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

consulting

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Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Workers

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Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Workers

Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Workers

The unemployment rate of 3.6% is near the lowest in 50 years while the number of job openings is near an all-time high.  There are more job openings (6.8M) than unemployed persons (5.8M).   This tight labor market is a top concern of CEOs and business owners.  According to the Conference Board, “The global challenge in acquiring and retaining talent requires companies to be more strategic – knowing not only what qualities and skills to recruit for, but also how to recruit more efficiently and effectively.”  

Driving Value Through Lean Accounting

Driving Value Through Lean Accounting

How does the role of finance have to change in the future?

We have to:

  • be key decision makers enabling the timely release of capital to the right strategic priorities in the organization.

  • strengthen the organization’s ability to create the flow of capital, and help leaders think differently about the concept of investments, not in the market, but investments into our own business.

Regulators Are Not the Customer!

Regulators Are Not the Customer!

Is finance the enemy of breakthrough innovation…

… because they misidentify who their customer is?

“Big-picture, finance interfaces with regulators/auditors but ultimately needs to see their customer as the one who buys the products/services. It puts finance on the same side as the business, a partner/collaborator that should challenge assumptions and think creatively within the finance space.”

Sam Winter, Director of Finance, Thrivent Financial

Emphasizing Precision Over Real Progress

Emphasizing Precision Over Real Progress

The Lean Accounting Movement introduced some groundbreaking changes in how we measure, report and plan for organizational costs…

  • Budgets are bad… rolling forecasts allow us to take away the cliff mentality and intend to provide a platform on which we can become nimbler.

  • Move away from full-absorption cost accounting and allocation of “monuments” to a model designed to measure “economic value added.”

  • Visual process and value-stream measurement, allowing everyone to see how an end-to-end process is performing, enabling timely response and adjustments to help both customers and productivity.