Kevin W. McCarthy

Professor of On-Purpose

kwmccarthy

Preparing Your 2023 Budget

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October is the traditional time when businesses begin the budgeting process for the coming year. Almost by definition, budgeting is erroneously limited to what fits on an Excel spreadsheet. Managers are asked to pull together their financial needs for people and projects. In turn, they look at last year’s budget and decide what to defend, what to concede, and what to request in the coming budget.

What is intended to be a strategic process gets dumbed down to a negotiation of numbers to achieve a certain return on investment or profit. Overlooked are the organizational Purpose, Vision, Missions, and Values (PVMV) of the Organization. Before you commit your entire 2023, is it time for a PVMV check-up?

Purpose, once articulated in 2 words, remains the same. Values are slow changing, whereas company Vision and Missions are fluid. Here’s where the Chief Leadership Officer, leaders, and team collaborate to clarify the company direction (Vision) and core activities (Missions) within the Purpose and Values. Clarification leads to communication to create alignment and constancy of PVMV in the strategic business-planning process. The budget support this process rather than driving it.

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“Doing More of What You Do Best More Profitably” is the subtitle to The On-Purpose Business Person. Place this refrain top of mind for your 2023 planning horizon. “Doing Best” is directly connected to your company Purpose and its expression in Vision and Missions as governed by Values. “Doing More of What” relates to your Missions — this is your day-to-day activity and your marketing. “More Profitably” translates to operational efficiencies, financial profit, and the value proposition or difference-making your company contributes to the common good of shareholders, team members, vendors, and society.

Leaders look forward. Managers look backward. Avoid the corrupting “Numbers Game” of the typical budget process. In placing your priority on your Purpose, not only do you improve the probability of a solid ROI, but you’ll also create a more meaningful and wholesome workplace that attracts the needed talent to grow and sustain the business and team members.

Why Be Purpose-Driven When You Can Be Purpose-Called?

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Purpose doesn’t drive you. It calls you. Think before you jump on the “purpose-driven” buzzword bandwagon.

Having pioneered purpose since the late 1980s, I cringe for those using “purpose-driven” when describing their work or business.

Purpose-driven is Industrial Age workaholism euphemistically dressed in pseudo-positive, contemporary jargon. However well-intended the users of “purpose-driven” may be, they’re unknowingly headed for an identity crisis and unhappy outcome.

“Purpose” and “Driven” are incompatible concepts. It’s like combining “Love-Forced.” How’s that marriage likely going to end?

Purpose naturally energizes. It ignites vision, inspires missions, and hones values as the soul answers the call in service to the Common Good. That, by the way, is known as being on-purpose.

Begin answering your call today at ONPURPOSE.me.

#business #work #love #purpose #purposedriven #purposedrivenlife #purposedrivenleadership #purposedrivenbusiness #purposecoach #purposeinlife #vision #commongood #energize #unhappy #confidence #crisismanagement #onpurpose

The Most Powerful Method for Harnessing the Power of Purpose

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Purpose, Vision, Missions, and Values (PVMV): These are the keys to clarity of strategy to inform planning and business model building. As important as strategy is to the wealth creation process, the person leading and implementing strategy matters more.

purpose as spiritual energy

Having pioneered the purpose conversation since the late 1980s, I’m delighted to finally see the big consulting firms and business schools embracing the power of purpose for companies and “employees.” Nevertheless, The On-Purpose Approach remains the clearest, most meaningful, and holistic approach to blending life and work.

Distinctive to an On-Purpose® corporate purpose statement is the setup and use of a 2-word purpose. “We exist to serve by (insert 2-word purpose)” is layered in nuance and sophistication while remaining steadfastly memorable and practical. Purpose is a service-first ideal that’s naturally inclusive of the business model (wealth creation). To instill and install purpose throughout the organization, however, requires intention, creativity, and dedication.

The essential connection between purpose and people (team members, vendors, customers, the public) is now alluded to more often in the writings of the likes of Gallup, PwC, and McKinsey in concept, but not in practice. At On-Purpose Partners, my company, we’ve been putting purpose into practice for decades.

