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Archives for October 2015

Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works

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Thanks to the many of you who have been so encouraging as we announced the launch of What’s Best Next. You emails and shares have been meaningful.

We hope you’ll stick around to benefit from the things we have planned, and to help us refine the resources and services. None of this makes sense if people like you aren’t inspired and helped.

Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works

One of the things we’re looking to do, in addition to developing many free resources, is to publish, over time, focused books for helping Christians be more effective in their work.

Creating_A_Business_Plan_COVERThe one we started with, which seemed to make sense given what we were already working on, is a short digital book called Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works: Especially, But Not Only, for Faith-Based Organizations.

With a title like that, and given that What’s Best Next is a mere three days old, I would expect at least a snicker or two! But here’s the deal: this e-book is not about guaranteeing a level of success, however you measure it. It’s about a process that does what it’s intended to do—a framework that can make a significant difference as you plan any kind of real-world endeavor.

Whether you’re launching a new business, starting a ministry, planning an event, or managing a project of a certain size or scope, this short e-book can help guide you in thinking through your plans. Matt originally wrote this a few years ago and we’ve updated several sections in light of working through the vision for What’s Best Next.

 Here’s what you’ll find in Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works: 

  1. How Do You Think Biblically About Business Plans?
  2. Making Business Plans Useful: A Brief Overview
  3. The Elements of a Business Plan (And Getting Them Right)
  4. Further Resources

This focused book is especially for those who are making plans from a Christian perspective—whether in churches, ministries, other non-profits, or anywhere else. While you don’t have to operate from a specifically Christian perspective to benefit, it will be especially helpful for those looking for a resource that makes the integration of faith and work explicit.

Available for download from WhatsBestNext.com or Amazon.com

Matt Perman talks Productivity on the “Am I Called?” Podcast

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Matt recently sat down (virtually) with Dave Harvey to discuss productivity in light of the Bible.

In the latest episode of the “Am I Called?” podcast, Matt & Dave discuss the story behind the name “what’s best next,” why Christians can benefit from secular thinkers, how time management relates to the Christian life, and more.

Listen to the interview directly on AmICalled.com or on iTunes.

 

 

Announcing What’s Best Next (The Organization)

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WBN_Full_Logo_RGBFor a long time I’ve wanted to update WhatsBestNext.com and turn it into a more complete resource site. I have a few hundred articles on leadership, productivity, and theology that I’m in the process of getting online.

Last summer, my friend James Kinnard and I started talking about these things and we both sensed the articles were just a small part of what is possible. What is really needed is an organization where Christians can be equipped in gospel-driven productivity and leadership from all angles, with new resources, online training, coaching, and more in-person training.

This flows from our passion for helping Christians connect their faith and their work, and takes it another step: giving practical teaching on how to be more effective in our work and all areas of life.

James is a good friend going back many years. He worked at Crossway for the last 7 years, leading their marketing & communications team, making a significant contribution. He is remarkably productive, and has been an enthusiastic proponent of gospel-driven productivity from the start, helping me over the years in refining the concepts. We think very much alike on leadership, management, and productivity, coming from the same framework of Scripture and both having been influenced by contemporary thinkers like Patrick Lencioni, Marcus Buckingham, Jim Collins, and others.

We’ve been sharpening the vision over the last few months, and are excited to launch What’s Best Next.

The Vision

Our vision is to launch an organization focused on helping Christians be more effective leaders, managers, and individual contributors. Through a variety of practical resources, we want to empower men and women in their daily work, from a gospel-centered perspective.

We want to help Christians sharpen the disciplines and skills of knowing what’s most important (c.f. Matt. 6:33, Matt. 40:37-40) and doing what’s most important, in ways that work out the ethic of the gospel.

In other words, whether it’s strategic planning, setting goals, managing email, collaboration, or a hundred other topics, we want to help Christians be more effective in doing good work, all in light of the biblical principles and gospel-centered motivations that drive true productivity.

The Need

We believe that a gospel-centered paradigm for productivity is needed for Christians working in churches, nonprofits, and in the marketplace. The world of work is one of the chief arenas through which the gospel of Christ can impact lives. It’s the main place most of us love our neighbor and serve the common good. And so increasing our personal and organizational effectiveness is a key means of honoring God and serving others.

But few organizations provide focused training in these areas, and fewer still seek to do so from an explicitly Christian perspective.

At What’s Best Next, we want to provide an integrated biblical outlook from the outset—an outlook which not only is based on the Scriptures, but which also takes into account the best business and leadership research from secular thinkers. For their findings are also a gift of God’s grace, and are to be leveraged by Christians.

