How Two Software Companies are Helping the Japanese in a Time of Crisis

When was the last time that you ran across a company that cared about something besides making a profit?

When I worked in New Hampshire, one of my favorite field trips  was to Timberland headquarters.  We would meet with some designers and tour an assembly line.  The best part of the day was when we discussed their commitment to "doing well and doing good".  As a company that is dedicated to community service and fair treatment of laborers around the world, we left feeling very impressed by the company.

As all of us are watching the tragedy in Japan, I came across two companies that, like Timberland, are putting their resources to good use.

Nozbe, my current favorite GTD app, just created Nozbe Public Projects.  These are essentially versions of projects that anyone can then view and use.  Think of them as repeating task lists that you might need for an event that is well, repeating.  Michael Sliwinski, founder of Nozbe, happened to be visiting Japan when the earthquake and subsequent damage occurred.  He ditched his business schedule and began coding.  Public Projects was born out of a need for the Japanese to find their relatives more easily.

Kudos Michael for enabling your skills and your products to help people in need.


Another company that has impressed me of late is Evernote.  I use Evernote to share resources with colleagues as well as to capture information on the fly.  I have notebooks with scanned documents,  photos of things around the house and much more.

According to the Evernote blog, the following steps were announced the days immediately following the disaster in Japan:

• Donating 100% of this month’s revenue from currently-paying Evernote Premium subscribers in Japan to local earthquake relief efforts.


• Upgrading all of our free Japanese users to Evernote Premium for one month.

To both Nozbe and Evernote, great job!

How to Think Like a Servant Leader

Leadership is a loaded word.

Our minds quickly jump to elected officials or religious icons but leaders are all around us.  Many of the finest leaders are calm, quiet and introverted.  Jim Collins, author of Good to Great (and more recently How the Mighty Fall) calls the finest leaders "Level Five Leaders".  He describes them in the following manner:

The central dimension for Level 5 is a leader who is ambitious first and foremost for the cause, for the company, for the work, not for himself or herself; and has an absolutely terrifying iron will to make good on that ambition.

This unique combination of fierce determination and humility is what also marks what we may call Servant Leaders.  Robert K. Greenleaf originally coined this phrase in an essay he wrote in 1970 called The Servant Leader. He describes this kind of leader as one who thinks differently from so many who simply call themselves leaders.

The Servant Leader thinks...

• Of others before self


• Of serving before leading


• Of the organization's needs


• Of making a difference above accumulating material possessions


• Of using God's gifts rather than wasting personal talent

When I interview prospective employees, I often reference Servant Leadership.  I explain that we need people who can buy into our organizational culture and mission.  We call it the Trash Test of Leadership- when someone is humble enough to take out the trash, they think like Servant Leaders.

How can you be more of a Servant Leader today?

What the Church Can Learn from Corporate America

Many of my friends who work in corporate America laugh at the snail's pace at which the Church moves.  As one man I know said at a recent meeting, "if this group were a hospital staff, there would be dead bodies all over the place!"

The group was stunned.  They didn't want to hear his criticism of the meeting but he was right- there was no urgency in the group.  Sadly, I've seen this time and time again and I'm guessing you have too.

The world of the Church is often caught in a balancing act of two things: the mission and the means to accomplish it.  The former is compelling.  It's what gets us out of bed in the morning.  The latter is necessary but can seem unexciting.  We can be tempted to think that we are above things like budgets, planning and sustainability.

For churches that ignore planning, organization and budgets under the guise of being "led by the Spirit", the end is often in sight.  The doors will close sooner rather than later.

To be fair, Nancy Lublin, CEO of www.dosomething.org has written Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business as a way of bridging the chasm between the for-profit world and that of "the other guys".  As it turns out, corporate America can benefit from the benefits of an approach which isn't solely based on the bottom line.

Still, the Church as a learning organization, can learn from those in the private sector.  Many of the fastest growing churches are blending MBA's on their staffs with seminary graduates.

So how can the Church learn from corporate America?  Here are some suggestions:

• Urgency.  A buddy of mine told me about the difference between working for the New York City Police Department and his new corporate job.  He summed it up this way, "At my new job, we talk every two days about whether we are making enough money."  When you are recalibrating every 48 hours, small measures can be taken to right the ship and maintain an urgency of mission.  In the Church, "results" can be hard to measure but if we're serious about extending the Kingdom of God into all corners of the earth, urgency is not something we can ignore.


• Shipping product.  I know of a religious order that has been revising a foundation document for over five years.  Imagine Apple telling customers that the iPad just isn't ready... year after year after year!  Many church committees could make a decision in two hours instead of two months if armed with the right data and a desire to get things done.


• Killing bad projects.  Remember the Palm Foleo?  I don't either because Palm (prior to being acquired by HP) killed the project before it saw the light of day.  They knew enough to stop something going to market before being embarrassed six months later.  Too many churches are running the same retreats and programs that ran ten years ago, ignoring dwindling numbers and poor results.  Sometimes the wise thing to do is to cancel and refocus energies towards something new.


• Professionalism.  One of my great pains is to see the Church shoot itself in the foot time and time again due to a lack of professionalism.  If most parishioners (i.e. "customers") are working individuals, the Church should be attentive to their time, the demands on their schedule and the best ways to communicate with them.  Professionalism is often an area for improvement in many churches.

I know that this post is somewhat critical of the Church. As someone who works within the Church, I share my concerns out of care and conviction that the Church makes the world a better place.  And it can do an even better job by learning from those in the private sector. Corporate America has its ugly side to be sure and as Lublin points out, can learn a whole lot from those of us in the non-profit world.  Says Lublin in a recent Fast Company article, "Charities lend more value than just their good names. Cause is our core competency. It's what we do."