For example, this article in Strategy+Business makes a strong case for 5 ways to harness the power of purpose. I’m adding comments and point 6 — what’s most often overlooked. Respectfully, here are Sally Blount‘s and Paul Leinwand‘s five key points:

  1. Make creating your purpose a strategic exercise, not a communications exercise. Yes, and the PVMV along with your Strategic Story need to inform the communications and business plan per the Chief Leadership Officer Integrity Map (download a copy here: www.CLOnow.com).
  2. Focus on how you earn money, rather than how you spend it. Yes, this is one of the differences between a leader and a manager. Managers live within budgets, leaders think on the basis of ROI or better yet ROP (Return on Purpose).
  3. Identify your special power, and build your purpose around it. No. Purpose is your company’s special power — why the company exists and how it serves. Whereas a “special power” or “unique capability” is what you do or a mission. This invites the worst of Levitt’s Marketing Myopia because the purpose is defined by a mission or activity that one day may be obsolete. Then what?
  4. In multi-business-unit organizations, make sure purpose goes beyond a single unit. Yes and no. Purpose is the golden thread that unifies and dignifies people and their work. One purpose for all, not “purposes.”
  5. Boards need to do more to hold leaders accountable on the topic of purpose. Yes, especially the part about ESG — perhaps the greatest misrepresentation of purpose and values going. Same goes with DEI. When purpose is present, DEI is irrelevant because identity, not identifiers, unifies rather than divides.

As promised, here’s the vital ingredient the top-down strategists miss: a collaborative effect based on The On-Purpose Principle (see The On-Purpose Business Person). This principle states, “When the Purpose of the Person is aligned with the Purpose of the Organization, that’s the source of all energy and engagement.” This is my organizational development equivalent of Einstein’s E=MC2. It’s an elegant and meaningful clarification of a complex series of relationships.

How to create the alignment? That leads us to the most missing aspect in the purpose conversation happening today — Point 6.

6. Encourage every team member to state their personal purpose, vision, missions, and values. Here’s the spiritual DNA of personal leadership development with an internal (not North Star) guiding gyroscope. Team members will grasp the value and use of the parallel company strategic concepts of PVMV. Alignment begins. Work becomes meaningful. The disengaged will leave. Leaders are born. Management issues decline as personal responsibility grows. Others are attracted to work at the company. Stewardship of resources emerges. Service levels increase. Customers buy into what the company/brand represents.

Thanks to the ONPURPOSE.me online 2-word purpose discovery tool, every team member is less than five minutes from knowing their purpose in life. Add The Power of Being On-Purpose workshop and team members are less than a day from clarifying their visions, missions, and values and having a life plan in place. Even more importantly, they’ve gained a lifetime process of personal growth and improvement.

In short, many of the most pressing challenges facing corporations today can be resolved. But the dirty little secret is that the person occupying the corner office is mired in the profit-taking CEO-system of management. This incompletely right way of doing business treats people as inanimate “human resources” the CEOs are driving with purpose versus calling people to a workplace where meaningful expression of their purpose is possible.

The future leaders will be Chief Leadership Officers who clarify purpose (PVMV) and fully appreciate that all profit-making is earned through the well-being of people served on-purpose. This is a 180º turn from the CEO view of people as assets instead of flesh and bones with souls.

As the power of purpose remains a thought-leader discussion, why not actually get to it by finding your personal 2-word purpose at www.ONPURPOSE.me? Then, let’s talk about what it means to be on-purpose.

#corporateculture #culture #leadership #ceomindset #chiefleadershipofficer #strategy #shrm #shapethefuture #futureofbusiness #leadershiptraining #purposedrivenleadership #purposedriven #purposedrivenbusiness

Insider Scoop to Naming Your Business: Ice Cream Edition

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“I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.”

Related article: How to Name (Re-Name) Your Business Right for Success

A great way to learn about business naming is to pick an industry and assess a variety of business names for what you can learn. Business names and founders are often linked. Sometimes, a business name has roots in its geography or location.

Ice Cream Company Business Names

Who doesn’t love ice cream? These are brand names we know (and some you might not) and a great way to dip into business naming and get the scoop.

Did you know that Häagen-Dazs® is a made-up name? Rose and Rubin Mattus, the founders of the ice cream icon, were Jews living in New York. In 1959, when the Mattus couple set out to create the finest ice cream product they could, they made up the name Häagen-Dazs. Why? It sounded Danish, and they wanted to honor the Danes for their resistance efforts in World War II against the Nazis. And they wanted to sell ice cream because the name they had — Senator Ice Cream products — wasn’t selling.

Ben & Jerry put their real first names right on their ice cream and first store! That was 1978. That’s their story in a pint.