The Opportunity

Imagine what could happen if churches, non-profits, businesses, and individual Christians everywhere were making plans and getting things done in ways that consistently honor God and commend the gospel.

That’s what What’s Best Next aims to help bring about. We will seek to do this through a range of resources, online webinars, productivity coaching, and workshops.

You can learn more on WhatsBestNext.com, but if you’re interested in receiving updates, productivity tips, and free resources as we go along, the best thing to do is sign up for the What’s Best Next Newsletter.

Support The Gospel Fund, A New Platform for Global Missions Ventures

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The Gospel Fund is a brand-new platform that enables Christian missionaries, church planters, non-profits, churches, and individuals to raise money for global mission ventures.

I am incredibly excited about it. My friend Brannon McAllister is one of the co-founders, and he’s kept me in the loop as they’ve been developing the platform. Brannon also co-founded Noise Trade and was a key part of its growth. He understands the web, and is one of the best I’ve worked with.

Gospel-Centered Innovation, Better than Kickstarter

The Gospel Fund is the type of thing I’ve been wanting to see for a long time. It’s like Kickstarter, but for gospel-centered projects — and without the typical poor implementation and graphic design that we often see in ventures like this that are designed for the Christian world.

The Gospel Fund is on the same par in terms of professionally, functionality, design, and execution as Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and similar major sites that don’t have thegospel-centered focus.

I believe this can and will change the future of missions fundraising, and therefore missions itself. It is that important.

Get to Know the Site!

I highly suggest getting to know the site and using it! Read the about page, browse some of the projects, and if you have a project you are needing to raise funds for, consider doing it on The Gospel Fund.

Consider Giving Financially to Help Finish the Build

Beyond that, the main action right now is to consider giving to help finish the building of the site. The front end is done and the site is working. But there is back-end work that needs to be finished so that they can launch well. They are raising $70,000 so they can finish the work.

It is well, well worth giving to. I highly suggest checking it out, and if you can, giving a donation. I don’t say that lightly. This is a fantastic project that is worthy of whatever you can do to help it come to completion and launch well.

The Guys in the Field

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Awhile back I referenced this quote from Colin Powell regarding his bias towards the “guys in the field.”  I’ve been asked what biblical principle was behind my thinking.

The biblical principle I was referring to is that those in a stronger position are to use their greater strength (position, power, authority, or even money, though that’s not in view in this post) on behalf of those in a weaker position.

That’s what we see in the example of Christ. Christ has all strength, power, and authority, and uses it to serve those who have less. Hence, he came to save us, and then also gave us that principle to govern all of our leadership (Matthew 20:25-28; John 13:12-20). We also see this throughout the OT–the “righteous” and “just” are viewed not just as those who avoid doing deliberate harm to people, but those who use their resources, power, and authority to stand up for those in lesser positions–especially the weak and mistreated. Paul also bases his argument in 2 Corinthians 8 on these things.

So, how do these principles apply to the specific case of the post? In a ministry or any organization, those in top leadership have certain advantages–more authority, more power, and so forth. Those beneath them have less advantages–they don’t have the same authority to carry out their thinking, for example, and aren’t in on all the leadership meetings, and so have less opportunity to be heard, just by the nature of things.

Hence, Christian leaders ought to seek to compensate for this by giving preference to those who are in lesser positions of formal authority. This will often result in the best insights (though, of course, not always).

Note that I’m not saying here we should be partial. You asses people’s ideas and actions truthfully–based on the merits. What I’m saying is that we should go out of our way to give a greater opportunity for those in lesser positions of authority to be heard. And, along with that, usually those who are closer to the action (in Powell’s quote, those in the field) have more accurate information and so are likely to have informed, good ideas.

H3 Leadership Q&A with Brad Lomenick

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Brad Lomenick’s latest book H3 Leadership: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle just released at the end of last month.

I highly recommend anything Brad writes. His experience leading Catalyst and working with some of the greatest thought leaders of the day give him a unique angle and depth of insight.

In this book Brad identifies what he describes as the 20 key habits that great leader shave in common, all built within the foundational elements of H3- Humble, Hungry, and Hustle.

Here are a few Q&A’s on the book.

Can you give us a quick overview of the book?

H3 Leadership is an application driven, practical leadership playbook that provides a proven process and much needed guidance on how to not only run, but finish well in the leadership race. Readers of this highly practical book will find it chock-full of easy-to-incorporate tips for catalytic leadership and ready to install strategies for living out the transformational habits of a leader.

