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Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

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Loving Your Call

February 7, 2023 By kwmccarthy

In 1977, Domenic Fusco knew he was called to make movies. At the time it made no sense as answering this would be a major career shift from his electrical engineering degree and sales position. Yet, he trusted and persisted in the belief of his calling. 

Through the decades Domenic and Charlie, his wife, never lost sight of this call. He added technical skills in videography, editing, sound, script writing and pitching, graphic design, and more plus a masters degree and PhD. Her talent for writing and organizing proved to be a prolific duo of content creators of remarkable resources such as The Articles of Transformation and Bible Quick Notes.

Poster of the movie Murf the Surf

Sunday, February 5, MGM+ streaming services released Murf the Surf, a four-part miniseries documentary about the all-too-real life of Jack Murphy, champion surfer, notorious jewel thief, convicted murderer, and redeemed evangelist. In partnership with Ron Howard’s Imagine Pictures, Domenic is a producer and major content contributor to the story. It only took 46 years!

Watch the documentary series to see how Jack’s life was turned around. Tip: If you have Amazon Prime you can watch the first episode for free. Domenic’s voice is over some of the images and video.

Because of his redemption and positive influence among prisoners, Murf the Surf was miraculously paroled from a release date of A.D. 2244 (Florida prison). Before the parole board, even the state’s head warden provided supporting testimony for Jack’s release.

Shortly afterward, Jack and Domenic, the then-aspiring filmmaker, met. Domenic began accompanying Jack into his Prison Invasion events to videotape this redemptive story of hope for the incarcerated. A 34-year friendship and partnership developed between the two. During this time, Domenic worked with Jack to create a script for a feature length film to be produced shortly.

Are you loving your call enough to pay the price to see it through?Domenic and I have been friends since 2014. We click because we are creatives who appreciate each other’s off-beat senses of humor. Walking with him before, during, and after what culminated in this documentary has been a testament to trusting perseverance. Not all get to enter the Promised Land.

Many consider and still believe Murf the Surf was an unredeemed criminal and con to the end. Others believe he was broken, healed, and poured out serving the incarcerated. Regardless, Domenic will tell you he remained a larger-than-life character throughout.

Was Jack’s conversion for real? Judge for yourself.


Preparing Your 2023 Budget

October 25, 2022 By kwmccarthy

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.

Click the Cover to Order

“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?

August 15, 2022 By kwmccarthy

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

August 11, 2022 By kwmccarthy

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

April 22, 2021 By kwmccarthy

“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!

Reinvent Your Life Conference Interview

February 13, 2021 By kwmccarthy

https://vimeo.com/505052091/47951f484c

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.

What Is Your Business Purpose?

November 19, 2020 By kwmccarthy

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.

Your 2-Word Purpose, Tough Shift, and Resilience

February 18, 2020 By kwmccarthy

February, 2020 Interview: Triangle Spotlight with Suzanne Lynn on WQBQ 1410: The Voice of Lake County (FL). Interview starts at 25:00 minute mark.

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