I’ve learned a lot about clarifying messages.  I heard a podcast, went to a conference, read a book, and then became a certified guide in a message clarifying process called “StoryBrand.”  Most of the other guides are in the marketing space and I suppose it is just another tool in their toolkit for how they help clients.

I think, possibly because I am not a full-time marketing person with experience and an expansive toolkit, it has become something way more than another tool….

I spent a lot of years trying to sanctify the life I had lived, the decisions I had made, and possibly even my family of origin.  The Baptist church I was baptized in at 19 said some really cool things about me coming “Just as I am” and the new bible I was reading said some pretty amazing stuff about forgiveness; past, present, and future.  I think I intellectually accepted all that, but I am not sure that I really believed…

Our family loves to have movie nights.  It has been a real challenge to find movies that we consider family friendly, but still meet the standard of a quality movie.  Finding something we feel is appropriate for our young teenagers that doesn’t insult their sensibilities is getting harder and harder.  

Recently we watched The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a Netflix production that is available now on that platform.  Compelling storytelling of the true story of a drought-ridden farmer and his family in Malawi that are facing the extinction of their way of life.  A thinly educated…

I know the face well.  When I talk to individuals or groups of leaders, I have seen that face, those eyes, hundreds of times.  It is a look that says, “I know what you are saying is theoretically true, but it isn’t true for me,” or even… 

“You don’t know my life or circumstance.”

How do I know that many of them are thinking that?  Because I have heard it said so many times.  We talk a lot about the “unforced rhythms of grace” that Jesus talked about.  We reference that he said that we should …

We use a lot of business colloquialisms.  They are born of a mash-up of various coaching certifications, a lot of business book reading, numerous podcast listens, Kingdom theology, and 50 years of combined business management, consulting, and coaching.  They are standing the test of time and our resolve around them is deepening.

You often hear this talked about in terms of sales concentration for a company.  For example; “80% of our sales come from 20% of our clients”.  Or in the not-for-profit world it often sounds like “20% of the people doing 80% of the work” or “80% of our funding comes from 20% of the donors”.  Sometimes you will hear it discussed in terms of wealth distribution.  There have been numerous studies both domestically and internationally that show an approximate 80% of wealth being held in the hands of 20% of the population.

Maybe it is the fact that I sort of raised myself, making many of the decisions in my formative years that an adult typically helps guide.  Maybe it is the uglier self-protective side of my Enneagram 8 shining through.  Maybe it is the orphan spirit in me that sort of feels like I am on my own and in my own category.

But for whatever reason, I’ve never really been affected much by the wealth or power of other people.  I have had a relatively easier time being around people of significant means and not being particularly affected by that fact…

One of the most glorious gifts of the Kingdom is that, as redeemed, even the challenges, screw-ups, mistakes, and missteps of our lives, are to our further qualification.  Instead of disqualifying us from having an impact, they are actually the fuel or the experiential currency necessary to live an impactful life.

When I started to look at the low points of my life as preparation instead of disqualification, I went from victim to victor.  I am not disqualified, but even more qualified than most.  While I felt that I was running through a thick forest…

In the “Queen of Katwe”, Fiona is little. Economically, socially, and in pretty much every other way you might imagine.  She becomes fascinated with the budding chess club in her shanty town of Katwe, Uganda.  A young girl who seems even more little than her, tells her:

“In chess, the little one can become the big one.”

Fiona’s story is the stuff of inspiration and unearthed glory.  This is one to gather the family for a viewing.  From the first quote in my initial viewing of the trailer, I was hooked.

One of the most elusive destinations for leaders and organizations is “life-work balance”.  Everyone is trying to solve this problem.  So are we.

We have a bunch of tools and have helped a lot of leaders make progress in managing their time and schedules.  In fact, one of our informal metrics has to do with how many leaders we have worked with that have achieved enough margin through their owner-to-team-lead transitions, that they actually take Friday or some other day off.

Whether you are aware of it or not, your company has a billboard and it is right beside the highway of every person’s life.  What yours is saying and how to cultivate the feeling people have about it is crucially important to your future success.  Believe me, it is not blank.  It is saying something.

Ironically, studies show that “likes” or starred reviews are impacting decision making in far greater measure than personal referrals do.  They are one of the forms of billboards…

There is a show that my wife likes. Correction, there is show that my wife along with millions of other Americans like. The premise is this: find the worst looking house on the street in the nicest neighborhood and restore the hidden glory of the home. Take what is hidden beneath a bunch of decay, neglect, or just really poor design choices and restore it into the nicest house on the block.

I’ve had a series of conversations as a result of a podcast I heard.  The podcast talked about all the anticipation and expectation tied to the Christmas season and the somewhat ironic hurry everyone seemed to be in to exit that season.

For most of us, we live a life during the Christmas season that is dramatically different than how we live the rest of the year.

Rare is the week where I don’t talk to at least one person overwhelmed by their situation.  Typically it is in regards to their own life circumstance, but it is a fairly common occurrence to talk to a leader frustrated, confused, or overwhelmed by their organizational challenges as well.  The “reference system” of everything going on around us tends to crowd out any hope or expectation for change and a different future.  When we assess the litany of issues swirling around us, it is nearly impossible to imagine things getting any better.

There is a great story told almost 2,000 years ago, it goes something like this…

“A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

Now, most of the folks I run with are doing many of the right things. They are attending religious services, going to small group studies, doing daily intentional things. In their work…

We’re working with two businesses with the intention of combining them. We’re early in the process, but we are off to an extraordinary start. The deeper we enter into the process, the more we realize how uncommon this is for two owners to move from the autocratic outright of sole proprietorship to the joint and several of partnership.

We’re helping them guard their hearts and urging that they protect the preciousness of this process from swine looking to gobble up their enthusiasm…

Every relationship, whether business or personal, needs to matriculate through three key stages:

1. CURIOSITY

2. ENLIGHTENMENT

3. COMMITMENT

First, something has to capture your attention.  Develop some level of curiosity.  And by the way, you are having to compete with 33,000 messages a day assaulting the average person’s attention in order for you to arouse curiosity about you, your company, or your product. 

For this reason, you better have something…

I encountered a man about a half-dozen or so years ago.  Soon after, I purchased a journal to accompany him to one of the men’s retreat I help lead with my Band of Brothers.  Like most men who attend those weekends, he had never journaled before or really kept any account of his faith or relationship with God.  I told him that whether or not he had ever “heard” from the Father, he certainly would on this weekend and that it was imperative that he write down every word that was spoken.

“And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”  - Donald Miller

This quote, from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years was a revolution in my life.  It was the headwaters of the river that took me from…