“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what He reveals, they are most blessed.” Prov 29:18 The Message
Leaders receive a vision and direction only from the Lord. It is not something you or a team comes up with. It is a picture of what God is going to do. When you attempt to do things for the Lord, the results often are quite small in the end. The things of God require faith and are beyond your capacity or your resources. Leaders need to be in a posture of intimacy and humility of character in order to receive God’s vision and to cast it to others. The great danger for a leader is to be complacent and rely on your strength and ideas. When you find yourselves relying on your resources, pray and seek the Lord, allowing Him to stir you and rely upon Him and His provision.
Prayer of Sir Francis Drake, an English sea captain, famous for sailing around the world in 1580.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves; When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little; When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, we ceased to dream of eternity; And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, Who is Jesus Christ.
As a leader whose resources are you trusting in? From whom do these resources come? Trust in Christ and His supply, and the world will never be the same.
Helping business leaders be what God has called them to be
We are not Human Doings. We are not Human Sayings. We are not Human Knowings. We are Human Beings. And yet so often we only focus on what we are doing, and saying and knowing and not on what we are being.
There is more to an individual than what he or she does, says or knows. And there is more to business than production, marketing and intellectual property. Spin doctors and image consultants focus on the outward appearance and public perception, but there is much more to the life of a business leader.
Some people, at the end of their life, realize everything they pursued was meaningless. How often has this thought been articulated, “I’d give anything if I could live my life over again. I’d give anything if I could buy those years back.”
Jesus summed this up in one principle: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
The story is told of a top executive of a Fortune 500 company who attended a retirement banquet in his honour. Speech after speech was given applauding his life’s work. He was a powerful business leader with many achievements in his lengthy career. Each of the young ex-ecutives secretly pictured themselves with the same prestige at the end of their career in the future.
After all the accolades, it was finally time to hear from the retiring CEO. Each voice was hushed as all strained to hear a lifetime of wisdom from this retiring giant. This influential business leader began his speech with this statement, “Years ago I put my ladder up against the wall and began to climb. For all these years since then I have struggled to make it to the top. Now I’ve arrived only to discover that fifty years ago I placed my ladder against the wrong wall.”
The sum total of his wisdom was the realization that he had been on the wrong path for decades. What he had pursued he had found, only to realize what he got he didn’t want.
This can be illustrated by a simple quiz. Pay attention because there is a skill testing question at the end. Please only do the calculations in your head and not on paper as this will skew the results. Here is the quiz.
A Bus comes into town with 40 passengers. At the first stop 15 got off and 6 got on. At the next stop 5 got off and 14 got on. At the next stop 18 got on and 15 got off. At the next stop 10 got off and 10 got on. At the last stop 3 got on and 5 got off.
Now here is the obvious question… how many stops did the bus make?
For the last 50 seconds, we’ve done what millions of Canadians spend 50 years doing — trying to find the answer to the wrong question. How can I be successful in business? How can I get rich? How can I live a life of pleasure? How can I become famous? And all the while, Jesus’ words are being ignored, “whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).
The now common modern parable tells of the American investment banker who was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied it had taken only a little while.
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish.
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions, then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
Christian Business Ministries Canada is aiming far higher than that goal. This Business Life issue is introducing the title for the next chapter of ministry, “Pathway to Purpose”. It is a journey with Christ, in the pursuit of personal and business transformation.
On this Journey there are Four Paths. The pursuit of Life, Leadership, Ministry and Business Excellence will help build Kingdom Leaders and Kingdom Companies, who will bring about transformation of the Canadian marketplace.
This Journey consists of many stages, steps, rest stops, detours, challenges and celebrations. This Journey with peers will bring new significance to work, and help fulfill our purpose in Christ.
The goal is Marketplace Transformation, one business leader at a time. This has been the goal of CBMC since its inception. This transformation is experienced over time, in the reputation, appearance and performance of people in the everyday world of business and commerce. It has no practical or societal explanation. It is a work of God, through prayer and transformed lives, to the Glory of God.
Marketplace Transformation occurs when there is Business Transformation. That is a God induced change in the corporate DNA of a company, influenced by personally transformed leaders, with the desire to glorify the Lord through their work in the marketplace.
This Kingdom Company is a business where the key stakeholders embrace, in every aspect of the company, the purpose of God and His righteousness. It is lead by a Kingdom Leader who is a transformed business leader
There are four areas of development which together, in harmony, define a Kingdom Leader: Life Development, Leadership Development, Ministry Development and Business Development.
