Companies say they want to engage employees and attract new talent, but most put a paltry amount of resources into recruiting and retaining people compared to customer-centric brand-enhancing initiatives. This isn’t surprising. Marketing activities more clearly lead to revenue, while employee engagement doesn’t as clearly correlate to the bottom line. As a business leader, they choose to focus where they have a return on their investment.

But most companies (and their leaders) are missing it. The way their employees see their business impacts their performance, their performance then impacts customer experience, and customer experience assuredly impacts a company’s external brand. In other words,

‍employee engagement IS a brand problem.

And it’s not one you can ignore.

I believe that companies can start with three key areas:

1. Employer Brand

‍What do people think it feels like to work in and for your business? When the name of your company is mentioned, what is their immediate first thought about your workplace? This comes down to their interactions with your team. If your team appears to be focused, engaged, and even excited about what they do, your business will naturally attract more talented individuals who want to work for you. This also comes down to your employees’ true feelings about working at your company. If they enjoy it and you have open positions, they will naturally (and excitedly) help recruit talented individuals they know to come work for you.

2. Employee Engagement

‍The more connected your team is to your company, the more impactful they will be in their work. The best way to do this is to connect your employee’s individual jobs to the overarching mission of the business. If your team members are working together toward a goal greater than themselves, they will be exponentially more happy and motivated to do the work set before them, and your customers will have a much better experience. Starbucks does this well. Their mission is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” You can tell when you’ve encountered a Starbucks team who is living out this mission statement. They are hustling together, gladly serving the full lobby and long drive thru of customers, and seeing that each interaction has a greater purpose beyond themselves. The best businesses connect people to purpose.

3. Employee Retention

‍One of the biggest problems employers are facing now is turnover. The war for talent is making it difficult to keep talented individuals on board. However, when people are engaged in their work and growing in their job, they will stay in their business longer. In turn, this commitment will attract more talented individuals to work for you, and eventually, you will need to hire fewer people. Your talented team is staying, but there are still more talented people knocking on your door and seeking to find a place on your team. This is a good problem to have! The Chick-fil-A Operator selection team has this problem. The joke is that it’s harder to get a job at the CFA than it is to get a job at the CIA. Last year more than 120,000 expressed interest in being a Chick-fil-A Operator, and only around 100 were selected. (Want another staggering statistic? 60% of those chosen were former frontline team members!). The companies who are succeeding both internally and externally understand that investing in employees does have a return.

The way your team sees and experiences your brand may be the most effective tool you have to attract new customers and to keep them coming back.

If you want a better brand and more positive customer experiences, start with your employees first.

Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald famously made a series of fourteen trades starting with just a red paperclip and ending with a two-story house! Here’s how he did it.

1. On July 14, 2005, MacDonald made his first trade, a red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen in Vancouver, British Columbia.

2. That same day, he traded the pen for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington.

3. On July 25, 2005, he made his way to Massachusetts to trade the doorknob for a Coleman camp stove with fuel.

4. On September 24, 2005, he went to California to trade the camp stove for a Honda generator.

5. On November 16, 2005, he traveled to New York and traded the generator for an "instant party" which included an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the owner’s beer of choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.

6. On December 8, 2005, he traded the "instant party" to Michel Barrette, a Quebec comedian and radio personality, for a Ski-Doo snowmobile.

7. In the same week, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, scheduled for February 2006.

8. In January of 2006, he traded the second spot on the Yahk trip for a box truck.

9. In late February of 2006, he traded the box truck for a recording contract with Metalworks in Ontario.

10. In early April, he traded the contract to singer and song-writer Jody Gnant for one year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona.

11. In late April, he traded the year's rent in Phoenix for one afternoon with rock ‘n’ roll legend Alice Cooper.

12. In May, he traded the afternoon with Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.

13. In June, he traded the snow globe to American actor and film director Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.

14. Finally, in July of 2006, he made his final trade: the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan in southeast Canada.

It’s crazy to me that this guy got from one tiny paper clip to a place to live! This story makes me think of the concept of leverage.

