My friend, Kevin Peterson at R&R magazine asked for my goals for 2009. Here's what I sent him.
1. Vision Casting: It's absolutely imperative to be clear in our mission, vision, goals and strategies.
2. Communication: I believe it's almost impossible to over-communicate. We must be connecting regularly with out stakeholders and our team.
3. Revenue: Whether for-profit or not-for-profit, we need to be intentional and innovative in seeking to strengthen our core financial strategies.
4. Image: We need to be creative and clear in presenting our image to the general public and our stakeholders and branding ourselves consistently.
5. New technology: We must go after emerging technologies that enable us to connect with the next generation of media consumers. That includes streaming, podcasting, social networking such as FaceBook and YouTube, blogging and texting.
6. New Talent: To use new technology, we need to recruit new talent--20-something talent that can intuitively use new technology to reach the new audience.
7. Collaboration: We can't do it alone. We must connect and partner with other entities that can complement our resources in reaching our goal.
8. Team Building: We must focus on our team. What are we without our talented people. Encourage them. Communicate with them. Develop their leadership skills for the future.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A More Austere Christmas
Jesus, God’s Son, came to a world of poverty, born to a poor, humble girl living in an insignificant village. He was born to poor, peasant parents. His birthplace was a barn. How different from the glitzy, materialistic, hedonistic holiday celebration of today!
This is going to be a very interesting Christmas. We’re not hearing as much about the frenzy of shoppers seeking the latest and greatest gifts for their loved ones. In fact, we hear that stores won’t be selling as much. People are cutting back on presents and giving to charity. Our daughter suggested instead of buying presents, each of us in the family look for things we no longer use—but someone else in the family would enjoy—and give that personal gift to that specially chosen person. What a great idea! And that’s what we’re going to do.
The incarnation has a lot more to do with poverty than extravagance. The Bible says Jesus did not consider His position with God a thing to be grasped, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7, NKJV). Jesus later taught there’s a blessing on the “poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
During this time of economic uncertainty and tightened budgets my prayer is that we might move a step closer to the truth of the incarnation—”He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NKJV). Let’s pray that as we reduce our trust in money and seek to become more like our Savior that we might experience the kingdom of God.
May you experience a true and joyful celebration of the Savior’s birth and sharing the good news which will be for all people who live in a world of spiritual poverty.
This is going to be a very interesting Christmas. We’re not hearing as much about the frenzy of shoppers seeking the latest and greatest gifts for their loved ones. In fact, we hear that stores won’t be selling as much. People are cutting back on presents and giving to charity. Our daughter suggested instead of buying presents, each of us in the family look for things we no longer use—but someone else in the family would enjoy—and give that personal gift to that specially chosen person. What a great idea! And that’s what we’re going to do.
The incarnation has a lot more to do with poverty than extravagance. The Bible says Jesus did not consider His position with God a thing to be grasped, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7, NKJV). Jesus later taught there’s a blessing on the “poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
During this time of economic uncertainty and tightened budgets my prayer is that we might move a step closer to the truth of the incarnation—”He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NKJV). Let’s pray that as we reduce our trust in money and seek to become more like our Savior that we might experience the kingdom of God.
May you experience a true and joyful celebration of the Savior’s birth and sharing the good news which will be for all people who live in a world of spiritual poverty.
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