■ Relational joy with the Lord and others

■ investing in the health of our mind, body and soul

■ Intentionally developing our organization and market presence

■ Time for deep reflection and creative thought

  Indeed, if we travel through life with very little ‘margin,’ we’ll soon be overloaded with the many small, reactionary crises that naturally sprout from such habits.

 This modern sickness has become a ‘badge of courage’ for many! Proud of our ability to ‘keep all the plates spinning’ in such a breathless lifestyle, we often live like hamsters on a wheel! Many actually strive to live this way. Today’s mythical ‘super woman’ is one example of such thinking. You know the celebrated image: topflight executive, spouse, gourmet homemaker, and soccer mom, and church/community volunteer. While a few among us may be so supremely organized as to be able to pull-off such an expansive multi-tasking assignment, most either ‘crash and burn’ or severely neglect vital priorities in order to pursue such an idealized existence.

 Instead, we need a godly perspective on our priorities during this short life in the flesh if we’re to restore the balance needed to regain our emotional, spiritual, physical, financial, and time reserves in an ever-quickening digital age.  Our families, businesses, testimony, and eternal legacy depend on it!

  “Lord, teach me so to conceive time as an unrepeatable gift that I might live my life serenely with Your values in mind so that my life is lived to the full.”

Consider how God built His Church. As recounted in “Why Work?” (Nancy & Howard Olsen,M3 Planning, 2006), the Christian faith was birthed and flourished in the marketplace. Jesus, a small town carpenter, recruited His disciples in the marketplace where He also made 122 of His 132 New Testament public appearances. Of His 52 parables, 45 had workplace settings. The gospels were written by workplace professionals. After Pentecost, the explosion of believers happened all over the city. Those working with Paul to reach the Gentiles typically led lives which blended business and ministry. Of the 40 divine interventions recorded in Acts, 39 occurred in the marketplace. When the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., the early Church moved its ‘center’ to Antioch, a vital merchant trading center. Fast-forwarding to America, our founders coupled faith with work in establishing a free nation “under God.” The subsequent ‘great awakenings’ in our history gained their momentum in the marketplace.

What does this mean for us? Did we really sign up for all of this? It’s certainly far more comfortable to view our vocation as simply a 40-60 hour-per-week job. But artificially dividing life into secular and sacred realms doesn’t square with God’s Word. The Puritans had it right in seeing our vocation broadly as God’s call to social, economic, civil, and church engagement as we serve His purpose, using our God-given talents and opportunities to serve others. Jesus didn’t say “go to church,” but rather He called His people to be the Church and “go out”! But we all have specific areas where we like to hang out and devote our energy, often at the exclusion of other priorities. Whether we’re workaholics, doting parents, “can’t say no” church volunteers, or obsessive hobbyists, we must be careful not to reshape God’s call on our life into a lopsided focus on one or two things while ignoring others. Puritan pastor Richard Baxter said, “Overdoing is the most ordinary way of undoing.” In contrast, ‘diligence’ simply involves a constant, motivated effort to do what God wants, by seeing every responsibility as an assignment from, and for, the Lord… nothing more, and nothing less.

Taking Stock
What we do in the midst of a recession greatly influences our long-term prospects for being a high-performing company with an uncommon sense of purpose and teamwork. For leaders, this is an ideal time to take a fresh look at the fundamentals of the business and ensure a solid foundation for the future..