How do you take what you have and leverage it into something better?

Leverage can apply to any appreciating asset. Consider leverage when it comes to your finances. According to Dave Ramsey, “The average new car payment in the United States is hovering around $700. If you wisely invested $700 per month from age 25 to age 50, you’d have over a million dollars.” He then shared a funny meme that said, “There’s 8 billion people in the world, and not even one of them cares about what kind of car you drive.”

But there are other areas where the concept of leverage works. How are you leveraging your time or maximizing your influence to generate the greatest impact?

How are you leveraging your talent and resources to make the greatest impact in your organization, community, church, and world? When we are focused on being good stewards, we will be intentional about our time, our talent, and our treasure.

When we are focused on being good stewards, we will be intentional about our time, our talent, and our treasure.

This week, consider how you might leverage even the smallest things you’ve been given into something better. You never know how far even the smallest red paperclip might take you.

We often hear the word used to describe a flashbulb moment in the life of an off-the-charts enthusiastic person. And yes, it can be that, but it’s far more. That’s why I’ve written a book about it called Inspired Every Day: Three Indispensable Ingredients to Connect With Your Passion, and its official launch date is TODAY!

To celebrate the book’s release, I’m going to spend the next six weeks highlighting some of my favorite insights from the book. My hope is that these short blog posts will leave you feeling personally inspired and will also inspire you to read and share my new book with your friends and colleagues. Let’s dive in!

People who are genuinely inspired have flashes of great ideas, but those insights arrive in the context of a mindset and a lifestyle that always blends three crucial elements:

A purpose to live for a problem to tackle, and a partnership with like-minded people.

The three ingredients aren’t static. They need to be redefined and reinforced at every stage in life and every significant transition we encounter. These indispensable ingredients inspire us to dream, plan, and take bold action that changes lives, including our own.

To get a clear look at the kind of purpose, the types of problems, and the nature of the people who form our intersection of inspiration, we need to look in the rearview mirror. When I look back at times when I felt particularly inspired, I can see that all three ingredients were powerfully present. At other times in my career and my personal life when I felt aimless, confused, and anxious, I realize that at least one of the three was lacking to a significant degree.

To get a clear look at the kind of purpose, the types of problems, and the nature of the people who form our intersection of inspiration, we need to look in the rearview mirror.

As we look more closely at these three ingredients over the next few weeks, take time to look in your rearview mirror to connect the dots so you can see the events, challenges, and people that have inspired you. You may remember a time when you became determined not to fail so badly again, or maybe you were encouraged by a trusted mentor to excel.

The situations that have formed our matrix of inspiration are widely varied. They’re all important, but we won’t gain wisdom from them if we don’t take time to examine them.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to stay inspired and how to inspire others, click the link below and purchase a copy of my new book!

PURCHASE INSPIRED EVERY DAY

What if the problem that prompted creativity and drive has been overcome or becomes irrelevant? And what if our partners drift away from us? These are very real threats to our level of inspiration.

Over the past month, I’ve introduced my new book: Inspired Every Day: Three Indispensable Ingredients to Connect With Your Passion, and walked through the three elements necessary to genuine inspiration. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be talking about this book every week for the next year. But I have a couple more pieces that I don’t want you to miss.

The reason is, I know so many people who have been inspired at one point, but somehow find themselves lacking inspiration today. Whether they realize it or not, many times their inspiration is lacking because one of these indispensable ingredients is missing.

Without a clear purpose, we become aimless. A compelling purpose and vision gives life to individuals and teams, but if we lose our way, most of us try to find something—anything!—to rev our emotional engines. Some of us mistake thrills for real fulfillment, spending countless hours following a sport, buying things we don’t need, and trying to impress people on social media. Others might work for money as their consuming purpose, leaving their pockets full but their passion empty. Not surprisingly, these poor substitutes leave us even more disillusioned.

