Three Down, Three to Go!
As purpose driven leaders, you and I likely understand ‘stewardship’ – a critical concept we seek to master in our efforts to navigate with wisdom in a finite world.
Good stewardship refers to the responsible management and well-discerned dispersal of resources that are limited and often unique to an individual.
Three come to mind rather quickly: Time, Talent, and Treasure. But there are three lesser-known resources I would like The H3 Leader (that’s you and me!) to consider.
I’ll begin with a quick recap of the first three.
Time never stops ticking away. It’s like a constant drip out of a sealed tank where every drop matters. When the tank runs out, so does our time on this earth. Leaders understand Time as a universal limitation and seek to never waste a drop.
Talent refers to the unique, God-given, personally/professionally developed skills and abilities we bring to the table. Leaders don’t try to do everything. They know how they’ve been built, they work hard to hone their gifts, and they invest those strengths strategically to serve the greater good.
Treasure is primarily a reference to tangible resources with fiscal value. It could be money, or employees, or office space, or equipment . . . resources with monetary value that can be invested in one way or another.
Again, these three tend to roll off the tongue in the world of conscientious leadership.
But there are at least three other valuable, limited, and unique-to-the-individual resources that I would like to offer for serious stewardship consideration: Trials, Touch, and Truth.
Trials are the stories that shape us. We grow through struggle, not success. As a leader, how open are you about the major challenges you’ve had to overcome on your journey? How might your story contribute to the success of others? Today’s culture doesn’t seem to cope very well with the struggle that is Life. Maybe that’s partially because we have shielded them from the stark reality of the human journey – the constant Trials of our business, life, and faith walks.
Touch is a fun one because it is incredibly veiled. A mentor challenged me to think of my relationships as a valuable resource, and though ‘valuable’ made a lot of sense, I was initially resistant to the ‘resource’ reference. As I thought more about it, I saw how we instinctively understand this concept very well and tend to act accordingly. People often ‘guard’ their network more judiciously than they do their calendars and wallets! What might it look like to be more intentional about the stewardship of our relationships – to be proactive in introducing one to another where there may be a value-add to the overall equation? What might it look like to turn ‘networking’ into something powerful, purpose driven, and even Kingdom-centric?
Truth. This is a tough one to squeeze into a single paragraph, but I’ll try… It is a slippery slope with a number of angles and interpretations. I’m going to pick one as a proxy.
Truth refers to the knowledge and wisdom you and I have obtained over a lifetime of lived experience. Biased as it may be (because it is based on personal experience), it is what you and I seek to live by. And as a leader, Truth shapes the way we serve and speak into the lives of others. But what many fail to realize is that Truth can be wasted. As with other resources, it can be withheld (uninvested) or spent frivolously (casting pearls before swine). A leader must discern whether the investment of Truth is worthy and act accordingly.
Surely there are others. But these six are among the more valuable assets within a leader’s finite bag of resources that call for conscientious, active stewardship.
Each likely deserves its own article or focused study. But as you know, our aim here is simply to start the process. It’s our Monday Morning Stretch.
Now, the ball is in your court, and I encourage you to go do something with it.
Blessings to you, my friends!
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
"Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest"
– Peter Block
From Amazon: Despite all the evidence calling for change, most organizations still rely on patriarchy and control as their core form of governance. The result is that they stifle initiative and spirit and alienate people from their work. In Stewardship, Peter Block calls for a dramatic shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money. “Stewardship,” he writes, “is the willingness to be accountable for the well-being of the larger organization by operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us.”
Block has revised and updated the book throughout, including a new introduction addressing what has changed—and what hasn't—in the twenty years since the book was published. It also includes a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. Speaking in practical terms about how stewardship transforms every function and department for the better, Block also offers tactical advice on gearing up to implement these reforms.
MMS 25-02
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Blessings to you, my friend!