The following 7-Point Gut Check gives each of us an opportunity to “take stock” by self-evaluating our real-time leadership in seven vital areas.
■Get Off the Ledge First things first! If you’re still operating in the red or running ‘close to the edge’ on cash, what (or who) are you waiting for? If your sources of funds don’t provide enough cash each month to meet your uses of funds, you’re playing a losing game or putting your head in the sand. If you haven’t done it already, it’s time to reset your resource/capacity levels to match your activity so that you can continue operating indefinitely and profitably at this level
■Build a Winning Team This is a great time to clearly communicate and then regularly reinforce alignment on your firm’s core principles (i.e., vision, purpose, and core values).
Deep engagement is necessary to ensure clear buy-in and to help employees coalesce into a solid team.
■‘Lean’ Sales and Marketing Are your marketing efforts disjointed and based on historical habits and generic sounding appeals? Or, are they unified and based on a very focused and distinctive core message delivered through the most productive communication channels, beginning with your name, tagline, signage, website, literature, stationary, email and targeted ad spending?
■Clean-up Historical Operating Problems and Compromises Now’s the time to get serious about eliminating repetitive waste (e.g., poor project plans and costly quality problems), unnecessary capacity, underperforming suppliers, and organizational ‘ankle weights’ (e.g., naysayers, upward delegators, untrustworthy teammates, and accountability avoiders).
■Refocus around Planning and Execution Discipline Allowing multiple agendas in the same company is crippling. Involve key employees and staff leaders in the planning process and hold them responsible for delivering their piece of the Plan (e.g., revenue growth, cost, asset turns, etc.). Engage them in building the business ‘on paper’ with a fresh plan.
■Establish a Culture that Integrates Learning, Accountability, and Performance Pay A team that’s seriously engaged in making its Plan will constantly confront ‘off-Plan’ areas, hold each other accountable, and celebrate successes together. Share the pain and the gain, while cultivating a culture of ‘owners’ and committed ‘professionals.’
■Unwavering Personal Witness It’s incumbent on us to communicate clearly and lead with grace when making changes that negatively impact others. As a steward, servant leader, and Christ follower, we’re to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in all seasons. Do we exhibit His peace in the midst of the storm?

Reflect on each of these seven areas. Any low score is worthy of personal reflection and prayer, discussion, and staff brainstorming to probe ways to remedy and elevate your company’s performance.
How can your leadership help your team to use this recession as a foundation strengthening time that provides a fine launching pad for the future?

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, Terry Malloy, was reflecting on his young life and the way he’d squandered his opportunity to have “class” and “be somebody.” An up-and-coming prizefighter from a tough neighborhood, he had settled for ‘chump change’ in throwing a fight that might have led to a title shot. This led to a series of compromises and a season of inconsolable regret in which he felt trapped, in the prime of life, by his previous mistake. The film finishes on a victorious note, in which Terry does “become somebody.” Although he didn’t become a champion fighter, he became a local hero, a leader at work, got the girl, and was mentored by a local priest. Like the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43), Terry’s actions proved the axiom, “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”

Jesus’ brother, Jude, wrote to motivate Christians everywhere to action and to warn us about the eternal cost of living a nominal Christian life. Scripture tells us to cast all our cares upon Jesus, because He cares for us (1Peter 5:7). Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man falls seven times and gets back up.” As God’s children who can never be snatched from His hand (John 10:28) and are entrusted with His truth that will never be broken or pass away (Matthew 24:35, John 10:35), we’ve been commissioned to contend for the faith. We can do this going forward with the unshakeable confidence that our life and work truly matter for eternity and that our past, present and future have been redeemed in Christ!

As Christ’s disciples, whatever our previous track record, we can be encouraged by two key facts.

First, we don’t do these things on our own; we have an awesome Lord who strengthens and cheers us along the way, picking us up and washing us off when we stumble.

Second, it’s never too late to be refined, seek God’s purposes, and finish strong.

Jude exhorts us to share God’s truth, reject falsehood and immoral practices, celebrate God’s goodness, live faithfully, and share Christ’s love.

Let’s begin our implementation focus by looking at the leadership practices which Reichheld’s research determined to be common among companies enjoying the greatest loyalty from customers and employees. Loyalty Rules highlights business practices that read like a C12 playbook, including the Golden Rule, pursuing excellence, simplicity, honesty, fairness, respect, personal accountability, and performance pay. These traits were distilled into six ‘loyalty principles’ to help to shape metrics, compensation systems, organizational development, strategy, and operations. As we review each element, make a mental note as to how your company fares.

