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Many
years ago, Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt
— considered by some the father of modern marketing — posed
this famous question to business leaders: What business are
you really in?
He
offered the example of the great American railroad corporations,
which were pushed aside by the automobile (and truck) and
then the railroad. Their problem is that they thought of themselves
as being in the railroad business, not the transportation
business; because they defined their role so narrowly, they
missed opportunities to expand and innovate.
In
an article in the July 2004 issue of Fast Company,
Alison Overholt talks about companies that took Levitt's question
to heart and built empires. Walt Disney went from cartoons
to movies to theme parks to a wide-ranging array of products
aimed at the family market. Another example: "Virgin's
Richard Branson turned a little music magazine into a music
superstore, then launched an airline and, most recently, a
cell-phone company." And now Starbucks — the coffee people
— is developing a string of coffee bar-music stores where
you can burn your own music CD while you sip your latte.
As
Overholt observes, "In each case, as the company reached
a plateau in one industry category, a visionary leader looked
past the original product or service to redefine, in the broadest
terms, the business it was in."
So,
Christian leader, what business are you in?
In
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offered some strategic advice
that every leader needs to take to heart: "Seek first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
will be provided for you" (Matt. 6:3, HCSB).
In
other words, you and I are in the Kingdom business. No matter
in what division we may be employed — from the pastoral
division to the publishing division, from the education division
to the entrepreneurial division — we are in the Kingdom
business. Every day, our task is to see how our little piece
of the work can contribute toward the advancement of the Kingdom
of God.
And
like those visionaries of corporate life, we also need to
keep our eyes on how our work can adapt and grow to face new
and exciting opportunities to serve the Kingdom that will
come our way. If we're in the Kingdom business, there's always
room for growth.
And
you can't beat the benefits.
__________
Michael
Duduit is President/CEO of American Ministry Resources LLC,
and editor of LeaderLinks.
You can contact him at michael@leaderlinks.com or visit his
website at www.michaelduduit.com
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