reputation.

Her response? After a moment of troubling and wondering, she answers, “I am the Lord’s servant. … May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). In other words, “I don’t know how this will play out, but I’m in and I accept this new role.”

Mary is the model “early adapter.” She said yes to change—huge change—at once and then went about figuring it out.

Joseph—The Hard Sell

Joseph’s buy-in took a little longer. He wanted to figure it out before saying yes to change.

Notice the change that was thrust his way—the realization of “my fiancée is pregnant, and it’s not my baby.” Joseph considers his options—publicly shame her or break the engagement quietly—and he chooses the latter.

Then, a good night’s sleep changes him (like it does me so often). In a dream, an angel appears to him, telling him that the baby is the Messiah. Now, armed with the facts, Joseph embraces the change. He takes Mary as his wife and moves forward with their life together.

Joseph was a hard sell. He was a good guy, but he was not able to think outside the box. He was low on faith and high on rationale; high on control and low on adaptability.

Herod—The Deceptive Resister

King Herod, the ruler of Judea and Galilee at the time, had an optimistic public face but he was actually a defiant resister to the core. Defiant resisters come in two forms. The first type is against change and you know it immediately. The other type is those who are against change but pretend for a season to be with you.

When the Magi (wise men) asked Herod where the King of the Jews was to be born, he put his research team to work. He questioned the chief priests and scribes about Jewish prophecy, and he secretly obtained additional information from the Magi about the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent the Magi to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him” (Matthew 2:8).

But what was his real intent? To sabotage the change and protect his own power.

The Three Faces of Change

The responses of Mary, Joseph, and King Herod are not unlike how people and organizations today handle the transitions and disruptions that come their way. A new direction is unveiled for your organization, a spouse gets a cancer diagnosis, a key business stakeholder quits suddenly, a top competitor has a breakthrough idea, the youngest child goes off to college and leaves you with an empty nest, etc.

Change can come from any direction. So which are you?

Early adapters—You don’t understand all the ramifications of the change dealt you, but you jump in—willing to do whatever it takes to adjust. You’re high on trust, and your faith offsets the risk. You’re not naïve to difficulty, but you don’t run from it.Hard sells—Like Joseph, you need time to get used to the idea of the change and need information to help you understand why the change is necessary. Once sold, you, too, become an active participant. (In an ideal organization, you probably want a few early adapters and a few hard sells. They balance each other out well.)Resisters—Perhaps you’re a natural resister. You’ll talk about change as a good thing, even research it and its implications, but you know that below the surface, you’re hoping you can force business as usual.

How do you know which type you are? Consider your first response when someone—whether a spouse, a boss, a subordinate—points out a dramatic change. This change is not optional, but is something that has happened.

Is your response, “Wow. This is happening. I need to get on board, trusting that it is good and will work out favorably” (Mary?) Or “Hmmm … this is not what I want or was expecting. I need to dig deeper to understand what and why this happening.” (Joseph?)  Or “This is not good for me and I need to figure out how to beat it or subvert it.” (Herod?)  

You can probably guess what I’d recommend. Push yourself more and more to respond like Mary. Take a deep breath and a step of faith into the new reality.

6 Affirmations to Test Your Contentment

Have you seen anyone using one of these lately? 

It’s been a couple of years, but I have, and I’ve got to tell you, it caught me off guard. I sat down for a quick phone charge in the ATL airport between flights, and a nice fellow from a few decades back plopped down next to me and plugged up his really old vintage Blackberry.

I looked over but evidently not discreetly enough. He caught me looking and began selling me on his personal mobile device. He was a man not moved by latest trends, any marketing campaign by Apple, or the fact that he could afford something different. He, and I quote, was a man who knows what he values and will not be swayed. My only response was to ask if I could take a picture of that device (and I really wanted one of him as well).

Just so you know, I did not throw away my iPhone.

But it did make me think about the idea of being grounded in a practice, habit, or just a particular belief.

Finding your footing regarding money and contentment is one of the most stabilizing underpinnings you will ever construct. To not find it keeps your heart swirling between voices in your head, marketing messages by the millions, the appeal to be self-absorbed (again), and to live only for today, not for eternity.

I don’t know of another virtue that can ground us better in today’s society. I have found the most help personally with this issue in a small portion of a letter Paul wrote to his young understudy Timothy and then in another phrase from a letter to a small startup church at Philippi.  

“Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.” (1 Tim. 6:6-8 NLT)

“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” (Phil. 4:11 NLT)

Contentment is a skill or virtue to be learned. Contentment is more valuable than a big bank account. And contentment will serve you until the very end.

Here are six affirmations to test my contentment.

1. While wrestling with the bottom line, I focus on the eternal.
Sure, my bank account, net worth, and 401(k) balance are all important. But it is not the whole accounting of a life and it can’t deliver life’s entire request. Be careful!

As the apostle said “we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Until we figure out that most of the things we focus on—iPhones, stock options, professional status, and the like—are temporary, we will never find true satisfaction.  Jon Bloom calls it “The Secret to Peace and Contentment.” It’s about trusting God, not having stuff.

2. I know the difference between essentials and non-essentials.
In an age of consumption, it’s often extremely difficult to draw a line between what we truly need—for ourselves, our families, and our businesses—and what we simply want. We are the “Treat Yo’ Self” generation. 

Many times, therefore, our line of consumption is attached to our income rather than to a rational decision that caps our lifestyle and answers that crucial question, “When is enough, enough?” Typically, the more we earn, the more we spend.

Scripture offers a different perspective. As 1 Timothy 6:8 states, “If we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.”

3. My ambition is set on something other than getting rich.
There are plenty of wealthy people in the Bible (Job, Abraham, Boaz, and Lydia, to name a few). But getting rich was never their goal. Instead of having a deep desire to get rich, we should pour our energy into: establishing a good name for ourselves and for our family, advancing in godly wisdom and understanding, and daily being salt, light, and the sweet perfume of the gospel story.

Along the way, we might be rewarded financially as a result of our efforts. But that cannot be our-end all, above-all goal.

4. I continually evaluate whether I love money.
Maybe you’ve heard, “Money is the root of all evil.” Maybe someone even said that came from the Bible.

That’s a lie.

In fact, 1 Timothy 6:10 says “The love of money is the root of all evil.”  It goes on to say, “Some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” That’s a very different thing.

Answering the following can help us determine whether we’re flirting with disaster in this area:

What am I sacrificing to build my wealth?Do I regularly feel the pendulum swing from quick fulfillment to buyer’s remorse over my purchases?Am I unable to stop counting my money, sorting it, evaluating it, etc.?Is my spiritual condition getting better or worse?

5. I aggressively assess whether my hope is in God or my holdings.
As Paul wrapped up his first memo to Timothy, he gave a few last words of instruction regarding the wealthy entrepreneurs and business people in the congregation:

“Command those who are rich in this present world not be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Tim. 6:17-18 NIV)

Money is a vital part of life, of course, but economic prosperity can easily lull us into forgetting about God. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give and so fail to realize your need for God.”

6. My giving stretches my faith to the limits.
The final ingredient in the recipe for contentment is giving, and not just giving 10 percent.  Our same writer, Paul, gives us six filters for giving: regularly, systematically, in proportion to our income, voluntarily, cheerfully, and sacrificially.

Would your giving meet those instructions? Most Americans would answer “no.” The 2016 Philanthropy Roundtable Report said giving was better in the U.S. than ever, but still, 33% of people gave nothing, and the other 67% of people gave an average of 4% of their income. Even the super-wealthy (those making more than $10 million) gave less than 6% of their income.

So how did you score? It’s never too late or too early to learn contentment. It doesn’t matter if you are in your first job squeezing nickels together to pay rent or you just sold your company and stuck $50mm in the bank.

Contentment is a lost virtue in need of a serious comeback.

Wanted: Organizational Vision

Pastors aren’t immune to confusion.

I recently ran into a young pastor from the West Coast who was giving me a church update. He was stuck in a fog and his church was in the emergency room.

He’s been at the church about a decade, but in recent years, church attendance has been declining. Member giving no longer covers the church’s expenses. The clock is ticking.

Worst of all, members are burned out. Sure, they’re still coming. They’re even volunteering. But they’re volunteering out of a sense of obligation (or simply out of habit).

They’re not attending or serving out of any sense of vision. And that’s the problem.

Wanted: Organizational Vision

One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Proverbs, and one of my favorite proverbs is 29:18—“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

When Proverbs says “vision,” it means the kind of message that a prophet brings. But I think the principle at play isn’t limited to Old Testament prophets.  The truism is also that people need a compelling vision to pull them past today’s reality and into tomorrow.

We need to imagine. Imagine what could be. Imagination can be a fertilizer of hope.

