Had the opportunity to have lunch with Brad Lomenick today. If you haven’t heard of Brad, you have heard of his organization and their event. Brad is the puppet master behind the Catalyst Conference…the cutting edge leadership conference held in Atlanta each year. I had a great time and got to ask a lot of questions and got posed some tough, but needed questions. What I really enjoyed about the time with Brad was the fact that he was focused on our conversation. This is a guy that gets to hang out with the best leaders in the country. Take a look at this year’s speakers for the conference for proof. He didn’t rush our time and take phone calls and things like that.
It showed a lot about his character and his belief in reaching young leaders. I was challenged but at the same time encouraged.
Thanks Brad for the time and I look forward to hopefully more in the future.
Branding is such a buzz word right now. Maybe it has been for a while and I’m just catching up. Either way, I’ve been paying more attention to it lately and realizing that branding is more than a logo or slogan. Branding is what people think of when they think of you, your product, your company, your church (yeah, your church is branded too), you ministry, even your family.
What are the things that make up your brand? Let me give a few observations I’ve seen:
Do you return emails or voice mails? How soon? I met someone last year that is doing some pretty cool stuff. I asked if I could take him to lunch or email some questions to get his thoughts. 4 emails, 2 phone calls and 3 more in person conversations and have received no attempt from him. That’s Branding.
Do you show up for meetings on time? I just left a meeting with someone trying to sell me something and he was 5 minutes late. No thanks.
Do you hand out professional materials? I was in a meeting a few weeks ago and met sales person that had his cards printed from a “free” company. Of course I knew this because the company that printed them had their info and logo on the back of the card. I wonder if he thought no one would look there?
The issue here is that as Christians, we represent the biggest and most important brand ever…the name of Christ. All the things from emails to websites reflect back on Him. Are you selling that name short? That puts a new spin when Paul said to watch your doctrine and your life carefully. What you believe and how you live matter.
First day of Ministry @ the Max was just that…sooooooo much information. There was a lot of good information. A lot to digest. A lot to dig through. It was pretty much the opposite of the Q conference last month which centered around big ideas, future thinking, innovation, creativity, etc. This was more of the nuts and bolts of how to make all that happen. (In other words, all the stuff I’m not good at). Let me give a brief overview:
-85% of start-up businesses (and ministiries) fail within the first five years because of inadequate planning, structure, and systems.
How do we not become a statistic?
Ministry Venture’s 5 Best Practices are a step.
1. Prayer
God is a God of order.
“Putting things in order is Wise and faithful stewardship”
That is a very convicting statement for us dreamers, visionaries, idea guys, and big thinkers. Have to work on that.
3 Biblical Principles:
1. Build on a solid foundation of prayerful planning.
I think I have a slightly better understanding of what happens when a non-Christian looks at a believer when they are clearly no living out what they say is a foundational belief for them. Be it love, patience, faithfulness, honesty, you name it. Any of the foundational truths that a Christian should not only profess, but live.
So, I go tonight to pick up some dinner for my wife and I. I need something quick, so I think where can I get something that is Hot’n Ready? Where can I walk in and walk out with dinner in just a few minutes? According to Little Caesar’s, you can get a pizza that is hot and ready for you. Well, after sitting for 15 minutes to get my pizza, I also watched the other 7 people waiting for their pizzas. I was thinking…this is why we come here over the other guys! This is what you’re supposed to be doing! This is what you’re known for…allegedly.
I wonder how me people have had the expectation of me and they sat there amazed because I didn’t live up to my key brand.
Clarify the Win means to figure out what is most important for your organization. This is what you are shooting for. At the end of the day (week, month, year, campaign) this is what you look at to determine if what you did mattered. It also helps you determine where you spend your time and your money. If something is not going to help you get to your win, then its an easy decision to make.
Just as important as clarifying the win, is celebrating the win. More to come on this…
How do we Clarify the Win?
For World Causes, a win happens when we: (1) Raise true awareness to the issues of Poverty, Injustice, or Epidemic Diseases. (2) Have creative and simple ways for people to respond to those needs. (3) Help people commit to being a part of the long term solution.
Those are some of the larger Wins for World Causes. We have specific wins like, “To find the best price for environmentally and socially conscious goods that we buy”, “to get 24 local churches to join the Free Chains Campaign during the first 12 months”
For each person, initiative, or project that we start, Clarifying the Win will be crucial. Before we invest time, money and other resources into something, we have to make sure that we know what we’re shooting for.
Another great lesson I learned today while reviewing this was the ability to use this principle with other relationships, especially the family. Clarifying the Win with my relationship with my wife helps me determine where I spend my time and money. A win for that relationship is when she feels loved. Flowers, a great investment. Cotton Candy, another great investment. Talking without my cell phone off…fantastic investment. Gold watch, poor decision. New tv…nope.
I’m re-reading through a fantastic book by Andy and North Point Ministries. World Causes is not a church, but there are so many great and practical applications in the book for where we are as a ministry and where I am as a leader. (both are young, small and need lots of prayer and support!)
I’m going through each chapter and trying to take out the material that I can implement for World Causes. There are also tons of great applications for individuals, families, etc. I’ll point out those as well.
If you are in ministry/leadership, I would highly recommend this book.
Wow. This commercial blew me away last night. (Sorry if it’s been running a while, I just saw it…trying to cut back on the tube). This was exactly what I’ve been thinking about with this new generation. The question once again is, am I willing to do the hard work “off the court”, so that I can become legendary on the court? And not that being known is the goal. The goal is to use every once of the ability and talent God has entrusted to us. When we do that God is pleased. I’ve been thinking a lot about what that takes for me; i.e.: how I use my time. Jordan took full advantage of his time…and it paid off. Check out the clip and see if there are areas in your life where you think “it will just happen” with out working on it. I know I was convicted:
It has been a pretty overwhelming few weeks for me. I’ve been learning, studying and taking in so much. From my time at Q in NYC, to talks with my wife, to today’s sermon at church. I sometimes feel that I’ll never catch up. There’s just too much to learn. There’s too much to grasp. In my quest to become a better husband, a better friend, a better leader, a better communicator, a better writer, a better musician, and a better wii baseball player, I have a hard time dealing with slow growth.
The problem with our world today is that we usually only see those we respect or admire when they are hitting on all cylinders. We watch Tiger win on Sunday, but we didn’t watch him practice all during the week. We listen to our pastor deliver an incredible sermon, but we don’t watch his hours of study time. We watch a couple with a great marriage, but we don’t see all the little things over many years that enable the greatness. The question I have to ask myself is Am I willing to do what it takes to be great in those areas? So what does it take to be great? Time, talent, skill, work, education, knowledge, wisdom, experience? What do you think?
Greg is a social entrepreneur and founder of the non profit, World Causes. World Causes seeks to engage people in all sectors of society to fight the issues of Poverty, Injustice and Epidemic Diseases, by providing creative ways for involvement. Greg has led all the creative initiatives of World Causes, including the Free Chains campaign to end child sex trafficking. He is married to Betsey, a beautiful first grade teacher. They live in Greenville, SC.
Maybe it has been for a while and I’m just catching up. Either way, I’ve been paying more attention to it lately and realizing that branding is more than a logo or slogan. Branding is what people think of when they think of you, your product, your company, your church (yeah, your church is branded too), you ministry, even your family.