Life Development is a journey leading towards Spiritual Maturity which renews the mind and changes the heart of the business leader.
God works through leadership in every facet of life. Therefore, good leadership is critical to any organization. In the Leadership Development pathway, members will learn the essence of servant leadership and move toward acquiring and honing their leadership skills.
Work is ministry and ministry is work. Our business and career will be the most challenging and fulfilling ministry. Our workplace is a mission field, a vehicle for sharing the Gospel and living out biblical values. On the Ministry Development path, members will explore ministry strategies that will impact employees, customers, suppliers and the marketplace for Christ.
Business Development is a journey leading toward Business Excellence. It is the process engaged in by an individual and organization to strive for excellence in the areas of planning, finances, human resources and integrity. It is an active discipline to seek and apply Christ’s “best practices” to specific business issues and opportunities with a group of peers.
This Pathway to Purpose is helping business leaders be what God has called them to be, and not just focus on doing and saying and knowing. When we are what God has called us to be we will move in the power, anointing and success the Lord wants for our business, life and families. That is the bottom line.
This was first published in Winter 2006 Business Life.
LEADERSHIP IS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS. THE WAY LEADERS and followers relate to each other is the most important factor in their performance and job satisfaction. Poor leaders can depress the performance of even talented employees, while a great leader can draw the very best from less talented individuals.
Relationships are largely a product of the leader’s heart. While great leadership requires well developed skills, these mean nothing if the leader’s heart is not right. Those of us who really know the human condition know that our hearts are powerful. The heart is the foundation of every action. The heart determines how the leader uses the skills.
If it is in a leader’s heart to exploit people and circumstances for personal gain, or to place his needs before the team’s, he will lead selfishly. Leaders who believe they are the most important part of the team cannot build strong motivated teams. They get reluctant survivors rather than enthusiastic participants.
Relationships are tested most severely when the pressure is on. I once heard it said that one can only tell the strength of a submarine’s hull by taking it down – it is pressure that reveals the cracks. This is true of leadership. Smooth sailing tells us little about the leader’s heart – we learn what the leader is all about when the pressure is on.
You’ve probably worked for a few leaders who had the wrong hearts. They are not hard to find. Sometimes they pit people against each other or they are quick to take the credit for the work others have done. They grab the spotlight whenever they can. When the team struggles they distance themselves from the responsibility. When the pressure is on they often react with anger and frustration when the team needs encouragement and support.
For a brief time, I worked closely with someone like this. More than anything, he cared about how every situation made him look. Consequently, he personalized every setback and this led him to take his frustrations out on his team in angry outbursts during which he often criticized others in front of their peers. Nothing they did was ever good enough. He thought of himself as a caring leader but under pressure, his temper always got the best of him. He ended up chastising good people for doing the best they could at the very time he should have been encouraging them. I watched skilled and dedicated people become deeply disheartened. It often took them days to get past the outbursts. Their performance plummeted. One’s best work is the all a leader should expect. You will face the truest tests of the heart when the pressure is on.
Get the heart focused in the right direction, toward the needs of the team and the mission and you will not fall into this ego trap. You’ll see pressure from the perspective of those you lead. Your heart will lead you to care for them. You will steer them through rough water with confidence, providing the support and encouragement they need to stay focused and positive. They in turn won’t want to disappoint you. They will stay focused and work hard as a part of your team.
You will learn much more about yourself and the other leaders around you during a time of pressure than you will in good times. Pressure brings out the best in great leaders and the worst in poor ones. The determining factor is the disposition of the leader’s heart. Great leaders are patient and encouraging under pressure. Rather than creating additional pressures, they shield their teams from all but the most necessary pressures when they are doing their best work. This is all you can ask. When you are receiving it, make sure your team knows you appreciate it.
Discussion Questions:
Thinking about the best and worst leaders you have worked for, what were their characteristics?
How have leaders you have known reacted to pressure and how did their reactions affect their teams?
What steps can you take to ensure you don’t fall into the ego trap when you are under pressure?
For information on a workshop or personal coaching to help you lead your team through this storm contact us for an appointment.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE LEADERSHIP VERBS IS “ENCOURAGE”. This act is among the simplest and most powerful of all leadership habits. The most effective leaders are great encouragers. Oxford defines it this way, “give courage, confidence or hope to” When you encourage others you are quite literally, building courage. No team was ever more effective with less courage.