Six Pillars of Loyalty

 Play to win/win: Profiting at the expense of partners is a shortcut to a ‘dead end’! Focus solely on opportunities/niches where you can become the best. Align partners around overarching objectives to upgrade the customer experience, and insist on win/win solutions. Shed distractions, sharpen plans and processes, and teach win/win behavior. Paul also taught this, saying, “Let each of you ‘look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.’” (Php 2:4).

 Be picky: Membership is a privilege! Loyalty requires making choices. Cultivate business relationships only when both sides can provide special value or you’ll soon dilute your value and be special to no one. Choose employees, customers, and suppliers carefully, through a win/win lens. Invest in their success and stick with them for the long-term… if they earn the privilege through performance. Loyalty is a two-way street!

 Keep it simple: Complexity is the enemy of speed and flexibility! Clarify the values and rules that govern all decisions. Use small teams to maximize responsiveness, flexibility and accountability. Maintain simple, stable, visual scorekeeping. Reduce overhead ‘interference’ by growing your business without growing HQ staff. Focus on continuous improvement and ‘the future.’ Remember, whatever doesn’t add customer value is waste!

 Reward the right results: Worthy partners deserve worthy goals! Align performance targets so that all partners stretch, together, for worthy goals. Share the benefits while strengthening the company. Don’t confuse long-term value with short-term profits, or loyalty with tenure. Measure the right things and fix ‘misalignments.’ Reward loyalty among employees, suppliers and customers with win/win growth and development opportunities.

 Listen hard, talk straight: Long-term relationships require honest, two-way communication and learning! Loyalty is based on trust, and trust requires reliable and accurate information. Deepen working relationships using feedback tools and joint forums to drive improvement. Listen to input, prioritize issues, and act on what you hear. Shared learning and understanding yields clearer priorities, coordinated actions, and superior results. Nothing magnifies the ‘loyalty effect’ like trust rooted in an open exchange of information and ideas. Confront ‘brutal facts’ in a way that exemplifies the truth being spoken in love (e.g., regular report cards, real-time metrics)!

 Preach what you practice: Actions often speak louder than words, but together they’re unbeatable! Clarify your principles and communicate them with passion. They’re the gravitational center for organization focus and loyalty, enabling your partners to understand, buy in, and become truly loyal. Put it in writing, talk the walk, continually teach and reinforce these practices. Celebrate internal heroes, share edifying stories and illustrative case studies. Continually cast the vision of where we’re going and how we’ll get there, based on mutually earned loyalty.

As leaders prone to pride and works of righteousness, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we’re somehow becoming more Christ-like by our own efforts. Sure, we know we’re saved by grace, but we’d like to think that our works make us more holy. In the heat of the daily battle we can forget that, apart from our identity in Christ, what we bring to the party – even on our best day – is “as filthy rags”(Isa 64:6). By leaning on our own righteousness, we damage our testimony with each offense, and push away many to whom we’re called to minister by our self-righteous behavior. In truth, our holiness depends on faithfully abiding in Jesus, which is made possible by His grace. John Piper recently said, “Grace isn’t simply leniency when we’ve sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.” For believers, God’s grace is active in saving us in Christ, sanctifying us in His image, and bringing us safely home!

Confident in God’s grace, we have the privilege of presenting ourselves, in gratitude, as living sacrifices and His ambassadors! When selfless works flow out of a heart that is grateful for such unmerited favor, others can often begin to see the reality of Christ’s love and gospel. With this truth in mind, let’s consider a few questions:

■Jesus told Paul that His “grace is sufficient” and His “power is made perfect in weakness.” How does this relate to us today as servant leaders and shepherds in the workplace?

■Do we behave or communicate as if “God is fortunate to have us on His team”?How can our ‘righteous’ behavior, often rooted in a misplaced sense of guilt or pride, create a stumbling block to others who truly need to hear Christ’s gospel of grace?

■Practically speaking, what does ‘humble reliance’ look like for us and how can this open the door with others to sharing the hope we have in Christ?

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 am.” Light always shines brightest in darkness. This is our time! Brothers and sisters, we were created for this day!