Pastors and other religious professionals are often great at creating a theological vision and pointing people to eternity, but they also need to create an organizational vision.

People need to see a compelling picture of what they’re working toward before they can do their best work. As businessman and writer Alvin Toffler said, “You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.” It’s true in businesses, but it’s also true in churches and non-profits.

Who are we as a church (or a non-profit)? What are we about? What are we aiming to do? These are hard questions for a church and its leader to answer, as this StartUp podcast found out.

One writer said, “Your small group is destined to die a slow, complacent, even cordial death without direction.” The same can be true of a church.

Theology contributes to this organizational vision, to be sure, but it takes more than theological constructs to create organizational momentum. I’m not saying God doesn’t control the organization. But I am saying that standalone tenets of truth probably aren’t enough.

Accordingly, pastors cannot simply think about challenging and maturing individuals in their faith. Telling people to believe more, study their Bible more, apply the gospel to their lives more are truth tenets that individuals can latch on to. But churches (and non-profits) must knit individuals together in a way that moves the organization forward.

Theological truth and theological transformation must be deposited into an organizational vision.

Organizational vision, as this article points out, then pulls the people together and forward—encouraging unity and fostering risk-taking.

How to get started

The author Peter Block said, “One’s vision is not a road map, but a compass.” In the same vein, perhaps I can help point you in the right direction as you think about crafting an organizational vision for your people.

Ask the “What if” question. What is the impact you dream of having? Spend some time with your key people brainstorming an answer to this question.

My young friend and I imagined together. What if you made the driving vision to hand this church off to the next generation? What if your church became a voice for collaboration and reached out to three or four other surviving churches about pooling resources? What if your big goal was to transform the neighborhood surrounding the church?

Create some tailwinds. I’ve written about the concept of tailwinds elsewhere but the short version is that you need some momentum in your favor. Do you have signs of any tailwinds? A few highly bought-in volunteers? A new housing complex in the neighborhood? Financial support from another church in another part of the country? Uncommon favor with the local business community? How do you position yourself in front of those tailwinds? Are there other tailwinds you need to answer your “what if” question? How do you chase those down?Make the vision clear. One of the Old Testament prophets, a man named Habakkuk, received a vision from God and instructions on how to use it—“Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it” (Habakkuk 2:2). Most of the time, your people must learn it to own it. So, communicate it regularly and in clear, memorable ways. Leaders (including pastors) often are clear in their own minds about the vision, but for some reason, it just doesn’t implant in those around them. Get the vision clear in your head and then transfer it to others. That kind of inspirational transfer could very well create a movement around you.

Jonathan Swift said, “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” As a leader, you must get the vision out of your head and into the hearts of your people.

As for the church I opened with, I don’t know if they’re going to make it, to be honest. But they won’t go down without a fight. The people are unifying behind an organizational vision. And that’s what it takes.

The 5 Super Foods That Make Thanksgiving

Can you remember the first television show you saw that featured food and cooking? Although the official Food Network did not start until April 19, 1993, there were a few early cooks in the kitchen broadcasting their savory delights. For example, Julia Child released a television special February 11, 1963, on how to make an omelette.

If there ever was a holiday built around the kitchen it is Thanksgiving. And if there ever was a cultural quality in need of widespread revival it is a thankful heart. Somewhere along the road to rugged individualism, many of us outgrew gratefulness. So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving recipes, I have listed five ingredients that are 100% organic and will help grow a healthy, thankful heart.

Reflection: An Honest Parade of The Past

Our Western world isn’t very good at reflection. We’re too busy enjoying the present or strategizing for the future or getting things done.  The ability to stop, think deeply and drink in the days behind us is not a natural muscle set for most of us. Everything is about efficiency, productivity, and winning.

Thanksgiving, however, requires reflection. Look back and thank God for the things He has done for you—the people He has put in your life, the experiences He has given you, the heights you saw, and the depths you learned from. You don’t have to get handcuffed to nostalgia but looking back can be such a powerful spice for the heart.

Humility: Get My Photo Off Center Stage

I’m not talking about a “humble brag,” as in the old, “I can’t believe I made CEO at 27.  I was just trying to do my job as well as I could.” I’m talking about real humility, humility like Tim Keller defines it (referencing C.S. Lewis) in his phenomenal (and short) book The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of your self less.”