Many readers of The Daily Saint are those who either go to a church or work within the Church- I'd be curious to get your reaction to the post.

How do you think the Church can learn from corporate America?

*photo by JeffreyBeall

Trends I'd Like to See in 2011: the Church

This is part I of III called "Trends I'd Like to See in 2011".  Today we'll look at things I'd love to see the Church (a word I use in a general sense) invest in more fully in 2011.

1. Mobile technology. With services like The Church App by Subsplash, why wouldn't churches want to have their own apps and take-on-the-road resources?


2. Use of online services. As a Catholic, I'm treading on thin ice here.  I'm not saying that online church services are a substitute for actually getting in your Ford and heading to "a" church but let's face it, Grandma has been watching church on TV for years.  Now the rest of the population is catching up and it's very cool.  LifeChurch seems to be way ahead of the curve on this and entire WordPress themes are being designed for the satellite campus-ing church in mind.


3. Mobile giving. If the Red Cross can raise millions via texting, surely the Church can leverage more of its wealth to help those in need.


4. Translating high-level teaching for The Average Joe. My dream is that every Catholic parish has someone who can translate papal encyclicals and statements from Bishops so that The Folks can understand them.  There is a lot of solid teaching coming out of the US Bishops Conference (as just one example) that literally no one will ever know about because it's not written in a way that can be easily digested.


5. Transparency regarding finances. Do I need to explain this?


6. Greater emphasis on the spiritual dimension of work. Here is one of my former posts on the matter.  With the Wall Street debacle of the past few years, has there ever been a better time to discuss how God is involved in work?


7. Stress management. We don't need more church activities.  What we do need is a pair of glasses through which we can make sense of the madness called stressful daily life.  Help us to turn off the noise and pray on a deep level.


8. Prayer that matters. Let's move beyond purely ritualistic praying and help people learn to pray on a deep and personal level.

The One Thing a Real Leader Must Do

I recently attended two elementary school events.  At one, the pastor spoke before and after the event, even leading the crowd in a full-scale rendition of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".  At the other, the leader was no where to be found, opting instead to attend another commitment and send a proxy representative.

The impact of the first leader: a community that felt both at ease and confident in their future.

The impact of the second leader: a community that felt abandoned and confused, wondering where their leader was on the night of an important event.

The lesson is simple- leaders need to practice what is commonly known as the Ministry of Presence.  In other words- show up and leave the rest to God.  Strangely, many people who rise to the top forget that people are watching.

Stanford professor Bob Sutton talks about this in his book, Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to be the Best and Learn from the Worst.  I once worked for someone like this.  She took tons of days off and seemed to feel that no rules applied to her.  The rest of us were left wondering if this was what real leadership was supposed to look like.

The great leaders I have known have managed to balance two important (even essential) qualities: humility and an understanding of the community's need for strong leadership.  Unfortunately, some confuse humility with meakness but I like the definition of Vincentian missionary Fr. Thomas Judge who said, "Humility is truth."

What Fr. Judge was saying is simple enough: accept who you are and thank God for the ability to lead.  If you are funny and someone tells you so, say thank you and be glad that you're not boring and dull.  If you are attractive and someone pays you a compliment, smile and thank them, knowing on the inside that God blessed you with good looks.  Hey, it could be worse.

Instead of faking false humility and clinging to the back wall so that you can "empower others to lead", accept your role as leader.  People want you to be present and authentic and visible.  As Michael Hyatt says, "Real leaders go first." It took me a long time to understand this as I used to sit in the back of organization meetings, not wanting to be seen as the "fat cat" who got special privileges.  This was false humility which is only pride in disguise.

The fact is this: leaders need to be seen by their community at particular moments. Here are but a few moments:

• Major community events: whether it's the Christmas pageant or the annual company Bar-B-Q, leaders need to be seen.  Work the crowd, sit where people can see you and be friendly.  You can do that, right?


• Moments of crisis: When someone dies, is in the midst of tragedy or is struggling with crisis, a good leader enters into the situation and responds appropriately.  He doesn't do too much or too little but he does show up.  Written notes and phone calls are also critical factors for a leader's success.  In an age of email and texting, nothing beats a nice handwritten note.


• Moments of service: Here's what I call The Trash Test of Leadership.  No leader is above taking out the trash, moving a table or helping with a seemingly basic task.


• Moments of the mundane: From holding open a door to answering a phone, leaders don't shy away from the smallest of duties.  They balance this with an incredible ability to delegate.  It's an art form to be sure.

All of this adds up to something profound: there's little room at the top for shy leaders.  You can be quiet, reserved and thoughtful but there is still one thing you must do.

Show up.

*Photo by poptech

No Matter How You Slice it, Gratitude Still Matters

As Thanksgiving is upon us, we all know that Nov. 25 is a great day to consider our blessings.  The problem is the other 364 days of the year.

We just don't thank others enough for the work they do.  Sadly, this includes God.  After all, He doesn't take a personal day or call in sick like the rest of us.

So what are you thankful for this year?  It may be a person, a place or a thing.  The key is to name your thankfulness and share it with others.

I'll go first-

I'm especially thankful for my beautiful wife and our healthy, fun and occasionally mischievous children.  For our imperfect home and a long commute.  For our church which has grounded us in Christ for the past few years.  For my job which stretches me beyond measure.  For my renewed interest in prayerfulness.  For productivity and the ways it profoundly changes our lives.  For this blog.  For good friends.  For good books that change the way I think and behave.  For my amazing parents and the values they instilled in me decades ago.  For my brothers who are two of the best men I know.  For my other band of brothers- my friends who I turn to for support.  For the present moment.

How about you?

*photo by Darwin Bell