Without a compelling problem, we become apathetic. ​​

We have a clear purpose and a great team, and we achieve our goal of overcoming a problem . . . and then what? Surprisingly, the lack of a challenging problem is one of the most common reasons inspiration lags in business settings. Good leaders know they need to keep their people focused on their common obstacle, their biggest challenge, their “enemy.” If they overcome it, they need to identify the next one . . . and the next. Individuals and teams who aren’t galvanized by a compelling problem lose interest, lose compatibility, and lose effectiveness.

Without like-minded partnerships, we feel alone. We can have a purpose to live and die for and a problem that sharpens us and brings out our best, but if we don’t have people, we feel isolated, empty, alone. Please don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying that we have to be on a team to be effective and fulfilled. There are plenty of “solo-preneurs” these days who operate on their own, but even the most competent of these people need supportive, meaningful relationships with contract workers, vendors, and clients. In fact, the higher the purpose and the greater the problem, the more we need valued partners.

The higher the purpose and the greater the problem, the more we need valued partners.

We need all three—a purpose, a problem, and strong partners—to be and stay inspired!

Today, take some time to examine what’s going on in your life right now and see if you’re missing one of these essential (I’d even say, indispensable) ingredients.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to stay inspired and how to inspire others, click the link below and purchase a copy of my new book!

PURCHASE INSPIRED EVERY DAY

The assertion is that we don’t need much time, as long as we provide a limited amount of focused attention.

I think this is a false dichotomy.

A few weeks ago, I introduced my new book: Inspired Every Day: Three Indispensable Ingredients to Connect With Your Passion, and the three crucial elements necessary to genuine inspiration:

A purpose to live for,

A problem to tackle, and

A partnership with like-minded people.

Over the past couple of weeks, I explained why purpose is paramount to inspiration and how problems produce tenacity. Today, we’re discussing why maintaining solid partnerships requires our time.

In my most important relationships—with my wife, my kids, our team, and my best friends—it doesn’t work for me to limit our time together and to suggest that it’s fine because it’s “quality” time. It doesn’t work for me to say, “I know I’ve been really busy and preoccupied, so let’s plan on having an intense, meaningful conversation between 7:30 and 8:00 tonight. Are we on for that? I’ll pencil you in.”

We need at least enough time to get comfortable with each other, to see each other in a variety of situations, to feel unhurried as we talk about things that are important to us, and to feel safe enough to take off our masks and be more real. Quantity time is essential for us to have quality connections.

Quantity time is essential for us to have quality connections.

When we invest our time and our hearts with people, a bond may be established. Most of us have experienced being separated from close friends for long stretches of time, but when we reconnect, we pick up right where we left off. We feel comfortable, at home, safe, and thrilled to see each other again.

However, that doesn’t always happen—we may have great friends at one point in our lives, but distance and responsibilities can cause those connections to atrophy. The reality is that there are friends for particular seasons of life, and this is OK.

But if you’re feeling distant in one of your most important relationships, it might be worth looking in the mirror and asking yourself how much time you’ve invested into this person recently. If the answer is “not much” or “not enough,” it’s time to pick up the phone, plan the date, initiate the conversation, and show this individual that you care for them by giving them not just “quality” time but a decent “quantity” of time—the time needed to connect, to encourage one another, and to be inspired!

If you’re interested in learning more about how to stay inspired and how to inspire others, click the link below and purchase a copy of my new book!

PURCHASE INSPIRED EVERY DAY

We wouldn’t admire Churchill if Hitler’s air force had defeated the outgunned RAF in The Battle of Britain. We wouldn’t have heard of Harriet Tubman if she hadn’t had the courage and skill to help slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. We wouldn’t know much about George Washington if he hadn’t orchestrated an amazing retreat from Long Island after the first humiliating defeat in the Revolution, saving his army to remain in the field to fight again instead of surrendering and almost certainly ending the cause. We remember these people because they overcame colossal problems.

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced my new book: Inspired Every Day: Three Indispensable Ingredients to Connect With Your Passion, and the three crucial elements necessary for genuine inspiration:

A purpose to live for,

A problem to tackle, and

A partnership with like-minded people.