I’m honestly not sure how it all works, but it does.  Sit quietly and listen to your kids laugh, watch your direct reports solve a big problem on their own, facilitate the praise of a peer, and without even trying, you will find yourself becoming more thankful.  Thankful for what God is doing with, in, and for someone else. Thankful that you even get to ride along with Him a bit. Thankful that He lets you watch.

Appreciation: Especially For The Small Stuff

Here’s a practice to try for the rest of November;  at the end of the day, as you lie in bed about to go to sleep, review your day.  Take 3 minutes and mentally work through your day.  Every time you remember something good, give thanks for it.  Every time you remember a failure, face it and move on.

The practice of saying “thank you” for small things makes you realize how many seemingly small blessings actually play a huge role in the presence of joy in your life.  We often price or size ourselves out of appreciation. In other words, if the gifts don’t keep growing, and the value doesn’t keep increasing, we are not immediately appreciative.

Sifting: Strain Out The poison

Have you ever put the wrong ingredient in a recipe? A pinch of the wrong thing can totally ruin the entire blueberry coffee cake. Or, have you ever pulled out the bread to make a sandwich and you notice a green spot of mold staring at you? Certain things creep into our thinking or even our behavior that dramatically poison the thankful heart. Here are a couple reminders:

This is what the Lord says: The wise man must not boast in his wisdom; the strong man must not boast in his strength; the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth. But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me. ( Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8)

Contentment: Focus on What I Have, Not What I Don’t

I’ve been an entrepreneur for three decades now, so I know from firsthand experience the craving for something new, something else, something more. It’s not bad to look to improve things, but chronic dissatisfaction kills thanksgiving.  We spend so much time focusing on what we don’t have (bigger income, better boss, newer house and stuff in it, etc.) that we never just sit grateful with what we do have.

It’s like Peppermint Patty says in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, “What kind of a Thanksgiving is this, Chuck? Where’s the turkey? Where’s the mashed potatoes? Where’s the cranberry sauce?  Where’s the pumpkin pie?”

Thanksgiving is just a day, but it is a day that pushes us to God.  The opposite is what G.K. Chesterton, paraphrasing an earlier British poet, described when he wrote, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” If you’ll let it, Thanksgiving has the potential to change your life and connect you to God as never before.

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Get STUC: Forming Good Financials

The most sophisticated company in the world and the small engine repair shop at which I dropped my weed blower off last week have at least one thing in common: they’d better keep an eye on their bank account—that is, their cash position. Some would say it’s easier for a small mom-and-pop operation to do this, while others would argue that it’s harder.

I will simply say that they’d both better do it, or they will find themselves in the shut-down line.

Every week, I meet with leaders who are setting direction, speed, risk, resources, and culture as per my book, The Five Tasks: What Every Senior Leader Needs to Do. And every week, the leaders at the top of the enterprises need financial information to make decisions to fuel each of those areas.

Over the years, I have determined that every leader needs good financial reporting. And I have also determined that good financial reporting includes these four elements that make up the acronym STUC: simple, timely, useful, and complete. 

Simple

“Be concise.” 

That’s the advice of William Strunk and E.B. White in The Elements of Style, a writing style guide beloved by English teachers, writers, and even Time, which named it one of the past century’s best 100 English-written books.  

Why was a writing style guide named one of the best books? And why do I mention it in an article about financials? Because producing financials is a kind of storytelling, and in the same way that no one wants to read writing that is too wordy and complex, no one wants to use financials that are too long and complex.

I am a huge believer in roll-up summaries from which the leader can work. That means you need someone to produce a one- to two-page report each month at least. This serves a few purposes: first, it saves you time; second, it highlights the most important information to direct your attention toward; and lastly, it puts the job of processing and thinking on the shoulders of the team below you. They can’t just mindlessly drop a two-inch binder on your desk and leave it to you to figure out the important details.

Keep in mind that if you’re not naturally a good simplifier and are in the weeds on finances, you’ll need to hire a simplifier. Whether it’s done in-house or by an outside contractor, someone needs to compile and condense everything into one to two pages.

Good financials are simple.

Timely

Imagine driving at night on a road you’ve traveled countless times. You know the way like the back of your hand, so when your headlights go out, you’re not too concerned. Then, your interior gauges go dark. You get slightly more concerned but decide you’ll still wait a month or two to get your battery checked.

Who would do that? You could run out of gas, a deer could run out on the road, orange cones could be set out for roadwork. You can’t just assume everything will go the way it has before.

Yet that is exactly how some organizations approach their financials. They go weeks or months into the new quarter or year carrying over numbers from the past to determine the budget—and before you know it, they’re out of cash. (Non-profits can be particularly bad at this.)

