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

promises

The Promise Keepers

Most all of us have experienced the disappointment of having someone break a promise to us. This seems to unfortunately be a common occurrence in the world of commerce and business. Companies promise this, that and the other thing about their products or services and then fall woefully short of delivering on them...all without seeming to understand that this will negatively affect their business. After all, they can just make some more promises in the future! The fact is, that customer confidence and loyalty is built on a relationship based on being a ‘promise keeper.’ How faithfully we fulfill our promises determines the strength of that relationship. Repeatedly delivering on promises is what creates raving fans.

Case in point: I am a raving fan of Zappos. I became a raving fan because in the space of 7 days they demonstrated their absolute commitment to delivering on their promise.

The Zappos corporate promise is, “Powered by Service.” Now if you are like me, you have seen this promise of service broken so many times, by so many companies and institutions, that ‘service’ becomes code for “we’re committed to making your experience with us as painful as possible.” I have a dozen quick examples that I won’t share here. And I am sure you could rustle up an equal number without much problem.

My experience with Zappos is the exact opposite. They promise to pay postage both ways…and they do. They promise if you don’t like something, or it doesn’t fit , send it back and they will exchange it or send you a full refund  for up to a year after the purchase…and they do. They promise to be quick and responsive…and they are!

My story starts this way: I have a large shoe size. I have trouble finding a shoe that fits. I ordered a pair of hiking shoes from Zappos and when I got them they didn’t fit (seems size 13 isn’t always size 13!) So I use the Help chat to get instructions on how to send them back and get another style in exchange. No problem, put the old ones back in the box, take them to UPS and away they go.

Couple of days later the new ones come. They didn’t fit either (again, seems size 13 isn’t always.) Get on the Help chat again, tell my sad story and am assured it is no problem at all. Order another style and am told to put the others back in the box and send them back.

So, the next day the UPS truck stops at the house and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is great. I don’t even have to take them to the UPS store.”  Ask the driver if he will take my box. He says, ‘sure’ and hands me my package…FROM ZAPPOS, with my new shoes!

Promise made, promise fulfilled, raving fan created! (And the shoes fit.)

 

Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. Psalm 119:40