Chaeban Ice Cream is an ice cream company and brand you’ve unlikely heard about or eaten. I recently met Joseph Chaeban, the founder, at a TOUGH SHIFT for Entrepreneurs speaking engagement. Here’s not only made-from-scratch ice cream, but ice cream that ties to its owners and cause to help Syrian refugees.

Tillamook is an ice cream and cheese maker located in the Tillamook Valley of Oregon. It was founded as a dairy cooperative. The valley is named after the Tillamook Native American tribe from coastal Oregon. The name “Tillamook” is a Chinook language term meaning “landing” but also understood to be “people of the village” and “Land of Many Waters.”

Baskin-Robbins is named after Burt and Irv, respectively. Perhaps they tried 31 different names and settled on B-R and decided their attention was better focused on 31 flavors. A smooth branding move the company made in 2006 was to mix 31 into their BR logo. Subtle — and fun!

Publix Premium Ice Cream is the store brand for Publix Grocery Stores based in Lakeland, Florida. When you’ve already established a trusted brand with shoppers, slapping your name on the label works, provided you’re within your brand category. For example, if the Caterpillar family of brands came out with Caterpillar Ice Cream it would give my stomach butterflies of concern for its success.

Mayfield ice cream, yep, you guessed it, was founded in 1910 by T.B. Mayfield. In that era, the reputation of the farmer who provided your family with milk mattered. Putting your name on the label told your neighbors and townsfolk who produced and processed the milk they were drinking.

My wife’s family were dairy farmers in North Augusta, South Carolina: Haskell’s Dairies. Sadly, they never got into ice cream production — I married her anyway!

How to Name (or Rename) Your Business Right for Success

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Creating a Right Business Name

Keep Your Business Name As Simple As Possible

Business naming is a combination of art and science. Done right, it sets your business up for long-term success. How? A good business name eases the marketing and sales process, builds customer and team member loyalty, and provides a strong ROI.

If your business name isn’t helping you, then it’s hurting you. Why settle for anything less? Let’s get your business name right from the start-up, or rename your business to gain a host of business advantages.

Business naming is a big subject. Let’s focus on the start-up entrepreneur and the small-to-midsize business owner. Large corporations typically turn to their internal marketing team, an outside ad agency, or strategy consultants like On-Purpose Partners for this work. Because you’re reading this, is it fair to assume you don’t have $1 million like Pepsi spent in 2008 to change their logo?

Creating a right business name is first a strategic process. Start-ups have the advantage of the proverbial greenfield to start fresh. In an existing business, a business name change typically means something isn’t working with the current name. Perhaps you need a new name because your business and another are merging. Beneath a new business name, something strategic is in play.

Business naming problems fall into broad categories such as being too long, too difficult to spell, or too hard to remember or pronounce. It takes an extra investment of time, money, and effort to establish a difficult business name. However, once established, the business name can become distinctive. Here’s an article from HubSpot on hard-to-pronounce business names that you likely know.

Creating a right business name has practical implications. The business name will visually appear in print and in pixels. It will be in use everywhere. It will also be spoken on video, podcasts, radio, and other audio formats. It will be converted into a graphic for placement on signs, doors, trucks, business cards, stationery, banners, and more. Your business name is tightly tied to your brand strategy and implementation.

Creating a right business name has personal implications. For many owners, your business name is a reflection of you personally. In addition to the physical assets of your business, your business name lives as intellectual property with a goodwill value for when you sell the business or pass it on to others.

Creating a right business name has creative effect. Do you want a catchy business name, a cute business name, a prestigious-sounding company name, or (to the other end of the spectrum) a short, nondescript name that you build into a brand? Do you want your business name to be bold or subtle?

How to Get Your Business Naming Process Started

Business Naming exercise
Business Naming Brainstorming Exercise

Here at On-Purpose Partners, clients periodically seek me out to help them name or rename a business, product, or service. Because they recognize I’m gifted with distilling big concepts into a few words, as in a 2-word purpose statement, I’m a natural for this work. I’m remarkably fast and accurate at naming businesses, programs, products, and such. Pushing the boundaries of the mundane to get to something magical is really a blast! And, as a business owner myself, I appreciate what all is riding on the business name. There’s an urgency to get the business name in place sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the business is can get bogged down and kill precious time.

