tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87370369989067461442011-07-08T09:20:27.139-04:00Strategic Counsel from the Gospel of MatthewDidymushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13327199934482846685noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737036998906746144.post-84204931001381705182010-03-07T06:44:00.004-05:002010-03-07T09:34:52.025-05:00

On January 4 I started this blog. Today I will finish -- at least for now.Most of what I have shared here was first written five or more years ago. I have revised and updated a bit, but only a bit.In late 2004 when I wrote the first draft I was at the beginning of a tough time. In the last few months I have (I hope) emerged on the other side of the tough times.There were several motivations for

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In reviewing the various components of strategic planning and execution, Peter Drucker comments, “But lacking divine guidance, management must make sure that these difficult responsibilities are not overlooked or neglected but taken care of as well as humanly possible.” I am arguing that we have the benefit of divine guidance. For non-believers there is, at least, a persuasive pattern of past

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Each day you should move closer to becoming your true self. You are unlikely to ever be your true self. But persisting in the struggle to become your true self is fundamental to any success, effectiveness, or hope of happiness.Whenever you perceive tension between your “personal ethos” and “professional commitment” there is cause to pause. This is the tension at the heart of every Exodus

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Strategy is mostly about change and change is hard. Peter Drucker writes, “Management has no choice but to anticipate the future, to attempt to mold it, and to balance short-range and long-range goals. It is not given to mortals to do well any of these things.”Later Drucker emphasizes that at the strategic level there “is a need for an organ of the enterprise which concerns itself with the gap –

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Righteousness with justice is the fundamental link at the core of the strategic system put in place by Moses. A few centuries later this strategic vision is reasserted by Amos. A bit later, not so far away, it is reclaimed by Jeremiah. When this linkage is in good shape, the rest of system is very resilient. When one or both of these elements are seriously tarnished or become separated, the rest

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Don’t add to it or take from it, Moses insists. The strategy is self-sustaining if you will believe and behave consistently with the system. The systems approach to strategy that Moses chose – creating a chain of linked activities – is resilient and largely self-healing. It is a web of links. Imagine a chain that has become knotted and tangled. It is usually possible to cut off several

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We are what we do. Even the smallest enterprise – such as a family – engages in many activities. Each member of the family plays a different role and brings to the activities different strengths and weaknesses. How these roles and activities are fit together, and how this fit amplifies individual strengths and compensates for individual weaknesses, largely determines the effectiveness of the

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To achieve comparative advantage you must choose. Are you slave or free? Which is more important, security or opportunity? Are you seeking a near-term exit or a long-term home? Who are you? Who are you not?Moses was a very capable leader. He was skilled at creating a meaningful and motivating context through the stories he told and the purposes he advocated. Moses had profound insight regarding

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Moses lived during a period of profound and far-reaching change. The entire Eastern Mediterranean was in turmoil. The power of Egypt was in sharp decline. The Hittite Empire, long a source of stability in what is now Turkey, Syria,and Iraq, collapsed. New empires and numerous smaller kingdoms emerged. The Exodus is close in time to the Trojan War. Homer’s heroes may have been one of many

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We have been trying to make sense of how Moses became an effective prophet of differentiation.We have seen how Moses developed a strong sense of his true self. This self-understanding gave him the courage, patience, wisdom, and love to enhance self-understanding across his community. Moses was never entirely successful. There were always aspects of his true self that were not realized. There

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A significant challenge for Starbucks is its emerging ubiquity. Can the variety of personal choices inside Starbucks overcome a growing perception that Starbucks is itself the new generic? Is the differentiation strategy implemented by Starbucks sustainable when the rule-breaker has become the rule-maker?Starbucks will face new challenges. But their initial differentiation strategy has been

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To lead effectively you must find your true self. To live authentically you must find your true self. To contribute meaningfully of your true self to others you must find a way to differentiate their perception of you. Through differentiation you allow others to perceive the value you have to offer the relationship. In this way your unique value can enrich a whole community.In the life of Moses

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In pursuing differentiation a firm must not only lower buyers’ cost and/or increase buyers’ performance. It must also ensure that the value produced by the firm is linked to value that the buyer recognizes. Without this recognition, the value does not have impact.Porter explains, “Buyers… frequently do not fully understand all the ways in which a supplier actually or potentially might lower their

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Moses has a product he desperately wants his people to choose and cherish. The product has innate value and offers substantial benefits. Despite the quality of the product, the market is reluctant, skeptical, and inclined to choose low quality substitutes.Moses works hard to demonstrate how his product can reduce the buyers’ costs and increase the buyers’ performance. In this process he is