Last week, we unpacked why purpose is paramount to inspiration. Today, we’re discussing how problems produce tenacity—a vital component of ongoing inspiration.

Do you think David, Churchill, Tubman, and Washington felt inspired when they faced the challenges I listed above? You know they did!

People who reduce their dreams so small that there’s no challenge live bland, empty lives.

But those who tackle them have inspiration dripping from every part of them.

And while it’s counterintuitive, the principle is clear: the greater the problem to be faced, the greater the force of inspiration. They may feel initially devastated by grim news, but they’re inspired to consider how to tackle the problem. They’re inspired to take the first steps, even when the difficulty is much worse than they thought, and to keep wading in until they wrestle it to the ground. Grit is a tenacious inspiration.

Grit is a tenacious inspiration.

Tenacity isn’t limited to one personality type. All of us need it, and all of us can develop it. We only develop stronger muscles when we push them so hard that they hurt and feel weak. In the same way, we only develop tenacity when we push so far into problems that we feel like we’re going to fail . . . yet we keep going. It doesn’t matter where you are on a personality or temperament instrument; you may feel like an underdog, but you can be one that does amazing things.

I know what you’re thinking. What if the problem is too big? What if it’s too heavy for me to bear? This is where the other two elements of inspiration come into play. You need your eyes set firmly on a purpose bigger than yourself to fuel your tenacity, and you need to be partnered with like-minded people who can fight alongside you, fill in the gaps, and cheer you on to the finish line.

This week, consider the problems you’re facing as opportunities to grow in tenacity and inspiration to pursue your God-given purpose.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to stay inspired and how to inspire others, click the link below and purchase a copy of my new book!

PURCHASE INSPIRED EVERY DAY

Last week, I introduced my new book: Inspired Every Day: Three Indispensable Ingredients to Connect With Your Passion, and the three crucial elements necessary to genuine inspiration:

A purpose to live for,

A problem to tackle, and

A partnership with like-minded people.

Today, we’re talking about purpose and why it is the most important element of inspiration. All three are required for genuine inspiration, but

without purpose, we wouldn’t just feel uninspired—we’d feel aimless.

Let’s take a look at the other elements, so you’ll see what I mean.

If you have a problem to tackle but you don’t have a purpose for which you’re tackling it, you have a couple of bigger problems. The first is lack of motivation. If you don’t know why you’re doing something, why expend the effort and energy in the first place? The second is a lack of fulfillment. Say you do manage to solve the problem despite your lack of motivation. When you do, it’s likely you won’t feel satisfied, or at least not for long. When problem-solving is detached from a “why,” you’re like a hamster on a wheel—you’re putting one foot in front of the other, but you aren’t going anywhere!

The same is true for partnership. Imagine you work on the best team in the world. These individuals are driven, talented, and like-minded in every way. However, you’re all struggling to make the kind of impact you desire. You’re solving problems, you’re getting projects done, you’re even significantly increasing profit, so what’s the issue? Your team doesn’t have a clear purpose. You’re working together to do what is asked of you, but you aren’t being told (or reminded) of your team’s greater purpose. You aren’t connecting what you are accomplishing day to day with something bigger than yourselves.

All the other elements of inspiration will feel random and disconnected if we don’t have a crystal clear purpose that inspires us to reach for that big goal, overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and find people who will join us in the adventure.

In order to be inspired, it’s paramount to know your individual purpose, and in order to inspire, it’s paramount to regularly remind the people you lead that what they do matters by connecting it to your organization’s purpose.

So I have two questions for you today:

1. Are you connecting your purpose to what you do each day?

2. Are you helping the people you lead connect what they are doing to their purpose?

Remember, purpose is paramount to inspiration.

Remember, purpose is paramount to inspiration.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to stay inspired and how to inspire others, click the link below and purchase a copy of my new book!

PURCHASE INSPIRED EVERY DAY

In other words, people are more influenced by culture than policies. And the power of cultural influence eventually affects the way that people think, the way that people believe, and, ultimately, the way that people vote. As Andrew Fletcher, an eighteenth-century Scottish patriot, famously said: "Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." Fletcher understood that music moves people and influences their feelings about the world around them far more deeply than a political philosophy.