Here’s the way the business naming process works:

Initial Consult: This is typically a 30-minute over-the-phone or video call where we mutually assess fit and appropriateness. If both of us agree it’s the right fit, engage me via a Small Business Advisory Package (as long as your revenues are under $1 million). If you’re a larger company, then our next step is a consulting engagement with the On-Purpose Partners team that I’m leading. The fees vary based on the degree of complexity, which includes but isn’t limited to the size (sales and people) of your company, the stakes involved, the number and level of decision-makers who need to sign off, and the speed of your need. We only work directly with the company owner, president, Managing Director, CEO, or CLO.

Engagement: Ready to get started? Below is the typical flow of a business-naming engagement.

Prep Me: In advance of our interview(s), send me links to your current website and LinkedIn profile. This helps me get a sense of your company and you. If you have an existing product or service, if possible, I want to experience it. Send me your available product and current marketing, brand guidelines, or business plans. If none of these exist, no problem — we’ll talk it through.

Give me context. The nature of your business matters when it comes to business naming. For example, business naming for a B2B enterprise versus a B2C company typically defines a direction.

Prep You: You’ll be given access to use ONPURPOSE.me to find your purpose in life. The best small businesses are ultimately the expression of a person’s purpose and passion. Your 2-word purpose provides a solid basis to craft your business name and to assess if the business name and your purpose are meaningfully aligned.

Interviews: You’ll be interviewed about what’s working and what isn’t working with your business name as well as your business. It’s vital we establish a dollar value to renaming the business. It may not be worth it or it may be worth a lot. This metric is important. Otherwise, it is easy to put off working on the business. There are always pressing issues, and business naming is easy to put off. Here’s where my accountability to move the project along matters.

Once I’m prepared to meet with you, we begin a fun, exploratory process. My first question is, “What’s your gut tell you to name the business and why?”

You’ve been thinking about this for some time and I want your thoughts. Put your ideas out there. While you may not be gifted at business naming, you know your business. This is our starting point that tells me what you have in mind.

I’ll ask a number of related questions to assess the fit with your vision (where you envision your business going), missions (what you do), and your values (what is important to you). Surprisingly, we may be able to tweak what you have and be done in minutes. Business naming isn’t something you do on a regular basis so my best advice involves affirming your keen thoughts.

I may even throw a number of business names in your direction just to get a sense for your personal preferences and to hear your reaction. Ultimately, this is your business and you want to be proud of it. This fast, creative, instinctive process can produce remarkable results so you can get moving now!

The instinctive approach works best for start-ups and small businesses. This collaborative business naming approach gets to a business name thoughtfully fast. You’re relying upon my decades of business experience to absorb the spirit of your intentions and to translate that into an immediate and sustainable business advantage.

Beyond the instinctive approach is a more structured approach that most often comes into play for midsize or larger companies where lots of livelihoods are at stake. This typically involves a 30-day process and can range from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, subject to complexity. At this point, you’ll have a written contract to sign.

If the instinctive process fails to produce near-immediate results, we move to a more structured approach. This is typically needed in midsize companies and larger.

Competitive Assessment: Give me the names of your top 3 to 5 competitors. I will assess how far behind or ahead you are of your competition from a strategic and marketing perspective for attracting and keeping customers and team members.

Set Criteria: Based on all I’ve learned, we’ll collaborate to create criteria to measure how well potential business names achieve the desired business goals and outcomes. For example, does LLC or Co. or Company need to show up in your business name? How long or short does the name need to be?

Suggestions: For existing businesses, we may write a briefing or produce a video to share that a renaming process is underway. Next, we launch a campaign to invite related parties (team members, customers, vendors), asking for their suggestions.

Collaborate to Create a List: Eventually, all those involved go away to just noodle on a new business name and send me their suggestions. I compile their suggestions, plus I do “my thing” as my team calls it.

I use a combination of internet research, the dictionary, mind-mapping, and conversations with consulting peers and creatives to come up with a list of names. During this creative process, I’m also searching for trademark and domain name availability so we don’t fall in love with a name we can’t readily use. I’m also searching for variations on the name, including misspellings. For example, Lyft, the shared-driving service, plays off the concept of giving some a lift or a ride somewhere.

Presentation(s): Depending on the size of your company and the number of decision-makers involved, I cull down the list to a reasonable number of business name options where we weigh the pros and cons against our gut and against the criteria. This may take a few rounds of whittling the list to the final selection.

A New Business Name!: Now that you have a new business name, this opens up a host of wonderful opportunities — plus work. You’ll need a new logo, an outreach campaign to announce your great news, and more.

