According to the Public Center for Integrity, recently indicted race car driver Scott Tucker had operated a payday lending business by using loopholes in the law. Tucker sold his business to Indian tribes and operated as their so-called “employee,” hiding behind their sovereign nation status. In fact, the Indian tribes only received 1% of the revenue, while Tucker received billions, ...
Dayton Moore, the General Manager of the World Championship Kansas City Royals, recently shared with a small crowd over dinner some lessons learned from his years of leading the Royals. The one lesson that struck me the most was on forgiveness. Dayton shared that it took several years to turnaround the Royals, but during that time many followers had become ...
Recently, we moved to a different home. In the interim we waited several days for cable to be installed. Meanwhile, there was a TV show that Kathy and I enjoy watching. Due to some research and resourcefulness, within an hour, we had an antennae and a TV set up with 41 free channels! In 2 Kings 4 Elisha was approached ...
When I was in banking one of my largest accounts was a construction-oriented business led by Sean. He squeezed his vendors for all he could get out of them, rarely providing anything in return. Sean’s business was profitable because he drove his people hard and squeezed his suppliers to manage the expense side of the ledger. But few people enjoyed ...
When I was a commercial lender a young man excitedly began sharing with me that “Steinway Piano” was for sale and he wanted us to loan him the money to buy this well-known company. When I asked how much he needed to borrow I was stunned when he said, “I think they’ll probably want $200 million and I’ll need to ...
When I was young and climbing the corporate ladder, my mindset was focused on moving higher and higher so that more people served me. Then one day I had an experience that rocked my worldview! The bank president I was working for asked all of the employees to pull their cars around back because he was going to wash their ...
Jim had an exciting new business idea, but, his start-up required a significant sum of money. An acquaintance of Jim’s offered to invest the needed cash and become Jim’s equal partner. Although Jim’s wife cautioned her husband against being “unequally yoked” with this man, Jim charged ahead anyway. A year later Jim’s partner forced him out of the business due ...
This week I want to explore five views on business that run counter to the Bible’s worldview. Each view, however, builds on the first business paradox. In the 1980s Milton Friedman, a famous economist, proclaimed that “the only purpose for business is profit.” Many leaders embraced Friedman’s view, striving for enhanced profits at all costs. In 1987, this worldview was ...
This week we’re discussing “three things the Lord requires of leaders” according to the prophet Micah: doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly. In Corporate America, walking humbly can be counter-cultural. While visiting the offices of one of our event sponsors I noticed a room being prepared and filled with tables and chairs. I was informed that each year the ...
This week we’re discussing three things the Lord requires of leaders according to the prophet Micah: doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly. Kindness and Corporate America are rare bedfellows. According to Businesswire.com, Wescom Credit Union, headquartered in Pasadena, California, proclaimed 2015 as the year of Random Acts of Kindness. Throughout the year, Wescom had street teams giving free gift ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