While encouragement is always important, it is absolutely vital right now. I cannot think of another act that could be simpler and more important as we battle through an economic downturn that has many people worried and distracted. As I have said before and will repeat often, every team’s performance is a reflection of its leadership. And every leader’s actions are a product of his or her heart. This is true of the leader’s performance as an encourager. Many fail badly in this and their team’s performance always reflects it.
There are really three ways leaders respond to hard times: some act in ways that discourage others, some are more neutral (they don’t discourage but they don’t encourage either) and finally, the best are good encouragers. Click here for full article.
During difficult times often distractions, uncertainty, fear and worry can distract and reduce productivity at the very time leaders and their teams need more productivity. Here are the highlights from a “Leading by God’s Design” workshop I attended over a month ago.
Communicate far more often, daily is not too much. Communication is a key weapon in the battle against fear. Fear grows in the dark (absence of communication).
Keep a short term focus. In times of turmoil think of one hill at a time not the 26 mile marathon – the long term view can be discouraging.
Communicating your plans gives others something they can do about the problem and diminishes feelings of victimization. Do this face to face not from behind your desk.
During times of turmoil don’t overlook wins and progress – celebrating wins builds confidence and confidence is critical to performance.
Provide outlets to relieve stress. Spend time together with staff to build esprit de corps. Turmoil creates long term stress and if not relieved can wear teams down. Chicken wings and nachos can be valuable tool for your leadership.
Bring hope, be optimistic and be an encourager in your conversations. There is seldom value in a good dose of pessimism.
Be prayerful for your company and the people God has sent to you. Seek the support, encouragement and counsel from your Corpath group – they are your friendly board of advisers.
How to be more successful for the Lord in operating your company
In 1964, Jim Dismore joined a small retail enterprise in Arkansas. At that point, there were only three stores open, but the owner Sam, had big plans. Dismore became an officer of the company — the #3 man in the organization reporting directly to Sam. The company expanded rapidly through the 1960’s and Dismore played a key role. One of the things he was good at was fixing problems, and in time he came to be known as Sam Walton’s hatchet man. If there was a tough problem that needed a tough guy to fix it, Dismore was the man.
Oh yes, the company was Wal-Mart.
Fast forward a few decades and Jim Dismore is President of Ultimate Support Systems, Inc., a ‘business in ministry,’ and founder of Kingdom Way Companies, a ministry dedicated to helping business owners move from operating their company the world’s way to leading a business the Kingdom Way.
So how does someone move from being Sam Walton’s self-confessed hatchet man to President of a company with this mission statement?
Ultimate Support Systems, Inc. is a Business in Ministry which markets, designs and distributes quality support solutions while seeking to know Jesus Christ, to be like Him, and to share His life and love with the world.
For Dismore, it was a journey started at the feet of his grandfather who always stressed the principle of a fully integrated faith life. As Dismore studied Scripture, he did not see any separation of faith and work. He took his faith with him to his career at Wal-Mart, but Dismore admits the stresses and culture of a senior management position at Wal-Mart crept into his life. He knew he wanted to live this integrated faith life in his business affairs, but he resisted — and the culture at Wal-Mart did not exactly encourage this mindset.
In his latter years at Wal-Mart, this conviction to operate a company on biblical principles became paramount in his life — and eventually led to his leaving the company after 12 years. He continued to work in the retail industry. But he was also thinking and planning for the day when he could fully implement his heart’s desire of living out business the Kingdom Way in his own company. This finally came to be in the late 1980’s, when Dismore joined and in 1994 became CEO and majority shareholder of Ultimate Support Systems, Inc.
In his years at Ultimate Support and Kingdom Way, Dismore developed a complete process for doing business the Kingdom Way. While this process was lived out practically within the business, it was also delivered through seminars and consulting services under the Kingdom Way Companies ministry umbrella.
There are five key foundational principles developed by Dismore for Kingdom Way Companies.
Write a Mission Statement and a Purpose Statement
Develop a Written Ministry Plan
Prepare a Written Business Plan
Form a Council of Advisors
Measure Up to God’s Standards
While each is critical to the process, it is Principle 2, Develop a Written Ministry Plan that we want to begin with. While there is a growing acceptance within the marketplace movement to the concept of a business being ministry — how this actually happens in the practical, day-to-day of business is often where the Christian business leader stalls. In discussions with other business leaders, Dismore saw a clear desire to integrate faith with business, but they did not know how. He believes that just as we plan for many critical areas of a business, we must strategically plan for ministry.