Am I just ‘whistling through the graveyard’ or is this for real? Let’s talk about it.

Considering our Reality

If God has a plan for our lives – and He surely does – and if He will judge our performance versus that plan – and He surely will – then, if He is a just God, He must provide all we need to do what He asks. God is perfectly just (Dt 32:4, Dan 4:37, 1Jn 1:9)! Therefore, we’ll never lack His perfect provision to do what He asks. He is never limited by worldly measures or circumstances. Remember, He is the One who fed over three million people for forty years in the middle of a desert! He didn’t need food stamps, businesses, or anything outside of Himself to accomplish this. He is the sovereign and omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. He is never limited from doing anything. As His children and joint heirs in Jesus, with daily access to the throne, neither are we! Our only prerequisite is that we’re to be doing what He asks or, saying it another way, walking in His will for our lives.

We do have a problem though. Our culture has been so leavened by the poison of the “prosperity gospel” that we‘ve come to believe that walking in God’s will, or doing what He asks, will lead to a life absent of difficulty or challenge. It’s amazing that in all of our personal experience or knowledge, in all of history, and in all of the Biblical record, not one person has ever achieved or experienced such a life. Think about that last statement for a moment. No one, godly or ungodly, escapes the trials and cycles of life. It is a fool’s errand, created in the depths of hell, to blindly pursue an unobtainable or unsustainable, non-Biblical life! So many are discouraged and disillusioned by chasing unrealistic expectations! God never promised us such a self-imagined utopia. He simply says that He will never leave or forsake us.

The knowledge that (1) our heavenly Father is a good God who always “works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Ro 8:28) and (2) there is no power on earth or in heaven that can stand against Him, is our foundation for living in and through the inevitable up and down cycles of life. Paul’s encouragement in Romans 8 actually follows a discussion of suffering! In amazing ways, suffering draws us closer to God as we learn, first-hand, that “we are more than conquerors” and that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love! Armed with this certainty, we’re able to experience joy and contentment in the midst of the chaos of life in the flesh and the rough and tumble marketplace! Nothing stays the same in our life experience. Struggle always follows triumph, and vice-versa. There’s no way to avoid the reality of our fallen world. The secret is to learn to live above it… in it, but not of it. This can happen only if we live our lives with a true eternal perspective while trusting in a good and sovereign God.

Now, think about this… God knew exactly the environment and circumstances we would face when He sent you and me to earth at this moment to be His Ambassadors! He chose us for this time! It’s no accident that you and I are where we are, doing what we do, just now. He placed us precisely here, in time and space, and planned for us to do things for Him in the midst of the circumstances we find ourselves in right now!! And we’ll always have all we need to do all He wants!

 “If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus coming to the Fairground Saturday,” that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations. If the town’s citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.”

  While humorous, the above quote captures the reality for many of us with respect to marketing… so many words, but so little understanding, focus and disciplined application. Although few business owners and CEOs imagine themselves to be topnotch ‘marketers,’ marketing is merely a broad banner flying over several fairly straight-forward business responsibilities. Getting a handle on a few key aspects of marketing – out of the continuing barrage of supposedly indispensable ‘new’ ideas pushed by consultants and business writers – will serve us well in building a growing enterprise.

So, What is Marketing?

 Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. It (1) identifies unfulfilled needs and desires, (2) defines, measures, and quantifies the size of the identified market and its profit potential, and (3) pinpoints the market segments that the company is capable of serving best, and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services.

  Based on this definition, marketing clearly isn’t solely the responsibility of a specific department or key supplier, but rather an integrated subject requiring top management leadership and company-wide team effort. Marketing involves thoughtful strategic planning based on an accurate understanding of current capabilities and marketplace opportunities, on-going customer feedback and analysis of market trends, and a variety of ways to communicate to and stimulate target markets to spur profitable sales growth.

   Is improved marketing on the mind of the typical Christian business owner? In a recent nationwide survey of C12 members, improved strategic planning ranked as the single most pressing identified need (with 98% expressing current interest) from among a list of 19 specific business skills!

