Just like most of you, I get a ton of email each day – between my home and work accounts, its data overload (throw Twitter and Facebook in there and my head starts spinning at times – but its fun!). One email that I always read/scan at work is called SmartBrief on Leadership. It’s a collection of articles on leadership, innovation, etc.; there’s always one or two articles that are pretty good reads. I also never miss the daily quote at the bottom.
I always find it interesting to read the articles with two hats on: corporate director and Christ Follower – even though they are one and the same…hopefully, you know what I mean. I guess I look at life and all my experiences through bifocal lenses…you know, you’ve seen people with them on – constantly lifting their head up and down to see things through the two sections of their glasses. I do that with most everything – my wife can confirm that I can find the comedy, absurdity, profoundness, etc. in most stuff (I talk to the TV a lot).
Anyway, today there was an interview with Brazilian banker Roberto Setubal, who transformed his company in a number of ways: culture, organizational structure, decision-making processes, and leadership style. It was an interesting Q&A but one jumped out at me:
The Quarterly: What’s your advice to other CEOs contemplating a business transformation?
Roberto Setubal: You have to be patient, persistent, and brave at the same time. Your actions as CEO will be absolutely crucial, so first of all you have to be very committed to what you are going to do. If you really are, people will follow you. If you think you don’t have to walk the talk, it won’t work at all. The second condition is that you have to be prepared to make some tough people decisions, sometimes about colleagues who are very close to you. This was not an easy thing for me to do. But everybody has to understand that the company comes first; we are here to do what is best for the company.
After I read it, I re-read it with my “other bifocal” (the Christ Follower one):
What’s your advice to other Christ Followers seeking (through the power of the Holy Spirit) to transform the lives of the people they come in contact with?
You have to be patient, persistent, and brave at the same time. Your actions as a Christ Follower will be absolutely crucial, so first of all you have to be very committed to Christ. If you really are, people will follow Him. If you think you don’t have to walk the talk, it won’t work at all. The second condition is that you have to be prepared to make some tough people decisions, sometimes about colleagues who are very close to you. This is not always an easy thing for us to do. But everybody has to understand that Christ comes first; we are here to do what is best for Him and His Kingdom.
Some thoughts:
- We gotta talk the walk AND walk the talk – in all aspects of life, but most especially our Christian walk! Got to maintain our cred!
- The “second condition” (other bifocal) does not equate to abandoning our friends who don’t follow Christ – if we did that, we wouldn’t be imitating Christ. It does mean that we must carefully guard our choices and not compromise our testimony for Christ. The apostle Paul was great at this – “all things to all men”…but he never compromised his testimony for Christ. Dude had street cred!
- Always wear your spiritual bifocals!
WORD!
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