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For the last decade I have focused most of my professional life on Network Based Learning, where web-based technologies are used to facilitate problem-solving. The technologies available for this purpose are enticing. There is an ongoing temptation to enhance the performance of web-based learning products far beyond what the buyer values.Several potential competitors have disappeared as they have

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Tactical and short-term advantage can be achieved by lowering production cost through greater operational effectiveness. In a competitive environment, all firms are encouraged to maximize operational effectiveness. As a result, operational effectiveness is a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving strategic and long-term advantage.It is, however, also possible to lower costs in ways

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Michael Porter’s theory of differentiation requires close attention to what he calls the value chain or value activities.Ultimately, all differences between companies in cost or price derive from the hundreds of activities requires to create, produce, sell, and deliver their products or services, such as calling on customers, assembling final products, and training employees. Cost is generated by

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In the last forty years of his life Moses found his true self. Each choice he made that was consistent with this true self brought greater strength, both to himself and his community. Moses was not free of doubt, he argued with God, he made mistakes, and sometimes he chose badly. But with each good choice he created greater possibilities.In the process Moses became a great leader. He overcame

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Since February 1 we have considered how Moses recognized the spiritual and practical potential of differentiation. We have seen how a leader can use a group's stories, origins, failure, purpose, promise, and transcedent potential to create a readiness for and recognition of differentiation.Next we reviewed six habits of differentiation: creating, empowering, loving, refraining, framing, and

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In the Books of Moses the framework for fulfillment – the means for individuals and organizations to claim their true self – includes six fundamental characteristics: creating, empowering, loving, refraining, framing, and redeeming. These are among the principal characteristics of God. Because we are created in God’s image and likeness they are among our principal characteristics. Our true self –

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But as the Books of Moses so clearly demonstrate, even the most inspired leader with the best frameworks will face lack of understanding, non-cooperation, and even outright rebellion. Individuals lose their way. Organizations choose the wrong path. Persistent pursuit of purpose is not always the quickest way to the Promised Land. Even good choices can result in failure.Yet it is possible to move

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Not interfering with another’s freedom to choose is, however, very different from neglect. The power to choose is strengthened by being aware of the range of options available and any past experience with these options. We generally organize our experience into frameworks. Around the tribal fire and the water cooler and now in digital chat rooms, humans share frameworks as a way of exploring and

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The divine self-description given to Moses begins with an emphasis on love and forgiveness, but ends with a statement that on first reading seems paradoxical or simply contradictory:Yet by no means clearing the guilty, But visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.How does this relate to the forgiving, loving God already

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The book of Exodus reports that shortly after receiving the Ten Commandments Moses asked God to “show me your ways, so that I may know you.” (Exodus 33: 13). In reply God offers the following self-description:The Lord, the Lord,A God merciful and gracious,Slow to angerAnd abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,Forgiving iniquity and

Didymushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13327199934482846685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737036998906746144.post-65085099628652369282010-02-11T03:36:00.000-05:002010-02-11T04:32:53.208-05:00

God is not a micromanager. The guidance God offers in Genesis and Exodus is, in most cases, concise and restrained. God instructs Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, be vegetarians, and to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Otherwise they have authority and, even, dominion.To Moses, God gives Ten Commandments:You shall have no other gods before me.You shall not make for

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The books of Moses begin with God creating. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:2-3)God creates light, firmament, vegetation, stars, moon, sun, time, sea

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You have a true self. Purpose, meaning, and fulfillment are the result of recognizing, defining, and living consistently with this fundamental identity.Communities – including our workplaces – have a true self. We usually refer to this as a culture. Choosing to operate in a manner that is consistent with the community’s origins, purposes, and unique promise is a path to fulfillment.Moses and

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Over the last week I have set out the strategic insight of Moses. Over the next several days we will consider how he applied this insight to leading his people and how we might do likewise.Moses found his true self in the characteristics we all share with God. Moses nurtured the true self of his people by emphasizing six characteristics that all of us have in common.To be ourselves – and help

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Moses was a change leader. He found his people in bondage to a false identity. He led them to discover the freedom and opportunity of an authentic identity. He helped his people understand their origins and purpose; make sense of their failures; and perceive the promise that was theirs to claim.Moses pushed his people to see beyond the security of fulfilling their minimal needs in Egypt to the

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Moses reminded his people of the promise that God had made to Abraham. He persuaded them that this promise, made more than five centuries earlier, brought each of them into a personal relationship with the creator of the universe.After the death of his father, God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of

