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

legacy building

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The Divine Exit Strategy

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However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

                                                                                                                        Acts 20:24 (NIV)

 Where do you plan to take your business? What’s your exit plan? What will be your legacy as a business leader? In other words, how are you going out?

Some of us start businesses with a goal of maintaining an enterprise that can be operated for years to come and passed on to future generations in the family. Others start companies with the ultimate goal of attaining an IPO, selling the business, and moving on to another exciting venture.

A comprehensive exit strategy benefits you as well as your employees, investors, and constituents. It encourages you to give careful consideration to how your business will evolve and grow, and it forces you to establish succession strategies and a timetable for key targets and milestones. The section of your business plan, in which these strategies are outlined, is called the Exit Plan.

I recently had the honor of serving as a keynote speaker for Harvard Business School and one of the principles that I reinforced with their leaders is that it is important to realize that the legacy of your business and your legacy as an individual are inextricably connected.

You may already have an exit strategy for your business, or you might not have given much thought to one - - let alone considered its importance within a spiritual context. Don’t worry. Now is your opportunity to transcend beyond conventional perspectives of simply having an “exit plan” or “exit strategy” to actually establishing a divine exit plan for your life’s work that honors God.

Before we proceed, it’s important that we make the distinction between two commonly intertwined concepts: legacy and inheritance.

 

 

Legacy versus Inheritance

I like the way John Maxwell compares and contrasts the concepts of legacy and inheritance in The Maxwell Leadership Bible. He states that anyone can leave an inheritance. An inheritance is something, such as money or material possessions, you leave for your family or loved ones that may bring temporary happiness but fades as it is spent or used. On the contrary, he defines a legacy as something that you leave in your family, such as spiritual values, that permanently transforms them and lives on long after you die.

As Christians, we are called to manifest God’s glory on the earth so that His will is done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). We are chosen by God for the High calling of priestly work

(1 Peter 2:9) and called to radically transform the world. For those of us who are planted in the business arena, the commercial marketplace is one of our target domains.

God is not only concerned about you getting into heaven, but He’s also concerned about you getting heaven into the business world. As Christian business leaders, we are to bring heaven to the earth in general and to the business world in particular. So, how do we, as His ambassadors in the workplace and the marketplace, accomplish this?

Following are three (3) principles to support you on your journey of leaving a positive, lasting legacy.

  1. Be a Business World Changer.

  2. Leave a Spiritual Legacy in the Commercial Arena

  3. Realize that your history is actually a part of His Story.

 

Be a Business World Changer

As business leaders, we often think about the challenging and changing business environment we face, but we seldom think about how we should be challenging and changing the business environment we face in profound ways. Commit to challenging and changing the business world. Don’t let the business world change you in a negative way. Apply your Biblically based convictions to the commercial arena and become a true business world changer.

Don’t just seek to be successful in your profession just to benefit yourself or your family. Seek to benefit and be significant to future generations for the glory and kingdom of God. God told Abraham: “I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2, NIV). In this way, God’s plan wasn’t just to bless Abraham as an individual, but it was to bless him so that he could also be a blessing to others. Likewise, our blessings are not just for us and our families; they are also for others—our colleagues, employees, customers, clients, suppliers, and other associates.

 

Leave a Spiritual Legacy in the Commercial Arena

Make sure your pursuit of professional success reflects your spiritual obedience to God and not just your own egocentric desires. We’re not in business just to make money, be happy, and die. Make your business and ultimately your life count. Let them serve as blessings to generations of people who come after you so that they too may know God and walk in purpose. Vow to leave a spiritual legacy in the commercial arena.

The Bible says that David served God’s purpose for his generation and died (Acts 13:36). How are you using your God-given abilities and talents to serve your generation? In what ways are you storing up blessings for future generations? As God’s sons and daughters, we must be committed to leaving positive testimonies and life-enhancing legacies.

 

Your History is a Part of His Story

Jesus says that just as God sends Him, He, in turn, sends us (John 20:21). This means that our stories become joined with God’s bigger story as we serve as His ambassadors. So, your history is a part of His Story.

The greatest legacy of all is the knowledge of God (Philippians 3:8; Psalm 78:1-8; 3 John 1:4). This knowledge of God blesses others while they are on earth and once they transition from this life. While they are on earth, their relationship with God gives them innate joy!   Joy irrelevant of a spouse, house, career, car, tax bracket, and social status. And, their relationship with God offers ultimate salvation and eternal life.

The Bible says that a wise man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, or his grandchildren (Proverbs 13:22). But, let’s go deeper. I challenge you to think beyond your own family lineage and bloodline. One of the greatest gifts that we as Christian business leaders can give God is a generation of future business leaders who know Him and who understand the importance of connecting their business plans with God’s purpose and plan for their lives. Because, ultimately, we want to hear God declare: “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21-23, NLT).

 

Business Leaders - What Legacy Are You Building?

This is a critical question that all of us must answer daily. Our natural thoughts run to "how is our leadership culture working in the business?" "Is my company consistently following and living our Core Values?" Are we having Kingdom Impact on our  associates, our vendors, our clients and the industry we serve? These are the challenges of business leadership and they are our responsibilities. BUT-they should be, at best, our second or third leadership priority.

Most of us are not only business owners/leaders but we are also leaders of our families. What family legacy are we building?

A good friend of Convene-Dr. Bruce McCracken, founder of House on The Rock Ministries says--"whether we know it or not-we are building a family legacy either strategically or accidentally. And we all come to our positions with a legacy that has been passed on to us."

The Clemons Family owns and operates several significant businesses, the most widely known is Hatfield Meats. This private company is currently under the operating leadership of the 7th generation and it has combined revenues exceeding one billion dollars. At a 2014 Convene Family Retreat, Dr. Phil Clemons, recently retired 5th generation Chairman of the company, described the process of building the integrated business/family legacy that moved the family from being owners of a successful family business to being a Christ Centered Business Family.

The  Lord has called us to be be business owners and leaders--while building our family foundation and legacy.  The instruction for this multigenerational assignment is well stated in Deuteronomy 6:1-13.  I encourage you and your spouse and family to read that thoughtfully and prayerfully considering your activity in building a strong family legacy.

What family legacy building activity is on your 2015 list of strategic goals??