Punching Through Your Growth Ceiling

by Chris Cloud

Continuing on the theme of ‘maximizing BAM success factors’ we have invited guest authors to highlight what they consider key factors contributing to success and growth for BAM practitioners. Business consultant Chris Cloud shares this mini-series on how to break through your growth ceiling.

 

In the first post we discussed what a growth ceiling is, and how to identify whether or not you are at one. In these second post we’ll cover proven strategies for growing past your ceiling.

The following advice has been gleaned from years of studying how people break past their growth ceiling, from personal experience, and from helping dozens of executive teams identify and break through their ceilings.

Working ON the business, not just IN it

Warren Buffet says his managers should spend 80% of their time working on becoming better leaders and thinking about how they will grow their business. How much time do you spend focused on growing in these areas? Most missional small business owners spend next to zero amount of time working ON the business or on their leadership, because they are too overwhelmed working IN the business. We have to find a way to rise above, if we are ever going to break past our growth ceilings.

We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. – Archilochus

Reminder: There’s hidden grace available if we’re willing to step out.

Isolate the Problem

Once you have committed time to work ON the business, the first step is to isolate the specific area where you are plateauing.  Read more

Have You Reached a Growth Ceiling?

by Chris Cloud

Continuing on the theme of ‘maximizing BAM success factors’ we have invited guest authors to highlight what they consider key factors contributing to success and growth for BAM practitioners. Business consultant Chris Cloud shares this mini-series on how to break through your growth ceiling.

 

A former client of mine, a venture capitalist, said he noticed an interesting trend. Each company his firm invested in, their leader would have a personal ceiling where he/she couldn’t grow the company past a certain point. For some it was $3 million in annual revenue, for others it was $300 million, but every single leader had a growth ceiling. That company never grew past a certain level until they brought in an entirely new management team.

From what I’ve observed, each growth phase of a company requires a different way of thinking, so most people can’t adopt new ways of thinking easily as the business or organization grows. All kinds of added responsibilities, dealing with high level investors, more employees, different market strategies, it all requires a different skill set.  Read more

Wealth Creation Manifesto

CWC Manifesto Cover 200Background

The Lausanne Movement and BAM Global organized a Global Consultation on The Role of Wealth Creation for Holistic Transformation, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in March 2017. About 30 people from 20 nations participated, primarily from the business world, and also from church, missions and academia. The findings will be published in several papers and a book, as well as an educational video. This Manifesto conveys the essentials of our deliberations before and during the Consultation.

Affirmations

1. Wealth creation is rooted in God the Creator, who created a world that flourishes with abundance and diversity.

2. We are created in God’s image, to co-create with Him and for Him, to create products and services for the common good.

3. Wealth creation is a holy calling, and a God-given gift, which is commended in the Bible.

4. Wealth creators should be affirmed by the Church, and equipped and deployed to serve in the marketplace among all peoples and nations. Read more

Calling the Church to Affirm Wealth Creators

by David Bennett

‘What is the role of wealth creation in holistic transformation?’ Have you ever heard a sermon or participated in a small group Bible study that answered this question? If your answer is ‘No’, you are not alone.

Although I have been preaching and teaching the Bible for over four decades, I had never addressed that question explicitly. I had taught about the dangers of obsession with wealth, and the importance of good stewardship of wealth. I had discussed the importance of ethical creation of wealth, and the compassionate sharing of wealth. I had advised foundations and wealthy individuals concerning the wise distribution of their wealth. But I had never taught about the God-given role of wealth creators. I had not highlighted the potential impact of a growing business, not only in lifting individuals out of poverty, but in benefiting entire communities, caring for creation, and introducing people to the good news of reconciliation and shalom through Jesus Christ.

Mats Tunehag, our first Lausanne Catalyst for Business as Mission (BAM), expresses it like this, in a chapter for a book soon to published by the Korean BAM movement:

The Bible talks about wealth in three ways; one is bad and two are good. Hoarding of wealth is condemned. Sharing of wealth is encouraged. But there is no wealth to be shared unless it has been created . . . All too often in the church the issue of wealth creation is misunderstood, neglected, or even rejected. The same thing applies to wealth creators.

