Posts by Mike Baer
The Cause
Who wants people who just show up because of a paycheck? Even if they are only walking to the spare bedroom due to Stay at Home orders, that’s not a flourishing team or engaged workforce. The thing that ignites the heart is a sense of meaning, a higher purpose, a “Noble Cause.” Research into employee…
Read MoreReinforcing Culture, Part III
Culture doesn’t grow on its own. It has to be nurtured. Strengthened. Reinforced. Constantly. How do we do that? Anthropologists, those who study humanity and culture, tell us that all cultures use 4 devices to define and institutionalize their culture. Totems. Totems are the symbols that remind a people of where they came from, what…
Read MoreReinforcing Culture, Part II
As important as culture is (and we’ve only scratched the surface), it’s something that takes constant reinforcement. It doesn’t survive with nurture, reminders, etc. So, how do we do that? We start by understanding the 3 components that make up culture, i.e. the way we are. Core Values. These are the guiding beliefs of a…
Read MoreReinforcing Culture
Management Guru, Peter Drucker, once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” He’s right, of course. Culture, not a brilliant strategy, is the secret sauce for organizational achievement and breakthroughs. According to a study by Harvard Business School, companies with strong, virtuous cultures outperform those without such an atmosphere by 5 times ROA; that’s an astounding…
Read MoreThe 5 Things to Reinforce…Constantly
Leadership is always about the heart and in all circumstances. The COVID19 pandemic is no exception. Nor will it be any different when the virus is passed and we are left in a hybrid (remote/in-person) workforce. So what do you focus on to win, keep, and encourage hearts? Constantly reinforce culture. This is the way…
Read MoreFreedom!
BAM has so many applications. It’s a way to get into (legally and ethically) closed countries. It’s a way to relieve poverty. It’s a way to spread the Kingdom. And, it’s a way to bring the victims of trafficking into liberty. Jesus read this Scripture in the synagogue: “The spirit of the Lord is upon…
Read MoreInternational Business Among UPGs
Unreached People Groups (UPGs) are those ethnolinguistic groups of people (Jesus called them “the nations” in Matthew 28) who share several traits. They share a common language. They share a common culture. They share a common geography. And, tragically, they share that they are not reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, meaning there is…
Read MoreHolistic & Integrated BAM Will Make History
Mats Tunehag In the global Business as Mission, BAM, movement we talk about taking our Sunday talk into a Monday walk. Whatever we believe and profess in church on Sunday should be permeating our lives and business practices the rest of the week.1 But we must strive towards a seamless integration of Sunday and Monday,…
Read MoreCan Missionaries Do Business? Part V
Yes! Yes! Yes! Business is all about risk-taking—not foolish, jumping out of an airplane sans parachute risk but thoughtful, facing potential problems, and acting anyway risk. Many of the missionaries that I’ve met at home and around the world have taken huge risks to leave hearth and home, to move their families to underdeveloped countries…
Read MoreCan Missionaries Do Business? Part IV
Again, yes! Don’t confuse doing business with being an entrepreneur like Elon Musk. They are not the same thing. Less than 15% of people have the “entrepreneurial gene” yet 90% are in business of some kind. Business is simply the discovery of need(s) in your community that people are willing to pay to have met.…
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