Russell McGuire

I first read Management: A Biblical Approach in 1994. I was a software engineer becoming an entrepreneur and one of my co-founders, Gordon Martin, recommended that the startup’s three founders read the book together to set the foundation for the business we would launch. That was an excellent idea, one I’m still grateful for today.

Management: A Biblical Approach works through several disciplines involved in managing an organization. As the title explains, author Myron Rush provides wisdom from the Bible in pursuing these disciplines. But he doesn’t merely “paint” the conventional view of each discipline with a “biblical veneer”. Rather he builds each discipline up from a Biblical foundation, explaining how those seeking to be faithful to God’s revealed will can approach each discipline. Not surprisingly, he bases much of his teaching on scripture, but he also provides plenty of real world examples from his work with clients, his own working experience, and his own personal relationships.

While Management: A Biblical Approach is a great book for any Christian in management, it would make a particularly good gift for a believer moving into his first management role, or a manager who has newly come to faith and is seeking to understand how the Bible applies to all of life.

Read the full review here.

It’s good to have human resource professionals in your company who are trained in the legal, sociological, administrative and process aspects of managing the human relationships within your business, but having an HR department doesn’t absolve your need to lead and manage people. In the article linked below I propose considering three dimensions of leadership that I hope can transform this tricky topic from a fearful burden to a joyful blessing:

• Rethink how you lead
• Understand what is involved in leading
• Consider why leadership matters

Our natural tendencies are selfish, and the traditional management view of employees is that you hire people to serve you. This mentality creates an imbalanced and unhealthy relationship between a manager and his employees. How can we instead build healthy relationships within our teams?

What are the six key things that people look to their leaders to provide?

Leading well involves a lot of work and emotional energy. Is it worth it? Can it actually bring you joy?

Read my answers to these questions.

Scenario Analysis is an important tool for strategists and visionary leaders. It’s a valuable way to think about how the world is changing and what that means for you and your business.

The goal in scenario analysis is to identify a small number of future scenarios around which we can build plans. In reality, it’s highly unlikely that any of the scenarios we pick will actually turn out exactly as we envision it, but if we pick a good representation of different scenarios, then when reality falls somewhere in between, we’ve thought through and planned for the different factors so that we are ready to respond and excel.

In this article I provide a step-by-step guide to performing scenario analysis, using a real world example. Click here to read the complete article.

Patrick Lencioni is best known as author of a series of “leadership fables” which teach important leadership skills through fictional stories of leaders wrestling with, and learning critical capabilities to be more effective. The Advantage is not a fictional fable, but rather a straight forward guidebook for many of those same topics, but with a direct treatment of each topic and practical instruction and tools in how to implement the recommended improvements. The basic premise of the book is spelled out in the title and subtitle and as the first sentence on page 1: “The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health.” The author suggests four disciplines necessary for gaining that advantage: Build a Cohesive Leadership Team, Create Clarity, Overcommunicate Clarity, and Reinforce Clarity. The bulk of the book is comprised of a chapter each on these four disciplines.

The author explains: “An organization doesn’t become healthy in a linear, tidy fashion. Like building a strong marriage or family, it’s a messy process that involves doing a few things at once, and it must be maintained on an ongoing basis in order to be preserved.” It has been said that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time is today. Similarly, the best time to read this book and apply its lessons was when your company was first founded. The second best time is right now. Practically speaking, the first two disciplines of building a cohesive leadership team and creating clarity will require a commitment to thinking very strategically about the business, and potentially making significant changes to the team and the strategy. If you are at a point where you recognize the need for organizational health and are open to making big changes to achieve it, this book can be an excellent guide.

Read the full review here.

Tony Bridwell is the Chief Talent Officer for The Encompass Group, a Human Capital Management company, and has previously served as Chief People Officer for global corporations. So when he writes a book about story telling, he’s really writing about people and how to help them succeed. 

Saturday Morning Tea follows the model that Patrick Lencioni has pioneered with his leadership fables. It tells a fictional story of a young manager struggling to succeed in her new role, and a wise professor who helps her. One of the first things he tells her is that “People need a reason to move — they need a story.” The book is structured around Saturday morning meetings between these two main characters and the lessons the professor teaches her about how we communicate and the issues that might arise. The first few chapters are about the three ways that people experience stories: when we show up, when we speak up, and when we sync up. The last two chapters deal with issues that arise to challenge the effectiveness of stories: burnout, lack of commitment, lack of capability, focusing on things outside our control, and misaligned cultures. 