  In classic marketing lingo, once we’ve identified and analyzed the various market segments, strategically selected our target market segments, and considered how to best position ourselves to that target, we establish the optimum ‘marketing mix’ for each of our offerings by selecting the ideal set of choices from among ‘the four Ps’:

Product: the good or service that is designed, produced, and offered for sale

Price: the cost or exchange required for the customer to obtain our product

Place: marketing/distribution channels where our product is available

Promotion: encompasses all sales communication aimed at creating awareness and attraction, including advertising, selling, sales promotion, merchandising, and public relations

 Marketing Consistent with Our Purpose and Values

 Before we leave the subject of marketing, let’s talk briefly about shaping our marketing messages consistent with our stated purpose and core principles as Christians. It’s so easy to fall into the typical advertising appeals and positioning statements of our times which appeal to human vanity and idolatry. As ambassadors of Christ, our focus should be on excellence in our service to others, while avoiding manipulation, exaggerated claims, fleshly appeals and deceptive offers that would do damage to our testimony and harm those we are privileged to serve. Marketing messages that are excessively self-congratulatory or feed ungodly desires, behavior, or thinking should be avoided. We should aim to point others to God’s best and highest purposes with trustworthy, best-in-class service of their legitimate needs in a manner that honors God, is family friendly, and encourages the eternal perspective. As Jesus said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (Jn 5:44).

 At the end of the day, excellent marketing is an expression of stewardship of the company He has given us to run for Him!

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   Throughout Proverbs there are many themes which are repeated for emphasis and presented in different ways to help us see their application more clearly. Examples of this repetition technique are seen in the warnings given across such disparate areas as: the folly of disobedience, sexual sin, rash speaking, laziness and the dangers of debt. The book breaks into 31 chapters, which makes it very suitable for a monthly ‘chapter-a-day’ study. In fact many believers have made it their practice to continuously read through the Proverbs this way for months or even years at a time, employing the repetition technique in their desire to hide these truths in their heart. When such a daily practice is undertaken for any sustained period of time Proverbs’ recurring themes become clear.

A Theme Intended to Get Our Attention

  One theme that is of particular interest to those of us called by God to lead businesses is the call to look for counsel. Counsel in this context means meaningful advice. The most cursory scan reveals more than 20 references to this topic within Proverbs. Here are just a handful:

“A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.” Pr 1:5

“Give instruction to a wise man and he will be wiser still.” Pr 9:9

“Where there is no counsel the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.” Pr 11:14

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.” Pr 12:15

“Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards reproof will be honored.” Pr 13:18

“Without counsel plans go astray, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.” Pr 15:22

“He who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment.” Pr 18:1

“For by wise counsel you will wage your own war; And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.” Pr. 24:6

  These are just a fraction of the many Biblical examples exhorting us to pursue counsel which we could cite. The clear emphasis of God’s Word in this particular area needs to be taken seriously and soberly. We truly disregard it at our own peril.

  The reason we need wise counsel is that it is so hard to know our own hearts. The Bible says it this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it”? (Jeremiah 17:9) The innate ability to deceive ourselves is resident in every one of us. As humans, self-justification comes as a part of the package. We are able to justify almost anything we want when we are left to our own devices. There is no doubt about it…we need help and protection in this area!

  Of course it isn’t only counsel per se that we need. We need Godly Counsel, God’s very truth and wisdom for application to our life. There are many possible sources of counsel but they are not all equally valuable. In fact, some counsel can be terribly harmful and, in fact, devastating to us. In our culture there are many, often attractive, sources of ungodly counsel. We may not realize it but the devil often works his distractions from God’s purpose for our lives through the suggestions or counsel of other people. Counsel that will be truly helpful to us and guide us into the things of God must originate in the heart of God. Many will speak to us, but not all are of God. It makes an enormous difference whom we seek out and listen to. Ideally, seek unity of response from a number of trustworthy Christ-centered advisors when dealing with important issues.