Look at your current team structure and see how quickly they can get you financials each month as they are. If that’s not fast enough for what you need, priorities need to shift or the team needs to change.

Good financials are timely.

Useful

Is the information you get every month or quarter the info you need to set direction, speed, risk, resources, and culture?

Albert Einstein supposedly had a sign on his door that read, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.” 

Einstein was obviously not talking about corporate financials, but the principle of focusing on the right things definitely applies. There is no end to the numbers that you can look at when analyzing a company or organization, but they don’t all matter. You’ve got to have a mechanism to quickly, easily, and accurately get what you need to make the right decisions. 

Figure out which gauges are most crucial and know that some numbers are more helpful than others.

Good financials are useful.

Complete

When my kids were growing up, I liked to say there is a difference between something being accurate and something being adequate. I would ask, “What did you do last night?” One of my kiddos would say, “I went over to Sam’s house.” And although that may have been accurate, it wasn’t adequate; it was incomplete—I also needed the info behind and around the info.

It is up to leadership to get the complete picture of the financial highway of the enterprise. It is amazing how many leaders try to guide their company using incomplete information.

Remember, a report is what happened; a scorecard is what is happening. Make sure you don’t get those confused. One advisor jokingly said he practices the rule of three, “If you read a company’s financial statements three times and you still can’t figure out how they make money, that’s usually for a reason.”

Good financials are complete.

Conclusion

As Ayn Rand said, “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”  And to be a good driver, you need financials that are STUC: simple, timely, useful, and complete.

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Both/And Decision-Making

Often, the most difficult decisions are not between black and white but between two shades of gray.

A CEO friend who owns a family business is pondering firing his unethical sister. Another buddy is weighing a second chance for an underperforming best-friend employee who is dragging the company down. Or what entrepreneur hasn’t struggled between needing to put in a ton of overtime at work but whose spouse is struggling with the kids’ behavior at home?

Should I fire her or not? Let him go or keep him? Choose work or family?

Or put the questions this way: Should I be kind or be a good steward? Be wise or be forgiving? Fulfill my duty at work or fulfill my duty at home?

Both/And
In some decisions, instead of flipping the coin, you have to bring both sides of the coin into play. You bring multiple truths to bear.

I like what Chip and Dan Heath report in their book, Decisive. They quote one expert who says, “Any time in life you’re tempted to think, ‘Should I do this OR that?,’ instead, ask yourself, ‘Is there a way I can do this AND that?’ It’s surprisingly frequent that it’s feasible to do both things.”

You could call it both/and decision-making.

God is a God of Both/And
Theologian Wayne Grudem writes, “Everything [God] says or does is consistent with all his attributes.” God doesn’t flip the coin and choose one character quality or another. It’s always both/and.

In other words, God is always:

Grace and truthLoving and wrathfulMerciful and justWise and generousPeaceful and warriorJoyful and grieving over sin

Two Truths Held in Tension
Embracing two truths held in tension has helped me navigate some of the trickiest decisions I’ve faced over the last few years. For example:

community is held in tension with personal responsibilitycompassion is held in tension with justicegenerosity is held in tension with stewardshipforgiveness is held in tension with accountability 

I mentioned an example earlier where your best friend isn’t working hard and you have to make a decision, but you are pulled in two apparent different directions.

The churchgoer in you reminds you that Jesus says, “Forgive without end,” but the VP in you knows that Paul also wrote, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”  So what do you do?  Should you offer forgiveness or hold him accountable? What would it look like to be gracious and be a good steward of the company?

Rather than fire him or look the other way (either/or decision-making), what if you gave him six weeks with measurable goals? He gets the graciousness of one more chance, and you get either enhanced production or a natural time and way to let him go. That’s both/and decision-making.

Both/and decision-making also comes into play away from work as you do things like balance home and work, and as you consider personal generosity.  I love the book When Helping Hurts which outlines the danger of generosity without wisdom.  The authors, however, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  They don’t throw out generosity; they simply argue to bring both truths (stewardship and generosity) to bear.

So when you see the homeless man asking for money, there’s a better option than either giving him a $100 bill or turning a cold shoulder.  It’s a harder option (research organizations that help men like him and give $100 there, for example), but it’s the better option.