Can I be honest with you? I believe that many of our most celebrated artists are not shaping the culture in a positive way. You can sub out artists for a plethora of other words: actors, rockstars, entertainers, comedians. The prevailing message of influencers to our society is that personal desires are king. The message is that anything that stands in the way of your personal happiness must be a bad thing. It’s a me-centered culture.

And a culture focused on self is a culture of fractured, disunified, and lonely people.

This post isn’t really a rant against the current culture, as much as it’s a plea for you to get involved. Don’t choose to sit out. Every single leader can have an influence on our culture, and we desperately need people with strong values to stand up.

Every single leader can have an influence on our culture, and we desperately need people with strong values to stand up.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” If you were to walk into a high school classroom today, what would be the philosophy of the students? Who do you think is promoting that philosophy?

We need people with strong values to make great music, to write compelling novels, and to create entertaining television and movies.

If you’re like me, it’s tempting to see the world around us and want to retreat. We want to pull back and surround ourselves with a bubble of people who think like we think, believe what we believe, and act like we act. But removing ourselves from the culture is not the answer. In fact, it’s part of the problem. It does no good to sit on the sidelines. It’s time to get involved, and it’s time to start creating things that promote strong values.

Make the decision to be someone who creates culture, not just criticizes it. Go create something good. The world needs it.

On these nights when I do the evening solo with the kids, time can drag on. I get home, pull dinner together, and try to get us all through the “witching hours” of the evening without too many meltdowns. (If you’ve ever had toddlers, you know what time of day I’m talking about!)

But this night was different. I decided on my way home that I was going to take the kids out to dinner. I fully expected it to be chaotic, but to me, it was worth it to fill up the time before bed. The next morning Laura asked how the evening went, and I was happy to report that it went better than expected! Yes, our youngest kept trying to get out of her booster seat, and our oldest had an unhealthy obsession with the salt and pepper shakers, but overall, they did well. We had a fun evening out! I went into the night expecting it to be crazy, knowing it wouldn’t be perfect, so the evening met and even exceeded my expectations.

Isn’t it amazing how much our expectations impact our mental and emotional state?

Our days are full of various experiences, and we bring our expectations to them all. This isn’t a bad thing. Anticipation is a good and appropriate way to prepare for what’s ahead, but it’s a problem when we don’t set proper expectations for what’s in store. And that same evening I had with the kids could have been terribly frustrating had I expected something different. For example, imagine you’re planning a trip on a tight budget, so you and your spouse book the value hotel. When you arrive, you’re both surprised by how nice the accommodations are and how clean the room looks! You weren’t expecting it to look like this based on how much you spent. You are thrilled!

On the flip side, imagine it’s your 10th anniversary, so you and your spouse go all out and book a trip at a luxury resort. Unfortunately, you are both disappointed by the lack of staff willing and available to help and find your room and bathroom a little small and outdated. It definitely didn’t feel like the kind of luxury you paid for!

Was the cheap hotel nicer than the luxury resort? Not even close. But our expectations have a huge impact on how we value each experience.

The solution is not to have perpetually low expectations. When you sandbag your expectations, you aren’t allowing yourself to dream and anticipate life with the kind of excitement we all need. However, we should aim to set proper expectations. Think about a recent frustration. Ask yourself honestly, was the problem with the experience or with your expectations of it? It is a lot easier to change expectations than experiences.

It is a lot easier to change expectations than experiences.

This is true for us personally, but it’s also important for our relationships. If you’re a leader in your organization, you need to help your team set proper expectations for navigating a busy season. If you’re a teacher, you need to help your students set proper expectations about what it will be like to work on the project you’re giving them this week.

As a parent, you need to help your children set proper expectations for what it will be like to celebrate their sibling’s birthday coming up.

As a pastor, you need to help your congregation set proper expectations about what it is really like to join and serve in various ministries.

Make it your goal to set proper expectations. We’ll all enjoy experiences more fully when we anticipate them rightly.