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.
‘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.
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.
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.
Devotion: “God’s truth can liberate your spirit and transform your life” John 8:32 “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
Would you like a rock-solid time-tested formula for success? Here it is: seek God’s truth, and live by it. Of course, this strategy may sound too simple, especially if you’re a
Listed among Forbes 100 richest people in America, David Green, founder & CEO of Hobby Lobby, could cling to his money, but he doesn’t. Every year, his company gives 50% of their earnings to charity. That's right: 50 percent! Yet talk to Green today, and you’ll meet a man marked by peace, humility and joy. Green understands that true wealth doesn’t come from what we get, but what we give.
“We are put on this earth to give, to devote ourselves to a radical brand of generosity that changes lives and leaves a legacy.”
– David Green
In his new book, Giving It All Away … And Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously, Green joins with Bill High in sharing how to leave a lasting legacy. As he began investing in eternal wealth instead of temporary wealth, he found himself giving away more and more of his company’s profits—and being filled with joy in the process. As he gave control over to God, he found peace. This peace sheltered him and his family as they nearly lost their business in the 1980’s and later weathered a 2014 Supreme Court case.
Green also writes about how living generously means leaving a family legacy. Surprisingly, Green’s legacy to his family does not include Hobby Lobby. Find out how Green created a unique legacy plan that included not just financial wealth but also guaranteed passing on to his family what true wealth is made of—a right relationship with God and a rich and lasting heritage.
"This book lays out tested biblical principles for family legacy and wealth management based on real life examples from the Green family. Your business and your family will be the beneficiaries of their strong thinking."
- Greg Leith, CEO of Convene
At Convene, we love cultivating CEOs who model this kind of generosity. Because we have found it to be true that the more you give, the more you become the Christ-like leader God calls you to be. Being a CEO is not about accumulating wealth for oneself, but about giving it to others and showing them where true wealth lies.
You can read a chapter of the book for free by clicking here. David Green's book will surely prepare you to build your own legacy and pass on to your family the things that will last for eternity. Buy your copy today at givingitallawaybook.com.
Last week, a member of our Eastern Wisconsin Convene Team initiated a group e-mail that grew into a string of blessings upon one another in business, family and service. What started as an encouraging word of appreciation became an abundant offering of prayers, requests for prayer, expressions of thanksgiving, and further demonstration of the significant service in which our Team members engage. It was one more piece of evidence of the leadership community fabric forming while we work to develop ourselves and our businesses Underneath this leadership fabric is a Team Covenant.* It goes like this:
We are a team. As a team, we define our culture. Condemnation is checked at the door and disagreement is welcome in the room. We recognize that fully present participation is our highest contribution to our teammates. Because we are teammates, we commit to give abundantly, to receive in similar measure, and to keep confidentiality We choose accountability to follow through on what we say personally and in business, mutual assistance, and open communication.
The increasing length of each sentence is intended., and each sentence cascades into the next. Here is a little more definition:
We are a team. We need to be committed to and contribute to each other as we grow ourselves and our businesses.
As a team, we define our culture. Even if another entity were to dictate the values by which we should operate, in the end we take responsibility for creating the environment by which we grow ourselves and our businesses.
Condemnation is checked at the door and disagreement is welcome in the room. We recognize that we do significant discernment work when we gather. When we collectively care about the result, differing values, sometimes even competing values, come into play. We are not going to hold back our judgment about a matter. Neither are we going to make definitive, unthinking, or insensitive pronouncements.
We recognize that fully present participation is our highest contribution to our teammates. This part is especially hard because so many matters compete for attention before, during and in the moments after one of our Forum Days ends. And yet, our ability to be fully present and undistracted with our Convene Team, means we grow in our ability to be fully present with our employees, our families and our friends. When we are fully present in these key relationships, we make it possible for them to flourish. When we are mentally and emotionally elsewhere, we become a significant contributor to their floundering.
Because we are teammates, we commit to give abundantly, to receive in similar measure, and to keep confidentiality. Being present means we concentrate and think with our teammates, and we leave our conversations in the room. This makes it possible for us to learn, as well as contribute our learnings, in safety. So, we must hold an open posture as we give and receive. If we do not remind ourselves to keep this discipline, we will only tell and sell rather than listen and learn. Our commitment to learning means we ask questions for the purposes of further discovery before we start dealing out what we already know. Learning fosters our needed and continuing growth.
We choose accountability to follow through on what we say personally and in business, mutual assistance, and open communication. We declare what we will work on, report on the effort, admit our mistakes, make our corrections, and celebrate the hurdles we cross. We keep committing ourselves to listen to how we are perceived, and develop our capacities even as we live well within themm so that margin and life balance can be honored. We keep making ourselves open to the counsel of peers.