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The book of Exodus is about the journey to a promised land. It was a much longer journey than anyone – including Moses – had anticipated. The place that had been promised was symbolic of a purpose to be fulfilled. Achieving the purpose was much more difficult than crossing a wilderness.The purpose given to Moses was to reclaim the unique identity of the descendents of Abraham. When God called

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We find ourselves in failure. For forty years Moses led his people through a wilderness. It was the wilderness experience that created a true community.Generations later the descendants of those who had suffered the wilderness were conquered. They had forgotten the unique character forged in those forty years and were banished to Babylon. For another forty years they suffered in exile, were

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“In the beginning…” are the first words of the Books of Moses, what is also called the Torah. How did we get here? What did we do – wrong and right – to be here and not somewhere else? What is our beginning? Moses knows he must answer these questions.The book of Genesis is a collection of several short-stories. Each story is important. But for most of his audience – then and now – Moses focuses

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Moses tells a great story. Adam and Eve, the Serpent, Cain and Abel, the Great Flood, the Tower of Babel... These are still familiar narratives. He presents vivid characters engaged in conflicts that are resolved in a purposeful and meaningful way. The stories are memorable because they are meaningful. They are meaningful because they provide individuals and the

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The job offer was unexpected. The challenge was attractive. Success would be very satisfying. The long-term compensation package was fabulous. He had credible guarantees for the kind of external support the challenge required.But the problems were profound. The enterprise had lost its differentiated value and comparative advantage. Clients had become accustomed to making abusive demands. The

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Moses was an effective leader because he told stories that reminded his people of their origins, that gave meaning to failure, and that reinforced a sense of individual and community purpose. In what he said and did Moses persuaded his people to claim the promise of their purpose and transcend current troubles.Moses and the Burning Bush by Marc Chagall (1956)For the next thirty days or so we will

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With daily posts since January 4 I have attempted to consider the business implications of the Sermon on the Mount. Yesterday's post completes this particular angle on understanding God's intention for us.Monday I will begin looking a bit more at the issue of the self, what has previously been discussed as tsedeq or righteousness. For this purpose I will focus largely on the Books of Moses, the

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Jesus would be a provocative business consultant or partner. He would push you to be clear about your goals and how those goals reflect reality and contribute to long-term relationships.Jesus would coach you to find and develop your true self and help others discover their true selves. He would help you to be humble, listen, and learn from your mistakes. Jesus would teach you to empathize with

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Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-12)Usually when this is read our mind is captured by the indefinite pronoun. What “it” is Jesus discussing? Anything? Everything? Or perhaps it is something more specific that we should discern

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More than thirty years ago Peter Drucker wrote Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. It is about the same thickness as the Bible. There are other parallels. Dr. Drucker wrote:The starting point for any manager-development effort is a performance appraisal focused on what a man does well, what he can do well, and what limitations to his performance capacity he needs to overcome to get

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These are difficult economic times for many. But if so-inclined, even the best-of-times can cause worry.A few years ago my principal business enterprise was dealing with several past-due receivables equal to roughly twenty-percent of annual revenue. Many receivables exceeded over 120 days past due. The coincidence of several clients being delinquent at the same time was difficult.For a number of

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In most of the work-related parables of Jesus there is a focus on long-term and sustainable returns. In the Sermon on the Mount he is even more explicit:Don’t acquire possessions here on earth, where moth or insect eats away and where robbers break in and steal. Instead gather your nest egg in heaven, where neither moth nor insect eats away and where no robbers break in or steal. As you know,

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A lawyer once asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law?” (Matthew 22:36) To which Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”What

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You will be attacked. From both inside your organization and outside the arrows will fly. It will hurt. You will probably be afraid. The fear will reflect a realistic possibility of failure.How should you respond? Jesus taught, “But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”Business is primarily a creative endeavor. You

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Strategic insight is fundamental to crafting a sustained competitive advantage. The implementation of strategy requires several operational abilities – and avoidance of the most common operational errors.In Matthew the Sermon on the Mount’s eight beatitudes are followed by twenty-three instructions on how to fulfill the law of God or how to operationalize the strategic insights. The first relates

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The Greek for persecuted is διώκω or dioko, which means to be pursued, to seek after eagerly, and to seek out to punish. Many of the related Hebrew words have the same mixed implication.The eighth strategic insight from Jesus is: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; or congratulations to those who are aggressively pursued for being their true self.The competitive

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To make shalom is to balance and fulfill both self and community. In a just community each person has the ability to be his or her authentic self and, in doing so, contribute creatively and positively to the lives of others.In a community of the righteous each person will fully value and empathize with their neighbors. In the shared lives of such a community the ultimate purpose of God is

