“I practice my Christian faith when I involve myself and my family in the programs of the church. My business is my business – that’s something else. The two don’t have much to do with each other.” That comment expresses a pretty common view of the relationship between Christianity and business. My guess is that most Christian business people hold that belief. Unfortunately, that belief is one of the false beliefs that hinder us from achieving our business potential. It leads to negative consequ...
Jun 01, 2021•11 min•Season 3Ep. 152
: Most people would love to have a richer, fuller, more fulfilling life. It is human nature. Fortunately, there is an age-old formula for attaining one. In this podcast, I’ll share my personal experiences and perspective.
May 25, 2021•17 min•Season 3Ep. 151
So, what do you think you can do for us?” The CEO had finally gotten to that question after a couple of hours of introduction to his company and their specific marketing problem. They had a successful company, selling acoustic panels through architects for buildings that had a sound problem. A year or so ago, they had developed a new product – a computer-operated sign board that allowed building managers to list events and meetings, and to easily change those as needed. The product had taken a y...
May 18, 2021•17 min•Season 3Ep. 150
Our current level of electronic noise makes deep thinking almost impossible. We are living at a time when the noise level of incoming messages has reached epic proportions. It’s like sitting in the front row of a rock concert. The level of noise is so great that you can’t discern a single word. This produce multi-tasking, and that eliminates deep thinking, and threatens your business and our society.
May 11, 2021•12 min•Season 3Ep. 149
Do you want to know how well your organization learns? In a world that is changing more rapidly today than at any previous time in human history, the consistent practice of learning is the only sustainable long-term strategy. Organizations need to learn quickly and often or they will not survive. The podcast "How Well Does Your Organization Learn?" discusses what it takes for organizations to become better learners and stay competitive in this ever-changing landscape. Listen now! We have weekly ...
May 04, 2021•16 min•Season 3Ep. 148
Over the last 50 years, in the space of one or two generations, we have lost the culture. We have removed God from a central position in our culture and, in His place, have substituted the idols of our times. It’s an incredible turn of events. Here we were, the richest, most prosperous, most Christian nation on earth; founded on Christian principles by Godly men, with a rich culture of God in our schools, in our media, and in our government. Then, in the space of one or two generations, we have ...
Apr 27, 2021•15 min•Season 3Ep. 147
Failure can be a powerful influence in building our character. In this podcast, we look at a couple notable failures and consider the relationship between failure and the powerful character traits of pride and humility. This can impact your life and your career. Check out The XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/groupchristianbusiness/
Apr 20, 2021•11 min•Season 3Ep. 146
Nike just reported on its 2020 initiatives and shared its five-year plan to expand its impact on the world. The company has set the standard for corporate community responsibility that puts Christian businesses to shame. In so doing, Nike is setting a new bar for what it means to be a socially responsible company in today’s society. This should be a wake-up call for Christian businesses. It is time for us not only to live out our faith but also show others who Jesus really is by intentionally pl...
Apr 13, 2021•9 min•Season 3Ep. 145
The world is filled with marketplace Christians who are content with a shallow Christian presence in their business, afraid of the consequences of a more visible, deeper approach. But what if the benefits far outweighed any discomfort that might come from stepping out and more visibly embracing Christianity in the marketplace? What if that which we would gain so far outweighs our small sense of temporary discomfort that we would look back on it down the road a bit and reflect, “I should have don...
Apr 06, 2021•18 min•Season 3Ep. 144
The world is filled with marketplace Christians who are content with a shallow Christian presence in their business, afraid of the consequences of a more visible, deeper approach. But what if the benefits far outweighed any discomfort that might come from stepping out and more visibly embracing Christianity in the marketplace? What if that which we would gain so far outweighs our small sense of temporary discomfort that we would look back on it down the road a bit and reflect, “I should have don...