Business Naming Lessons

Over my decades of doing this kind of work, I’ve learned a few lessons. Here’s a few:

Generally, the shorter the name the better. A short name works better for memorability, graphics, and efficiency in all communications. Simple sells better and faster. The more people can remember your business name, the easier it is for them to refer people to you.

Business naming is easier when business strategy is in place. At On-Purpose Partners, we help clients write their deep strategy of purpose, vision, missions, and values. These are defining statements that feed into the naming process.

Business naming draws upon the past while inspiring the future. Even if your business is a new start-up, you have a history that led to this point. You also have a vision for where you want it to go. And you need to act in the present.

Get it right the first time. Business name changes are a big deal. You don’t want to do them very often. Everything from filing a name change with state, federal, and local agencies to communicating with vendors and customers to graphics to banking and checkbooks and more are just some of the realities of a business name change. The corollary to this, however, is:

When your business name stops working for you, make the business name change fast. My father-in-law was a dairy farmer and had an expression about dragging things out: “It’s like cutting the tail of the dog off an inch at a time thinking it won’t hurt ’em so much.” Act and act decisively.

Digging deeply into your personal, career, and business history produces gold! By also exploring your dreams and aspirations, we’re more apt to land on a solidly meaningful name for your business. The added benefit of this is a significant strategic advantage because the purpose, vision, missions, and values of your business are clarified.

Decide if you’re building a practice, a lifestyle business, or a business. What’s the difference? A practice is a business a professional builds. A lifestyle business meaningfully integrates one’s life and work to where profit-making is one of several measures of success. A business is a serious, all-in endeavor with significant aspirations and ambitions that will employ lots of people and serve many customers. This relates to the purpose, vision, missions, and values of the business and its owner(s).

Founders matter. Founders insert a spiritual DNA into a business that sets a pattern and mindset. Sometimes that is good and other times it isn’t. For example, renaming may be necessary to reinvent the organizational culture.

Your business is its identity in the marketplace. The business name and your business strategy, marketing, graphics, sales, and team culture are all influenced. Investing in such a vital aspect of your business on the front end has very practical human, operational, and financial implications. It’s a small forward investment with dividends through to a retirement or exit strategy!

Do I use my name in naming my business? Yes and No!

Ford or General Motors? Post Cereal or Generals Mills? Hewlett-Packard or IBM? The first business name in each pair bears the name of its founder. The second group doesn’t. There is no right answer, just the one that best suits your needs. There’s also change. Edison General Electric Company became General Electric Company in 1892.

Here’s some guidelines and examples:

Are you a start-up solo owner who is a coach, consultant, counselor, trainer, lawyer, CPA, engineer, realtor, broker, architect or other role that’s providing professional services? If so, then using your name in the business name of your practice often makes sense.

If you’re a personality-based business, such as an author, politician, artist, solo musician, TV or radio personality, comic, keynote speaker, etc. and that’s your gig, then use your name.

Using your last name in your business is fairly typical but not necessarily all that inspiring. For example, if I were starting a business, I could name it McCarthy & Associates or McCarthy Company, if it is available. Typically, this business-naming method conveys a small professional service led by one person and perhaps a small team. Frankly, I find these names bland from a marketing perspective, but they may also reflect the personality or lack of marketing expertise of the owner. Ironically, it is truth in advertising.

On the other extreme is the Trump brand. Heck, it helped Donald J. Trump become the President of the United States!

My colleague, Terry Pappy, is a talented solopreneur business advisor. She formed PappyClub to help her peeps build their businesses and brands. She included her last name in the business name to convey that you’ll be hanging out with Terry as she coaches and offers business and marketing insights. She’s very sharp, quick-witted, and fun to be around so being in a “club” with Terry matches her style.

What about using your first name? I engaged the services of Jan & Susan, a virtual assistant team. Jan and Susan are the two founders who elected to use their first names in their business name. Perhaps they were fans of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and followed their lead?

But using your name isn’t always right for naming a professional services business. Since 2008, Julie Holzmann has provided copy editing and proofreading services. She calls her business WordProofing. We created a tagline of “You write. Then I right. (That’s word proofing.)” The business name conveys what she does so there was no need to include her name.

The benefit of not having your name in the business is when people are looking to the business and not a specific person. That makes it easier to add people to the team and create more long-term freedom. Frankly, there’s an element of ego involved, hopefully healthy ego. And there can be an element of low self-esteem involved that prevents a person from naming their business with their name.

