057 | Transcending Business Trends
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057 | Transcending Business Trends
April 12, 2021
Minute of Transparency: Clarifications and Corrections
Today's Topic: Transcending Business Trends
In this episode:
What Exactly Is a Business Trend?
Are Business Trends Only For Businesses?
Empire vs. Movement
// 1. WHAT EXACTLY IS A BUSINESS TREND?
Let me start be saying, "I'm not a business guy."
I know the power of it. I know the allure of it. I see that the world is made up of business-minded people who work in the ever-expanding marketplace in order to make money and become successful.
To me, people who live in this lane are part of one giant episode of Shark Tank, or The Apprentice. Working their butt's off to have an idea take off, or be fired for no apparent reason...
It's the dog-eat-dog world of:
Startups
Mergers
Acquisitions
Hostile takeovers
Building the portfolio
Legalized gambling: Stocks & Bonds
Finding the loopholes in the tax code
Leveraging emerging marketing channels
Using the right CRM to increase ROI
And the list goes on...
To some of you I just sounded intelligent for a second
But to a business person, I sound like Kindergartener playing outside my sandbox
But you get the picture - right?
Think Edward from the movie Pretty Woman. And that's basically the picture I'm seeing when I think about big business.
The world is an extremely complex place. A hostile environment if you will.
Even in this great country we call home. Land of the free, home of the brave - right? Doesn't opportunity exist for everyone?
Well - yes - opportunities exist - but that doesn't mean accessing them is easy. Even for privileged white males like me. We have far less standing in our way - and yet success still requires hard work and is often illusive.
If you're a female, or a minority - it's even harder.
If 2020 and the recent past has taught us one thing - this is it. We live in the land of opportunity - but it is still harder for some than others.
And that is not the way it should be.
But I digress, this episode isn't about inequality, or systemic racism, or any of those things. We'll save that for another day.
What I wanted to focus on today is the mindset of a business person. How they act, what they think about and the tools they leverage to keep moving forward.
And the tools they leverage often pop up as Business Trends, or ideas put out there by successful businessmen and women - those who have already made it - and are willing to tell you how they did it.
Business Trends come in the form of Ted Talks, Blog Posts, Books, Seminars, Webinars and yes, even YouTube videos...
A Business Trend is a large wave that pops up out of the blue. And every surfer in the water scrambles to catch it for the ride of their life.
For example, according to CactusGlobal.com, here are 10 of the most influential trends from the last 10 years:
Big Tech & Software as a Service
Think about the way Zoom and other online conferencing tools took over in 2020
Sustainability
Companies realizing the benefit to being environmentally conscious
Increase in US Energy Independence
The US leaning on it's own resources rather than importing everything from other countries
Women In Business
An increase in the number of women running successful businesses
Online Shopping
All I need to say is Amazon...
Digital Marketing
Email marketing
Social media
SEO
etc.
Workplace Flexibility
Realizing the power behind a positive work environment and a healthy staff culture
In 2020 - the emergence of the Work From Anywhere movement
Data Privacy
A strong focus on securing our data after multiple instances where it was stolen, lost or misused...
Think how many times Mark Zuckerberg has been in hot water for Facebook's inappropriate use of data?
Falling Cost of Capital
The rich getting richer due to economic trends lowering interest rates
VR/AR & AI
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence
Emerging technologies that pushing the envelope
VR/AR mess with our concept of reality and what's possible
AI is being used to analyze data, make predictions and automate content to boost boost sales and efficiency
The push toward total automation - think back to The Jetsons cartoon for kids. This is what we're trying to achieve - and we aren't far from that goal
Now again, I'm not a business person. Though I am in the tech world, working for a tech company...so some of the things I just listed come into play for us on a regular basis.
Big Tech, SaaS, Digital Marketing, Data Privacy, Augmented Reality, AI, etc.
All of these are discussed on a regular basis due to the work we do...
But these aren't even the trends I want to talk about...
I'm thinking more about the non-tech trends, soft trends, the process-related trends. The business mindset trends - the ones you read about in top selling Malcolm Gladwell books like:
Outliers
Blink
The Tipping Point
Or Simon Sinek books like:
Find Your Why
Start With Why
Big Idea books that really straddle the line between personal growth, leadership training, and business strategy.