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The women and men in our team keep telling me they are better leaders and better people because of their involvement, especially because of the care they receive and can offer, alongside the insights they gain. We don’t do it perfectly. Far from it. But we earnestly pursue it. Does participation in such a peer-based advising team hold interest for you as a company owner or CEO, wherever you might live?
Would you like to contact one of the Convene Chairs along the western shore of Lake Michigan?
Chicago - John Wright Southeast Wisconsin - Joel Borgardt Eastern Wisconsin - Mark L. Vincent
*Convene asks all participants in all teams to sign a covenant that covers all members in all teams. Many individual teams develop supplemental covenants, specific to the fabric of their teams, such as this one.
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If you enjoyed this article about living in covenant from Mark L. Vincent, you’ll enjoy our live learning venue even more! Join hundreds of leaders learning together how to operate their company well, all on a biblical platform at the Leadership Summit 2017 in Hilton Head, SC on May 3-5, 2017.
Can’t make the Summit but crave more learning? Tune in to our Convene online leadership learning portal!
For more than 30 years, Michael Belk’s photographs appeared in fashion publications including Vogue, Elle, GQ and Vanity Fair for clients that included Nautica, J. Crew and many others. He has been the man behind the camera, the creative director and the account executive for his own fashion-advertising agency. For a photographer, this was a dream come true. He had clients, notoriety, and prestige as he worked his way up. In one way or another, we all have this drive to "get to the top." And Michael made it! But in 2008, Michael was not as satisfied with his success as he thought he would be. He sensed God asking, “What are you doing with all that I’ve given to you? Using it all for yourself, or sharing it with others?”
It was time to make a move. With his camera and creativity, he and his wife Cheryl began investing their savings into the production of a collection of fine art photographs that would depict the modern-day relevance of the centuries-old message of Jesus. The result is a magnificently beautiful and thought-provoking collection of fine art called Journeys with the Messiah.
Produced in the ancient city Matera, Italy, this one-of-a-kind photographic journey delightfully incites a fresh perspective of Jesus. Michael's compelling photographs show Jesus in 1st Century settings interacting with 21st Century Wall Street executives, high rollers, Nazis and people from all walks of life. Combined with Michael’s personal story of surrendering to God’s guidance, these photographs as well as the messages they depict can have a profound impact on you. They can help you really see Jesus in a meaningful way. As Michael has said, “It is our prayer that they ignite a passion in the viewer to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus.”
This May, there is a special opportunity for you to dive deeper into Michael's work and meet him in person, because he will be speaking and presenting at this year's Convene Leadership Summit during May 3-5, 2017! Come hear more about his story and his work and be inspired to live your own unique path for God's higher purposes. You won't want to miss him!
So come and join hundreds of leaders learning together how to operate their company well, all on a biblical platform at the Leadership Summit 2017 in Hilton Head, SC.
When I see what’s happening in the world today and in our own country for that matter, I wonder if I am living in a hostile land? Christians are being persecuted around the globe. Our religious freedom in the US is under attack. The influences of our current culture and political climate are quickly eroding the world that we pray about in the Lord’s prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The big question is how are you being conformed by our culture—by the world. We are warned in Romans 12:2 of this very thing: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Is your treasure in the things of the world or do you work for your heavenly reward? Matthew 6:19-21 speaks to this: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is a big challenge but let’s draw strength and courage from four young Jewish boys that were in captivity. We pick up the story in the book of Daniel in Chapter one where King Nebuchadnezzar has taken Jerusalem and all its people. The four young men are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. You may know the last three by their Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego.
These young men were certainly in a foreign and hostile land and slaves to make it worse. They certainly had every reason to conform to the world, who would blame them. But these young men where the epitome of courage and faith!
Their first test was when they were offered food from the King’s table but refused it because it would dishonor their God. The second time they were thrown into the fiery furnace but they did not waver. Here’s part of the passage: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18
Wow, talk about courage and conviction! They would not dishonor God even if it meant being put to death. I can only pray that when faced with this choice I will choose to serve God, rather than please man.
The question for all of us, whether it be in our workplace, our community or our government, is “Will we stand firm on God’s laws and principles or simply conform to the world’s culture?” I leave you with these verses from John 2:15-16: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
We certainly do live in a hostile land, but with faith and courage we can stand firm in our faith. Gain courage from these young men.
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If you enjoyed this article about living well in this hostile world, you'll enjoy our live learning venue even more! We'll discuss topics around this subject and much more. Join hundreds of leaders learning together how to operate their company well, all on a biblical platform at the Leadership Summit 2017 in Hilton Head, SC.
Can't make the Summit but crave more learning? Tune in to our Convene online leadership learning portal!
