Francine Hardaway is “an experienced marketing strategist with special expertise in startup companies,” a “geek-to-human translator,” and the co-founder of Stealthmode Partners. In a recent blog post she shared how to make your business more successful:
The root cause of any business failure is the neglect of a simple, ancient Buddhist idea: the line where I end and you begin is blurry. As the Beatles used to sing, “I am you and you are me together.”
As the founder of a business, the line between you and your customers, you and your funders, you and your employees, might as well not exist. You are all in this together.
So What?
In business, Hardaway recommends blurring the lines between self and customer, between self and employee, and between self and that which is other but a part of what one’s business is. What would happen if pastors and key leaders in local congregations blurred the lines between self and parishioners, between self and staff, and between self and all of the many components of the congregation’s mission and ministry?