Books that suggest a new way of doing something. A new way of looking at the world. A new way of interacting with people.
This is really what I mean when I say Business Trends.
When I look back, a big one that stands out to me was the Stephen Covey explosion. His book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People came onto the scene, and the world took notice.
Individuals read it to become better (or more effective) people
And entire companies and organizations held training sessions using the content in order to grow their businesses
These days, ideas like the 7 Habits come along at a staggering pace. Everyone has an idea. And with the Internet - there's no stopping anyone from putting that idea out there into the universe...
This is both a blessing, and a curse...
// 2. ARE BUSINESS TRENDS ONLY FOR BUSINESSES?
Now that I've loosely defined what I mean by Business Trends, I want to talk about who they are for...
Ultimately - most of the Big Idea books I've read lately are written with multiple audiences in mind.
You can read them as an individual, and gain insights that way
You can read them as a leader and grow in your ability to lead
And you can read them as a business owner and gain insights for your business
But what I'm wrestling with is a slightly different question.
I'm not asking if these Big Ideas are good or bad. I'm asking about the motivation behind us using them.
In other words, what is our motivation, what is our end goal for these Business Trends? These Big Ideas?
More on that in a minute...
But first, here is another example of a Business Trend:
I was listening to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. His guest was Sangram Vajre - one of the co-founders of a company called Terminus.
The episode was called, "Must Haves for a Successful Startup Culture." And they were discussing a concept from one of Vajre's recent books:
This idea that there are two ways to market your business or product:
Problem - Market - Fit:
First year - very important
Focus your marketing efforts on the problem that exists, and how you are able to solve the problem
Your desire will be to focus on your product - because you believe in it - you love it
But nobody cares about your product yet
They have a problem - and they don't understand that you can help them with that problem
Product - Market - Fit:
This happens a couple years in
Once your product has caught on
There is some brand recognition, and some consumer buy in
Now you can focus on the product itself - and how amazing it is
Now that was a very simple piece of information - part of a larger Business Trend Vajre has put out regarding how to manage a successful startup.
But this is what I'm talking about - these are the Big Ideas, the Business Trends people jump all over in order to push their businesses forward - toward success.
And in the business world this all makes sense - right? Because a business focuses on growth, and success typically has to do with financial growth, growth in power, growth in influence, growth in popularity, etc.
So this is the motivation behind a business using Business Trends, or Big Ideas. The motivation is succeeding in the marketplace.
So my question about motivation really comes down to this: We get it when we talk about companies, and businesses functioning this way. But does that mean the same tactics should be applied to other things in life? How about churches? How about nonprofit organizations? How about creative ventures like Transcend Human?
And that's when I realized it all comes down to what is motivating us. What our end goal is.
Maybe it's part of my baggage from previous employment:
For 7 years I worked in the mental health field as a clinician and program manager
And I left the field because the hospital I worked for operated 100% as a cutthroat, for profit business
I became disillusioned. Weren't we there to help people? And if so, why did we meet every morning to discuss why the beds weren't full? Why a patient left one day early. Why we didn't use up all of a person's available mental health benefits on their insurance plan?
It wasn't about helping people - that was just the means to an end - to be profitable
So I left that world and moved into ministry - into the church world
For 15+ years I lived and worked in this new world
And for years this felt right - it felt like we were doing the right things for the right reasons
But looking back I can see that there was a muddy, murky overlap between ministry and business even in the church world
Both of the churches I worked for would be considered megachurches - and from my experience in these organizations I have come to understand that running megachurches as businesses is standard operating procedure.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but the potential is there for problems:
The first church I worked at leaned toward ministry. The leadership had a spiritual foundation first and foremost. From there, they employed sound business practices to ensure the success of the organization
The second church I worked at leaned more toward the business side of things. There was a layer at the top made up of businessmen and women who operated with the same cutthroat, cold, calculating practices I remembered from my days in the for profit mental health field. They ran the church as if it was a publicly traded company with growth and success as the ultimate goal. When it came to the spiritual element, you had to look pretty hard to find it...
It was this second church that caused my disillusionment with ministry - similar to the mental health field before it
But this disillusionment gave me pause - and led to me questioning things like motivation. And that it is important to understand that motivation before we blindly go down the road of using popular Business Trends in the execution of our goals and dreams.