If we adhere to the tenets of Matthew 6:33 and truly believe we are to “Seek first the Kingdom of God …’ in our business, and that the ultimate purpose of our company is to bring glory to God — then should we not be planning for this? At Ultimate Support, this principle became the DNA of the company and its culture.
This concept took on some unique and exciting directions at Ultimate Support. Dismore appointed a Vice-President of Ministry. This paid position had the authority of a Vice- President, with the responsibility to ensure that corporate values and ministry plans and procedures were implemented. The Ministry Plan was developed and directed by a team consisting of employees and senior leadership — drawing on suggestions and input from all staff. Says Dismore, “it is important that employees see this as a people’s plan — not just a management plan.”
Because the title of Ministry Plan might cause concern in some cases, Dismore recommends a term like Care Plan, Community Plan or Compassion Plan may be more appropriate.
Once the plan was developed, the team would allocate resources, be they financial or other, and then monitor progress and results from the plan. Adds Dismore, “the plan is not just about donating company profits to Christian causes. It’s about caring for employees and about sharing money, materials, time and talents with those less fortunate. There may well be secular organizations that deserve to be supported by the plan.”
It is also important to see the Ministry or Care Plan as part of the overall Business Plan. Dismore says, “You integrate the ministry and business plans into one integrated strategic plan.” What is surprising is how few companies have a written Ministry Plan. When asked why this is the case, Dismore finds three main reasons given by Christian business leaders:
It will alienate my employees
It will hurt business
I might get sued by or into trouble with the government
He believes these are often raised as excuses for those who are simply fearful to step out with their faith. He states that each issue can be clearly handled without major concerns.
In terms of employee alienation, if staff are included in the planning process, the process is explained clearly, and the company is sensitive to all employees’ own spiritual journeys, then a plan can be an exciting business process for all.
With regard to losing business, Dismore says, “there may be rare occasions where we saw a proactive stance with our faith have a negative impact on business. As rare as it was, it seemed over time it always came back to us in some other way.” Dismore believes that if we are persecuted for our faith, the Scriptures are clear as to the consequences. We are reminded in Matthew 10:32, 33, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
While we live in a secular marketplace, Dismore does not believe that means we need to be shy or subversive with our faith. We need to be aware of laws and regulations and honour them — but the law does not prohibit us from living our faith in the workplace. We are not to be aggressive and confrontational, but if we love, serve and care for employees out of our love for Christ — we cannot go wrong.
By having a Ministry or Care Plan the Christian business leader has addressed the practical side of seeing their business or profession as ministry. It moves from being theory to practice. As a Ministry or Care Plan is implemented fruit is borne for the Kingdom, fruit that will last. (see John 15:8)
As we return to the other four Kingdom Way principles, we look at Principle 1 — Write a Mission Statement and a Purpose Statement. It is surprising how many Christian business leaders do not have a clear, written and well communicated vision/mission statement, purpose statement and list of core values. These high level documents are critical to setting and following the correct course for a company. They become the filter and test for all policies, procedures and directions that employees and management follow.
Principle 3 is Prepare a Written Business Plan. Again, it is remarkable how few Christian business leaders have written Business Plans for their organizations. Business owners are notorious for flying by the seat of their pants. The problem is that we often become fire-fighters, moving from one crisis to another. Instead of us running the business, the business is running us. The solution? A written Business Plan that sets the course, direction and objectives for the company.
In Kingdom Way Principle 4, we are challenged to Form a Council of Advisors. On numerous occasions, Dismore has seen Christian business leaders in serious business trouble because they have not had access to godly, wise business council. In Proverbs 15:22, we read “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Within the ministry of CBMC, Corpath Groups offer this very type of support. Acting as a friendly Board of Advisors, a Corpath group places six to eight godly business peers in a regular meeting for prayer, encouragement and wise counsel around practical business issues.
Principle 5 is Measure Up to God’s Standards. Dismore says this principle is the most important of all. “If it doesn’t measure up to God’s standards it will not accomplish anything.” Dismore has developed a complete list of corporate goals and principles, both spiritual and corporate, to enable the company leader to make sure the company measures up to the Kingdom Way of doing business.
“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what He reveals, they are most blessed.” Prov 29:18 The Message
We are not Human Doings. We are not Human Sayings. We are not Human Knowings. We are Human Beings. And yet so often we only focus on what we are doing, and saying and knowing and not on what we are being.
The now common modern parable tells of the American investment banker who was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied it had taken only a little while.