Name That Business!

Naming a business seems like such a simple task. To some degree it is, especially for start-ups, professionals, and small businesses. In fact, business naming is a vitally important, sophisticated task that touches every facet of your business, primarily because it is how people will identify, relate, and brand their experience with your company.

Related post: Insider Scoop to Naming Your Business: Ice Cream Edition

Reinvent Your Life Conference Interview

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Here’s my 35-minute interview with Cathleen “Cate” Murphy as part of her Reinvent Your Life Conference. Below is a list of other authorities Cate interviewed.

  • Doug Addison, prophetic speaker, life coach, and author of over 30 books and courses including Hearing God Every Day and How to Get Your Financial Breakthrough, also known for his Daily Prophetic Words, Spirit Connection webcast, podcast and blog.
  • Dawna De Silva, founder and co-leader of Bethel SOZO International, Director of the Transformation Center, author of Shifting the Atmospheres and Warring with Wisdom, international leader of thousands of deliverance ministers, and prophetic voice to the nations.
  • Dr. Barbara Lowe, licensed psychologist, lay minister, national speaker, Board certified life coach, author of Wholeness Rising: Every Woman’s Wholeness Handbook, and host of Live with Dr. Barbara on YouTube and Facebook.
  • Javier and Christina Llerena, co-founders of a marriage ministry for both singles and married couples, co-hosts of the podcast Cafecito for Two, and co-authors of Boundless Love: Healing Your Marriage Before It Begins. Javier also leads a men’s ministry and is founder of Re-invent Coaching, which provides leadership coaching to mid-level managers and teams.
  • Kate Battistelli, former actress who co-starred with Yul Brynner in the Broadway production of The King and I, co-host of the popular Mom to Mom podcast, and author of The God Dare: Will You Choose to Believe the Impossible? and Growing Great Kids.
  • Kevin W. McCarthy, author of the best-selling book series The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person, who developed a cutting-edge process for identifying your purpose in under 15 minutes.
  • Marilyn Vancil, spiritual and life coach, trained Enneagram teacher, and author of Self to Lose, Self to Find: Using the Enneagram to Uncover Your True, God-Gifted Self.
  • Rachel Thomson, speaker, theology blogger, and award-winning author of 38 fiction and non-fiction books, including Fearless: Free in Christ in an Age of Anxiety, and Your Kingdom Calling: 3 Keys to Discovering Your Calling and Purpose in the Kingdom of God.
  • Dr. Robin Perry Braun, author of four books including Thrive:  Applying  Biblical and Quantum Energy Principles to Live a Transformed Life, trains and certifies people all over the world in how to release blocks to our desires so we can live a fulfilling and joyful life. Dr. Braun is an ordained minister who also holds a doctorate in Integrative Medicine and a Master’s In Psychology.
  • Dr. Susan B. Mead left a very successful corporate career to become an entrepreneur, inspirational speaker and author of Dance With Jesus, and Don’t Go Through Life Naked: How to Clothe Yourself in God’s Power to Walk Through the Challenges of Life and Step into God’s Promises Every Day.
  • BONUS (available with lifetime access): Shae Bynes, entrepreneur, business strategist and author of Grace Over Grind and The Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur’s Guide to Goal Setting: What it means to be Kingdom-driven, how that affects every area of your life, and how to move forward when you don’t know what to do next.

The Christmas Prayer

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Here’s the transcript of The Christmas Prayer:

Merry Christmas.

Christmas stands more profoundly relevant and uniting as ever.

Allow me to share a personal life-transforming Christmas story from some twenty or so years ago.

Our then young family was celebrating a holiday at the home of our friends Jen and John. In fact, there were several families, probably 30 people gathered indoors and scattered outdoors.

Various cooks were in the kitchen each prepping their contribution to the potluck feast. Used dishes, utensils, and pots and pans accumulated in the kitchen sink so I stationed myself there to scrub, clean, and rinse. Working with me was Jen, our host. With each newly cleaned item, I handed it to her to dry to be put back in use or put away. We were the Clean Team.

Jen and I often had deep conversations about faith, the meaning of life, the power of prayer, and so forth. While our hands were busy, our mouths were free to talk, and so we did. Our conversation centered around our lives before and after Christ — a Christmas Story of sorts.

Checking her watch, Jen said, “I’ve got a pet-sitting job to do. Come with me. The sink will be fine without us for 30 minutes. We HAVE TO KEEP this conversation going.”