So back to my question - Who are they for?
Are they for me? Are they for Transcend Human?
At the end of the day, I can view TH as a business - and apply every possible Business Trend I can get my hands on. Use all the Big Idea concepts to grow, make money, succeed and become a household name
Or, I can do the opposite. I can view it as something else all together - and find a different motivation to drive things
Or the third option is to find a happy medium. To run TH using the best of both worlds
What I've decided is to try option 3. But in order to do that - I have to draw a line in the sand. I have to figure out how much of the Business Trends and Big Idea stuff is helpful - before it pushes me over the edge - into the business mindset where growth and success are all that matter.
Back to the example of a church: It's probably important for a church to draw that line and say, "We use business strategies in order to maintain the health of our organization, but only to the extent that these strategies are ethical, moral and help us achieve our true calling."
When this doesn't happen - when the church becomes all about outward success, financial profitability, numbers, finding tax loopholes, playing in the gray, and treating staff as expendable resources - that's when the line has been crossed, and you're simply a company trying to take over the world.
And these are the types of questions I have, and the decisions I'm trying to make when it comes to Transcend Human.
// 3. EMPIRE VS. MOVEMENT
Ultimately, I've come to view it like this:
Your motivation determines whether you're using Business Trends and Big Ideas to build an Empire, or start a Movement
Most companies and businesses are in the empire building business:
This isn't necessarily a bad thing
It just comes with the territory
You don't start a business to fail
You don't start a company and then secretly hope your competitor has a better year than you
When you start something like that - your goal is success, profitability, increased market share, visibility, etc.
It is what it is
However, churches and non-profit organizations are in a unique position:
It doesn't seem like the traditional business goals are the goal - right?
Isn't there something bigger at work? Isn't there a higher calling?
Isn't the End Game spreading the gospel? Helping people? And not financial success, or popularity?
Unfortunately, there are many churches and nonprofits that use Business Trends the same way businesses do - and at the end of the day they are building the same thing the businesses are: Empires
But others seem to understand their motivation and their mission. Using Business Trends to remain healthy as they start and grow the movement
So what is this "movement" thing? And how is it different?
That's a great question
And that's what I'm struggling with - even this week as I think through the next steps for Transcend Human
How can I ensure my motivation is pure? How can I ensure I'm building a movement rather than an empire?
What does that even look like?
How can I employ common sense Business Trends, and Big Ideas to grow the movement?
Because growth isn't a bad thing
Especially if the growth is seen in new people hearing truths that impact their lives
Growth in a movement that is less about me, and more about the thing I'm offering the world
So that's my real question for you today. What is your motivation? Do you want to build an empire? Or start and maintain a movement?
When I use this terminology I can help but think about the following examples:
Empire: Babylon, Rome, Greece, Persia
Interestingly enough - all are gone - none of them remain a global empire
Empires rise and fall
Just when you reach your pinnacle, the new kid on the block knocks you off
Because there is always someone faster, smarter and stronger than you
Movement:
How about Christianity?
Not the megachurch phenomenon we talked about above
I'm talking true Christianity - the pure movement that began with death and resurrection of Jesus
The movement that has grown stronger and more prevalent throughout the world
A movement that will not end - or be overthrown
Something that is eternal vs. temporal
Let’s Land the Plane:
When it comes to Transcend Human, there may be elements of a business there. I've heard some pretty convincing Business Trends that just make sense to help build a strong foundation, help you spread your message and ensure you're healthy enough to remain viable.
But at the end of the day - my motivation is to build a movement - not an empire.
This week, ask yourself the following questions:
How do Business Trends impact your life?
Are they simply interesting Big Ideas that can be used in a variety of settings?
Are they the next big thing to help you grow your business?
Are these trends really for you?
I guess what I'm asking is what's your motivation? Even if you own a business or company. What's your motivation? When you find it - you'll need to own it:
Are you building an empire?
Or are you starting, or maintaining a movement?
That's all for today - thank you so much for joining us on the podcast this week. Be sure to tell your friends and family members about Transcend Human - and the movement it is becoming.
Until next time, have a great week, start your movement, and keep Transcending Human!