Faith Driven Entrepreneur

As Christians, we are all called to make disciples based on the Great Commission. How does that apply at work? In the workplace, how do we live out our faith honorably without perhaps overstepping the professional line?

In this episode, Henry, Rusty, and William tackle the question should we even evangelize at work in the first place? When it comes to expressing our faith at the workplace, it’s important to discern and hear God’s voice. Our vertical relationship with God affects the horizontal one with our fellow teammates. Henry also reminds us that we would do well to be mindful of whether we are being willful or faithful.

There are several ways that evangelism at work could take place. In an organization, the first thing it can do to evangelize is to express its values and principles explicitly. A company should be clear on “why do we what we do?” Even by simply stating them, a leader in an organization can communicate at the outset what the company is about.

Sometimes, a company’s evangelistic fervor could be interpreted the wrong way though. For example, Henry tells the story that at the beginning of Bandwidth the leaders would hold Bible Studies. Some of their team members interpreted that attending these studies would be viewed highly by leadership. It sort of created an “us versus them” culture, and that’s not what Bandwidth wanted.

Another way to express our faith at work is to simply offer to pray for non-believing coworkers. Like the marketplace, people have pain points, too. As believers, we can address those pain points in a gentle way. The marketplace expects workers to leave their lives and issues at home; we are almost expected to be Super-human. We know that this is not the case. As believers, we can meet our coworkers where they are at and follow God’s leading in ministering to them.

There are other ways to evangelize at the workplace. Rusty gives us the example in this episode of his wife’s friend who works at Dropbox. At Dropbox, employees are encouraged to bring an instrument, form bands, and play music. One of these bands would play worship music as part of the rotation right here in the Silicon Valley!

Within the greater context of evangelism at work, William posed a great question in that “are there any lines?” That is, how far can a leader go? Is it ok to pass out Bibles at a Corporate retreat?

Henry impressed us that it goes back to gentleness and respect. God gives us all an opportunity to speak and prophecy (speak forth). We should pray for discernment in the particular situation. Importantly, we need to listen to God’s voice (and presumably not our own).

When we do speak boldly for God at work, does that really work? That is, do people really react to examples? Or is it an excuse for someone who does not have to be bold in one’s faith?

Rusty observed that from his own experience that it does work. In his own public talks, he will express his faith. The audience then become curious.

Henry added that there is another important reason to express our faith. Here, in Silicon Valley, some are apprehensive to show our faith. We don’t want to come across as exclusive. However, as leaders if we don’t talk about the most important thing in our lives, then some part of our leadership will have a hole. As a result, we won’t be authentic to our identity.

In a competitive marketplace, a company’s benefits package is an announcement of its values and mission. We don’t really have look any further than the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do to you. In scripture we are told “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 12:31) Jesus here compared loving one’s neighbor as loving the “self.” Clearly, God knows that we love ourselves. The charge here is to love others with that same love.

Generally speaking, the best benefit that a company can provide to any employee is rewarding them with meaningful work. (Eph. 4:28) When work is missional the employee and employer both benefit synergistically.

In order to compete, an employer can love on its employee by providing “at-market” benefits or even “above-market” benefits. Benefits such as medical coverage, dental, vision, 401K, bonuses, stock options, and other incentives are fairly standard.

Providing an employee with at market or above market benefits serves several purposes: 1) it is an opportunity to show how much a company cares for its employees; 2) it can validate the company’s core values (or not); 3) it can promote employee retention; and 4) it can create happiness at the workplace.

As Richard Branson famously reminds us “Train your employees so well that they can leave; but treat them so well that they won’t want to.”

An employer would do well do be mindful of the demographics of its employee base. A younger population may find above market pay and regular bonuses superior to say extra Pringles on the shelves. By contract, an employee base comprised of parents would surely appreciate full family medical coverage, and a flexible work schedule or “work anywhere” model.

Other non-traditional benefits such as “Mindfulness” training to line managers, an Adoption Honorarium, Identity Theft protection for the employee and his/her entire immediate family, and Student Loan assistance are opportunities to attract, and co-opt employees.

In this episode we look at a few more novel benefits as well. For instance, a vacation embargo against contacting vacationing employees so that time off can be appropriately focused on family. Similarly, the employee would not earn brownie points for “checking in” while on the sandy beaches of Wailea, Maui.