Read more

Identifying and Maximizing BAM Success Factors Part 2

By Paul Harrington

In this new series on ‘BAM Success Factors’ we invite guest authors to share what they consider the key factors contributing to success and growth for BAM practitioners. To open up the series, Paul Harrington gives us an overview of the most important BAM success factors he has identified through research. Read Part 1 here.

BAM Success Factors Part 2: Interpersonal and Relational Considerations

In the first part of the two-part series on the factors that determine success for BAM practitioners, we looked at the professional and technical characteristics that research shows help determine the likelihood that a BAM practitioner will meet the goals which were established for the enterprise. Many of the factors that indicate future professional success for BAM practitioners are similar to those for small business owners and include:

  • Training and/or experience in operating small or medium-sized businesses,
  • Technical and professional capabilities
  • Cross-cultural norms and skills in the context where the BAM enterprise will operate,
  • Spiritual skills both in and outside of the cultural context of the BAM enterprise, and,
  • Mentoring, support resources and capital.

There are a separate set of interpersonal/relational factors which also affect the likelihood of success for BAM practitioners. Most of these factors are shared with expatriate workers as well as missionaries and other non-profit or religious workers. Multinational companies generally spend much more on sending and supporting their workers than religious or non-profit organizations, although many of the same risk and success factors have been identified with both groups of organizations.  Read more

Identifying and Maximizing BAM Success Factors Part 1

By Paul Harrington

In this new series on ‘BAM Success Factors’ we invite guest authors to share what they consider the key factors contributing to success and growth for BAM practitioners. To open up the series, Paul Harrington gives us an overview of the most important BAM success factors he has identified through research. 

BAM Success Factors Part 1: Professional and Technical Considerations

Starting a new career in a part of the world that is not your cultural home is a big undertaking for anyone. For those who wish to use their businesses as a means through which God can reach the world, the challenge can be even greater. Everyone involved in the Business as Mission movement wants to make sure that every practitioner that takes the bold step of setting up a business with Kingdom values in a new context succeeds. Thankfully, many of the keys to success for BAM practitioners are known and have been validated by scholarly research.

BAM practitioners aren’t the only group of people who live and work outside of their home countries. Many companies and governments, including the military, as well as mission agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) send their employees to work around the world. While government and military techniques do not necessarily provide insight into how BAM practitioners can succeed, research done by and for private employers, NGOs, and mission agencies provides insight into the factors that lead to successful deployment of their personnel and have relevance for BAM practitioners.

Success means different things for different people. Since business as mission is a unique discipline with defined goals that might include the fourfold bottom line – achieving the financial goals of the owners of the company, social impact goals of the community in which the business works, goals to protect and enhance the environment, and spiritual impact goals – success in a business as mission enterprise can be measured.  Read more

Leadership Character Trait #7: Personal Courage

by Dave Kahle

In a previous post, I wrote that qualities of character in the CEO were a more important indicator of business success than the business model. In this following series of posts, I’m going to share those qualities that I believe mark a great business leader.

Leadership Character Trait #7: Personal Courage

In this series, I have argued that the following character traits are important for a business leader:

An unquenchable work ethic

An ability and propensity to learn

A continuous quest for MORE

Unwavering self-control,

Rock-solid integrity, and

A Pervasive sense of humility.

To that list, I am adding the seventh and final: personal courage.

I don’t mean to imply that this is the full portrait of a successful business leader. There are dozens of other attributes that will enhance his or her’s ability to work with others and be successful. But, these seven traits mark the essence of a business leader’s character: Without a significant dose of each, his/her career will be somewhat stunted and fall short of the heights to which it could reach.

Understanding Courage

The Oxford Dictionary defines courage as the ability to do something that frightens one. Wikipedia adds this:

Courage (also called bravery or valour) is the choice and willingness to confront agony pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss.

While few business leaders face threats that call for physical courage, they need moral courage to accomplish anything of substance.

Starting a business enterprise almost always requires the entrepreneur or leader to face personal loss. Typically, it is the income associated with the job they are leaving to start a business, and often they must use their homes as collateral to acquire that first business loan. The prospect of personal loss is very real, lingering just over the horizon.  Read more