Ben Habeck

This summer, Audrey and I are reading through a book called “Ordering your Private World”. It’s quite profound, so we decided to read through it and discuss it with a couple friends of ours. This most recent chapter resonated with most of us.

“How did we get to a day when stress and fatigue are almost of badge of success?”

This is a pretty amazing statement! Think about it… Whenever we meet someone, the first thing out of our mouth is “how’s it going” or “how you doing”. 9.9 times out of 10, the person’s response is “good”! Then, if you drill down even just a little bit, 9.5 times out of 10 they say, “I’m just so busy” or “I’m so tired”. It’s true, right? Aside from the obvious question as to whether or not you’re really asking “how they’re doing” (it’s probably replaced “hello” or “what’s up”), why do we feel that it makes us more important to say that we’re busy? Or, better yet, why do we have a natural sense of accomplishment or respect if we’re busy? I could write a book on how busyness could actually destroy your life and family, but for this post, I’d like to focus on your organization.

I would argue that the busier a leader is (business owner, CEO, chairman, pastor, etc.) the poorer his organization is run. In other words, if the guy running the show is killing himself, then it is very clear his organization isn’t run well and there isn’t any true leadership.

So, if that’s the case, then wouldn’t it be more appropriate (more respectful, more encouraging) if instead of replying “I’m so tired and busy” we all replied “I’m open and free and i’m feeling great!” Think of how different your life would be if you were “open and free”. Think of how different (how much stronger) your organization would be if you encouraged that down through your employees!

Here are some red flags to look out for…

1. I’m most often gratified only by accomplishment.
2. I’m preoccupied with the symbols of accomplishment.
3. I’m usually caught in the uncontrolled pursuit of expansion.
4. I tend to have a limited regard for integrity.
5. I’m not likely to bother myself with the honing of people skills.
6. I tend to be highly competitive.
7. I often possess a volcanic force of anger.
8. I’m usually abnormally busy, I’m averse to play, and I usually avoid spiritual worship.

Here’s a Nooma video that touches on this topic. It sums this up perfectly…

“WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT”

“A man’s life is what his thoughts make of him” – Marcus Aurelius
“A man is what he thinks about, all day long” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Listen to this talk. It’s OLD, but so amazing.

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I recently started doing the accounting for an amazing organization called Next Generation Mentoring! Part of the deal is that the founder of that organization has to be my mentor! It’s amazing!

So, the first thing we went through was my “Purpose Statement”. It was an amazing process to really discover who I AM, not just what I’ve done or what I do.

Here’s my purpose ::

I, Ben Habeck, exist to love and serve God and People and to EMPOWER them to become all that God has called them to be.

You’ll notice that “Empower” is the “3rd word”. 1. Love 2. Serve 3. EMPOWER This is my purpose… this is my calling! It’s amazing to live a life with purpose! In everything I do now, my goal is to Love, Serve and Empower. If I’m not doing that, then I’m not fulfilling my purpose in life.

Now, to the meat!

In business, we always come up with a mission statement or a vision statement and all these goals, etc. Most of the time, our organizations have a slightly different mission than our personal mission. What if, entrepreneurs discovered their personal purpose first, and then incorporated that into their organization’s mission? How would your organization be different if your personal purpose directly aligned with your organizations purpose? I have a feeling that most organizations start because the owner has always “done” what their organization does, they’re just sick of “working for the man”. What if you started your organization, not just because it’s what you’ve always done, but because it also directly aligns with your personal purpose in life? How would your life be different? How would your organization be different? Think of the impact you would have on your customers and employees and vendors?

I think that if we [leaders] can focus on our true calling, then the “business” [organization] itself isn’t what makes us successful. The business [organization] is just a medium to help us fulfill our purpose. We then begin judging our success by how well we’re fulfilling our true purpose and not how much money we make or how many customers we bring in the door.

I’ve been thinking a ton about “collaboration” lately. We run a mostly “virtual” office. We have the most amazing systems / processes and employees ever, but I’ve been wondering how collaboration could play into our strength of “virtualization”!

So, here are my thoughts…

1. If there isn’t someone at the top driving, organizing and facilitating the collaboration, then it goes only a short distance before it fails!

2. Vision casting is KEY! Someone at the top has to cast vision, otherwise, it could potentially be a bunch of random thoughts that point in different directions.

3. Someone has to DO SOMETHING with it! If there isn’t someone who takes all of the collaborative thoughts and monitors / develops them, then all collaboration is, is collaboration and no action!

4. It’s not for everyone! Collaboration only works well in some industries! Creative works, programming, music, etc. are perfect industries for collaboration. Accounting? Maybe not so much! Granted, there are some areas of accounting where collaboration would be amazing, but in the core function, it’s hard to implement. Use collaboration where it’s best suited!

5. Systems have to be the foundation! If you don’t have a system or process for developing your responsibilities, then collaboration is nearly useless! You have to have a starting place! Build a system [or even an idea] and then use collaboration to expound on it.

Our organization uses very clear, concise systems and processes. We call these the “Method” documents and each and every employee has one. I wrote them! Over the last 2 years, we’ve used a collaborative effort to develop these processes and they’re getting better each and every day. I think that when collaboration is used correctly, it can be a hugely powerful tool. However, if done wrong, it could potentially kill an organization!

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.” – Ronald Reagan

So, all week, I’ve been posting the transcript of this talk! It’s VERY motivating… Take a couple minutes today to watch this!