Occasionally, a company - with great intentions - may provide benefits that actually undermine family time. Rusty examines an early story from the annals of IBM where Tom Watson famously implemented cafeterias....but just for lunch. Benefits such as providing breakfast and dinner on campus may send the wrong signal to the employee base. It may convey a message “we want you to work early and stay late.”

In sum, the suite of benefits that a company provides to its employees should align with the company’s values. How the leaders of a company practice the promoted benefits will speak much louder than what is written in the employee handbook. When a company is authentic about how a particular benefit is practiced in real life, it provides the employee with a sense of peace in exercising that benefit. Such an environment will likely have the unintended consequence of breeding happier employees, employees who want to work, and employees who are proud to flash their company badge.

Today's Podcast tackles the question of how to think about competition. We know that we want to run the race as if to win it. (1 Corinthians 9:24). But how do we win? What is our heart posture? Do we win at all costs? What are our motives as we compete in the race.

We talk about Competition in industries like telecom, where competitors can also be customers. Rusty talks about his time at PepsiCo and how Roger Enrico thought of the new entry of Eagle Snacks from Anheuser Busch. We talk a bit about patent trolling too. We even talk a little bit about what it looks to compete for a job internally.

We get at the concept of Abundance versus Scarcity. I think it might be helpful to think about the fact that there are 3 levels of motives and that the ordering is important:

1. Focus on serving our customers.

2. Get the very best out of ourselves. Bring all that we have to work as our meaningful form of worship.

3. Understand what the competition is doing. We don't operate in a vacuum and we need to be wise as a serpent and yet innocent as a dove (Mt 10:16). Let's never operate out of fear, but out of a feeling of opportunity, knowing that as we bring #s 1 and #2 above, we're very likely to succeed.

Lastly, I think it's important to check on our motives. Are we competing to bring God glory or to shut someone else down and make them our door mat?

As with all of our podcasts, this is not meant to be the final word. We'd like to get your take. What did we miss? Are we thinking about it wrong?

Entertainment is something that most entrepreneurs will be a part of, whether that is recruiting team members, hosting corporate events, trying to raise money or creating unique opportunities for your team to bond.

In this episode, we talk about how we think about entertaining while maintaining a sincere heart towards holiness. While there are some black and white rules from scripture that we need to follow,

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit"

• Ephesians 5:18

we are more likely to encounter gray areas where we need wisdom from others. Paul lays out such an example in I Corinthians 8:1-13. In this passage he mentions that while food sacrificed to idols is of no significance to God, it can be a stumbling block for others, so you should avoid in certain situations.

"But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." - 1 Corinthians 8:9

This can be a slippery slope that is best worked out in close community.

Rusty will share some stories that are sure to make most people jealous, including stories about hanging out with Ed Sheeran and Lecrae.

Rusty imparts insights regarding the “Shadow of a Leader” and how many at your organization are watching you as you set the example on these topics.

"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." - Luke 12:48

You never know who is watching you, or how your actions may impact their decisions.

We hope you listen and please send us questions, comments and suggestions for how to make the podcast better serve you!

Thank you for listening!!!

In this episode of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Podcast, Henry, William and Rusty tackle the issue of language. At one level, they aren't going to tell you anything that will surprise you....cursing is a bad thing and it's not helpful in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter. The book of James hits this issue squarely, and so do dozens of other references. Yet there's some nuance here that we think is worth exploring as the effective use of language and even emotion are so incredibly important for us as leaders in the workplace.

We look at this issue from a variety of angles in this short edition: How does one navigate the dynamic between relatability and holiness? Is the "Queen's English" sufficient to get our point across? How does one deal with bad language from others in the office? How does language and it's use help us to understand our level of anxiety, our ultimate identity and our ability to witness. Let us know if you think we're missing something in this brief look at how to communicate effectively, and please, as always, forward this to others if you think it might be helpful.....especially those you know overseas as it's our hope that this won't just be a North American initiative. That'll allow us to get more feedback on how to improve the podcast, and more ideas from a broader audience. Thank you for your partnership!

Fundraising. It’s something that we as entrepreneurs all have to tackle at some point. In this week’s FDE podcast episode, we examine the different issues that are associated with fundraising. You'll hear Henry note at the outset that this particular episode is a bit more weighted for the social entrepreneur or ministry entrepreneur....but I hope you'll agree that the mindset on fundraising is very relevant for entrepreneurs of all types.

