ClickCease
Matt Rusten
Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company

Is joy an underrated asset in your leadership? In our latest article, Matt Rusten explores why joy, much like humor, plays a vital role in building a thriving company culture. From increasing team engagement to fostering resilience, joy can transform workplace dynamics and inspire purpose-driven work. Discover three key ways to cultivate joy in your organization and why it’s essential for leaders who seek both results and fulfillment.

Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company
Business, Faith, Faith at Work
Convene
Do Not Worry

‘Do not worry.’ We’ve read Matthew 6:25-34 in the Sermon on the Mount, but what does that look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? God knows our every worry, fear, and concern – and He can handle it. Many thanks to Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, for his encouragement to think about how our lives might be different by truly living out this scriptural principle.

Do Not Worry
Greg Leith
Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the ...

Got a quick minute to chat? I’ve been wanting to share something with you as you lead in the midst of the election cycle in the USA or when your political election takes place in your country. When the dust settles on the election and the new country leader is declared, one thing will still be as true as it is right now. You’ll still be the one leading your firm the day after the election. Your team members will still come to work the day after the winner is declared. They’ll still be looking to you for leadership, for a paycheck, for a sense of community at their workplace.

What do they want most that only you can deliver? It’s meaning. That meaning they’re looking for begins with you and your leadership. To be sure, what Washington DC does actually can impact your business significantly, however, the president of the United States or the leader of any country does not lead your firm. You do. It’s an enterprise entrusted to you to lead as a steward. It’s a place where people look to you for answers, where people want to be part of a team that cares about them and where people want to be valued, appreciated, and loved. The next president of the country will not show up this week at your office to encourage your team, fix a broken piece of equipment, hire the next team member, sell a big account, or cast a bold vision about how your team will reach your goals and impact the culture.

Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the Election?
Chip Neidigh
A Safe Place To Fall
A Safe Place To Fall
Dave Ulrich
3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

As we find ourselves mid-October and a blink away from a new calendar year, it is an opportunity to prepare for how we view transitions. Transitions allow for reflection and renewal, for letting go and beginning anew, and for learning from the past and creating the future. Instead of laying out trends for the next year, I would like to comment on a fundamental enabler of any transition: hope. Leaders who want to improve, CEO’s who work toward excellence, HR professionals who aspire to deliver more value, and employees who seek well-being all achieve their transitions by realizing hope.

Hope integrates many of the positive traits that shape transitions for others and matter to me personally: learning, patience, service, faith, humility, optimism, gratitude, and so forth. I send hundreds of formal and informal e-mails every month to invite people to programs, to thank people for attending programs, to check in on those I mentor, and to stay connected to those I care about. I begin almost every one of these notes with “Hope you are well.” Hope is one of my personal desires, tag lines, and biases and an enabler of any transition.

If I could implant one trait in my family, friends, and colleagues who are undergoing continual transition, it would be hope. 

3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

connection

, ,

Creating a “No Losers” Mindset in Your Marriage

, ,

One of the biggest causes of marital breakdowns … and in business relationships … is the inability to resolve conflict effectively; and every married couple runs into conflict because … Conflict is inevitable … two people who are in love … want each other to think and feel the same way about things … how to deal with money … how to deal with children … free time … and more!

The problem is … too many of us have come to believe that conflict is a bad thing … and that we should avoid it at all costs … but that’s not true … nor is it healthy for your marriage …

The truth is … conflict is a sign of connectedness … it says we have a vital relationship here … Remember – we rarely have conflicts with people we do not know or like.

But the most important thing we need to know about conflict is that it does not have to be negative!  When we learn how to successfully resolve conflicts with our spouse … we discover new things about him or her that we didn’t know before (which is why we’re having the problem) … and that helps to deepen our intimacy.

To make conflict a productive force in our marriage we have to establish a “No Losers Policy.” 

If you are “one,” a house divided against itself can’t stand.  If you are a “team” … it is impossible for one member of a team to win while another member of that same team loses!  You either both win … or you both lose … but there should never be an “I win – You lose” mentality allowed your marriage!

You both “win” when you both feel good about and agree together on the solution to your problem.  Maybe one of you came up with the solution … that’s OK … as long as both of you willingly agree that it is the best solution … you have a win-win scenario!  What will break down any marriage is the “my way or the highway” mentality!

Who Are You Shooting At?

There’s the old saying, that if you don’t know what you’re aiming at, you’ll hit it every time.  Do you know who your customers really are? A few weeks back, I wrote about one of four foundational growth elements - you can find the prior blog (part one) here. As a quick reminder... - Know “who” your business is - Describe your target customer well - Ensure the pictures match the words - Define a simply understood strategy

After knowing “who" your business is, the next key element is knowing who you are trying to serve.  While it’s nice to be able to say demographic or geographic information (income, gender, age range, etc.), that isn’t “who” they are.  That’s like saying the I’m a set of molecules, or organs, or even that I’m a complete map that you got from a series of medical scans and x-rays.  Or I am the sum total of the Census data of my zip code.

Most companies, at best, talk about their customers as if they had a picture of them on their desk.  Yep, there’s your customer - right there. In a frame - 45 year old female, blond hair, blue eyes, three kids, drives a mini-van…you get the idea.

But people have dimensions, they have a soul, they have beliefs and values and….they have a story.

To describe your customer well, you need to know what stories they have in common, what values they hold, what challenges they face, what they believe about themselves, about others, and about the world.  After all, isn’t that how you would want people to know you?

Don’t get me wrong - demographics aren’t bad.  They do help in the efficient purchase of advertising, in the placement of store locations, and in other decisions.  But how do your employees know how to treat a statistic?  Wouldn’t they have a better feel for the customer service they deliver, the web site they design, the type of invoices they should send, if they knew, really knew, the types of customers you target?

So rather than the mom in a mini-van, could it instead be sentences about the hurried life that Susan might lead?  Instead of the franchisee that fits a geographic hole in your coverage, could Joe be a person that values owning a place where his community gathers for a particular purpose?

Don’t shoot at a statistic...reach for a connection.  Learn and tell their aggregated stories so that you can see how your company fits…so that your employees can see them as they connect with them.  And maybe, through you and what your company does, they may ultimately see how they fit in His story.

MICHAEL POWERS - Before chairing a Nashville Convene team and becoming Convene’s Chief Marketing officer, Michael helped Asurion, the leading provider of device insurance, and Des-Case, a small manufacturing company, each more than quadruple in revenue (Asurion was over $1 billion when he left).

Michael loves to help businesses and the people that lead them determine “the next best step upward.” Admittedly, he’s a bit of a strange combination of left and right brain thinking, with degrees and experience in engineering and marketing. His blend of creative and analytical skills enables him to assess complicated, multi-disciplinary issues, create the right plan, and lead others to success.

Michael and his wife have four children, and have developed an additional passion for Haiti. He feels fortunate to have had great mentors along the way, and hopes to pass along a bit of what he’s learned to others to help them in their journey.