This is a lightweight book intentionally designed to be read in one or two sittings, on a flight, a couple of morning commutes, or over a cup of tea. It doesn’t demand much of the reader. It does deliver powerful, easy to consume, and easy to reference lessons in how to build momentum within teams towards your purpose and your objectives. Just about anyone wanting to motivate a team will benefit from this book, but especially seek it out when you are struggling with a team lacking commitment and engagement.

Read my full review here.

Almost twenty years ago I was blessed with the rare opportunity to help establish the entire strategic management system for a new multi-billion dollar business. Since the events were so long ago, and the business no longer exists, I am comfortable sharing an insider’s perspective that I hope will be helpful to you as you build and strengthen your own strategic management systems.

I joined Sprint towards the end of 2003. I received an e-mail from Howard Janzen, whom I had previously worked for at Williams Communications. Howard was now President of Sprint’s Long Distance division and he was looking for someone to help with the strategy as he led the creation of the new business unit focused on serving business customers. I joined as the director of strategic planning for this new division, reporting to Steve Signoff.

Click here to read (or hear) how we worked together to create the strategic management system for this new business.

People want to hear what you have to say. If you are the founder of a startup, or the CEO of a growing company then you are the person they want to hear from most. Your words (and non-verbal messages) carry a lot of weight. As your company grows, what you say impacts more and more people — more customers, more employees, and possibly more investors.

That can be scary. There are many examples of how this can go badly. What powerful leaders say, and how they say it, is held to a high level of scrutiny. 

At the same time, what you say as the leader of your company, and how you say it, can have a powerful positive influence on the success of your company and the people you lead.

In the article linked below, I look at how the audience, the message, and the stickiness change as companies go from startup to scaling to mature.

Read the full article here.

Estimates vary, but each of us probably sees or hears thousands of messages a day. Some are ads. Some are text messages, emails, or social media posts from family or friends. Some are official announcements from employers or government agencies. Some are news or entertainment in various media. Most of them “go in one ear and out the other.” They don’t make an impact on us that lasts more than a few seconds. As the receiver of all those messages, that’s probably good news, or else we would be burdened with too many different, and sometimes conflicting signals of what we need to do.

But, if your job involves making sure that a particular message gets heard by a specific audience and translates into action, this is a big challenge. In the article linked below I share a simple framework for having the best chance to get your message heard by the people you care about. The framework addresses three critical aspects of an effective communication: who, what, and how.

Who – The Audience
What – The Message
How – Making It Stick

Click here to read the full article.

Zach Windahl is a young entrepreneur. His first few businesses were failures, but his latest, The Brand Sunday, is a success. When he’d hit rock bottom, he turned back to God, putting Him first in everything. Only then did Windahl see the opportunity that was in front of him, and the purpose that he felt God was calling him to. In the Introduction, he describes Launch with God this way: “this is a book for people who feel their God-given purpose is in entrepreneurship. If that’s you, the pages ahead will provide you with a framework to launch a profitable business that matters.” 

That framework is presented in five parts: Partnering with God, Preparing for the Wilderness, Creating Your Big Idea, Ready for Launch, and Living with Purpose. Although the book has a light, breezy feel to it, it includes practical guidance on how to approach each of these phases of launching and growing a business. Even more, by humbly sharing his own stumbles, Windahl helps us understand how to fully integrate our faith into the struggles and the triumphs that lie ahead.

I think Launch with God can be a great encouragement to any Christian entrepreneur or any believer who dreams of someday launching their own business. While the book doesn’t provide detailed step-by-step instructions for everything involved in launching a business, it provides insights that can guide the heart and the mind to approach all the necessary steps with true wisdom. 

You may not completely agree with Windahl on every theological point (I don’t) but his honest and humble wrestling with how his faith intersects with his startup ambitions seems to strike the right balance of being serious about his faith without coming across as preachy.

Click here to read the full review.

Brock Shinen is a lawyer and consultant/advisor to business owners. The Christian Entrepreneur feels like a collection of conversations between him and his consulting clients. The book is organized around the four startup stages in the book’s subtitle (dream, plan, execute, grow) and addresses the decisions and actions involved in each of those stages. The author provides a mix of practical business guidance on the activities required for business success and how a Christian’s faith should inform those aspects of business.

I think The Christian Entrepreneur was intended to be a practical, step-by-step guide to launching and growing a business. However, most chapters only provide a high-level overview of the types of decisions and actions involved, without providing enough detailed guidance to help a first time entrepreneur work their way through it on their own. The book has many (anonymized) examples to help founders get a sense of what lies ahead as they seek to launch a business in a God honoring way. The Christian Entrepreneur may be an interesting read for a believer considering the startup journey, but other resources will be needed if they follow that path.

Read the full review here.