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.
A CEO needs to spend 1/3 - 1/2 of their time in higher order thinking—essentially creating and guiding the future value of the company. That’s 30-50% of their time. This is the centerpiece of making their job “doing what no-one else can do.” When their time is dominated by current and past value, they are managing rather than leading—becoming the most expensive management salary on the premises.
Welcome back to Season 1, Episode 10 of the Convene Podcast. What does it mean to be a servant leader? And why does it matter? How can it make a difference in the way you live your day-to-day life as a leader? How can it transform the lives of others? As the owner and Cultural Architect of Datron World Communications, Inc.,
In 1978 two significant things happened to me. One certainly more significant in eternal value but both caused a major change in my life. The first I prayed the sinner’s prayer and gave my life to Jesus Christ and became a born-again Believer, more on that later. The second is I met Zig Ziglar through his book See You at the Top. Several years later I went to work for The Zig Ziglar Corporation and remained there for over five years. One on the many things I learned from Zig was the whole concept of “life balance.” At that point, I was in my second marriage and perusing the brass ring. It was all about work and getting to the next level. Zig helped me understand the important of balancing faith, family, health, finances as well as career.
Welcome back to Season 1, Episode 9 of the Convene Podcast. The concept of being called to a particular line of work is usually relegated to pastors and religious vocations. But what if you could be called to a position in the workplace? What if your calling to business was every bit as holy as your pastor’s calling to the church? At Convene, we strongly believe that the workplace is a “sacred space” and that many of us are called by God to serve there.
Truth be told, even after several decades of Silicon Valley leading the way, and an incredible amount of research demonstrating the power of teams and an empowered work force, the majority of organizations are stuck in the authoritarian model of old (especially manufacturing), or even more stuck in the hyper-democratic models that tried to offer a correction in the last half of the 20th century (especially charities and denominational bodies).