Mar 30, 2021•11 min•Season 3Ep. 143
The world is filled with marketplace Christians who are content with a shallow Christian presence in their business, afraid of the consequences of a more visible, deeper approach. What if that which we would gain so far outweighs our small sense of temporary discomfort that we would look back on it down the road a bit and reflect, “I should have done that years ago. ”I recently asked the people who are members of my X-I Community to articulate one benefit to more closely aligning their business ...
Mar 23, 2021•9 min•Season 3Ep. 142
Selling is at the same time both simple and incredibly challenging. It is simple in that almost every adult of reasonable intelligence, who has just a modicum of people skills, can understand it and do it. It is incredibly challenging in that to become exceptionally good at it takes the better part of a life-time of effort and practice. In this podcast, I show you how to make it simple.
Mar 16, 2021•15 min•Season 3Ep. 141
In all of my training and consulting work, I’ve found it helpful to establish, right at the beginning, a big picture view of the sales process. Once we have an overview, we can understand every sales principle and practice, and use the big picture to focus our efforts to improve the effectiveness of our organization and our personal efforts.
Mar 09, 2021•20 min•Season 3Ep. 140
I call it the ‘gap between idea and action,’ and it is one of the largest chasms in the road hindering our path to personal and organizational improvement. The gap between idea and action describes the ubiquitous phenomenon that we, all of us, have ideas and intentions, and yet turning those into actions – habits and routines that enhance our skills and smooth out our lives, only happens a bit of the time. As a general rule, we’re miserable at it. If we can bridge that gap, we can supercharge ou...
Mar 02, 2021•12 min•Season 3Ep. 139
Our actions follow our attitudes. The relationship between actions and attitudes is so close, that the two go hand-in-hand, and our actions can be seen as outward expressions of our attitudes. While it is easy to connect the two in this example, the principle that it unveils – that our attitudes influence our actions – extends to every aspect of our lives, and particularly to our jobs, in even the slightest and most mundane portions of our work lives. And that leads us to one of the greatest pri...
Feb 23, 2021•13 min•Season 3Ep. 138
There is something about adversity that has the power to linger forever in our memories, shaping our character and molding our behavior for the rest of our life. We can use it to grow and become better people, if we let it. The XI Community =https://x-icommunity.com/groupchristianbusiness/
Feb 16, 2021•12 min•Season 3Ep. 137
We all recognize that our personal spiritual growth is a journey that lasts our lifetime. It typically takes decades for an individual to progress from the tiny steps of belief, repentance and baptism to the point at which he/she is a spirit-lead mature Christian. But what about the spiritual growth and maturity of a business? Can those words and concepts even apply? Can a business develop its spiritual maturity in the same way that an individual does? The XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/...
Feb 09, 2021•13 min•Season 3Ep. 136
“I’m too busy.” There is not an executive entrepreneur or salesperson in the world who can’t make that statement. We all know that we can easily spend 16 hours a day in the business. The constant call of things to do is like an all-consuming magnetic force that pulls us into investing time and energy into the business. The pull is always there, the business is always on our minds, and we have to work at resisting it. So, it’s easy to understand that, when faced with the charge to begin to add Bi...
Feb 02, 2021•12 min•Season 3Ep. 135
Because a Kingdom business is more than just a money-making entity, it has spiritual functions over and above those that proceed out of the desire to make money. In addition to the fundamental business areas of sales, operations, and finance, Christian companies are organized to make an impact for the Kingdom. This is a new idea for many Christian business people. Let’s dig into it. The XI Community: https://x-community.com/groupchristianbusiness/.
Jan 26, 2021•17 min•Season 3Ep. 134
While many Christians have been content to focus on the worldly aspects of our business and professions, we’ve seen the culture fall apart around us, we’ve witnessed the percentage of Christians in the country shrink, and lately we’ve seen evil manifest itself in our country in ways that are unprecedented in our lifetime. And all of that prior to the Covid pandemic. We’ve all heard the story of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Likewise, Christians in the marketplace have been content to pursue w...