Jumping into Jen’s black Suburban, we talked. Arriving at the welcoming pet’s house, Jen got the dog out and on a leash. Such a small pooch allowed for a leisurely walk and talk.

As we’re ambling along a concrete sidewalk, I came clean: “Jen, before I really knew who Jesus was, I was ‘a good guy.’ I never smoked, drank, or took any illegal drugs. I was never arrested. I treated people and animals with kindness. I was honest, hardworking, and educated. And I was generally happy.

“Let’s say I was 60% good guy and 40% bad guy. But, in that 40%, I could cuss up a storm. Things easily upset me, and I could get combative. I was impatient with slow drivers and always competing to win and ticked when I lost. I took things personally. And, frankly, I felt inadequate, fearful, and anxious.”

I continued sharing with Jen, “On February 14, 1986, Jesus dramatically went from my head to my heart and forever changed my life for the better. Far less cussing and far more patience. Now, let’s say I’m 90% good guy and 10% bad guy.

“But what I really did was take the 40% bad guy and condense it into the 10% of the space. I worked to edge out the bad. Instead, my frustrations, anger, and disappointment just got super concentrated and more explosive than ever.”

Jen listened and nodded for me to go on, “I gave that 10% of me a name: Evil Little Kevin.

“I’m good at concealing him, but he’s always there within me. And, when Evil Little Kevin comes out, he gets REAL ugly, REAL fast! I don’t like me when it happens. It’s exhausting holding him back.”

Jen’s eyes grew large at the thought. She then asked me a short question that forever changed my life. Who knows? Perhaps it will do the same for you.

She asked, “Kevin, have you ever thought of introducing Evil Little Kevin to Jesus?”

I stopped mid–dog walk, “No. It never dawned on me to do that.”

Jen’s next question dug even deeper into my spirit: “Is Evil Little Kevin the part of you which you keep from God?”

I stammered, “Yes.”

“Yes, it is!”

With a little dog scampering about our feet, Jen and I stood right there on that public sidewalk, joined hands, and prayed as I introduced Evil Little Kevin to Jesus.

As my carried and concealed darkness was cast out by the Light of the World, I immediately felt my spirit brighten. The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords was on the case, which meant I could let Evil Little Kevin go. Jesus entered that part of my world.

What about you? I haven’t a clue what your “Evil Little Kevin” is up to in your life. But you do.

There isn’t a greater gift you can give yourself this Christmas than to introduce that withheld part of your life to Jesus. Join me by saying a simple prayer and insert your name instead of mine in Evil Little Kevin.

Let’s go!

“Jesus, meet Evil Little {Your Name} who needs to know you. Forgive me for not introducing you two sooner for I didn’t know it was possible. I cut myself free from Evil Little {Your Name}. To fill this void, I invite your joy to take its rightful place. By your sacrifice on the cross, please forever seal this Joy into my life. Amen!”

Evil Little Kevin isn’t a part of me anymore. However, he lurks nearby probing and prodding to regain standing in my life. When Evil Little Kevin worms his way back into my being, my responsibility is to reintroduce Evil Little Kevin to Jesus. It’s that basic.

On Christmas Day, we remember Jesus entering the world. Allow Him to enter into your life, for the first time or for the 489th time. Regardless, may you, too, experience the Peace and Joy of Christmas. In any season, that’s good news!

Merry Christmas!

What Is Your Business Purpose?

By

What If You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?

Business Purpose
Power Up Your Business with Purpose

Let me put this up front. In over three decades of experience working with P&L leaders and purpose, I have seen that 99% misunderstand what business purpose is. Therefore, the untapped power of purpose to inform and align the company strategy, structure, and system lies dormant. This misunderstanding depresses net profits by at least 25%!

Join me on Tuesday, December 1, at 10 a.m. Eastern USA for a meaningful and powerful conversation about the purpose of business and the purpose of your business. I’ll draw upon my many experiences as well as content from Chief Leadership Officer and The On-Purpose Business Person.

The first 30 minutes or so will be a presentation about business purpose, which will then be followed by your questions, comments, and experiences.

This content will be largely directed to those with P&L responsibility for a business, a division, a team, or a territory — or those aspiring to have it. That said, this is an “OPEN” so all are welcome to attend.

Be in Business On-Purpose!

There is no charge for this event — it’s an On-Purpose OPEN.

  • This helps Kevin get to know you in advance.
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