Two Final Tips
If we make our best decisions when looking at both sides of the coin, here are two tips on how to make sure you’re looking:

Fight your default.  Recognize which side you err on and push back the other way.  If you’re naturally a tight steward, find friends or board members who err on the side of generosity and let them push you a bit.Make deliberate decisions.  In this Fast Company article on decision-making, an NFL referee argues that the best decision-making is not rushed even when a decision needs to be made quickly.  In other words, if you find yourself choosing impulsively rather than purposefully, you’re doing either/or decision-making.

So when your instinct is to jump into a partnership because it will really help a friend’s organization, ask a couple of wise businessmen to help you think through the cons of partnership.  Or when you want to say, “That’s just the consequences of his screw up!” sleep on that thought and consider what it looks like to display grace and forgiveness, even if it’s going to hurt you.

In other words, embrace the reality that gray can be a beautiful color. Decisions don’t have to be black or white.

I wrote a book a couple years ago called The Hero Leader in which I outline seven tensions we need to walk—tensions like being people-focused and results-driven, doing Friday’s payroll and inventing the future.

Although tensions are a little harder to embrace, they make for a richer and more authentic life and work.

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Unlock Your Company’s Secret Weapon

The definition of a secret weapon is, “A thing or person which we believe will help us achieve something which other people do not know about.” A football team can have one; movies can have one; companies can have one.

I believe every company and organization can build a secret weapon that catapults them ahead of others. That is core values.

1.) Every company has values, whether they are articulated or not.

Want to know what your company’s values are? Walk around the office for a week (or, in this season, be an audio-only participant on Zoom calls). Be a fly on the wall, and you’ll find out pretty quickly if integrity is a value, for example. The same goes for hospitality, authenticity, generosity, or any number of potential values.

This question, “What’s the real value?” was the premise of the old show, Undercover Boss, where, in one episode, an NFL star discovered the strong sense of urgency and work ethic that pervaded the back room of the sports bar he co-owned.

2.) Your core values are what you believe, what you allow, and how you behave.

Your core values make up the framework of your daily decisions. Each department of your organization is run through that lens: who you hire and fire, what you train for, how you review and reward employees, etc.

It doesn’t only affect people, though; it’s strategy, too. Your values guide your most difficult decisions and help you filter opportunities that come your way throughout the year. Hard budget decisions and questions of mergers and acquisitions all run through the values framework.

Roy E. Disney once said, “When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” Our core values help to make up the DNA of the company.

3.) Core values are a set of words, phrases, or images that describe what it looks like to work in a particular company.

Let’s start at a basic level. What are values? They’re words, phrases, or images that paint a picture of life inside the company. I was on a call today interviewing a potential CMO for one of the companies I co-own. The candidate asked me a really good question. She said, “What’s it like to be inside the walls of the company? In other words, can you tell me in words or images what it is like to be a part of your company?”

4.) When it comes to values, less is more.

It’s best to keep your number of core values between three and seven. Brainstorming your values makes it tempting to include everything that’s important to you. You know all the ins and outs of your company, you know what has guided the company through past storms, and so it’s hard to leave any out, and the list grows. But if you don’t prioritize, in time, your employees will. When they have fifteen values they’re trying to uphold, over time, only a few will make the cut. Limit yourself to three to seven.

At this point in the process, it can be helpful to hear some outside perspective. Alternatively, employ one of the many tools out there that were created to aid in the process of constructing core values. Just as importantly, recognize the things to avoid.

5.) Articulating values is 10% of the work. Institutionalizing is 90%.

Putting a list of values on the company website’s landing page or “About” page is a good step, but it’s just a first step. The next step is to think through the different layers of the company or organization. Who needs to know these values? Everyone. How will you go about communicating them? And even more difficultly, how will you go about practicing them? I’ve written about this elsewhere using Chick-fil-A as an example. For years, I have said that people only implement what they understand and believe in.

6.) Institutionalized values are a powerful asset for any company.

Great values lead to great culture; great culture attracts great people; great people do great things. In other words, great values are like a couple of extra zeroes in your bank account. Companies that have the reputation of having a great culture (think: Google over the past fifteen years) attract more and more top employees because the best employees are after more than just a paycheck. They want to be a part of a fulfilling culture. That’s why top companies—and superior potential employees—discuss values during the interview process, to keep them alive for all time.

Conclusion

Comedian Jon Stewart said, “If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values: they’re hobbies.” They’re treated as toys or trinkets that can be held onto or cast off on a whim. Instead, create, build, and unleash the power of true core values in your organization.

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