Jan 19, 2021•10 min•Season 3Ep. 133
We often see a crisis as a heavy, worrisome set of circumstances that threatens the status quo. We fear that it is likely to create some significant change that could bring dire economic circumstances, shake up our comfortable routines, and open the door to a fuzzy but scary future. It is all that. Yet, if we respond effectively, it can be a watershed event in our lives and the life of our business – changing our course and opening up a whole new future of greater challenge, greater capacity, gr...
Jan 12, 2021•13 min•Season 3Ep. 132
We understand that, as Christian businesspeople, we are charged with growing the assets we have been given to manage. And if we are successful, we will be given greater responsibilities and a closer relationship with God. If you have arrived at that point – where you see your career or your business as striving for excellence, extending God’s love, grace and provision to those you touch, and acknowledging his place in the all of this – is that sufficient? Is that all there is? Or is that yet ano...
Jan 05, 2021•17 min•Season 3Ep. 131
A few decades ago, the culture in the US could objectively be described as ‘predominantly Christian influenced.” In the past 30 or so years, that has changed dramatically. As I am writing this, in the Fall of 2020, we have seen cultural trends come to a head: increased lawlessness; disrespect for authority, institutions and one another; abandonment of principles of rational thinking and the rule of law, among others. It is common to blame others: partisan politicians, the death of objective jour...
Dec 29, 2020•20 min•Season 2Ep. 130
Do you have a Christian business? Or are you just a Christian in business? That question may seem trivial. But the answer can actually have a life-changing impact on you as well as profound implications for the Kingdom.
Dec 22, 2020•12 min•Season 2Ep. 129
Biblical business owners and executives have a special opportunity to intercede for a certain segment of the Lord’s people – their employees, customers, and vendors. This is a special ministry for which business owners and executives are uniquely positioned. There is no other person who has relationship with the people that you, through your business, have. While many businesspeople have a sense of that responsibility, they often get sidetracked in deciding how to make that happen. Here are some...
Dec 15, 2020•13 min•Season 2Ep. 128
From a worldly perspective, businesses are formed to provide for the economic security of the folks who own and work in that business. Since food and shelter are basic needs, a business, to be viable, must meet those needs. And it does that by providing goods and services for money. Money then becomes one of the keys to any business. But that is just the beginning of a benefits to a business that is run on the Biblical model.
Dec 08, 2020•19 min•Season 2Ep. 127
I have often wondered why we don’t see the Holy Spirit active in our lives, our businesses and our communities in the dramatic and visible ways that we see him in the early days of the church. What’s changed? Some time ago, I realized that God has not changed, but we have. I received an image that made clear to me how we hinder the actions of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our businesses. The ideas and paradigms that we gradually acquire can hinder our understanding of God’s plans for us. In t...
Dec 01, 2020•15 min•Season 2Ep. 126
Here’s a very commonly held, and incredibly bad Idea: Real ministry is only done under the auspices of established religion. This message—that real ministry is only done under the auspices of established religion- is implicit on so many levels that it is almost impossible to be a churchgoer and not absorb this idea. Church buildings are often referred to as “God’s house;” pastors are often imbued with some special authority, and giving to the local church is held up as a prerequisite for the Chr...
Nov 24, 2020•10 min•Season 2Ep. 125
Because a Kingdom business is more than just a money-making entity, it has spiritual functions over and above those that proceed out of the desire to make money. In addition to the fundamental business areas of sales, operations, and finance, Christian companies are organized to make an impact for the Kingdom. So, they ought to measure those results much like they do for sales, finance, etc.This is a new idea for many Christian business people. Let’s dig into it.
Nov 17, 2020•16 min•Season 2Ep. 124
One of the watershed moments in the life and growth of a business occurs when the executives design and implement a system of measurements. This signals the development of the business from an entrepreneurial effort to a serious organization that can exist outside of the hands-on involvement of the entrepreneur. In this piece, we unpack that idea and show you how to create and use a a set of systems measurements. To dig deeper: https://bit.ly/35V1zY5
Nov 10, 2020•15 min•Season 2Ep. 123