For any fundraiser, I believe the heart motive is the most important. This really ties into one’s purpose and why he is fundraising in the first place. This necessarily forces the fundraiser to know his "why" (see May 3, 2018 blog). We don't want to confuse activity with clarity. Once the fundraiser is clear on his/her goal, which is aligned with God's purpose (if faith based), then there should be no room for manipulation.

While some may view fundraising as somewhat transactional, I submit that it should be relational. This means that the fundraiser has an awesome opportunity to love on the potential donor. You see, it’s all about relationships. In this, May 8, 2018 podcast episode, our guest J. Paul Fridenmaker touchea on this very important point. Donors and venture capitalists can all detect if you're being genuine or if there's a sales pitch coming on. Using a legal analogy, J. Paul impressed us that often times he is doing "discovery" on the donor and his/her current situation. At times, the fundraiser may have to retreat, see the bigger picture, and do what is right for the donor! Wow! There is no shortcut in caring for somebody.

In addition, the fundraiser may do well to check his heart. Is he breeding hostility or providing hospitality? Frequently, we may try to impress or influence others with our own cause. In doing so, there's a tendency to become resentful if our advances go unrequited. In truth, we may become - well - a little hostile. However, if we check our heart posture, and really understand the person first and extend grace we may find that God then has room to work in that situation.

For the faith driven donor, be encouraged that your financial support means that you are standing side-by-side and on the front line for that particular cause. I recall that in Philippians 4:14-18 that Paul reminded the Philippian churches that their financial support directly impacted his ministry throughout.

Fundraising for any entrepreneur will continue to present unique challenges and unique opportunities. We will revisit this topic in future podcast episodes. Meanwhile, we would love to hear from you, our community, if there is something you would like us to talk about.

In this week's podcast, we tackle the issue of how to let people go....and how to do it in a way that honors them and honors God.

Rusty introduces the framework of how to let someone go in a way that speaks the truth in love, makes sure that they aren't surprised, gives an opportunity to cure and generally follows the golden rule. There's a bunch of nuance to that, of course, and so we talk through that a bit and delve in to what it looks like to love, not just the employee who may need to be let go, but also the other employees that that one individual might be holding back with their performance.

Lastly, as many of our podcasts will do, we take a quick tangent and talk about how to clearly communicate expectations with our employees. William then realizes that we're on to something and sees another edition of the podcast in the making on a topic we'll explore further in the future.

In this episode we’ll talk about projections. At first listen, this seems to be a little more relevant for companies that are after venture financing as we talk about the three year projections and the modeling that entrepreneurs show to venture capitalists etc., but I hope that you’ll find a lot more here than advice in working with a Venture Capitalist.

We talk about plain old business planning, and the modeling we talk about doesn’t need to have a thing to do with raising money. It talks about the common mistakes made by business owners in planning for growth and how to avoid them.

It then goes a bit deeper and we have a brief conversation about one of the struggles many business owners experience….at least one we have: the propensity to exaggerate. We talk about how to think about growing a business, and our faith and our reliance on God to provide, not just the work of our hands. We hope you’ll enjoy it. Please let us know if you do. Please let us know if you don’t. And as always, please let us know the questions that you’d like to see us answer on the podcast.

In this episode we’ll talk about projections. At first listen, this seems to be a little more relevant for companies that are after venture financing as we talk about the three year projections and the modeling that entrepreneurs show to venture capitalists etc., but I hope that you’ll find a lot more here than advice in working with a Venture Capitalist.

We talk about plain old business planning, and the modeling we talk about doesn’t need to have a thing to do with raising money. It talks about the common mistakes made by business owners in planning for growth and how to avoid them.

It then goes a bit deeper and we have a brief conversation about one of the struggles many business owners experience….at least one we have: the propensity to exaggerate. We talk about how to think about growing a business, and our faith and our reliance on God to provide, not just the work of our hands. We hope you’ll enjoy it. Please let us know if you do. Please let us know if you don’t. And as always, please let us know the questions that you’d like to see us answer on the podcast.

In this episode, we will discuss the importance of culture in your organization.

1:00 - How do I think about culture?
2:00 - There is a spectrum
4:15 - What is God telling you?
5:00 - We are representatives of God
7:05 - Make it your own story
7:45 - Capital aligned with values
11:15 - Why we do what we do?
15:00 - Brian shares the reason behind his company
17:15 - Rusty’s personal story
19:20 - Trust God