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For Jesus the Pharisees had mixed motives, they were not pure in heart. According to Matthew 21:31 a prostitute, with her clear motives, will enter heaven before a two-faced Pharisee. In modern language we would probably talk about being focused, or having integrity, or being self-aware.The wrong target, clearly understood and consistently pursued, will result in greater progress than the best

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Today mercy is used mostly in a religious or legal context. We throw ourselves on the mercy of God or the mercy of the court. In both cases, the implication is we are being judged and asking for a generous decision.To be merciful is most often understood as forgiving and, perhaps, especially to extend a kind of undeserved forgiveness.This kind of mercy is discussed by Jesus and others in the

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The first three preconditions for strategic insight – humility, learning from experience, listening and cooperating – are focused on self-control. But in the fourth, and again in the final beatitude, there is encouragement for self-expression.Jesus taught: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.Righteousness is a difficult concept. The English word suggests “being right,” but

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Translated from the original Greek in which the gospel was written, we read “Blessed are the meek.” The ancient Greek πραΰς or praus can imply lowly and, perhaps, oppressed.But the word Jesus used was almost certainly the Hebrew term used in Isaiah. This is ‘arnav which is much closer to the English word “gentle.” In the context of Isaiah ‘arnav is also suggestive of those who “cooperate in the

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We mourn our losses. We mourn no longer being with friends and colleagues. We mourn the death of hopes and dreams. We mourn the passing of our youth and the sense of boundless possibilities.But with each business failure we learn – or have the chance to learn – a great deal.There is in the popular culture a tendency to quickly move past disappointments. This is not what Jesus taught. He said, “

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St. John Chrysostom’s fourth century sermon on the beatitudes insists that to be poor in spirit is to be “humble and contrite in mind.” The Saint also suggests, “He blesses them first, who by choice are humble and contract themselves.” Self-righteousness is avoided through purposefully cultivated humility.Humility is not a virtue that immediately leaps to mind when considering most business

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The strategic environment for each enterprise is different. Even in the same market a strategy appropriate for one enterprise will seldom be best for another. Making the right strategic choice for the particular context and capabilities of an enterprise requires an extraordinary level of self-discipline and self-awareness on the part of senior management.Before beginning his ministry Jesus put

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Creating a workplace intentionally characterized by a balance of tsedaq and mishpat resulting in shalom will produce a sustainable competitive advantage.This sort of advantage strengthens the ability of the business enterprise to avoid emerging threats and seize emerging opportunities. If the enterprise can avoid and seize more quickly and adroitly than its competitors, it will thrive.Good

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Jesus was a serious student of the book of Isaiah. Many of his precepts and parables are based on this text.Isaiah teaches that when justice is realized in the community and righteousness characterizes the individual then the effective result is peace. The specific Hebrew word for this peace is שָׁלוֹם or shalom.The peace of shalom is the achievement of balance, of wholeness, of completeness.

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As the young man walks away, Jesus remarks, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”Clearly the values of business and the values of Jesus can be in conflict. Even for the most creativity-loving entrepreneur, wealth is usually an important measure of success. There is, however, a difference between using wealth as one of many measures or as the only

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In Isaiah 33 it is written, “Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”Justice is the foundation of a healthy community. Righteousness is the foundation of a healthy individual.In the book of Isaiah the most common Hebrew equivalents for

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The parable of the vineyard is based on the Song of the Vineyard in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. Jesus draws heavily on the book of Isaiah and its recurrent themes of justice, righteousness, and peace.For Jesus, what is justice? The ancient Hebrew equivalent for justice most often used in Isaiah is mishpat. This is not a philosophical abstract or a promise of a heavenly future. Mishpat is here

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Work was as much part of self-identity in the First Century as in the Twenty-first Century. Throughout the gospels we are introduced to vivid characters primarily in terms of the role they play in the community: householder, tax collector, teacher, herdsman, fisherman, centurion, scribe, and more. We often do not know the character’s name, but we are told their economic and social role.Jesus

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To fully benefit from the insights of Jesus we must approach his teachings with a fresh perspective. Too often Jesus is read with a kind of awe and piety he would disdain.Christianity proclaims that Jesus, the son of God, was fully human. He prayed for daily bread, he enjoyed a fine wine, he laughed with his friends, and he feared death.For Jesus faith is not a set of religious beliefs, it is a

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Millions would welcome Jesus as a spiritual counselor. But would you hire Jesus as a business counselor? Imagine Jesus as a member of your management team, your Board of Directors, or as your corporate strategic advisor.For a company rocked by corporate scandal, Jesus might be considered a good “name” to serve as an outside director. But would you name Jesus to the Finance Committee? How about

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