Breaking down the “what” and “how daily leadership habits and routines that will awaken and transform the way you lead, H3 Leadership is a strategic guide and roadmap that uncovers and clearly defines the 20 key habits that will build your core leadership framework and establish a clear path to long-term sustainable influence. These 20 key Habits are not grand gestures of power, but simple practices that can easily be implemented into everyday life. 20 Key habits all great leaders have in common and essential to all effective leaders.

Based on over a decade of work with Catalyst and the gathered insights of some of America’s most respected leaders from wide ranging fields, H3 Leadership offers 20 key leadership habits that will teach and train you to be a better, stronger and ultimately a more effective leader. A “how to put your leadership into practice” book focused on the habits a leader must form to lead now, and lead well.

True leadership can be complex. I’m trying to keep it simple with the three transformational habits of leadership: be humble, stay hungry, always hustle. These powerful words describe the leader who is willing to work hard, get it done, and make sure it’s not about him or her; the leader who knows that influence is about developing the right habits for success.

Nearly half the actions leaders take every day aren’t choices—they’re habits. That’s why great leaders are intentional about what habits they develop and why. My goal is to show the path to long-term sustainable influence through these three key leadership building blocks.

Leadership is hard work, so leadership must be habitual work.

How is this book different than your first book, The Catalyst Leader?

My first book, The Catalyst Leader, was a big picture, destination book providing essentials for leadership for the next 30 years. A foundation book you might say. If you think of it in terms of an organization, The Catalyst Leader was the corporate and staff handbook.

H3 Leadership is more of a playbook of discipline that will help get you to the finish line. A practical application, daily practice, process, routine and “on the journey” book that can and should immediately transform the way you lead. What leadership looks like on a day-to-day basis. The organization playbook, daily map and gameplan focused on daily practice and discipline that will make your leadership come alive.

The Catalyst Leader provided the key essentials and H3 Leadership provides the key habits. Essentials are what you become, and habits are how you become the leader you desire to be.

H3 describes the “ready” leadership position. I played basketball growing up, and I remember many coaches talking about the ready position in basketball. The posture from which you can dribble, pass, or shoot. I believe that H3 Leadership describes the ready leadership position — the triple threat posture of a properly prepared leader:

  • Humble is internal leadership. Hearts.
  • Hungry is external leadership. Head.
  • Hustle is expression and extension leadership. Hands.

The phrase “humble, hungry, hustle” is my life and leadership mantra. If he had to describe his leadership style in 3 words, these would be it. So much of what I have worked for and want to see in the next generation is a combination of these three transformational habits. Humble, hungry and hustle describes the leader who realizes it’s not about them, is willing to work hard, and ultimately get it done. H3 Leaders know that influence is about developing the right habits for success.

H3 is practical. In the trenches, a bit chaotic, organic and dirty handed leadership. The dirt under your fingernails kind of leadership learned from digging the ditch, focused on the discipline, process, practice and journey of becoming a better leader. The everyday habits, not necessarily the sexy sizzle. The broccoli and vegetables, not necessarily the steak. Not always pretty but hopefully constantly practical. I’ve tried to be practical at every level. Combining experience and wisdom and practical from the trenches. From my story and the story of others. Put your hardhat on and let’s get to work!

You’re very open and honest about how you’ve led, especially Catalyst? Why did you decide to include so much about, frankly, what you feel like you did wrong?

It was important to me to shoot really straight in this book. The very nature of this book required a bit more transparency. But I would also say that I believe the leaders who will have the most influence and impact are the ones who are willing to be vulnerable and talk openly about their struggles and failures.

And that’s a hard thing for a lot of leaders to do. Many times, when we get to a point where other people are listening to us, and we’ve got something to manage––something to lose––we sort of go into the default mode of “Okay, make sure everything looks perfect.”

Today, people crave authenticity. This need has even influenced the way we shop and purchase our products from organizations. Today, customers buy from those we feel are trustworthy. Equally, we want to invest in people and companies that we can trust, not necessarily because they’re well known or largest or leaders in their industry.

Really, the first couple of chapters of the book are about defining and setting this foundation of “Man, you’ve got to be willing to be real with people around you if you want them to follow you.”

So often, leadership, especially self-help leadership and personal growth literature, can feel very pie in the sky––very esoteric. You’re philosophizing constantly.

Readers need a practical example that they can wrap their arms around––actually feel and see and experience the very specific thing that somebody has gone through. It’s one thing to tell others to be willing to share struggles and to talk about failures. It’s another thing to say, “Here’s what I’ve failed at.”

But the leaders I respect the most are the ones who continue to run the race well until the gun goes off, whether that’s because their life is over or they retire. That’s the posture of hungry: the idea that you constantly are learning and getting better. That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I think that’s the kind of leaders we need today.

I think it’s important for people to realize this is an ongoing journey.