Our CEO Role Model

In leading our companies we are called, before all else, to model God’s character and His ways in our business interactions. As we focus on keeping this first thing first, we use the gifts and opportunities He has given us to permit Him to reach others through us. We do this in the process of conducting business. We don’t stop leading the business, making daily calls and decisions, or dealing...

Your Leadership IQ

Lech Walesa told Congress that there is a declining world market for words. He’s right. The only thing the world believes anymore is behavior, because we all see it instantaneously. None of us may preach anymore. We must behave.” Max DePree, Chairman Herman Miller Leaders lead, and leadership by example is the best technique as proven for thousands of years. No great leader has ever been...

Considering Buyer Behavior

Buyers come in many shapes, sizes and behaviors. Ideally, our pricing policies and customer handling reflect this. Customer motivations, flexibility and preconceptions – all of which impact how we can best connect with them – can be all over the map! Zig Ziglar, famous sales expert and Baptist Sunday School teacher, said, “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no...

Living in Contagious Oneness

What a wonderfully unsearchable gift … Christ in us! John’s gospel provides us with life-changing truth and encouragement regarding the heart and mind of our Creator. We have the incomprehensible privilege to be invited into eternal living unity with the only perfectly holy, unified, and intimate relationship in the universe; the Triune Godhead. Imagine the implications. For most of us, the...

Seeing our Work through Christ’s Eyes

Who are we and why are we here? Paul says “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). We, in Christ, have been created by God to work for a purpose, and are empowered by Him as we fulfill this destiny. We’re Jesus’ hands and feet as we live out our calling through family, friends, the Church and those we...

Seizing the Moment (part 2)

Here we are, in the middle of an extended recession, hunkered down and unsure as to when the pressure will let up. Many of us are praying for restored demand and a healthy backlog that will allow us to “breathe easy” again. Is this where you are today? Is your attitude one of simply waiting out the slump and surviving to play the game another day the same way we always did? One of the grand...

I Coulda Been a Contender!

“I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Jude v3 Marlon Brando’s pitiful angst in delivering the most famous line in 1954’s“best picture,” On the Waterfront, still resonates with us since it deals with a common condition: being burdened by regret for previous actions and lost opportunities. Brando’s character,...

Diligence – A Key to Order

For C12 members, the key question is “What does God expect or require of us?” We propose that the answer is ‘diligence,’ defined by the dictionary as “the attention and care legally expected or required of a person.” A practical definition would be, “to meet the requirement inherent in a given situation, responsibility or relationship.” In Kingdom terms, we might further say:...

Ministering from the Overflow

For people committed to such concepts as fairness and justice, God’s grace is beyond “amazing.” As those adopted by God and eternally viewed as righteous solely through our faith in Christ, we must constantly remind ourselves of the indescribable and undeserved nature of this free gift. Our crucified and risen Lord lived perfectly, and died, that we might escape sin’s hold and the law’s...

A Word of Encouragement

I have some good news for you today! God isn’t participating in the recession! And He won’t be needing a stimulus package or bailout, either! These tumultuous days may be the greatest season of our lives… the most fruitful that we have ever known! It will all depend on how we perceive them. It’s been said that “The circumstances of life don’t make me who I am; they reveal whose I...